Car Troubles

When we lived in Colorado, one day our Nissan Sentra's transmission just died. We replaced it through Aamco, and it cost a fortune we didn't have. And then when we moved out to Maryland just a couple years later, and were on our way to church, less than 24 hours after we had arrived (and had towed the car the whole way behind the moving truck), yep, the transmission died again. We walked back home and tried to do our best with finding a mechanic would would take the car on Labor Day weekend and get it fixed up. Being new to the area, we ended up finding one who was actually quite far away, and was not trustworthy at all. He ended up breaking a fuel injector on purpose, trying to get more money out of us. Jesse was furious, of course, demanded he put it back on, and went on to fix the fuel injector himself. That transmission also cost us money we didn't have, since we just spent it all on moving halfway across the country and paying medical bills surrounding the impending arrival of Melinda.

Fast forward to 2007. We decided to purchase a used van. We found one at a reasonable price, and that seemed to be in very good condition for its age. The owner said the transmission had been replaced within the last year, and that the new transmission had very few miles on it. We considered that, and decided that since it had replaced, there probably wasn't much risk. Well, on our way home from church this week, guess what started slipping? Yup, the transmission. We were lucky to have made it home. Blessed, more like it, since it was 34 degrees and raining outside. Would have been miserable to finish the walk home with two kids in tow, in that weather. And yeah - did we mention that it's the week before Christmas, we have just a couple hundred dollars in savings, and are already counting on having enough tax returns to pay for the birth of baby #3? Once again, money we don't have. Jesse took the van out for a test drive around the block on Monday, and the van never switched gears, just revved higher and higher the faster he tried to go.

I had an appointment with the midwife on Monday, so Jesse took some time off work to stay home with the kids, while I drove the Sentra down to the midwife's office. The Sentra has its own set of problems, the most obvious one being the rusted, hole-filled exhaust system. It sounded like it had no muffler at all. It also has a strange squeal coming from the engine area. Jesse's not quite sure what it might be, but a possibility could include a belt that needs changing. Anyway, on the way home from the midwife, just a couple blocks from home, all of the sudden, it started sounding a lot worse. And felt like it lost some power - acceleration felt very difficult. I finished the drive home and told Jesse about it. When he checked it, he discovered that there was now a new hole in the exhaust pipes, up near the engine. So now besides the car just sounding plain awful, it was a little too dangerous for myself and the kids to drive in, since exhaust fumes could get into the car more easily, for starters. Feeling very stressed and depressed, I canceled all our activities for the week, including a much-looked-forward-to cookie exchange playgroup, and two visiting teaching appointments, and our regular friday playgroup. And Jesse decided to make his car a bit of a priority, since he was thinking he could probably fix it on his own.

So on Monday night, he found some parts online and ordered them. They shipped through UPS ground, and amazingly, even during the few days before Christmas, they arrived at our apartment on Wednesday. The UPS guy was so funny. He showed up with an assistant, because both pieces were a good 4 feet long and very heavy. He grinned and asked the question he must have been dying to know the answer to - "Are you actually expecting these?!?" Yup, I know - as much as we get typical boxes full of clothes and toys for the kids that I order online, a couple 4-foot car pipes and muffler wrapped lightly in bubble wrap just doesn't cross one's mind as a possibility for typical home delivery, ya know? We laughed as I briefly answered that YES, I was indeed expecting them, even if they looked much different than I imagined!

Jesse took them to work with him on Thursday, and ended up taking the remaining 4 hours of personal time he had left to use up this year, and spent the afternoon outside in the work parking lot, underneath the car, occasionally using some tools that work had available (lucky him!) when he needed them. And you know what? He *did it*!! He successfully removed old and installed the new exhaust pipes and muffler. He got home half an hour late, and absolutely looking 100% like a grease monkey, just covered in grease, dirt, and debris. Even though he had washed as well as he could before he left work. It was a pretty funny sight.

But what a blessing, that he could spend only about $170 in parts and fix the car himself, instead of having to take it to a mechanic and surely paying a good $300+ for labor fees. Every penny counts at this point, and his talents just saved us a huge chunk of money. I'm very grateful that he can do these kinds of things. He was already feeling stiff and sore when he got home (how could he not?? Laying flat on his back trying to lift and maneuver heavy 4-foot metal pipes into the right spot and then screwing them into places he couldn't even see from his vantage point!), so he treated himself to a long hot bath and shower. And while his hands were still black in places, he cleaned up very nicely otherwise.

