I Am Woman, Hear Me ..... Squeak?

I have to admit I was thinking about blogging, or at least bragging rights, when I went about a few bits of my day.  I was patting myself on the back before I had even finished my work, thinking how cool I was that I could fend for myself and get important things done without the husband around.

Yeah, there's a rhyme and reason to that phrase "don't count your chickens before they hatch", after all.

Remember how I briefly mentioned that our windshield wipers were on the fritz, and we ordered a new part that should fix it, and it may or may not come in time for Jesse to put it in the car for me?  Well... It arrived at our door only half an hour before we had to leave for the airport.  And Jesse was still getting ready.  So, definitely not time for him to mess with it.  But, I wasn't worried, I'd been keeping tabs on the weather, and it looked like I would luck out with precipitation for the drive, anyway.  And it was certainly true on Thursday, which was (too) bright and sunny.  But as we got closer to Sunday, it became apparent that I'd more than likely be driving in snow when it was time to go get Jesse from the airport.  (And isn't that lovely irony?  That we desperately want snow ALL WINTER LONG, and then we finally get it the one day I DON'T want it????)  So, I buckled down to reality.  I needed to try and change the part myself.  It should be fairly simple, just unscrewing the plastic covering around the steering wheel, unplugging the switch (which controls the turn signals as well as the wipers), and put it all back together.  If I can change a tire, I can handle that, right?  Right.

But first, I needed to add brake fluid, since the brake light has been staying on almost constantly lately. Which was something else that Jesse was also supposed to do, but forgot about on the days he actually had time.  So after he explained over the phone where I should be able to find the brake fluid, I felt like I could handle it.  Unfortunately, since nobody else is home, I had to drag all the kids out to the car with me.  And buckle them in so they couldn't get into trouble while I worked.  So, I popped the hood, looked for the brake fluid cap, and couldn't decide which one it was.  I consulted the manual and it confirmed that my best guess was correct (yay me!).  I filled it up and closed the hood, glad for one job well done and easily completed. 

Then we went for a drive and got gas, both because we needed the gas, and because I needed some heat in the car for all of us.  It was only 18 degrees at the time.  Not the most comfortable temperature for just sitting in a car that's not running, you know?  While we were at the gas station, I decided to finally get around to filling up the tires with air, too, since they were all getting low.  Check, another job done.

Got home, and it was time to fiddle with the steering wheel.  I couldn't get underneath it without either opening the door or moving the seat, and you KNOW which one I chose, with the freezing cold.  I had to recline the seat as flat as it would go, and scoot it as far backwards as it would go, too.  And then I got to do fun acrobatic indoor car tricks, and lay with my feet hanging off the end of the seat with the headrest, and my head hanging upside down off the seat underneath the steering wheel.  Wasn't that fun?!  Oh, well, aside from the novelty, it wasn't, not really.  I'm not as young as I used to be, it seems.

Anyway, so I unscrewed it in three places, carefully setting the screws aside, and then took the plastic coverings off.  Found two more screws that attached the switch to the steering wheel shaft, and took those off, setting them aside again.  I then unplugged the switch, plugged the new one back in, and screwed it back to the steering wheel shaft.  Of course... I remembered that I should probably go ahead and do a test at this point to make sure it was working before I put the whole thing back together again.  So I turned the car back on, turned the wiper switch, and, ahhhhhhhh, CRAP.  It was still broken!!! (That's me in my best righteously furious whining voice, there.)  They wipe wipe wipe wipe wipe wipe wipe wipe wipe wipe and THEN finally turn back off, no matter when you switch it back to off.  And forget about any intermittent delay, it doesn't exist right now.  And I couldn't get the wiper fluid to spray at all.  I'm not sure if it's mechanical or not, that problem.  Jesse says he just refilled it several weeks ago, and though I couldn't see the fluid under the hood, he did remind me that it's waaaaay down there, aside from the place you pour it into.  And there's a light that comes on in the van if it's needing refill, and that wasn't on.  So I tend to think it's mechanical, since the fluid is controlled in the same place.

Anyway, so while I had been patting myself on the back and excited to blog about how I got the car all fixed up all by myself, even with kids to worry about at the same time, it backfired.  I certainly did not fix the most important thing on the car.  And I don't get to be so proud of myself anymore.  And neither Jesse nor I have much of a good guess as to what might still be wrong.  All I know is that we apparently didn't need that $80 part.  And on the heels of a $350 plane ticket, that's not exactly something that has me sighing with relief.  I guess we'll see if we can sell it on eBay or something?

Well.
Now I have to get back to my more womanly duties of feeding children and bathing them.  At least I know I have more chance of being successful on those counts, even if it is a bit dull.