the good and the bad

sometimes life sucks.... like really sucks.  but there are other times when something good comes from the bad that has you smiling so big your cheeks hurt.

chris and i had one of those moments yesterday.

ever since chris got hired at Consolidated Disposal he's been leaving at 4 in the morning in our one working car.  that left me stranded and begging rides from neighbors and friends for almost a month.  finally i had it.  i said, okay, we'll take what money we have and get one of the other cars up and running, cuz i can't keep doing this.  so we did.  we bought a new battery, changed the oil, replaced this, fixed that (you can tell im really good with cars...lol) and got chris' old car working again.

except for the tires.  one was completely bald.  like the steel was showing through.  so we pulled it off and put the spare tire there.  then we'd had this problem with one of the other tires going flat because it had a bend rim.  so we bought a new rim.  problem solved.  or so we thought...

last week the tire went flat again.  assuming it was the same problem i just filled it with air again and drove home like normal.  chris bought some fix-a-flat, which the intention of using it once the air was all out of the tire again.  so tuesday morning i woke up, checked the tire, which looked the same as the day before and got in and drove to the post office.  3/4 of the way there i felt that horrible "thud-thud" feeling and knew i was completely flat.  bummer.  so now im stranded at the post office. a nice couple gave me a ride home and i waited till chris got off work.  we headed to the post office and tried the fix-a-flat.  and chris found a sizable puncture in the tire.  apparently that was the problem!  :P

so we pulled the tire off and headed for Les Schwab to have them patch it, which they will do for free.  but once they looked at it, i had ruined the tire by driving on just the rim the remaining way to the post office that morning.  they said we would have to buy a brand new tire.  and we dont have the money.  we got this news while we were out running other errands and we both felt just deflated.  after spending money getting the car running, it seemed as though i would be stuck again without a vehicle, at least until payday.

so we went back to Les Schwab to pick up our lonely rim.  i stayed in the car while chris went inside.  and he was in there like 15 minutes.  i was beginning to wonder what was going on when out the door he came with the biggest smile on his face and a brand new tire on the rim.  he caught my eye and mouthed  "FREE!!"  apparently the tire was still under warranty since it had almost full tread and so they just replaced it for us!!  i haven't seen my boy smile that big in a long time.  it made my heart so full.

so home we went to put the new tire back on the car.  and i got to work just fine this morning.  :)

  yay for good customer service and happy husbands.  :)