Grrrr...What a Crummy Day....

I was THRILLED this morning when I got up at 4:30 to take the boys out. It was actually SNOWING! How excited *was* I? Well, I ran and got my camera! I took two pictures...both into the lights and you could SEE the snow!

This one was off the front porch....(I love those little "trailers"!)

And, one from the back door of the garage....

The sad fact is, this is as far as I got in my picture-taking efforts today. Yup, as I was taking these pictures, I had already made plans to drag out the antique sled (that was mine!) and perhaps tie scarves on the boys and seat them on the sled in the snow. Cute, right?

I made a rip-snorting fire in the garage long before daybreak. By the time Mark and Ben were ready to head out to the garage to do a brake change on the Explorer, the garage was warm enough to work in shirt sleeves despite the temps in the high teens outside.

Mark asked me to help him and Ben get the wheel up in the air and set the jackstands under the car. He was going to do one wheel at a time. NOT!

It took all of our strength to loosen the lug nuts on the first tire. Once this was done, Mark began to take the tire off....NOT! That dirty son of a sea biscuit was adhered so tightly, no cranking, banging, smacking, nor kicking was going to remove it. Mark sprayed WD-40 on it, thinking perhaps that might loosen the bugger up. In the meantime, we moved on to the next wheel.

Can you say EXACT repeat of wheel #1? By this time, I was getting so frustrated. It was well after 11 am by this time. Somehow, I KNEW my day was going to be shot....Mark called the Ford garage and the service manager suggested loosening the lug nuts to finger tight and taking the car for a ride. He suggested doing circles....tight ones....to loosen the "welded on" wheel. He advised the best place to do this would be a parking lot.

We drove two miles to the nearest paved lot. We circled....and circled.....and circled some more.

After doing this crazed exercise, we returned home only to discover that the wheel was as snug as before. Mark tried using a hammer to gently remove the wheel, being so careful not to damage the nice aluminum alloy wheels. Still nothing.

Finally, I remembered that the place where we purchased the tires offers free rotations. Mark called them and they said that everyone was coming in to have their snow treads mounted, but they could do it.

I had made a pot of meatballs and sauce this morning, so before we left, I made pasta and we ate.

We arrived at the garage at about 1:45. I had followed Mark in the new truck as we had several things we could do while waiting on the car. We ran to the post office where I was FINALLY able to mail out two packages to a couple of my Scottie friends. And, I got the stamps to mail all of my Christmas cards. Then, off to Lowe's to grab some screws Mark needed and to look around a little. After that, we stopped at WalMart to grab a few odds and ends. Then, on to the auto supply store to pick up brake pads and rotors....to the tune of over $250.00!

Finally, at about 4 pm, the service man called and said the tires were rotated! Hurrah! BUT, did I know that my car was out of inspection? Like, it was SUPPOSED to be done last FEBRUARY? UGH....I have no idea HOW that happened. We made an appointment for next Tuesday, hoping and praying we can get the new brakes on by then!

By the time we got back home, it was dark, so no cute Scottie pictures to send. I told Michelle that we will get up early tomorrow, and as SOON as the sun is UP, we are OUTSIDE to take pictures. She agreed.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I got to do one of my FAVORITE things TWICE today! (NOT!!!!!!!!) On the way to the garage, I had to fill up the Explorer. On the way home, I got to fill up the pickup truck. The gas station is located at the head of the lake and the wind is exceedingly STRONG there. AND, my warm little gloves were at home on my table.......ughhhhhhhh..........I figure the wind chill factor must have been about -45 there as I stood filling the bottomless tank.

OK, I am just going to go hide under the covers and PRETEND this day never happened! I feel as though I was run over by a Mac truck. Sometimes life is just draining, and THIS was one of THOSE days!

Tomorrow, we are going to Carly's house. Mark is going to help her install her new Microwave/fan combo. She bought this on Black Friday and Mark agreed to help her...it will be a nice change after the events of this day.

So much for singing Christmas carols, wrapping presents, watching old movies, baking cookies, and doing all the FUN stuff....oh, how I LONG for simpler days.......And, if you are doing any of the above things, please know I am there in spirit!