Manic Monday

Sunday evening, I got a call from my Mom that my dog Romeo was limping. A lot. We agreed I'd take Romeo to the vet on Monday.

I got another call from my Mom a few minutes later saying Romeo was now panting heavily and was in obvious discomfort. My brothers friend, a licensed vet tech, said we could give Romeo a baby aspirin to ease his discomfort. If he didn't respond to the first dose, we could give him a second dose 30 minutes later. Romeo started breathing easier after the first dose, so no second dose was given. I've since been told by my vet that baby aspirin can cause intestinal ulcers in animals. Yikes! We won't be using that again!!

First thing Monday morning I made an appointment for Romeo. His appointment was scheduled for 11:15. M and I got in the car at 10:25, ready to go. I back up the car.

thud thud thud

Huh? I pull forward a few feet.

thud thud thud

thud thud thud

My front right tire was flat. I wanted to drive it to the station 2 miles up the road, but we all know you can mess up your rim if you drive on a flat.

I called my brother in law who lives 10 minutes away and he was at our house, with his 4 and 2 year old in tow, in minutes.

Note to self: learn how to change a tire so you can rely on yourself.

My bil was awesome and let me take pictures of him changing the tire as a tutorial for myself. or you all.

I saw last night that the suv's handbook comes with a "how to change a flat tire for dummies" section too. Too bad I didn't even think of looking in the handbook for help.

Perhaps it was because I was frazzled because I just wanted to get my dog to the vet. Or because my 1 year old wanted to be out of her carseat playing. (I must note that M was SO PATIENT with me for the first hour of just sitting in her chair during all this! I then took her out to play a little. It was cold out though!)

I give many thanks to my amazing bil for saving the day. Then I drive the 2 miles to the gas station to make sure the bolts were on taught enough. Because if they aren't, my tire could fall of while I'm driving. And that doesn't seem like my type of fun.

So, mr. gas station worker says all looks great, was super helpful and looked at my old tire. It had a screw in it. He patched it up and put everything away in my car. But the air leaking in my tire? It set off the "check your tire pressure/air" light on my dashboard. Except I didn't realize that's why that light was lot up on the dashboard until I looked for the upteenth time in my trusty handbook last night.

My friend works at the gas station and has never charged me for small services, like a plug in a tire my friend needed once, changing light bulbs, etc.

But of course on this day, my friend was helping someone else and I got some other guy who charged me $19.64 for plugging the tire. I had gas station rewards, so I used a $20 reward. I got no change back. I inquired about it and was told, "we don't give change back on rewards."

Now, for every $100 I spend at this shop, I get a $10 reward. I have $90 in rewards. Oh, I earned that 64 cents back! I received a, "How was our service today?" email tonight. Silly of then, because I'm going to let them know that when you earn your rewards, they shouldn't just "pocket the change."

I go pick up Romeo and take him finally to the vet. At this point, we're only three hours behind schedule. Cool.

The vet takes an X-ray (and says it'll be $110, yet I got charged $175) and said Romeo has arthritis from the Lyme Disease he got infected with two years ago. Romeo was given medicine, and I wasn't even told they were going to do this, but also gave him a shot of meds, adding another $65. But wait, there's more!

Because Romeo hadn't been to thus vet in over 4 months, they charged me a $65 "well office visit". There's also a "waste fee" of almost $6 every.single.time. you bring a pet in.

The grand total for getting Romeo's leg looked at yesterday? Drum roll please...,

$411.82

By this point, it's 2 pm, M hasn't napped, I've been overcharged by my favorite vet, blah blah blah.

We leave the vet, M falls asleep in the car, I take Romeo home with us. As soon as I pull into our driveway, I get a call from the vet's office that M's bootie is there.

Of course it is.

We drive the 40 minute round trip to get the bootie.

I decide at this point to take Romeo back to my parents house. As I park, I notice my Grandma's rear right tire is flat.

You guessed it! Another flat tire!

I follow my Grandma to the gas station to order a new tire. It's been flat for over a week. Awesome.

Over the course of the next few hours, I accidentally got purreed apple in M's eye, bought peppers instead of pears for our dinner, and threw out hubs' Bolivian candy. As in, it's in the trash. And candy that can only be purchased in Bolivia. And the garbage men had already come by by the time I realized it. I've already searched around and can't find the candy anywhere in the area stores.

Great way to start a week.