Boots and Tires and Glasses...Oh, My!

Well, yesterday was the day of broken and worn-out things I guess. First, it was noticed that DD's new pink cowgirl bootshad lost the "jewel" that is front-and-center on the left boot (now, this is the second time that this has happened....this is her second pair of boots as the same thing happened to the first pair less than a week after getting them....left boot as well....and they were replaced by the boot company). DD was upset that it had happened again, but after not having pink cowgirl boots to wear for almost 2 weeks when the last pair had to be returned, she has decided she'd rather have a pair with a missing jewel than go without her beloved boots (and thus she is currently wearing them at school today, as she does almost every other day!).

On to the tires! This story starts the day after Christmas 2004. The driver's side front tire blew out after hitting something on the icy road on the way to my parents' house to visit them. Nothing like sitting in the freezing cold weather with a flat tire miles from the nearest tire shop! And poor DH was even worse off as he dealt with the slush and traffic as he changed out the flat for the spare tire on the side of the road (luckily we were in a spot with a very wide shoulder so it we were able to at least have the van completely off of the road). So that tire was replaced almost 4 years ago. This past summer while on vacation, we started having a slow leak with the other front tire. So in July of this year it was replaced (luckily it held out until we got home....although we were in the middle of nowhere along some lonely stretches of road in the pouring rain when it needed pumped up the first time....poor DH again!). That left us with the rear tires original to the van (now 7 years old). They were getting bald and needed replacing. A few weeks ago while driving the kids down to see my parents (DH was at work, so it wasn't him dealing with it this time!) the low tire pressure indicator went off in the van. So over to the side of the road we go and I got the "pleasure" of getting out and checking the tires....only to discover that it's the driver's front tire (less than 30,000 miles on it!) that was the problem.....low on air and a bulge in the tire between the treads. So yesterday I had the "fun" of replacing 3 tires on my van. And they better hold up for a while now!!

Now on to the glasses part of the story.....DD's glasses are adding drama to our lives for sure! She is already on her 2nd pair (the original pair broke exactly one week after she got them!). Sunday she managed to lose the case she carries them in....but thankfully we discovered that her Sunday school teacher had found it and we were able to get it back from her in time for DD to have it to take her glasses to school in yesterday. Then I noticed when I was putting her glasses in the case that the left temple piece was loose. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the screw holding the temple piece to the front frame was almost out. So I used my tiny screwdriver and tried for about 10 minutes to get it to screw back in with no luck....it would not get any tighter at all. So after the kids were home from school yesterday (luckily the glasses survived the school day intact!) we were off to the eye doctor's office yet again (between picking up glasses, picking up replacement glasses, getting glasses re-fitted a couple of times to keep them from making sore spots, and now this....we have been there 5 times in the past month!). Luckily they were able to fix this pair of glasses by replacing the screw with a new one. Hopefully it will be a while before we have to visit them again.

Thankfully that was all the broken things and repairs I had to deal with yesterday. Guess now we'll see what today and the rest of the week have in store!