Car Fixing Superwoman!

You would think that I would blog more with more time at home. I don't think there is much to comment on I guess. Then there is an occasional day like this. When I have something to say, well it can be a lot more than you bargained for.

I should explain this latest quote from me "If people would tell me the stuff they don't remember, my day would have been a whole lot easier." I had one of those days the other day. I haven't had one in awhile. I can say I didn't really miss having one of those days. I thought all was fine. I was playing zoo tycoon with Hannah that morning a little bit. I guess I took over because she told me "It's not as much fun watching you play it for so long." I took a hint. But she went to a friends house and I played it a little more. Then I was about to take Autumn to the doctor for the umpteenth time for her toe. But this doctor was giving us an option over loosing her whole toenail so we were following up before the big Wyoming camp and walk trek she is going on next week. That would be bad to deal with the infected toenail during that. So we get in the car to go. I go down my street to go the no stoplight way to the doctor's office. I just past the church and I turn. There is water in the gutter and now as soon as I turn the power steering is gone. FLASHBACK!! Two summers ago, Lee Joe was in southern california, I loose my power steering and here a clunk on the busiest road in town. I lost my tensioner pulley. This time, I am familiar with the loss of power steering CRAP!! I pull into the parking lot and lift the hood to see and the belt is there but not moving. That means I need to get the car home before it overheats (know this from past experience) I get the car home and have to take the little car, the Neon. I have driven it twice maybe 3 times. It has no AC and it's a stick. I can do this, it's gonna be a hundred degrees by the way. But we have to get to the doctor. I get there just barely late. But I can't get the keys out of the ignition. I call Amber "I guess my key works the best." There is a blanket in the back and I cover the steering wheel. It looks like I don't want a hot steering wheel but I really just don't want someone driving off with a hot car. I mean like stolen. Doctor tortures Autumn with stuffing a cotton ball under her toenail but it is helping. I tell Lee Joe about the van. He remembers that he took the splash guard off the van to fix the water pump a few weeks ago. The water I went through probably made the belt slip off. He is not going to be home until the next day. I tell him I can't get the keys out of the car. Hmm, that's weird he says. I wonder why. Then I have another appointment right after that. Chiropractor. Glad to be there after the past 2 hours. I got there on time. Phew. But my shoulders are up to my ears by now.
3 stops later and still can't get the keys out of the flippin car. I finally get home, I go in the house and I tell Kelsea that I can't get the keys out of the car. She says there is a button you have to push to get them out. YOU ARE KIDDING ME!! I talked to Amber and Lee Joe and they don't tell me this????
I have helped Lee Joe get the belt on the van a few times before. I know how to do it. I really want my van back. I look online for how to get the belt on. There are like 7 different wheels it goes around. And then you have to move the tensioner pulley to get it back on. I know this but I don't know how it goes around each of the wheels. On the internet it says to look on the fan cover in the van. I am pretty sure that in vans that haven't been repaired in the past that it is there. But no picture on my van. Guess what? I have manual sitting 3 feet away from me. So I find my picture. I hunt for a 15 mm wrench. I will not be using proper tool names here. I just know how to use them. I find some rubber gloves. I hate grease under my nails. So I get the belt put where it needs to go except for the last pulley. The wrench isn't quite long enough to get the leverage I need and to get the blasted belt on. SO I try the jack handle. Not enough. I use another wrench in end of the wrench and see if I can get it to stay so I can move it. I am scared to death of it moving or slipping off and loosing a finger. I freak out about stuff like that. I try and I try and I try to get that belt on that pulley. It's not working. Hannah is dropped off at home and I go talk to the mom. I have grease literally up both arms past my elbows. Amber comes home with dinner. I am fixing a car and not cooking people!! It is about a hundred degrees now. I am shaking from heat and so I eat and wait about an hour. Everyone leaves the house except Hannah. So I recall something I read in the manual and I think I will try putting the belt on a different pulley. So I set it up, I move the tensioner and I slip the belt on like it was nothing. Not even 3 minutes and I had the freaking thing on! YEAH!! What the crap?!!! I could have had this done hours ago if I KNEW that!! There is nobody home to pat me on the back. I call Lee Joe to let him know I fixed the car and wondered if he knew how easy it was to put it on the other pulley. He knows, he learned later that it was easier to do it that way. And oh yeah! you have to push that button in to get the keys out of the other car. GRRRRR.. But you know what? I fixed my car myself and I didn't need any help. You really need some muscle to move that tensioner pulley. Good thing I have that. But I don't want to be responsible for car repairs in the future. So this is a one time celebration.

