When It Snows, It Blizzards (sic)

Yeah, I know blizzards isn't a verb - hence the (sic) - but this situation fits the form of the cliche too well not to use it. And I do love me a cliche (except when it's in a student's paper - then, watch out). 

Cars: utterly essential, but I hate dealing with them and I hate thinking about them. And I especially especially hate spending money on them. And especially right before Christmas. And especially when it's to the tune of $1000. 

That's right. Between this past Monday and Chrismas, Brad and I will have spent a thousand dollars on not simply our cars, but on tires for our cars. Tires! I could scream or cry or break something, but instead I'm just writing a blog post. 

The Accord needs snow tires b/c, well, it just does. It's not a particularly big or heavy car, and it definitely doesn't have 4 wheel drive. We've gone without snow tires, for better or worse, for a bunch of years now, and it's time to buck up and drop the $400 for safety's sake. Maybe we're growing up a little bit with a baby on the way? One can always hope :). 

While we knew that expense was coming, we were not expecting to dish out $570 on four new tires for the piece of crap Blazer. But, as (un)luck would have it, while Brad, Shannon, and I were in the city to see a play (for a class) last week, the Blazer got a flat tire. And when I say "flat," I mean flat. Like, it looked like someone had just slashed the thing, even though there was no slash. 

The poor guy changed it in the ice cold, in work clothes, on the wet ground, by himself (while Shannon and I made various trips into the nearby convenience store to keep my feet from freezing off). We were 25 minutes late to the play and he had wet pants and dirty hands to show for himself. 

Unfortunately, the guy at Walmart said all of the tires were in bad shape - and he legally couldn't just sell us two for the front or back. We rely on that (idiotic) car for our bad weather travel, so good tires are obviously key. Plus the thing probably wouldn't pass inspection b/c of the tires come spring or whenever it's up. 

In the end, we went to the tire place nearby, sucked it up, and got 4 new tires - but of course SUV tires are expensive and Brad wanted not-the-cheapest-ones for safety. Almost $600 later, our wonderful (bah) Blazer - which I think we have never actually washed - has beautiful new Goodyear tires. Now, if only the driver's side window would roll down and the door would open from the inside every time instead of just sometimes.