Thanks Dad!!

Today was going perfectly normal. I mean normal, of course, in the mommy way which is never really close to normal. But anywho.... Madeline and I took off for my MIL's house to pick her up to go to the grocery. As we were backing out of the driveway I noticed the tire sounded funny. I popped out of the car and saw one big fat FLAT. ~sigh~

Ironically I had been in on Monday to have the EXACT tire patched. Then, low and behold, the whole tire deflates. So we tricycle back down the driveway to the house - got Madda settled in and I called Steve - assuring him that I could change it. Of COURSE he insists on coming allll the way out to McCordsville to do it himself. I told him to at least let me try.

So, whilest in my skirt in the 400 mile an hour wind we had today, I lugged all of the junk out of the back of the Jeep - pulled out the new tire (which weighed about 567 pounds) and the jack, and got the tire iron out from under the seat. I started loosening the lug nuts in order to get it jacked up. I got all but one lugnut loosened. I pushed, pulled - put all my weight on it - no luck. So - I walked over to the neighbor's house - he was outside in his yard and asked if he could loosen my lug nut. He was about 70 years old, but got it loosened. He then told me that he had a hydrolic jack and I could use. So he brought that over, and jacked up the car for me. We pulled the bad tire off, put the new one on, and he tightened all the lug nuts while I loaded the flat into the back of the Jeep.

So I am going to have words with the FIRESTONE who "repaired" my tire and tell them they are VERY LUCKY that I was in my MILs driveway and not on the side of the road with my 8 month old baby.

Anywho - so I felt pretty proud of myself. If that one lugnut had cooperated I could have done it by myself. There's a lot of things I can't do. I can't kill a spider - or an ant for that matter. I can't seem to bake banana bread. But one thing my dad MADE me learn how to do before I was able to drive was to change a tire. I remember pulling that tire on and off - on and off - him showing me to put it on with my legs if I couldn't lift it onto the rim. Showing me how to use a jack. To light a flare if it was dark.

I felt proud of myself today. I owe it to my dad. That's something I'll make sure Steve passes on to little Madeline.