J_Bryon: Life and Times of Me

The Weekend That Was or It Went Like This

So, today is Monday. My family had an interesting weekend. Actually, the interesting stuff started Thursday night.

I don't know if I've mentioned this in the past but my wife (with help from me and other members of our church) basically run the local food pantry based out of the church my family belongs to. Every Thursday our pastor gets food and other items donated to the food pantry from a local Target store. My wife and I (with the distraction of our 3 kids) then come in Thursday night and restock the shelves with ht e items that we received in that day. Well, to make a long story short, my youngest daughter was <i>"helping"</i> us when she grabbed a box cutter and proceeded to slice the tip of her left index finger about 1/4 off. She bled like a twice stuck piglet! Needless to say that area of the human finger is filled with small capillaries and is sometimes difficult to get to stop bleeding, which it was, thus forcing us to make a 20 miles trip to the Emergency room. We were thinking stitches and tetanus shot. Nope! Just a semi-well taping job and no shot. All the drama and very little to show for it except some tape and bloody gauze.

Friday: While driving my 1987 Buick Century to work at 7:50 AM CDT(don't laugh...it runs VERY well and has only 120,000 miles and was FREE!) the belt tensioner decided that now was the time to brake thus removing any and all tension from the serpentine belt. Now if you know anything about cars you will know that ANYTHING that requires any power from the engine via this belt to operate will cease to operate without the belt working. Well, everything did stop operating except the engine. I had NO alternator, no water pump or power steering. So, about 4 miles from work, I pulled over, stopped the engine, called my boss(es), and started walking the remaining distance to work. Fortunately, one of my bosses came to pick me up and decided that since I didn't turn around and just call it a day that she'd just pretend that I made it work as normal and I wouldn't have to make up the time that was missed.
So I get to work, call the sheriffs department so as my car wouldn't be towed, contacted the repair shop we use and told them what happened who in-turn arranged to have my car towed in and proceeded to let me know exactly what was wrong with my car and told me that it would be done by 9:00 AM the next morning. Grand total of parts, labor, towing and tax? $309.37. All things considered, not too bad.

Saturday: My family and I went to a Children's festival at one of our neighboring town after we picked up my car. There were dozens of children's activities to participate in being put on by local churches, day cares, youth organizations and similar. One of the things to do was try out instruments witht he assistance of high school students. My oldest daughter tried out a trumpet and trombone. While demonstrating her lung power on the trombone, a reporter/photographer from the daily newspaper took her picture. So her pic is now in print and on the web!
Later in the day my brother-in-law came to visit for the first time in nearly a year with his "new to us and due in July" pregnant girlfriend. Let me say this...we have met two other women he has dated and she is by far the smartest and best looking. They stayed until yesterday afternoon.

Sunday: We decided not to go to church as we still had company. Also, in order for my brother-in-law to make the 2 hour drive back home we needed to change the oil in his g/f's car and as an added bonus, try to figure out why her car was overheating. So, we also decided to full the car's cooling system. I had never done that before but I knew there was a kit a person could buy to help with this job. Very easy and I highly recommend that anyone needing to do this GET THIS KIT AND DO IT YOURSELF! Saved my brother-in-law probably about $70! So, we did the oil and coolant and low and behold...no more over heating! How 'bout that?!

Well, this was my weekend. Not a bad time except for the money we spent on my car and that the weekend was only two days long.

Oh, I have to give notice that I will probably NOT be renewing my paid membership by May 15, 2007 at which time my membership level will expire thus forcing me to go back to the FREE membership level. I'm not quite sure what exactly this means but I am sure I will not be blogging anymore. So, if anyone would like to help me out and donate GPs to help me keep my status, I'D GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!