Long catch up entry!
Hey Everyone,
I can’t believe it has been two weeks since I last wrote about my days. Things keep happening and by the time I leave work I never want to see the computer again. I promise I am not ignoring anyone. If I do get on for a short bit I try to read and then note, but I don’t get a lot of time these days. I am hoping to get some more me time here soon, I am in need of it. I will try to pick up where I last left off, but I am sure there are details that I will forget, it has been two weeks.
Tues. April 8th:
Not too much happened through out the day or the evening that isn’t the normal work, home, dinner, cleaning, but I did get to do a little scrapbooking. I ended up working on the 3 6×6 pages of my nieces, so that was nice. As I was finishing up the last of the 3 pages my husband calls me to tell me he was on his way home from work, however, the car was acting up and the power steering went out. I am like great something else to worry about. He drives it home and it was too late to take a look at it. By the time he gets home the car won’t even start back up. I just let it go for the evening.
Wed. April 9th:
My husband had to take me to work so he could still have the car for himself to get to work with, since we were down to one car. Work went as normal, he then came and picked me up so that I could go and take him back for his night shift. I then went home to start looking at the car. Sure enough the serpentine belt that runs 7 pulleys was off. I checked every part that the belt would go to and determined the fix was just to replace the belt because all the pulleys appeared to be on tight and not the cause for the belt to come off. So I ran to the auto part store to get a new belt, I know how to replace this belt and knew it to be pretty easy. Well, I get the belt and try to put it on and it won’t go on for anything. I ended up breaking my wrench and had to go buy a breaker bar (something I knew I couldn’t break). I try and try and still can’t get it, so I leave it alone. I call my father and tell him my problems and he is like well go get a different belt from a different store and make sure the belt isn’t too short. So, I then go get my husband from his place of work and head to bed.
Thurs. April 10th:
My husband didn’t have to work but was headed to a concert later that day with a friend of his from work. He said if anything he would just walk to the train station, which was at least a good 5 miles from our apartment. So I offered to come get him during my lunch and take him to the train, which he gladly took. When I got off work I headed to a different auto part store to get a different belt, it was the same number and same size, but I tried it anyway, still no luck and now it was starting to rain. So I didn’t get much time into trying to get it on, so I let it sit and went inside. I then had to go get my husband at 1 am from the train station.
Fri. April 11th:
Luckily my husband had the day off, so I got to have the car for work. Again I was going to work on the car, but once again, it was raining. At this point I am getting very frustrated, because it is causing all kinds of problems. We figured out how we could get through the weekend if we needed to and we did. There was no point trying to work on the car in the rain and risk getting sick, which my husband already was. So we just spent some lovely time together.
Sat. April 12th:
I didn’t have to work till 5 pm because I got the crop night shift, so my husband re-worked his schedule so that he only had a meeting at 9 am and then didn’t have to go back in till 5 pm, so he dropped me off a little early at the scrapbooking store. The night was a little busy we had at least 15 people in the crop room plus any patrons that came in up till 6:00pm. After 6pm I get to lock the doors and just help the patrons that are there for the crop, which makes the night much easier. I also did some picking up around the store as well as getting to talk to and look over the projects that the ladies were working on. The ladies were such a blast and several of us swapped e-mails so that we could all get together more to scrap. My husband then came to pick me up when he was done with work and we went home to go to bed.
Sun. April 13th
It was raining again, so again I couldn’t work on the car. My husband and I spent some time together and then we each did our own thing. I went into the second bedroom and did some scrapbooking and playing with my cricut and new cartridges. It was a relaxing evening.
Mon. April 14th:
My husband again took me to work and picked me up later. I then worked on the car because no matter what I had to get something done before Tuesday because we could not work our schedules to drop off and pick up like we had been doing. So I tried the new belts again and again they wouldn’t go on. I then had to stick the old belt back on, it went on fine and still seemed to be tight. We then drove it around the parking lot for a little while, this way the battery could get charged up better and to make sure nothing was going to happen to the belt. Everything appeared to be working well, so we left it at that.
