I think that the "no death rule" should be in effect for this thread -- naturally, a death of a loved one trumps "bad days".

So here's one that comes to mind: We had recently had our house painted, including window ledges (this guy was very thorough.) A Nor'easter came along -- our sump in the basement could not keep up with incoming water and so we had mild flooding -- that I could deal with. But I noticed too, that water was coming in most of our window sills too. Turns out that the painter had painted the "weep holes' and so water was not draining. I did all I could to keep soaking up the water with bathroom towels then throwing them in the dryer to re-use. We have LOTS of windows. I had an infant and a toddler at home, and my DH was out-of-town on business. Needless to say, it was a very busy day!

You're right, Maura63, I meant the kind of worst day that life sometimes hands us. Not the worst kind of days when we lose someone we love.

I bet on that wet day, as busy as it kept you, you should have been twins. LOL Dottie

I think my very worse day was just recently when i had my biopsy for breast cancer.I knew before they were done with it,what the outcome would be.It's just one of those things you feel in your heart.I started crying while they were still doing it,cried all the way home and continued to cry for over 4 hours.Poor DH didn't know what to do.

The nurse had told us to call our family dr for an anxiety med,and i did that,but i could hardly talk to the receptionist when i called.The dr called it in and dh went to pick it up.That was the first time in 70 years of life i had to go on that kind of meds.
Kathi

OH!Mine happened on April 22, 2005. I wrote it down, cuz it was just so crazy!!

"I was telling my sister over the phone what happened today, and I could hardly believe it myself, so I thought I should write it down.
After a great BIG rum and coke (and, I'm not a drinker. I've had a beer in my fridge for over 6 months, and this little bottle of rum for over a year), I've decided I need to write it down so I don't forget, or maybe not believe.
First off, I have to say I believe in fate, or whatever. Things happen for a reason. Sometimes (make that most of the time) I may not know what the reason is, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. I need to learn a lesson from today, but I haven't quite got it. What IS it I need to learn. I feel like I've been hit on the head over and over and over today. Days like today don't happen for nothing.
Today started off like most. My alarm went off. I got out of bed, got a clean towel and went to the bathroom for a shower. As I stepped into the bathroom door, my toes squished into something that wasn't there the night before. I look down, and there's a big pile of cat puke between my toes. Ick! I should have gone back to bed right then.
But, I didn't.
Got ready for work. Running a little late and I'm in a hurry. My car doesn't quite catch on the first try, so I do it again, and pump the gas. Big mistake. I try to take off, and my car doesn't want to move. I baby it down the driveway, and put it in neutral and floor it to clean the carburator out. Seems fine now. I take off down the road, and it's sluggish, and doesn't want to go. I can't get to work like that! So, I turn around to get my bug, hoping there's gas in it. It's on the reserve tank, but that's plenty to get to work. I'll leave my first job a bit early and get gas. Work goes just fine. I leave a little early....but I can't leave. I have a flat tire. Call my cousin to see if she could bring me a can of fixaflat. She's barely awake. I call my dad. Talk to mom, and she says dad's home, but outside somewhere. I call the tire shop where I got the tires, and they say they'll fix it for free, but I have to get it there first or pay a $25 service call. I don't HAVE $25. Call dad again. This time he answers and says he'll come and pump my tire up so I can drive to the tire shop. That goes well. He drops me off at the school, and I notice my cell phone isn't in my pocket. I figure it fell out in his car, so I look between the seats etc. NO PHONE. Gawd. What else can go wrong? I go inside, call the tire shop and ask them to look in my car to see if my phone is there. . . it is. Whew.
Work goes well. I was only 3 minutes late. I come home. Start the Chevy. It starts right up and purrs like a kitten. I take a sigh of relief and think...ok, glad all that's over!
I come in the house, make a nice cup of latte, go outside for a coffee and smoke, let the dust settle, calm down, life is good, nothing bad has happened.
Inside, and I hear a shrill scream! Violet is on the porch in hysterics. She's been stung by a bee! Poor child. She's so afraid of bees, and she always seems to get stung when visiting me, and she's the ONLY one who gets stung. We put frozen veggies on her foot, her mom gets out some "special bee cream" (toothpaste) and she starts to calm down. Put some benedryl gel on it. A bandaid. OK. Calm resumes.

