Thursday, May 19, 2011

All keyed up.

This week, I locked myself out of my house and my car. Simultaneously. It was about 9 p.m. Friday night, and I was going to go over to a friend's house to watch a movie. I walked out the door, and as soon as the door shut, I knew something wasn't right. I dug through my purse, and realized I didn't have my keys. So, I texted my friend. She said she and her husband would be right over.
I called my realtor, who has an extra key. No answer.
Drew and Amy show up. Drew asks if I have any windows we could possibly get through. I had just cleaned my bathroom with bleach that afternoon, and had had it open, so I thought that might be the way to go. Trouble is, it's a window behind a large bush and is about level with my nose (I'm 5'10).
So, Amy gives Drew a boost and pretty soon all we can see are his legs sticking straight up. Then, I hear him yelling at my cat, who was in the bathroom at the time. Needless to say, Amy and I were laughing. Drew lets me in, I grab my house keys, realize my car keys weren't there. I look in my purse, and sure enough, there are my car keys. Amy just shook her head and said, "Don't tell Drew." So, I didn't.
Here's why this happened.
I have a spare key that I normally keep outside. But, I had used it earlier in the week, and forgot to put it back. So there went my extra house key. As a failsafe, I keep a set in my car, in my glove box. I always have a spare set of car keys in my purse, too, in case I should lock myself out of my car. It's been known to happen.
Well, a few weeks ago, my glove box decided to quit opening. I guess it felt entitled. But, there's a little notch next to it, that will trigger the release if you stick a key or something in there. Naturally I pick my ignition key to stick in there, and of course, it got stuck. So as I try to jimmy it out, with no warning or give whatsoever, the key just snaps right in half.
This is where I gasp in horror and just stare at my broken key.
Took me a week to get the key remnant out of the glove box, but I did manage to retrieve it without resorting to pliers.
So now my spare set of keys have become my main set of keys. So when I locked myself out of my car, I didn't have my spare set. So then I was locked out of my car, I didn't have access to my failsafe (house keys in glove box).
It's all very complicated. Needless to say, I have now replaced the hide-a-key outside, and will be getting a spare car key made as soon as I can.