Stuff

This morning was kind of eery. As I hear a neighbor mowing their lawn, I look out to see it snowing! Huh?!? Crazy how cold it got so fast. Good thing we're headed to S. Cali, where it's supposed to be sunny and warm.

I took the boys to the dollar store to get a toy for the car. They actually took their own money, so I let them pay. You know what Tyler was the most excited about? He actually got a receipt. He said it was his first time. He wouldn't let me throw it away. I've let them pay in the past, but usually they hand the checker their money, and then that just gets applied to all of our items. So, individual receipts was very cool.

I got my new tires after a long, frustrating time trying to get them. I had done my shopping by phone to make it easier. The cheapest place (least money per mile) was Costco, so I headed there. That way I could also do a little shopping while I waited. Turns out when I got there that they said I need a hydro edge or whatever for my vehicle, so the tire price was going to be $130 instead of $86. Uh, no. This was annoying news on top of arriving at Costco and finding the tanker truck there so I couldn't fill my tank with gas. (I hope you all know this -- never fill your tank while the tanker truck is there. It stirs up the sediment at the bottom of the tank and actually ruined my poor nephew's engine.)

So, I called a few more places (fortunately I had written down all their numbers), and Discount Tire said they'd do a similar tire for $75. (It was guaranteed for fewer miles, but I was okay with that.) I asked if they had them in stock, and they said yes. So I headed to DT.

Costco and DT are a few blocks away from each other. I arrived, and they said they had none in stock. Hello, I called 10 minutes ago! Turns out right as he was hanging up with me someone else had those tires put on their car. They said their wait was 90 minutes, so they could send someone to another store while I got put in line. Sigh.

I actually wasn't totally frustrated or annoyed, more just tired of the whole thing. I ended up driving back to Spanish Fork (25 minutes) to drop my kids at my brother's and back to Orem for my tires. When I came back he informed me they had forgotten to send someone to the other store. Grrr. I would go elsewhere, but I forgot to mention that they were also giving me $25 off for being a first-time customer, making this a way better deal per mile than any other place. Okay, I can wait ...

So, I sat down and started reading a magazine. (I'll have to post later about my annoyance with liberal media.) I was sans kids, so the wait wasn't too bad. However, I was just tired of the situation. Next time I'll try not to wait until the last minute so I can have my neighbor (whom we call "the tire guy") to do it so I can sit in my house and do anything I want while getting new tires.

At least now it's done and we should be done with car repairs for a while ... at least on this vehicle. :) Paul's car needs new tires and a repair we've put off, but it's the first repair it's needed in five years. I LOVE Toyotas. I wish the American car-makers would learn a thing or two about their quality ...

Oh, and Paul gets to go to the BYU game today thanks to Hilary. If you ask me, she picked a great day to give up tickets -- it really is freezing here!!! Go, BYU! Beat 'em fast so my Paul doesn't freeze his goatee off. :)