We have a race on Saturday?

Hey guys! Just a quick post to let you all know we are at the very least alive. Stressed, but still breathing.

Monday we got back the nit-picky list of home inspection items we have to correct. They're all small and goofy items, but still just a pain to take care of. A coworker recommended a handyman name Skeeter. He came out Monday and gave us a good quote and was supposed to come either yesterday or today to make the repairs. We haven't seen him since. (We haven't paid him or anything, and if he doesn't come tomorrow we'll probably get so fed up we'll do it ourselves.) We also went and picked up my rental car. My "free" rental from State Farm would've been a tiny little hatchback. She offered me a Maxima, but I would've had to pay some extra $$, OR I could have a big 4-door Dodge Ram pick up truck for free. So I went with the big ass truck. I don't feel safe in small cars, if we had been driving a small car in October I know we would've been seriously injured or died. If everyone else drove a small car I would buy a Mini Cooper in a heartbeat. Until then, I'm driving something safe. Brent gave me the "oh dear God, can you drive a big truck?" look but it was too late. The Ram was mine. And OMG, that thing was enormous. It's totally built for a man. My Expy is woman cozy and all adjustable to be comfortable. The Dodge was all boy, and it has a TON of blind spots. Watch out for people driving those things!! They can not see you!!! I swear I would run over all kinds of kids if I had one.

Tuesday we dropped Brent's car off in the A.M. to have the tires rotated, then took my car to the body shop at lunch. In the middle of all this madness the battery on my car was messing up. It could only be started by jumping it, and we weren't sure if it was due to battery corrosion, or what. We had trouble getting it jumped, but it finally started so we headed off to the body shop. I was driving Brent's Jeep - which then started to overheat. I think that felt like a breaking point. I called him, but as long as I kept moving it stayed cool. We dropped my car off and then tried to pick up some lunch which led to more overheating. Brent dropped me off at work (I had a meeting) and then he went back to the shop that had rotated his tires and changed his oil. They're total idiots, but they filled up his radiator. But obviously not enough, because it overheated more while we were looking at houses with our realtor Tuesday night. We looked at 2 houses in a different part of town, but that part of town just wasn't "right". In fact it was just plain gross. We looked at 5 houses total. There was one I really liked, but the neighborhood wasn't the best. But it was really cool. We're going to look at more houses Saturday with our agent. We close on this house 3 weeks from today!!

Wednesday they called and told me my car was ready!! The guys over at Patterson Body Shop in Smyrna did an awesome job. All they had to replace was the bumper, but they had a brand new bumper overnighted. Team Chevrolet would probably spend over a week and still manage to screw it up. HOPEFULLY I will not be hit by anymore people, but if I am I would definitely go back there. They were great. They also looked at my battery and cleaned it, but it still wasn't enough. It was starting then, but when we went over to Advance AutoParts it wouldn't restart. It was really the connector - it was just too corroded. A guy was out changing a woman's battery so he helped us as well. The guys at Advance are also awesome. They're always so friendly and they've saved us so much money in knowing how to do this stuff ourselves. Our new connector was less than $2! I bet it would've cost $50 at a garage. I felt so bad for the guy helping us. It was 95 degrees at 5:30 last night. MISERABLE! We were all sweating like pigs.

It's just been TOO hot to run outside when we get home at night. Today was 97! I've been running on the treadmill at night, but that is SO boring. This Saturday we're doing the 5K for Fatherhood. I love this race. It's down at Shelby Park, near where we're looking at houses. It was the first race we ever did back in 2004, so it's sort of a race birthday feeling for me. It was also the first race I ever placed in my division (last year I was 2nd). I was hoping to be first in my division this year, but we'll see. I haven't been training hard lately, so I don't think I will be very speedy. It should still be fun, though!

Anyway, I am going to do some packing and maybe hit the treadmill! Have a great weekend and good luck to everyone racing!

Rae