Brake pads, Shocks, Transmission Oil Filter, Air Conditioner, and Facing my Fears 101

(Sorry no pics. I lost my camera and only found it again today) Saturday Brent and I spent several hours under the car. Don't worry we were not trapped, it was our choice. To be very honest I had the time of my life! Brent taught me how to replace the brake pads, shocks, and transmission filter. I've done brake pads before and as we got into it I slowly remembered things from the past times. It was cool to watch the shocks be replaced. Brent did pretty much everything on that except a few suggestions about how to get the new ones in. The transmission filter was something entirely new and was very very cool. The taking off a bunch of stubborn screws and laying on your back with gravity working against you and oil continuing to drip wasn't cool but once the screws came out and the cover was off, everything was so interesting. Something Brent pointed out to me was that the whole engine is pretty dirty but he showed me the gasket around the cover of the transmission filter that keeps everything so clean and it was like we had opened up a brand new box of toys. Everything was shiny and clean especially compared to the rest of the engine. Of course it was oily because after all it is the filter for the transmission fluid but still really really cool. Putting the filter in and the lid back on was another story by itself. WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT! OH MY, OH MY, OH MY! By the time we got done cleaning to gasket off the cover to replace it (terrible chore) and put a new one on, it was getting late. Emma was asleep (thank goodness) and it was a little cool outside. We got back under the car to start putting the screws in. See if you can imagine laying on the pavement with your hands holding a pan the size of a cake pan while trying to hold a gasket that fits around the edge in place while trying to get the screws to the four corners in place. Now granted there were two of us but remember that these were the same screws that were stubborn to come out and guess what? They were stubborn to go back in and of course there was a very limited amount of space. After we finally got the last one in place we started to finish up. We still had to recharge the refrigerant in the air conditioner but that was pretty simple. By that time I was really freezing though. I guess lying on the cold ground had been to much for me because I had the shivers and had to go stand infront of the heater for a bit. Finally Brent just sent me in to shower while he cleaned up and put everything away. I remembered from before that Brent always cleans up his hands with dish soap because it cuts grease so well. Well I was a grease monkey and thought about washing my hair with it. It turned out to be a great idea. Not only did I wash my hair with it but my whole body. I just took my loofa and lathered it up and scrubbed down. (Isn't that a nice mental image!) We were really sore yesterday. I woke up and my shoulders ached. For some reason which I still am not sure exactly how it happened my stomach muscles ached as well. I felt like I had done tons of sit ups. The whole experience was really good though. I was proud of myself in that I had retained some information from the last time and I wasn't a complete idiot when it came down to game time. I really enjoy working side by side with my husband in that kind of atmosphere. He is a good teacher and forces me to get my hands dirty when I am just a little nervous. The other great thing about this was facing my fears. I have a huge fear of getting under a car while it is up on a jack. I don't ever feel like I can trust the jack completely. I always am afraid that the jack will slip and I will be crushed. But...Brent taught me about the support stands that he puts under the car just in case the jack does fail and that helped get me over the initial nerves. I found however that once I was under the car and busy, I forgot my fears and never looked back. Thinking about it now though gets my tummy kinda jumpy! I guess I'll just have to get back up on that horse!