Oil and Water(ing Can)

If you ever find yourself and Jeopardy and receive the clue “Auto mechanic and hardware store,” you can buzz in with confidence and say, “Alex, What are two places where Rebecca is completely out of her element?”

Yet that is how I spent my Friday. Completely out of my element.

It was time for my yearly oil change. Yes, yearly. I do not drive enough to justify more frequent oil changes. And believe me, I have tried. I am militant about car care. But the mechanics have laughed me off. I go to the neighborhood auto shop and they are always so nice to me. And know how to calm me down when my car experiences various mechanical issues. I do not handle mechanical issues well. Seriously, just ask my Dad who always gets the 1,000 mile away panicked phone call of “This little light is on and my car is shaking, what do I do?”

But for those of you keeping track at home, I drove 84 miles from January 4, 2008 through January 23, 2009. And put gas in my car exactly once. In July. All of the mechanics were commenting on the low mileage of my car (and even after a year, my oil looked perfect).

Then it was off to the hardware store. There is apparently a famous hardware store in my neighborhood. I have been hearing about it since I have moved here three and a half years ago. My landlord loves the place. But I had never been there. Never really had a reason. But I needed odorless paint thinner for my painting class and I needed this drain cleaner that my landlord swears by. So with my freshly changed oil, I set off to my next stop: Strosnider’s Hardware. That the place is less than two miles from where I live and I managed to make 27 wrong turns getting there is probably why I have never made the effort to get there.

But once I secured a rockstar parking spot, I headed into the legendary store. And I felt like I was walking into the Ace Hardware back home. Crazy friendly staff greeted me like they had known me forever. Every aisle I went down, someone offered me help. Though, Confession: This always happens to me at home improvement stores. I have the Home Depot face down to a science. The face that screams “I am standing here a completely (er, semi) intelligent human being. I am standing here pretending that I know exactly what I am doing when really I do not have a single clue. But I don’t want to look like idiot. SO HELP ME! HELP ME!” And help usually flocks my way!

Three different salespeople helped me find odorless paint thinner and my drain cleaner (which now comes in a “Green” version using enzymes instead of chemicals…Thank you plumbing aisle guy!) and then, all by myself, I found a pink watering can for my rapidly growing greenery (I now have four plants).


After I paid for my purchases, I wandered outside and realized that I was not quite ready to give up my rockstar parking spot. Nor had I spent enough time there to justify my 2 mile, 20 minute drive (I told you I got lost a lot).

So I wandered next door to a store called Bruce Variety. And I felt like a stepped back in time. Like seriously, it was a variety store from the 50s or 60s. I kept expecting the cast of Leave It to Beaver to walk around the corner. Total old school. But the best part….they have craft supplies!!!!!! Aisles and disorganized aisles of ribbons and buttons and paints and everything else that I have been having my mom send to me for the past three and a half years (craft stores are a suburb thing around here and well, we all know how I feel about the suburbs). If Bruce Variety has been experiencing any sort of economic troubles during this downtown (and the crowded aisles offer all evidence to the contrary), I am pretty sure the answer to their problems accidentally stumbled through their door on Friday.

And that was pretty much my Friday.

Hope you all had a great weekend!