Locked Out

Shep and I decided to go to the 2009 Dumpling Festival last Saturday afternoon. What is a dumpling festival, you ask? Well, it's exactly what it sounds! Dumplings from all different cultures... peirogi, ravioli, you get the idea. :)

image credit: Guang Niu/Getty Images

So, we got ourselves ready and left the apartment to head toward the dumplings for a late lunch/early dinner. Unfortunately, we didn't make it any further than the building lobby when I realized what had happened.

We were locked out. I decided not to carry a purse with me, since it was raining and we'd be walking around a lot - so I didn't have my keys. I asked Shep where his keys were and he said he didn't bring them. The spare key would usually be our life line, but Shep had already forgotten his keys once earlier in the day and didn't return the spare to the doorman. So my keys, Shep's keys, AND our spare key were all locked inside our apartment. Great.

We had to forgo peirogies in order to figure out how to get back into our apartment. Shep called the local locksmith, who wanted $300 and wasn't available until "maybe" later that evening or the next day. By this point, I was fuming, and we obviously weren't going to sit out in the hallway for hours, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Armed with 2 wire dry clothes hangers, I was determined to "MacGyver" my way into my home. Luckily, it didn't come to that (although I'm SURE it would've worked!) because the building Super was able to open the door with a special tool he had, with some minimal damage. Mr. Super re-painted the door, which had to remain ajar while it dried for a few hours, leaving us trapped at home for the rest of the evening. Yes, I was annoyed that my hubby hadn't returned the spare key after he used it. Yes, I was annoyed we had to cancel our plans and definitely annoyed that we were stuck at home for the rest of the night.

Ah, the joys of being married. On the negative side, your days can be at the mercy of the mistakes or actions of your significant other. On the positive side, hurdles always seem less burdensome when jumped side-by-side.

So, we made the best of the situation. We ordered sushi, watched a movie, and spent the evening together - laughing about what a crappy day we had. At least we were laughing together! :)