Road Trip and New Stuff!

Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday! We were all over the place! Blake got up yesterday and wanted to go get some breakfast but when he went outside, he noticed his back tire was flat and his other three tires needed to be replaced really soon. I had also found a new (to us) washer and dryer set on Craigslist Wednesday and had asked the seller if we could come by Thursday after 5:00.

So we headed down to a place that could mount and balance Blake's new tires and get an alignment as well. Blake drove his car and I followed and we stopped at a place pretty near our house and he got into my car to head to get tires (because buying tires from the place where we wanted to mount and stuff just wasn't in the budget for two newlyweds who are already having to buy a washer and dryer and have had to buy a lawn mower recently). Once he got in my car he called another mount and balance place and got a quote that was $60 cheaper!! It was also quite a bit more down the road from our house (and now the car that needed fixing) so that just added in some extra driving, but hey! It's 60 bucks! So we drove about 45 minutes to get four pull off tires (at $50 a piece) and stuffed them in the back seat of my convertible (I now realize I should have taken a picture of this...darn). Then we drove back about 30 minutes to get Blake's car, then drove back 10 minutes to take the car and the tires to where they needed to go. Whew. Blake's car was in the shop....but that was only the first task of the day.

Next, we got some lunch (from the lovely Taco Bell) and called the Washer and Dryer person from Craigslist. And once we finished our delicious number 7's (chicken quesadilla and a soft taco...yum!) we were off to Gardendale (another 30 minute drive) and once we found the guy's house, we realized that we didn't pick up Blake's dad's truck on the way. So we looked at the washer and dryer, decided we wanted them, and headed to go get Blake's dad's truck and cash (because I forgot about the cash-only part..oops!). Once we drove about 10 minutes to his dad's church and 10 minutes back to the guy's house, Blake and his dad loaded up the washer and dryer and off we went! 45 minutes later we were back home! And we were ready to move out the old washer and dryer which looked like this:

These are at least 15 years old, but Blake doesn't remember when his parents got them (and we inherited these from his parents) and so he thinks they are closer to his age (26) but we aren't positive. Once they moved them, this is what was left behind:

Apparently our lint hose that connects to the dryer had come undone a few times and left us lots of presents. So I swept and vaccummed and then it was time for them to load the new stuff in! They got the washing machine in, but then we realized we had to get back to the car shop place to get Blake's car by 9:00 and it was 8:36! So we hopped in the car and 20 minutes later we were getting Blake's car and 20 more minutes later we were back home! Then Blake and his dad changed out the plug on the old dryer and put it on the new dryer (did you know you could do that? I had no idea!), and we stuck them in there! Here's what it looks like now:

And since I love some side-by-side comparisons, here's the before and after!

So that means that yesterday we drove 220 minutes (3.67 hours), got four new tires for Blake, and new appliances....whew. Glad that's over! And I've already done two loads of laundry and the new washer and dryer are doing great! :)

How was your Thursday? Have you ever had a day when you just feel like you have done nothing but drive?