I'm Running on Empty!!

About a week ago, i woke up on the wrong side of the bed...i was doomed from the beginning.  I woke up late to get the kiddos off to school...not so late that they would in fact be marked tardy...and I'm NOT claiming that never happens...just late enough that the chances were excellent that before they were dropped off at school that "mother with a loud voice" would make an appearance.  And then, to make matters worse, i had the impression in the back of my mind that i remembered something about having a doctors appointment that morning.  I call the office...it is 8:41 a.m....and i hear, "Oh yes, there you are on our schedule, at 9:50 am today"...which maybe wouldn't be a big deal, except that i am still in my jammies, as are Faith and Lily, and my three older kids need to be dropped off at school at 9:10 am...AND my appointment is 40 minutes from our house.
So, we are hustling around...."Grace, stop piddling around!! Get your shoes on!"...."Savannah, please go upstairs and get Lily dressed"...."Lily, PLEASE....please let Savannah help you...mommy can't right now, i have to get myself dressed!!" and on and on until i look at the clock and it is 9:04 am.  CRAP!
Okay, "Savannah, y'all get out to the car, help the little girls into their car seats...don't forget your bag...ill grab my purse and be out in a second"...."Grace, please put Tank on his chain so he can go potty before we have to leave..." but it's too late, as i hear all the girls yell, "NO, Tank!!"...followed by, "Mom, Tank got out!"  Ugh!! REally?!!
OK...breathe..."Grace, take the leash and get Tank...Savannah get the girls loaded in the car please."
It's 9:10.  The kids will be marked tardy in 5 more minutes.  At this point i am gathering my purse, phone, and the basics...binkys, snuggles, etc. when Savannah comes back in the house and says, "mom, the car is locked", to which i respond, "OK, well, this is an easy fix Savannah, get the keys off the hook."  At which point she rolls her eyes at me and says, "yeah, mom...they aren't there."  So i tell her to try all the doors of the car, and see if they were left in the car. Tank is back, and I'm heading out to the car, and Grace says, "Mom, the keys are locked in the car...i can see them down by the front seat!"  I turn around and head back inside to tear drawers apart, looking for a spare key...which i know full well, does not exist...but, i don't know what else to do, so this is what i do.  Its 9:16...the kids are now late.  I text my husband, asking if he has any idea where an extra key is (even though we both know there isn't one...we learned this last summer when we lost the keys in Jackson Hole).  There is no response, 1, 3, 5 minutes...and i am texting, texting, texting.  Finally, he texts me from an appointment he is in and says, "I put them in your purse last night".  My purse?! How could they be in my purse?! Grace just said she saw them inside the locked car....but, i dump out my purse anyway, because i don't know what else to do...and there they are...my keys! So, i am physically running out towards my car, and telling my kids to hurry and get in.  I turn to Grace and say, "Grace? I thought you said you saw my keys in the car by the seat?"  to which she responds, "Well, i saw something shiny mom"...REally?! i mean, REally?!!
So, we pull into the school, and it is now 9:23, and now i have to go in with them to the front office and check them in...we are running.  Check in, run back to the car, buckle the girls, and head to the doctor.  I know there is no way that i will make my appointment on time...if i speed, we will be 10-12 minutes late, if we are lucky.  I call my sister...i just need to vent about my morning.   She is patiently listening, inserting the occasional, "Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"  that she is required as my "person" to say.  Then, i notice my gas light is on...but, there is no time to stop...I'm pretty sure we can make it there.  So, I'm chatting away with my sis, and I'm almost to the exit that the doctor's office is off of, and suddenly, my car steering just stops working.  I'm panicking now...."Oh my gosh" i say, "my steering wheel wont turn....seriously, my whole car is just like, turning off!  Brooke, what do i do?!"  To which she calmly says, "Um, you are out of gas"...followed by, "are you at the exit yet?  You need to try to coast as far as you can and get off the freeway". 
OH MY HELL!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!
She is right...i have run out of gas - in more ways than one at this point.  So, we coast as far as we can onto the shoulder of the road in the middle of the exit ramp.  I look around.  We are probably about a mile and a half from the chevron i can see in the distance.  I turn around and look at my two girls.  Neither one of them has a coat, and Faith made it out of the house without shoes today...and it is winter.  I just put my head on the steering wheel and cry and have my own little pity party. 
Luckily for me, my brother-in-law lives right off this exit too.  I call his wife, and in between embarrassment and tears, i explain where i am and what has happened, and can one of them go fill up a gas can and come help me?  Thankfully, she says her husband is home, and she will send him. 
So, we sit waiting, and my girls are starting to lose it, and Faith needs to go potty.  We get out and go potty on the side of the road.  We get back in.  My girls want to go...."Why are we just SITTING here, mom?!!"  they want to listen to music, and for me to turn the heat on...the no gas thing isn't making much sense to them.
I call the doctor's office, and explain what has happened and ask if there is any way they could still squeeze me in?  but, alas, they can't...not until 2:20 pm that day.  And i think, "of course not!  Why would it be any different than that?!!"
So, my brother in-law appears, gas can in hand, and saves me.  I chug on down the rest of the exit to the Chevron to fill up my car.  After getting gas, i get back in the car and start the drive home...it's now 11:20, and Lily has school in an hour.  When my girls realize we are just driving back home now, they fall apart...and i feel like falling apart too...because i realize i will arrive home just in time to feed the girls lunch, and get Lily dropped off at school...only to get back in the car, and head back to the doctor's office...and on the way home, I'll probably have to fill up the car again so we don't repeat the events of this glorious day, in the very same afternoon.