Another year-end reflection: after the meltdown

I've been using the 7 day black and white challenge as a way to get myself back into daily posting. But, this end of the year ball of social engagements has me busy busy most of my 'off the clock' hours.
Now that Christmas is over, and all of the preparation that went into that. And alterations have been made to my new year's dress. All I have left is to make it through one more day of work, followed by a romantic dinner with Hubs, then off to the Gatsby themed cocktail party to ring in the new year. Once it's all said and done, it'll be a 24 hour day (minimum) for me, so I'm a little anxious and already exhausted; but, I do think I'll have fun, if only for the chance to dress up and drink fancy cocktails.

In the meantime, I have still been looking back at the year through my Barracuda Diaries blogspot. My last car post here was a re-post from my original blog dated November 2016. It was my last post of that year. And it was depressing. Because I was depressed. I had spent months trying to get one part (well, one on each side) off in order to move on with the front suspension and brake conversion.
Months I worked on that.
Months.
Looking back, my first post of 2017 was the last days of January. When Hubs and I went to dinner with a co-worker of his, and her husband...a mechanic by trade, whom also happened to be restoring a classic car himself.
That post was less than exciting, and reading the follow-up post, I decided to share that one here.
The following post was originally from my blogspot blog, dated February 1, 2017. Up to this point, my major frustration with the car project was due to the stuck on lower ball joints.
The day they came off was the beginning of the best year I've had, restoring this car.

Well, folks, it's been a long time, hasn't it.
A long few months of silence here, and over on the ol' facebook page.
I've been dormant, though the weather has actually been pretty nice considering it's winter in New England. We had a big snowstorm, but it was all cleared out by rain and warmer temps within a few days.
So, my point?
It's not the weather keeping me from that beast in the driveway.
I pretty much gave up on the ol' gal after all the trouble with the front suspension, as you all know.
But not the kind of giving up that leads to the thing just sitting there to rot or trying somehow to get someone to come buy the heap so I didn't have to keep being reminded that I was in way over my head simply starting this project. (that was a long ass sentence!)

maybe you're thinking 'what kind of trouble were you having? i forgot.'

The front disc brake conversion can not take place until the old brake parts and suspension are squared away...

remember...I had to buy 2 of these $20 tools because i broke the first one trying to get the ball joints off?
All the things I tried...including the pickle fork/sledge hammer combo and this stupid 'too big' pitman arm tool.

Ahh...the joy of auto restoration, coupled with a complete lack of car knowledge makes for some pretty rough days of waking up the neighbors (guess it's ok if they shine their headlights in my windows, after all...and eye for an eye, i suppose.) and tears. Lots and lots of tears.

Well, winter will give me a great excuse to just not think about it for awhile so when people ask 'how's it going with the car?' i can say 'um, it's winter. what could I possibly be doing? It's going just as scheduled.'
Then we have the ridiculous warm weather and days when I should be out there. But I'm not.

Enter my new friend, Jeremy.
Husband of a woman my hubs works with. Mechanic. Happens to have some free time this week...and Wednesday looks good. Oh, but wait! There's snow in the forecast for Tuesday, of course.
Miraculously, Wednesday is still looking like 40+ degrees...and it was.

Yes, yes, and...?
Let's just let these pics do the talking...

All the parts are OFF! Which alone is enough to really bring me joy. However, I got a bit of pleasure when the ball joint gave him just as much trouble, until he used some tricks of the trade and his knowledge of leverage and how it can work in this situation. It was better than finding a unicorn while out on a walk in the woods. It proved to me that I must have a little bit of good karma built up somewhere.
Since I really just met Jeremy a few days ago, I told him my whole sad story. Which reminded me of the long and winding road I've been down with this car. I have renewed excitement for this project again, now. Soon, the long and winding roads will be for cruisin'!
***(Jeremy, if you're reading this, I hope you're not completely embarrassed and unwilling to ever speak to me again. ...Perhaps I should've asked him first...)

Now I have spoken to Jeremy since then, to ask for advice, but since that post, I have managed to continue the year doing the work by myself. It has been the most rewarding year of auto restoration I've ever had. Hoping 2018 leads to a working vehicle by the time summer rolls around.