Tues. April 15th:
I took the car that had been acting up and drove it to work. On my way home I stopped at Midas to see if they would have any better luck at getting a new belt on, I was even willing to pay 45 dollars for them to do it and it get it done. They couldn’t get it either and realized that the pulley on the alternator that I purchased and put on 2.5 years ago was not the correct pulley and was actually an 1” bigger in diameter then it should be, hence why my right belt wouldn’t fit. So after getting done with that I had to head home to get a bunch of laundry done. So while the laundry was in the wash I ran to the store that sold me the alternator, well the same company different actual store. I explained my situation and they basically said they didn’t think they could do anything forme so I got the manager’s number, because here they sold me the wrong part to my store so I can’t fix my car. I then went back to switch laundry around and then rand home and cleaned the kitchen. I eventually got all the laundry done and then went home and cleaned the second bedroom up, folded the laundry and got some of it put away. It was a long day and night.
Wed. April 16th:
I got to use the gold car, the one without problems, because Jacob was coming to town and my hubby had the next 3 days off, so they figured they would just use Jake’s car if they needed to, plus the grey car was still working fine too. I decided to leave the car issue alone for now because I was just going to see if I could get a longer belt then would normally go on my car. I returned one of the pulleys and then went to return the second and while there I asked if there was a belt that would be just ½” or 1” longer then the belt I was returning. They looked and no, they don’t even make one that size, so now I either have to replace an alternator that works just fine or find a way to just replace the pulley. I just head home to enjoy time with the guys. We rocked out to some guitar hero, had a home cooked meal and played Marvel Scene It and I WON!!
Thurs. April 17th:
I got to go to work while the boys slept in and waited to go to their baseball game. While at work I called the manager for Murray’s Auto to talk to them about my car. We went over various options and in the end they told me they didn’t they could do anything for me, but maybe help me to find a longer belt. I was like they don’t make it, it would be a useless search. In the end I got the district managers number and gave him a call, however, he was out of the office so I left a voice mail. I then started to call my last hope, salvage yards. Luckily the first one I called had a pulley that would be the right size, he said he would take it off and everything for 20 dollars, I was excited. I came home and within the hour or so the boys also returned home sad that the Cubs lost. We then ended up going out to dinner at TGI Friday’s, after which we came home and they played some video games on XBOX Live and I just watched and later went to the second bedroom to watch some TV.
Fri. April 18th:
Again I got to get up and go to work while the boys went to another baseball game. After work I headed out to the salvage yard to get the pulley. It was definitely out in the middle of nowhere, but at least it was a fix to my problems. I decided then to wait on actually getting the car done till the following week when I knew I could get help from my husband and the store at once. But at least for now there was hope to getting it done and so far the car has been holding out. At least this time when they came home they were in better spirits due to the Cubs winning. We then opted for pizza in and got it from Pizza Hut. We ended up playing a game of Mario Party as well, where my husband kick our butts. It was then off to bed for some much wanted rest.
Sat. April 19th:
I said bye to Jacob on my way out the door to go and work at the scrapbooking store, he would be gone by the time I returned home. I worked at the scrapbooking store from 10am to 5pm and we were very busy. We had a Crop for the Cure event going on and so there were 50 people in our crop room, plus all the other patrons that came and shopped throughout the day. It was cool to see so many people in the back room though supporting the Breast Cancer awareness/ research fund. After work I headed home really fast to do some light cleaning around the house and to get all my scrapbooking supplies. I was headed over to Jocelyn’s house for a crop night with the ladies that I had meet the week before at the crop night. It was a blast about 7 of us were there and we ordered pizza, everyone brought goodies to share, and I got 7 pages done. It was such a great night getting to socialize something I don’t get to do too often anymore. The cool thing is all these women are at least 20 years older then me and it doesn’t make a difference, they treat me as I am the same age and we had tons of fun and jokes to go around. I eventually packed it up and went home around midnight.
