Another one of those days.

Monday I went out at lunch to get cat food and litter. We were at critical levels of both, and the cats were about to start a protest. And you know those only ever end in one way - bodily secretions in places that are impossible to get clean.

This trip was deliberate, we have both of the large chain pet stores in our area, so I had cruised the net to see which of the two had the better prices and planned my shopping accordingly. One store is semi on my way home, the other is more out of my way, but still easy to get to and return from with time to spare at lunch.

Of course, since I was at that shopping center I decided to run a couple other errands at some stores in the same area. But you have to remember I wouldn't have been there had I not found the food and litter for a couple dollars cheaper at the one store.

Long lead up for a short event: running into a curb and blowing a tire as I was making my way out of the shopping center after running all of the errands.

I am fairly well acquainted with curbs, there's just something about the location of my front passenger tire that attracts them. But this was the first time I had done more then brush tire against curb in a soft kiss or run up and over the curb like a bulldozer over an ex-boyfriends heart.

Instead of a savings of dollars, we're now out around two hundred for the tire.

We have Roadside Assistance through our car insurance so it didn't cost any extra to have someone come out to change the tire. And my vehicle carries a full-size spare, so we have some time to find the lowest price on the tire.

But it still stinks.

Of course, I was flipping through the Vehicle Manual last night and came across the airbag section where there was a line about the airbags possibly deploying with as little impact as hitting a curb. So at least I missed out on that fun and expense.