New Tires

Sooo not a bargain.

My driver side rear tire has been going flat every couple of mornings for about 2 weeks now. I go out to start the car so it is warm for the boys and there is a flat tire. So I drag out the air compressor, let it charge up, air up the tire and put it all away again. All at the butt crack of dawn in the freezing cold. My neighbors are starting to really hate me.

It was getting to be a HUGE pain in the ass so I took it to the tire shop Friday. They said it was a valve stem. They fix it and I bring it home.

By Saturday morning the damn tire is flat again. So I make Hubbs air up the tire so we can run our errands. By 7 that night, the tire was flat. Again.

Yesterday, I took my car back to the tire shop. Obviously it wasn't the valve stem because it is worse than before. I tell them to fix my stupid flucking tire right and call me when it was done.

Yesterday afternoon I got a call. Apparently Friday when I said the driver side rear tire was flat they thought I meant the passenger side front tire was the one with the issue.

That sounds totally the same, right? Stupid shits replaced the valve stem on the passenger side front tire. And the valve stem wasn't even the problem. Uhhh, duh?

My tire keeps going flat because it is separating on the inside. Ok, so I need a new tire. They also casually asked if I knew that my front tires were a different size than the rear ones.

YES? I have been telling them for a year that my tires are rubbing on my struts. I can hear it every time I turn. Plus if I look in the wheel well, I can see where the rubber is being worn away on the inside.

I get that I am a chick and am inferior because I don't have a penis *snort* but I am NOT stupid. I was temped to ask him if he had forgotten that I work in a body shop. Dummy.

So really, I need 4 new tires but can get away with only getting 2 right now.

I had to sit down when they told me how much each tire cost. $250 each tire. I told them very nicely where they could shove those $250 tires. I can get them cheaper somewhere else and would never be using that tire shop again.

In order not to lose business the tire guy said he would give me 2 tires for $211. That was a little more reasonable but not even close to what I really wanted to spend which was nothing since it was their screw up in the first (and second) place.

Ugh, it killed me to write out that check. And I should have just picked up my car and not let that shop touch another thing on it. I know better than that! But it had to be done right then.

I only spent the money I had and didn't have to put it on a credit card. So a teeny yay for me.

BUT, if everything goes as planned........in a couple of weeks Hubbs and I will own half of a business. BIG yay for me! Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

Check back to read more about our big business venture. I have a post started already but it is all jumbled because I am still trying to process it all.

Finally

We finally got to go on our weekend camping trip.

It was so much fun. The kids were great, the dogs were great, everything was great.

But I have to tell you, camping is NOT a bargain. Well, for normal people, it probably is. For us, not so much.

As I posted before, this camping in a tent shit is totally new to me. Years ago we had a little trailer that we could hitch up to our little V-2 truck (seriously, the HHR has more balls) and we were set. I think if we would have kept the trailer instead of selling it, we would have actually ended up with more money.

We had to basically start from scratch. When we sold the trailer, I either gave away or threw away everything camping related. I kept a few things but over the years they ended up getting put in with our regular household stuff.

Friday, Hubbs called me at work and told me that he wanted to go to the bar that night and have some drinks with a few friends. I was pissed since there was NO way I was going to get the rest of the stuff packed and try to keep the kids under control, PLUS do the grocery shopping and pick up the last minute things. So I told him he was being an asshole and just to forget the whole camping idea. Then I guilt tripped him, telling him that we have been promising this to the boys for weeks now and he has managed to screw it up for them, again.

I know, it was a shitty thing to tell him. I have to be a bitch sometimes. But in my defence, I was PMSing and can't be held responsible for my actions.

He found a baby sitter for the boys (all by himself) and convinced me to go to the steak fry at the Elks Club. After we ate and he had a couple of drinks(and I was calmed down enough to listen to him), we decided to just throw what we needed for the night into the HHR and come back in the morning to pick up the truck and the rest of our crap.

We get home, pay the baby sitter and start rushing around like nobodies business. By this time it is already 7 p.m. We throw what I already had packed up into the HHR, throw in the kids and the dogs and head off to the grocery store to pick up dinner and breakfast stuff.

And alcohol of course. Lots and lots of alcohol.

We have to go back to the house and re-stuff the car. Eventually we had to put one of the back seats down, put both car seats next to each other (usually a bad idea since then the boys can actually reach one another and normally results in a bite mark or a bruise by the end of the car ride) and stuck the dogs on Hubb's lap.

When we finally get on the road, it is already around 9:15, 9:30ish. I wanted to forget about it but we were so far into it, it would not be worth it to wait. It is an hour drive during the day but since it was dark (and I was driving) it took closer to an hour and a half.

Hubbs talked the ENTIRE drive. I finally had to direct his conversation towards Monk Man since I was having a hard time focusing on the road. I try not to drive at night because I can't see that well in the dark anymore, plus there were all these shadows jumping around by the side of the road. I know it was the headlights and trees but I was so sure an elk or something was going to run out in front of us.

This post is getting crazy long so I will make you wait until tomorrow (or knowing me, the next day) for the rest of the story.

Stupid Car

I went out this morning to start the car and it, well, it didn't. The dash lights come on but nothing happens when I turn the key.

Piece of shit.

Hopefully it is still under warranty. If not, we are going to have to trade it in sooner than we expected.

The dealership is going to tow it right now.

That's one of the good things that came from me working there for so long. When I need something, they jump right on it.

My PSA of all PSAs: Please, please, please, don't buy a Chevrolet HHR. All they are are problems.