Sun. April 20th:
The day was beautiful and my husband had the day off, yes he had three days off, then went to work for one day and then had another day off, how nice is that. Though he is making up for it now. We decided to enjoy the nice weather and went to downtown Naperville and we walked around and hit up some of the shops, especially the candy shop. It is like the old fashioned type where they have just about everything, and they weigh it out for you and what not, it is great. After that we headed to the Promenade in Bolingbrook to do some more walking and shopping. We then headed home for a little thinking we would cook at home, but then what I took out didn’t sound so great so we ended up at Famous Dave’s for BBQ. While there we discussed the idea again of getting a grill and decided it was time to look. So we headed out to Lowe’s and found one we liked, but we wanted to measure to make sure it would fit. We then went home to check out the measurements, and thought it would be close, but decided we still wanted it. Finally we went to bed.
Mon. April 21st:
Nothing too spectacular, I got to work both jobs, and then come home and do a little cleaning. My throat also started to hurt a little on Sunday and was much worse by Mon. I just tried to ignore it and take a few items, throat drops, Benadryl (just in case it was an allergic reaction to something I didn’t know I was allergic too), Tylenol, and whatever else I could think of. I eventually headed to bed.
Tues. April 22nd:
Went to work and then came home. I finished cleaning out my car of my scrapbooking stuff from Sat. I then headed out to Lowe’s to measure the grill, it was going to be a little long for how we wanted to put it but in the end I still bought it, I knew it would still fit, it would just have to go differently the we originally planned. I then bought a cover, tank and grilling set to go with it. Also while I was there I got some of the fake rolled grass stuff to stick out on the balcony, because our balcony looks like crap and several of the nails are starting to poke up and I wanted to be able towalk out there without worrying about hitting one and tearing my sock or skin. Plus this allowed me to get a bird feeder and not have all the seeds fall to the neighbors patio below. I then had to strategically strap this grill into the trunk and drive carefully home, it never moved an inch. Upon arriving home there were some nice guys that helped me take the grill up to my apartment so I could start assembling it, let me tell you it says 30-40 mins, it definitely tool me at least an hour and a half, but I think part of it is that I had to unpack it all, read instructions and then try to hold parts while screwing something else in, it was definitely a two person job, but I got it done. It now resides on the balcony along with the new grass carpeting, things are coming together out there. I think now we are going to look for a small table and a few chairs to put there as well, but it has to be small we only have a 4’ x 12’ balcony, it would have been a little better if it were at least 5’ deep. I then waited for my hubby to get home and I headed to bed.
Today:
My throat is finally starting to feel better and I plan to just go home, clean the kitchen, put the rest of the laundry away that never made it there, mostly socks and underwear and a few hanging items. After that is done I think I might do a little scrapbooking or at least use my cricut to make a few items so they will be ready when I do certain pages. My husband worked a double Monday, a closing shift Tuesday, has a double today, day off tomorrow, single midshift on Friday, double Saturday in at 9 am, single on Sunday and Monday next week, then I think doubles on Tues and wed. but I am not sure about that last part, so needless to say, getting to see him will be little, but at least we are keeping busy and still getting to spend some time together.
I think tomorrow we are going to grill out for the first time, we are very happy. We also plan to try and fix the car, it really shouldn’t be too hard, but some of the bolts are on tight and so might be a little hard to get the alternator loose, but after that it should be pretty smooth sailing. Friday night we are headed to a comedy show, Jim Norton, downtown with my sister, Nic and Mike. It will be a blast. Friday was also to be my first Theta Alumnae even however, since I have the show I won’t be able to make it. But I will hopefully get to stop by for a little bit since I have to pick up my pansies.
Well, I better wrap this up, it is definitely a long entry. Hopefully tonight I will get to upload some more pictures to show you. Hope you are all having a great day.
