Good morning everyone!
I hope you are all well on this brisk November morning.
You know I drive a Jeep. It's 14 years old. It's paid off and runs like a top. Our mechanic says the body will fall apart around the engine. I think he's right. It starts right up in the dead of winter and we haven't had to put hardly any money into it. It's got some rust spots, not bad really, just the rocker panels which our body man says costs $1800.00! Well, you know us...if we can fix it we will, so Tom has been working on bondoing it. He is at the stage now where he needs the paint, so on Monday I was out running some errands anyway so I told him I would go down to Snyder's paints and pick it up.
Now on this particular day it was pouring down rain but I managed to pick a couple of little chips of paint off the Jeep to show the guy the color I needed just for him to tell me that he doesn't sell car paint but that I could check down at Auto Zone or the Napa store. Now I'm going to tell you, car places aren't my thing. It's definitely a man's world when you step into a place like that. It smells weird and to me it's kind of greasy.......sorry guys, I'm just sayin. :) I think it's a planet all its own, the unknown! Anyways, I walk into the Auto Zone trying to keep my composure in my high heels and bright orange dangly earrings, and ask the guy about paint as I show him my baggy with my two very tiny, green paint chips. He says, "Oh, you have paint right off the truck?" I said, sheepishly, "Ahh.......yes, right here." He said, "Well, all I need is the year of your truck and the kind." So he looks up my vehicle on his computer. "Sorry ma'am, we don't carry that paint any more, you might want to go to the dealer, they can help you."
So I head on down the road and find the Napa store, I had to call Tom to get directions, of course, what girl would know how to get there? I pull in to the parking lot, deciding to leave my paint chips in the car knowing all he needs is the make and year. I muster up the courage to walk in. I'm feeling a bit more confident this time. Well, maybe not. Anyways, I'm greeted by a man that is pretty business like and kind of loud. "Hi. What can I do for you?" I say, "I'm looking for paint for my Jeep." As he leads me to the back of the store, he says, "Oh, what's the number?" I say, "The number? I don't know but I have the paint chips outside." He says, "Oh, that will help, I'll get the number off that." I was thinking to myself, "Man, he must be a genius to find a number off my tiny paint chips."
So I go back out in the pouring rain trying hard to stay as close to the building as I possibly can where there's no awning but maybe a bit of shelter and protection. I came back in and he says, " Do you want a shaker?" Holy smokes, what's a shaker? I asked him and he said, "Oh, you know, a spray can of paint." I told him I don't know, I have no idea what my options are. Then, he asked if I got my chips so I presented him with my small baggy. He said, "OH! You have REAL paint chips!" (Well, duh!) He laughs at me! I said, "Look, I am totally out of my element in this place, now if you want your hair cut, I can understand that language, but all of this is foreign to me." He kind of lightened up now and said, "It's o.k., well get through it." He looked up my information and said the same thing the Auto Zone guy said, "Go to the dealer." I thanked him and thought to myself, O.K. Well, fine, I'm outta here. As I'm bee lining it toward the door, the very thing every girl dreads, especially in a car joint in front of a bunch of men (o.k., only 3 but still!), a nice younger guy was coming out from behind the counter, I looked at him, he said, "Hi." I said, "Hi," and right at that moment my high heel slipped on water from the rain and I FELL! Right ON that nice younger GUY! I mean, REALLY fell! On my way down I remember thinking, "OH LORD, PLEEAASSEE, NO!" But it was true. The sweet man caught me right after I fell hard on my knee. As he was helping me up, I hear the guy from the back yell, "Wow! Nice Catch!! Is it slippery up there?" I look at the man holding me and feebly said, "Yeah, nice catch." And I yell to the man in the back, "YES!! It's wet!" By now, I gather every bit of strength and dignity I own and limp as fast as possible out of that man's world, on my teetering wet high heels with my bright orange earrings bobbling, and my face matching. I crawled (not literally) to my Jeep with my baggy and plopped my drenched self down, took a deep breath and said out loud, "I will never go in there again." I can laugh about it now but what a traumatic experience!
I love the Auto Zones and the Napa's of this world, we need them and they have their place, but from now on this little girl is letting the men in her life do the "Man jobs." No more mister nice guy from me. That niceness can lead to such embarrassment!
On a sadder note, we've lost Poncho. He was a younger rooster and our hens didn't take kindly to him. He spent a lot of his time up on the rafters. He finally had enough nerve to escape the coop, we brought him back a couple of times but he kept getting out. Finally, we set up food and water for him in the garage, he ate there once and we haven't seen him since. I'm sad about that, he was a beautiful bird and so tame. He's the only one of our chickens we named.
Well friends, I am sending blessings your way and hopes for many adventures in your life. Even the painful adventures make for great stories!!!
Blessing on finding your rich homespun heritage!!
janele ;)
