Thursday 12.10.2009

It seemed that I was awake a lot during the night, and I was awake when Daniel got up. It was sometime after 5 when my phone rang--"can you help...?" Sorry, I have appointments today. I went back to sleep after Dan left for work.

I woke again 8:30 or so. I got up and ready for the day, checking my list and gathering what I needed. First stop, Discount Tire.

Dan had made an appointment on the internet to have the tires rotated. I get there in plenty of time, wait in line, and the nice guy Dan and I go out in the zero windchill to look at the tires. Surprisingly, the tread is just about gone. I need 4 new tires. (large audible exhale here) He pulled up the choices of tires for the size, and of the several listed, there were only 2 models with 4 or more in stock. He was patient with me as I read the descriptors and asked questions, and made a selection. And I asked him if he could do better on the price. ($143 each, plus, plus... total about $780 something) Um, can't do that. What are the other options?? He looked at me, changed some numbers and got it down to $670 something. Better. I asked him could he make it 650? He did something else, bringing the total to $663. Ok, thanks. I made myself comfortable in the waiting area.

Surprisingly, they were quite busy this morning. Even with it being so cold. The car thermometer showed 13 degrees when I went in, and windy. I hunkered down in the chair with my coat on and scarf half over my head (it was very chilly in there with the door opened so frequently), closed my eyes and listened to my story. For a long time. After an hour or so, I got up to see what was happening. Not much. The car was in and the tires off. Progress. Back to the chair.

After another forever I got up. I was getting restless. I didn't see any activity around my car, but the wheels were still off. The nice guy Dan came up to me, saying there has been a slight problem. (not liking where this is going...) It seems that the type of rims on this car doesn't have the lip or edge for the weights to attach to, so there is an adhesive that is used. But with it being so cold, the weights aren't sticking. So they use a heat gun to bring it to temperature. Seems the heat gun stopped working. ("broke" was his word) And someone went out to purchase another. So that was the delay. They were balancing the tires now, so it's almost done. I thanked him and continued to watch the process. Another guy came up to me and apologized, too, for the delay. As we were talking, the car was finished and was brought out for me. Finally. It was 1:15.

Next stop, Meijer. I picked up what I wanted and had to stand in line again. I really dislike that there are not many cashiers any more. And the self check lines often need the person to "do" something to continue checking out, so they get backed up, too. Anyway, it was after 2 when I got back in the car. I ate part of a sandwich I had bought before going to Rite Aid.

In Rite Aid, I asked the nice lady where the items were that I was looking for, and she helped find them for me. Better than me wandering around forever. Back to pick up prescriptions, pay for the stuff, and on to the library to return material.

I finally got home about 3:30. Whew. Dan called saying he was on his way home.

When he got here, he had a snack and went out to a First Aid class for his job. I went to aqua aerobics. I was surprised to see his car when I got back at 8:45. He was in bed, of course.

He said he was able to do what was asked of him and write the test. And pass. Cool--that was scheduled to be a four hour course.

The rest of the evening I caught up on some email and wrote here.

The water aerobics was good. It surprises me how different it is to exercise in water. I got my heart rate up and was still a little warm after I got home.

Tomorrow I see Ike.

Thank you for reading. Hugs.