So Much For a Relaxing Afternoon

I had originally planned to do a little cleaning and then kick back while Hannah was at school. HAH! I did get some cleaning done but then discovered that coming back from dropping Hannah off at school, I ran over a nail and that my back tire was flat. Nice. I start to take the jack out and realize that I don't think I have anything to take the nuts off of the tire with. I call Dad. He says there should be one with the jack. After a little digging, I found it. I can't get the nuts off. I call Dad. Which way do you turn the nuts to get them off? Counter-clockwise. Got it. There I am, in the garage, jumping on this stupid wrench to try to get the nuts loose. They finally loosen. Okay...where do I put the jack? That one took me about 5 minutes. I also managed to tear a hole in my pants with the stupid thing. Okay. The wheel is off of the ground. I take off the nuts and the hubcap and tire. That tire is a heavy son of a bitch. By this point, I'm sweating profusely but I'm in the home stretch. I grab the spare and roll it over. Which way does the thing go on? I call Dad (who I'm sure is getting pretty annoyed) who tells me to look at my other tires to gauge. Ummm. Okay. I finally decide on a side and discover that I have very little arm strength left. It took me forever to get that bastard on. I get the nuts on and tightened and lower the van. I give the nuts one last tighten and put everything in the trunk. 35 minutes from start to finish. And the only injury was when I kicked the spare and lifted my toenail (which by this point is bleeding all over).

I wash my hands and call Dad to let him know that everything's done but there's no answer...I figure he's finally gotten tired of my calls...shrug and go get Hannah from school. While I'm driving there, I remember that I still have the string from the spare hanging from the bottom of the van. Crap. I pull into the pick up line and go around back to open the hatch to pull the string in...the full size tire falls out and lands on my foot. A nice big red mark from the tire, several colorful words from me and the tire and the string are secured in the trunk.

Now, I get to go pick up the boys and then head over to Sam's to have the freaking tire fixed. I'm tired, sore, gimpy from the tire falling on my foot, bloody from kicking the tire and a little queasy from all of this. I need a chauffeur.

Car Repair

Okay, it's actually the van, but whatever.

For about a year now, the blower for the vents either has to be on high or not at all. This is the second time it's happened, so I knew that it was nothing critical to the van running, so I've dragged my feet on getting it fixed. It's been particularly annoying this summer, though, because it's been so darn hot. So, we've either been freezing or sweating. I've noticed, lately, that my brakes don't feel right. The kicker was when the van began squealing. Okay...time for it to get fixed.

When we first moved to Virginia and were living in temporary housing in Herndon, I took the van in to have the blower motor and brakes fixed. I remember it costing a fortune and thought that if we add in a belt (I thought that's what was squealing), it just might cost us a child or two.

I held my breath when the phone rang this morning and it was the Dodge dealership on the other end. "We've figured out what's wrong with your van," the guy tells me. The squealing is indeed a belt that needs to be replaced. Okay. My brakes are shot and I do need new ones. Okay. I need a new motor so that the blower doesn't only work on high. Okay...what's it going to cost? $300 less than what it cost 3 years ago to fix just the brakes and blower motor. Seriously? Deal! The van will be ready for pick up later this afternoon. Sweet.

In the meantime, I'm driving Mike's Kia. It's always so strange for me to drive the car. It's so much lower than the van. When I pulled up in carpool to drop the boys off this morning, I almost hit the curb and it was really funny watching the boys get out. They are so used to being able to stand up and get out of the van that they were struggling to get out. It didn't help that the child lock was engaged on the back door so Jacob had to open the door for him (after teasing Daniel for a minute...which Daniel hated).

I really can't wait to get the van back...the first thing I'm going to do is put the blower on low!