And that is why I don't like working on Saturdays!

Last Thursday we went to Provo with Scott so I could some work done on the car. We finally got our winter tires switched off the car for our regular tires. Then we went to get the safety and emissions done. We failed safety for two reasons: 1) Our back window is tinted over the top brake light. We have been told this before by a couple of places but then they just pass us because it is such an old car. These people did pass us eventually, but I had to promise to take the car back soon so they could scrape the tint off over the brake light. Whatever! and 2) our exhaust manifold was cracked. I had no idea what this was but it had to be replaced if we wanted to pass. So $300+ later we passed the inspection. Amazingly enough, this took care of the nasty smells we have been getting with our car. I had taken it to two different places to get checked because of the bad smell, both places said we were just burning oil and there was nothing they could do.

I don't normally work on Saturdays, but this past one was the Provo Children's Book Festival at the library so it was mandatory that we all were there. I knew it was going to be a great day when I got stuck in an inexplicable traffic jam halfway there. It took half an hour to go 2 miles. When traffic started to speed up again there was no sign of whatever was causing the jam except a cop sitting on the side of the road. So I get to work half an hour late. Then shortly into the morning there is a fire alarm. We evacuate the building full of Festival goers and regular library patrons just to find out a little boy had pulled the alarm.

I finally get through the day and was very ready to head home around 4:30pm. As I am leaving the parking lot I start hearing a loud sound and the car suddenly feels very weird. I pull in the other parking lot and discover I have a completely flat tire. I have never had to change a tire before so I go beg a coworkers help. Two of the lug nuts came off no problem, the other two were an entirely different matter. In fact one snapped off and the other was on the verge of doing so. I decided it was time to call in the professionals. A tow truck came at 5:30 and the driver said there is no way he can get that other one off without breaking it so we try to figure out where to tow it to. There is no garage/tire place open at 5:30 on a Saturday night with the exception of Sears, but they don't have the parts needed to fix it. So then I think we should just tow it to Big O Tires - the ones who had switched my tires just two days before - and I can get a rental car to use for the weekend. No, there are no rental car places open on a Saturday evening either. Finally we decide to just tow it to a tire place here in Payson so I at least had a ride home from Provo, even if it is 2 1/2 hours later than I should have been home. So I have an long walk ahead of me in the morning and hope that it isn't too expensive to get it fixed. Though the extremely helpful tow-truck driver said Big O should reimburse me for anything I had to pay since it was their fault for getting those two nuts cross-threaded. And hopefully my tire is fixable and not completely ruined! One of these days we will get a second car so this kind of thing isn't so traumatic for us. But in the meantime, that is why I don't like working on Saturdays, something always seems to go wrong!

Sorry such a long story but I feel much better for venting about it. I will make this entry worth reading by putting a couple of lovely pictures of Geddy and me goofing around last week. He took the one of me, not bad for a 2 -year-old. We are both sporting a bit of a sunburn due to all the time we have been spending outdoors. I took the one of him first, then he insisted that I put the pillow "the same" on my head so we can be "a team".

And I thought he didn't pay attention to the TV!

Last week while Geddy and I were waiting for our car to get worked on I was browsing through a magazine. I was reading an article when Geddy pointed to this picture on the opposite page

and said in a very serious tone, "Mama, that is the money you could be saving with Geico!"

Working Hard in the Sunshine

Geddy and I have been taking full advantage of this wonderful weather. We have had several picnics in the backyard. Every day we head out in the morning to do yard work. Geddy has helped me prune rose bushes, weed flower beds, mow the lawns, chop down an apple tree (still in progress) and take apart our nasty rusted old shed that was serving no practical purpose. We were only using it to store junk we inherited with the house. We took all the random paint cans to a hazardous waste collection a few weeks ago. I put a listing on Craigslist for all the various wood scraps and concrete tree rings we had in there - they were taken within 24 hours, yeah!!! I put all the icky shingles in the garbage can. Then Geddy and I had fun taking the shed apart. It was a creepy crawly job as there were centipedes, millipedes, roly-polies, wasps, and numerous members of the spider family - including black widows. Geddy was a great help in collecting all the screws and nuts and bolts and nails that had been used to hold this thing together. I would have loved to take all the pieces into Provo for recycling, but as we don't have a truck it would have had to sit in our driveway for awhile until we could borrow one. I just wanted it gone, so I contacted someone that advertised they would come pick up metal scraps and it was gone that evening. YEAH!!!!!
Scott and I think it looks like the perfect place for a little table and chairs and BBQ. But we are most likely going to put Geddy's basketball hoop there.


In the meantime, Geddy thinks it is a fun place to dance. I had to include this last picture because I think that Geddy is looking so grown up. I can't believe he is going to be 3 in a couple months!

Yet Another Blog

Just a quick FYI for those who are interested. I just created yet another blog! It is called What's Carol Reading? I will try to keep track of everything I read with quick summaries and reviews. I am sure most of you aren't interested in this, but it is mostly for my own personal amusement. For those who are interested in what I am reading, please feel free to leave comments with your opinions on these books or other titles you would recommend me to read. To everyone else, there will be more pictures and stories about Geddy on here soon.