it's a hard knock life

I’ve blogged about my car before. This time, however, my car has really pushed me over the edge. I used to love it…but now I’m reconsidering my feelings toward it. This weekend the feeling has been more along the lines of hate.

My car recently reached 100,000 miles which I’ve learned is a big point in a cars life where things start wearing out and needing to be replaced. I’ve spent much more money on my car in the past year than I had planned on and I hope this trend is coming toward an end. Let me just share with you some of the things I’ve had done to my car in the past year:

• Replaced the battery (which I thought was an alternator problem at first) - got one with an 8-year warranty so I better not need to do this again any time soon
• Replaced the rear rotors – it took some convincing to get me to do this but I finally gave in once I was shown how thin and dangerous those babies were
• Replaced two a/c hoses and charged up the coolant – this was quite necessary as summers in Oklahoma tend to get hot, humid and generally miserable and uncomfortable
• Replaced two tires – I had several nails in the tires thanks to all the construction areas I have to drive through every day
• Replaced a CV axle – I didn’t even know what that part was until it almost broke off and caused even more problems
• AND NOW…I have to replace a wheel bearing. Ugh!

This isn't all the issues I've had with my car but just the ones that ended up costing me money. Ever since I got the cv axle thing fixed a few weeks ago my car has been making this weird noise. It sounds like something is shifting and knocking around every time I turn a corner or go over a big bump. I took my car in right away after the first time I heard a noise. The mechanic pretty much thought I was hearing things and said that nothing was wrong except the radiator was a little loose. He screwed it tight and sent me on my way. That was good for about a day and then the noise started again. So finally after two weeks of it I gave in and took it in yet again.

After a whole day at the shop and many test drives this past Thursday, they determined that one of the wheel bearings was loose and that the noise was coming from the wheel. Yesterday I took it back in to have the bearing replaced. They kept my car all stinkin’ day! At the end of the day they called to notify me that they ordered a few different bearings and none of them seemed to fit. They finally found a match in Kansas City and would have it overnighted to OKC. So today I will be taking my car back…FOR THE THIRD DAY IN A ROW…to get that stupid bearing replaced. This better fix that noise for good. If anything else happens to my car I may not be responsible for what I do to it.

At least none of the problems thus far have been major ones but a new car is sounding like a better and better idea. I really don’t want car payments again though. I hope OKC gets some good public transportation soon!

My baby brother is about to start his senior year of high school. I can't believe it! He's 10 years younger than me and was only in 3rd grade when I moved away to college. So, in my mind, he's still a kid...even though he now towers over me. I remember the day my parents brought him home from the hospital and I remember his first day of kindergarten. ahh...I'm starting to sound like my mother. haha.

The title of this post is the name of a song. In fact, this song was a favorite of my youngest brother Matthew when he was a toddler. I still know all the words to it…this song and most of the Barney songs are seared into my memory from hours and hours and hours of listening when he was a kid. I don’t think he reads my blog so hopefully he won’t know that I just announced to the world that he used to like Barney.

On to the real topic…

Today I decided to tackle shoe shopping. You’d think that, being a girl, I would love shoe shopping. But the fact is I hate it. I can’t think of anything I dislike more. I would rather go get stuck with a needle and give blood than shop for shoes. This is probably because I have huge feet. Quick side story…in college I went bowling one evening with friends. The guy behind the counter laughed and called me a behemoth when I told him what size I needed…no joke. Anyway, I’m going to Europe in just three months and I need some good shoes for all the walking that we’ll be doing. I have no idea what to look for but I do know that I want something a little cuter than just a plain pair of tennis shoes.

My friend directed me to this cute little shoe store down in OKC that I’ve driven past a million times but never noticed before this. I finally decided to go check it out today. It wasn’t too bad. They had a lot of good shoes and quality brands. It was more pricey than I anticipated but I actually found a pair of shoes I wouldn’t mind having. What do you think of these? They’re Birkenstocks which I know are good but I’m still not 100% sure if these will be the best for walking around Europe in November.
Now, if I wasn’t already self-conscious about the size of my feet this store may have given me a complex I’ll never get over. In the world of shoes I suddenly went from a size 11 to a size 42!!! What in the world? I do not like this sizing system. I didn’t end up buying the shoes. Perhaps when I recover from the shock I’ll return. I just hope the size isn’t imprinted on any visible part of the shoe.