FLAT!

We raced out the door this morning, determined to get the girls to school on time. I backed out of the garage and looked to see if my brake was on because we were moving so slow. Nope, brake isn't on. So, I continue forward for two whole houses when I stop because something is really wrong! I hop out of the car, walk around the back to the passenger side where I discover my back tire is totally flat!!! I slowly go back to the garage and run in the house to see if I can catch anyone still at home that can take my girls to school. My sweet friend, Wendy, who had already sent her daughter with a car pool, came and picked up my girls and took them to school for me. Thank you Wendy!

Now what? I have never changed a tire by myself, and never on my van. But I am determined to do it without making Kelly come home. I pull out my car owner's manual, change into my junk jeans, and get to work. I am doing fine for two whole steps, then I need to remove the bracket holding the spare tire under my van. After half an hour, a LOT of grease, and Ethan splitting his lip, I have not made any progress in getting the bracket off. I call Kelly and he can't tell me what to do, so I have to give in and wait for him to come home. I tried the whole time I waited for him to get the bracket off but was still unsuccessful. Kelly gets home and discovers that you are not suppose to remove the bracket, but simply turn the metal plate holding my spare tire under my car until it comes out of the hole in the center of the tire! I am so MAD! That is just retarded!

So, Kelly was home and saved the day! But he didn't change the tire!! I was going to change this stupid tire if it killed me! So, he patiently watched as I went through the instructions in the manual and changed the flat tire for the spare one!! Hooray for me! We then headed to Big O Tires, where they dislodged a screw from my back tire! I also asked them to check the front tire, since I was already there and it has had a slow leak for the last month or so. They brought me a 3 inch nail they found stuck in the front tire!!

My morning was totally killed. I came home to grab Soren and Emily lunch before school. After I dropped them, I put Ethan down for a nap. Then I had presidency meeting in my filthy house because I spent the morning learning to change a tire instead of cleaning! I want to be annoyed at how put out I felt by my flat tire, but find that I feel some pride in what I accomplished today! I added "learn to change tire" to my list of things to do today, so I was able to check something off. And it was a really BIG something!!