My friend/neighbor calls to see if I could/would/PLEASE peel and cut 5 dozen eggs so she can make deviled eggs for her son's wedding reception tomorrow. Well, heck......why not?
Get them all done, and now my house smells like boiled eggs. Bad.
I take them back over to her house, and on the way back to mine, I notice poor old Wylie dog looking a bit stressed. I tell him to get out of the sun, and he tries to stand, stumbles and almost falls. Things are not right with Wylie. I carry him into the house figuring he's got heat stroke. (it was very hot today. Nearly 90) Laura, my cousin, and I put him in front of the fan, and put cool water on his ears and nose and under his pits to try and get him cool. His eyes are twitching very strangely. Cathe, his owner should be home any minute. This is just what she needs this eve before her son's reception. Wylie throws up. Big time. Many times. Cathe comes home, and tries to call her sis in law who works at the vet, but she's out of town. She makes a few more calls. Finally just calls the vet, but of course they can't tell anything unless they see him. I put Wylie in the tub and run a lukewarm shower on him to cool him because he's not getting better. He seems a little better, but not better. We take him outside to see if he can walk yet. He's kinda wandering around in a daze. He's 14, maybe he's had a stroke?
I realize I haven't seen Bunny since I got home...................................................where's my cat? We decide to take Wylie to the vet, but I need to find my cat first. I go to my back door to see if she's in my bedroom, and Violet's in there, in a panic because she put a video in the TV (it's a combo tv/vcr in one) and it won't come out. I calm her down, meaning I have to calm myselft down. That helps. No Bunny......
Rose said she saw her earlier going 'round back, so I go looking for her and find her on the pallet table. OK. Fine. I pick her up.......and she's got this HUGE poo pile stuck on/in her BUTT! OMG! Don't touch her backside, she hurts. I can't deal with this now, I need to go with Cathe to take Wylie to the vet, where we are pretty sure he won't be coming home alive from. She took off work when I had to put my Pook Dog down, I need to be there for her.
Sooooooooooooooo Cathe and I take Wylie to the vet.
Wylie's going to be FINE! It's some sort of syndrome old dogs get in their inner ear. He threw up because he was dizzy. He can't walk because he was dizzy. Whew. Another catastrophy avoided. We are almost giddy with relief. I take Wylie outside while Cathe settles up the bill. She comes running out, saying I HAVE to come see something. On the desk is a flyer with head shots of a black cat that looks EXACTLY like Bunny's brother, Bear that went missing last 4th of July. OMG. Someone found this cat and named him Bones because when they found him, he was skin and bones. He was the right age, was neutered, friendly and liked other cats. The only thing was, it didn't mention his lack of a tail.....I call the number on the flyer....my heart racing and my hands shaking. Dang...no answer. I get the machine, so I leave my name, number and why I called.
As soon as we get home, I hear my phone ringing. I RUN and answer it, and it's the lady from the flyer. I ask her about the tail. This kitty she found has got a perfect little tail. Not my Bear. I'm ready for an emotional meltdown.
OK, I'm ready for that drink now. Gawd, I NEED that drink now......WAIT. BUNNY poopy Butt. Oh, man. I still have to take care of BunBun. Thank goodness she's a rather docile cat. I don my rubber gloves, get some scissors, the cat, and lock us in the bathroom with the ceiling fan on. Poor Bunny. She let me cut the hair holding the poomat, but she didn't like it. Not a bit. OK. Got the big stuff off. Now, I have to try and WASH this big fuzzy kitties butt. I've never really given her a bath before. Got her in the tub, and used the handheld shower. She tried to squeeze between my legs, and I caught her and held her with my knees. Her front end out of the tub, and the important end IN the tub, getting a good soaking.
Cat's done. Time for that drink!
Change my clothes, have a drink and a smoke, and take a big sigh of relief........oh yeah, the tape's stuck in the tv...........the tv won't even come on. By this time, I've had a good part of that rum and coke. Things are pretty funny. I get two screwdrivers and a pair of pliers and start operating. (after I unplug it. DUH! IT'S NOT WOORRKKIINNGGG!
I plug it back in and push the power button. Nothing. The satellite receiver has power. I'm thinking......there must be a reset button on the back. Rose gets a pen, Laura gets a flashlight, I put the tv on the bed, face down. I kinda flip it back up..................and the video falls out. Sheesh! But, there's still no power to the tv. I dunno what the deal is with that. Time to Freecycle for a new tv I guess.
So, out of ALL that, there was really nothing permanent that was devistating. (well, except I have no tv but that's a little thing).
My Chevy started just fine when I got home. I got my flat tire fixed for free. My cell phone was found in my car. Violet calmed down after the "special bee cream". Wylie's gonna be fine in about a week. Bunny got her butt cleaned.
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
What I want to know is:
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT? HUH?"

That was my very bad, horrible, no good day.

Not sure anyone can top that one! Good heavens!

Mine happened last Thanksgiving... I posted it on the Cooking Forum because that's where I spend most of my time here.

What an "interesting" Thanksgiving I had. Where do I even begin? I decided to bring food in to work for Thursday... I knew no one else would and since I don't have a family and had to work anyway I figured I might as well. I stopped at Publix on the way home from work to get the bird. I was afraid they would be out, but they weren't.
When I got back in my car, I turned it on and heard a weird noise. I turned it off immediately and my starter was still going. My starter was stuck on. Like an idiot, I tried to drive the rest of the way home (less than a mile, I *could* have walked). Well, I got out on the road and my car immediately died. Lights and everything off. I opened the hood and my battery cable had melted in half and was hanging loose. I called AAA and they took 4 hours to come get my car. That's the quickest it has EVER taken them so I was "happy".