What's up?

I guess there is something to blog about finally. I will just start with, I don't think I have ever really won anything really great before. Nothing all that significant really. Maybe a candle holder once, I don't know. But Amber became a "fan" of the Boise factory outlets and she told me about a little contest thingy where if you comment on a status you might win a gift certificate to Sunglass hut. Amber, another Kim and I all commented and we all 3 won $100 gift certificate! I have spent less than $15 on most of my pairs of sunglasses. I wear sunglasses whenever I go outside so I really use them. I have never cared about brand of glasses. Just so I don't look like a total dork. I would never consider spending even $50 on sunglasses. But it was fun to go and shop for brand name sunglasses just because you could. In the end I found a pair of Ray Bans that I REALLY liked and they were $99. Most everything else was around 119 or 150. I got them and then they were 6 dollars over my gift card. I can handle that. So now I feel super silly wanting to find some silly excuse to wear them. Amber got herself a pair of really cute Vogue sunglasses and hers happened to be on sale so she go back and spend $15 more. I like them and can't wait to enter another contest. Amber also won a pedicure. We will have to pay attention and there will be more fun for us.

We went to Nevada to catch up with Lee Joe's long lost relatives. We spent time at Lake Lahontan on the first full day we were there and then we managed to get to Tahoe and spent some time there and had pictures at Molly's new house that was just a wonderful house that she has worked so hard for. I got to catch up a little with a high school friend I had not seen in 20 years. That was great. My 20 year high school reunion will be in August so I might be able to catch up with more people then.

I left late that night. It is about 7 hours of driving to get home. I had the other licensed teens with me. Amber drove some and then I did. FYI-the rabbits are breeding like... rabbits out there. I had seen 3 going to Nevada-hit one bunny :( I had a close encounter with an antelope. On the way back there were 7 we didn't hit any. Getting back to this really cool experience, I like to listen to my ipod while traveling and when everyone is asleep I put on my big headphones as I drive. We love movie soundtracks. We have all 3 Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks on my ipod. We just got the soundtrack to "How to train your dragon" (I LOVED that movie by the way) So anywho.. I was listening to that as I drove in the rolling mountains around Jordan Valley. They roll up and down and around. Nothing way to curvy or any real treacherous drops on the side. But the road isn't that smooth so it kind of feels bouncy at times. But when you are listening to music that goes to the part in the movie where the boy is flying with his dragon, it's pretty cool. What was absolutely breathtaking was rolling down and up and around and coming around a corner and you are listening to the flying music and then all of a sudden you see the valley covered in lights and the sun is starting to glow over the top of the distant mountain range on the other side of the valley. With the music and how beautiful it was, it did take my breath away. It was real life with a soundtrack. You couldn't even take a picture or recapture the moment. Everyone was asleep so it was only my moment. But it was so cool.

The rest of my life-Recovering from not working by getting next to nothing done. Took kids to the dentist two days in a row. Used the kids free roaring springs tickets so I took the 3 youngest. Starting our public pool visits. Favorite part of summer! Kelsea has a job at Justice. We have another teenage girl in the house! 6 girls. Kylee is babysitting a lot. Kids are finding ways to earn money and it's actually difficult to plan things with all the girls because someone is always coming or going.

By the way, I appreciate the comments left on my blogs. I haven't been that good at responding, but happy summer! And the dog is still with us. He has his good days and bad days. We will see how he handles the 4th. He doesn't handle the fireworks well at all but I think his hearing is going because he hasn't reacted to the fireworks much today as he has in the past.