The Tale of Pop Corn and Radiators

Well whew, what a weekend.

First of all, Saturday morning was awesome as it involved going to Bob Burnett's and having a cup of coffee with Paul and CJ and then selling concessions for the Christian Fellowship League basketball games with Donna. 

Little kids are sooo fun to watch and we actually got to make some money for the youth's mission trip to Salkehatchie.  6 rounds of popcorn and we sold out of absolutely everything we had in stock.  Note to all those who sell concessions: blue poweraide/gatoraid is seriously popular with boys ages 5-15.  Also, popcorn machines are very strange creatures.  First of all the stupid thing is that even after you turnthe kettle off and the pop corn has been dumped the thing still cooks and smokes until you wipe it out with a paper towel.  Well now it's not the greatest angle and sticking my hand in a hot kettle with smoking popping grease is not remotely a pleasant thought.  Anyhoo I ain't in love with that thing but we made our peace and made a whole lotta popcorn.
I'm looking forward to next Saturday and making some more money with our restocked pantry!

Then begins the other part of my weekend....
When I was leaving the gym I noticed a river of antifreeze flowing from beneath the front passenger side bumper of my Maxie Lou.  She has been having some anti freeze related issues but I thought we had them fixed.  My mistake.  I got home and then kept an eye on the car for the rest of the day and didn't get out much as I had a killer headache.  The headache progressed until I spent my Sunday morning in bed instead of in a church pew (if you know me, you know I don't do this.)

I got up in the afternoon and took a jaunt down to the O'Reilly Auto Parts in Chesnee and got a recommendation on someone who could look at my radiator in a Sunday afternoon.  I went down there and Todd Greene pumped up my radiator and decided it was linking down the entirety of the crimp line (I didn't know what a crimp line was until yesterday.)  We were able to get a new radiator from O'Reilly and take it back to the shop.  Here's where things got interesting.  Once the radiator was out it was obvious that it was bent  and wharped from a car frame that was busted...not only busted but the engine cradle had come loose from the frame and was hanging down a couple inches.  So...Todd jacked up the cradle, C-clamped it to the frame and welded it back into place...then installed my new radiator.  Todd was great and let me watch everything thing he did and explained the function of every part he had to remove and install.  I really enjoyed having someone educate me.

So lessons learned:
1.  If you live in Chesnee, Todd Greene is a great mechanic and builder of all things machine related.
2.  You are supposed to have your radiator flushed every 30 to 40 thousand miles.  I didn't know this cause nobody ever told me.
3.  I have an awesome brother in law who called to check on me when he found out I was having car problems.  I love him!
4.  I dont' do well on a Sunday of no church.  After Todd got me up and running I went to church, it was late and only the Rec and Fellowship Committee was still there (i was supposed to be in the meeting so I can crash.)  When I sat down between Cynthia and Robin and looked across the table at Tammy, Donnie, Nikki and Donna it was like the world lifted and I had touched home plate and was home free.  At the end of the day my friends buoy me up and I can't function without them, even for one Sunday.


So it's Monday, and I still don't feel great, but I am glad to be back at work and happy that God took care of everything I needed this weekend.