A good day to have a good day

I did some work today. My struggle with the impossible distributor has gone on for weeks. And let's be clear, the only reason I need to get it out is to get at a bolt on the intake manifold that is basically inaccessible.

Inside that red circle is the last bolt for me to get at, in order to get the manifold off. I have tried several methods and have enlisted the help of strangers on facebook and in Mopar A-body chats. I've had to buy new tools and test the limits of my shoulders and back.
Today's trip to the tool store yielded some new pry bars and a really cool ratchet.

I put them to good use today.
Ultimately, days of spraying the gasket with solvent to break it down and continuing to pry at the base was the only way to go. I had no good clearance to tap it with mallets. It was suggested that I take the oil sender out to get better access to the shaft of the distributor...or maybe even the bolt I was trying to get at.
Unfortunately, I also had no room to get at the bolt for that! So back to the prying...
...and suddenly...
it popped off and gave me quite a fright!

I was afraid to look, it was so jarring, I thought for sure it had broken.

You should keep in mind, when reading my car project posts, that I have no idea what I'm doing. I've researched removing distributors, so I've seen some videos. But, mine is a different type than I saw in any of the videos. Luckily, one of the guys giving me advice had informed me that the one used in my car doesn't have gears at the end...and, if I hadn't known that, I would've assumed I broke it.

I broke down this morning. It's not the first time.
I've grown a lot, dealing with the frustrations of restoring a car. In the beginning, I would try to do something, thinking of course that it couldn't really be too hard to do. When I hit a snag, I would throw a little tantrum. I'd get defeated and convince myself that I'd made a huge mistake taking this on.
After getting help from friends and getting a few little victories under my belt, I got better at giving myself some slack and letting things sit for awhile so I could think through and/or get some help.
These days, I'm kind of in a place where I am quicker to ask for advice, but less likely to ask for actual, physical help.
But I still get frustrated to the point of a little tearful meltdown.
And today, after more struggling, I bent over the engine and cried a little. It clears my head. I'm able to just let go of emotion so I can clear my head for a little deeper thought.
In this case, crying did help.

Once I got the distributor out, I moved on to see how much trouble the manifold bolts would give me.

Surprisingly, not a lot! I made pretty quick work of the bolts, all the way around. Then I got the pry bar out again to see how tight the manifold gasket was. It seemed like it would pop out pretty easily, but I needed to remove the valve cover from the passenger side, in order to get the pry bar under the manifold.
And I was met by a similar sight...

A lot of rust. This car sat for a long time in the elements so I am not surprised by the dampness in the engine. I just hope it's not too far gone.
I was not ready to take the manifold out today, so I spent some time cleaning instead.

I got pretty giddy at the end of my time with the car today. I felt like this little thing I was able to do today got me to a place where I (provided I'm able to get the engine running) can be driving it by the end of next summer!
I'm not a gear-head. I'm not a car girl. I'm not a grease monkey.
I do like learning new things. I do like to look at old cars. I do like getting dirty.
Here's a final view of how I left it today...