Now we just need to clean out all of the mounds of junk piled in the passenger areas of his car, and put the car seats in the Sentra, and we'll at least have a drivable car to use while we figure out what to do with the van. We have some good recommendations for local mechanics now, but haven't verified yet whether they can do transmission work. I hope they can. But the important part is that we have something to drive, even if there are some things going on with the Sentra (like the strange squealing) that could probably use some investigation. It's been rough staying home this week, when we had so much planned and were excited about. And the thought of missing church the Sunday before Christmas wasn't sitting well with me, either. Thank goodness for a good visiting teacher who was very understanding of our situation and volunteered to go grocery shopping for me, despite being almost 39 weeks pregnant herself. We had run out of fresh fruits and veggies, and the makings for decent meals, and that's not good for anyone, especially not young kids and a pregnant woman.

While we're still worried about the expense of fixing the van, on top of being worried about how to pay for baby #3, I am at least feeling very grateful for the blessing of Jesse being so good with mechanics, fixing things, and having a working car. The extra worries have really put the Christmas Spirit more solidly in my heart this year - we have so much to be thankful for.

Watch out, Speed Bumps!!

Melinda and Jacob love to run back and forth through the apartment, from the back of my bedroom, down the long hall, and to the couch on the far side of living room. Usually they'll be screaming at the top of their lungs while running. Who knows what they're playing most of the time. Or even if they're playing...maybe they're just getting out some energy!!

But today made me laugh - the floors are particularly messy right now, with most of the toys out of their boxes, couch cushions pulled off the couches, discarded pieces of clothing laying right where the kids took them off, and so on. So running back and forth isn't particularly safe at this point in time. Well, Melinda came bolting out down the hall, and ran right over the Fisher Price Nativity Scene stable. She tripped and fell down, and just kind of stayed there in a bit of shock, but not hurt. I said, "WOAH! What happened? Did you trip over that toy?" And she said, "Yes, it's like a speed bump!!" And so I told her, "Well, Melinda, usually speed bumps are there to tell you that you need to slow down to be safe." "But Mommy," she said, "this one likes to tell you to go fast!"

And yes, she tripped over it again about 1.5 minutes later. ;)

The First Snow

Ever since it got cold, Jesse hasn't been able to stop talking about snow. He just *loves* snow, he says! Can't wait for it to snow! Wants a long, snow-filled winter! Well, today it happened. We got SNOW! It basically snowed non-stop from 9am to 8pm, and we got about 3 inches or so total. The kids and I went outside to play in the white wonderland at about 2pm. Melinda was asking all morning when we could go out, but I wanted to wait until we had a decent amount on the ground, first.

The snow wasn't sticky enough to do fun things like build a huge snowman, but we did manage to squeeze snow together into balls to make a mini-snowman that is now sitting on the brick retaining wall next to our porch. He is complete with a mini carrot nose, tiny pebble eyes and mouth, and little stick arms. We've also had the sled out on our porch all year long, and it didn't take Melinda long at all to realize, HEY! I can go grab it myself! And she did. And poor pregnant mom, in her boots that are a full size too small (yeah, I bought them in college, waaay before pregnancy made my feet grow), then had to pull a combined weight of somewhere around 70 pounds around on the sled. The hike over to the hill was NOT fun. But we made it. And the kids sledded down the hill. It was great fun! Mostly for them, though. I still like snow, but playing in it hasn't seemed too attractive for a few years now.

Both kids could use some snowpants, and we could *all* use some snow boots. Melinda at least has boots that zip up and cover her thighs, so she wasn't in danger of snow getting in her shoes, but there isn't any insulation and no room for layers of socks, so her feet got really cold. Jacob only has one pair of shoes, since his feet are so darned thick (wide, by shoe standards) that it's hard to find shoes that will fit him and we always end up buying $40 shoes for him. I'm hoping winter boots, if I can still find any (because you KNOW the stores around here stop selling winter clothes before Christmas even rolls around, right? Time for swimsuits now!), will manage to fit him. I had to throw his shoes in the dryer when we were done so that he'd be able to wear them again when we left the house that evening. And of course his socks got totally wet and cold, too, not that he complained at all. And then there's me, with feet that barely fit into my boots. Oh, were my feet aching by the time we were done!

But it looks like warmer weather and rain are on the way later in the week, so we enjoyed the snow while we could. Even if Jacob insists on calling it "snowmen" (which sounds a lot like "it's opened") instead of "snow". And even if all they wanted to do was constantly eat the snow. Who cares if the neighborhood dogs might have done their business right there? Not them!