My gal pal Sheila said she'd spend the night with me to take me to work the next day. I didn't have to work until 1 so we spent the whole day cooking before work. She was a godsend and definitely what I was Thankful for this year. I made a 15 LB turkey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, corn on the cob, rolls, gravy from the turkey drippings, and three pumpkin pies. Sheila helped me with the gravy because I had never made it before. At about noon, I went in to take a shower before work. When I came out, she had finished the rolls and washed every dish that I had dirty. That was a lot... my normally overstuffed "junk" drawer of kitchen utensils had only 2 items left in it untouched that day! We loaded the car up. I gave her one of the pies to take to work because she didn't have a chance to make anything of her own. We sat in her car and she turned the key. All we heard was click, click, click, click, click! Her battery was dead! I couldn't jump her because my car was dead. I have a portable jump starter, but I forgot to keep it charged and it too was dead. We could have called AAA, but they'd have taken 6 hours to get there. The only neighbor I know was working... well I know another but he was in Ohio for the holiday. What could we do? Well, there is a trusty always open Wal-mart right across the street. Don't they sell car batteries?

So, we flounced over to Wal-mart and bought a battery for her car. Now "just across the street" doesn't sound like a very long distance. Unless you are carrying a goodness knows how heavy car battery in the POURING RAIN. From where I live in the complex, it was a 15 minute walk. We switched off carrying it so it wasn't *too* tough on either of us. Did I mention that she was in a skirt and I was in my work clothes (khakis and polo shirt)? Yeah, that too. We didn't know if we should giggle or cry. We solved it rather neatly... we giggled until we cried. We must have looked very silly carrying that battery across the street. As we crossed the street, she lost her cell phone and the battery (phone not car) and cover flew apart. I'm surprised we didn't get creamed by a Mack. It took me ten minutes to install the battery. I'm proud of myself just for doing something to a car other than driving it and filling the tank. She has had this car a month and it's only 2 years old so we didn't think the battery would have gone this quickly. She said she didn't leave anything on. All I know is that two cars broke in two days and I'm going to start riding a horse!

I got to work and everyone enjoyed the food. Today, I paid a "mobile" mechanic 60 bucks to come fix my car. He put a new starter in and it's good as new. Plus, I now have an honest, friendly, and cheap mechanic. How wonderful!

When the car thing first happened, I was so upset that I didn't want to make anything. By the time I woke up Thursday, I changed my mind. I didn't want to let such a silly problem ruin the holiday for me. I was VERY thankful for the electric (not to mention human) help in my kitchen. My oven isn't big enough to do a turkey, three pies, and brown the sweet potatoes. I did one pie and the sweet potatoes in my microwave that is also a toaster oven. I never use that feature, but was glad to have it. I really tested the mixer... I tried to mix all three pies in the bowl of my KA Classic. It worked, but the kitchen looked like a murder had taken place with all the spattered pie goo.

Not sure if there's a lesson in all of this, but I hope the puppeteer pulling my life strings got a good chuckle.

Thanks for the laugh tonight!

Phyllis

The most recent was a year ago this month. My son called me at work to tell me he had wrecked his car going to college. I got in my car and drove thru a terrible rain with bad wipers and no defrost to get to him not knowing what I would find. I thought I wasn't going to make it without passing out. It took me over 30 minutes to get there and I was having trouble breathing. I said the 23rd Psalm many times and sang many scripture songs on the way. He had hydroplaned and totaled his car but was not hurt. I couldn't drive back home--I made him drive after just having a wreck!!! We still have not been financially able to get him another car. Trying to use one car for school and a full time job can really be crazy at times but look at all the gas and insurance money we've saved. That was as close as I have ever gotten to having to go to the ER with my nerves.

Nothing like what has been mentioned! I have had my share but I try not to dwell on the negative...I remind myself to remember there is someone a lot worse off than me!

1. In 1999...Discovering the "lump" in my breast, having the biopsy done and three days later hearing "positive breast cancer".

2. The death of my dear MIL.

3. Breast cancer recurrence in 2003.

In the mid 1970's my brother and I were leaders for a church backpacking group. 10 kids for 10 days in the Mts. We got dropped off, given a map and told to be at X in 10 days. The trail they sent us in on no longer existed! For 2 days we were totally lost, slogging through brush and rocks. Eventually we made it to a campsite where a trail did exist and we were able to go on and complete our trip.
I don't mind being lost by myself; but, I hate being lost and also being responsible for others.

Ron

the family (and its a big family), was having Christmas dinner at my house
and for some reason, (i cant recall why), we lost water .... ALL DAY !!! NO WATER and over 30 people (lots of kids) at my house