Everything Broke

We unfortunately had one thing break after another for about a week, the same week Nathan left and my mom came.

A couple of days before Nathan left, he decided that my computer's fan was running too much and needed to be cleaned. I was pretty surprised to wake up one morning and see my computer scattered across the floor.  Unfortunately, after he cleaned it and put it together again, it didn't turn on. Eventually, Nate determined the problem was beyond his skill set and remembered that a old student of his who also serviced the Math department's computers might be able to help. Luckily, he has his own business to fix computers and was able to upgrade ours.  It took about a week and a half to order parts and fix it up. Nathan had a spare laptop that I borrowed so we could still have Internet access while he was gone. I guess the lesson to learn was stop relying on technology so much and that it's okay to get outside help when it comes to computers.

Then on Friday, after we picked up Hailey from school and finished off at a store, we went through Jimmy John's drive-through for lunch. Leaving the shopping area, I turned right onto Yellowstone, which is Pocatello/Chubbuck's main road, and we all felt a huge bump then heard air rushing out. I thought that I somehow ran over the curb and popped my tire. I was kind of embarrassed, and tried to keep going so we could pull into Grease Monkey which was right in front of us and get off of the busy street. Mom told me that I can't go anywhere and that I just have to stop.  Within seconds, the men from Grease Monkey ran out to see if they could help. Even though my hazards were on, since it was day light people had a hard time seeing them and Grease Monkey put cones behind me. They also handed my a phone book so I could call the tow truck since my tire completely fell off. The recommended two people I could take the car into. Another guy stopped by to see if he could help. After looking at it he said it was the ball joint or the axle and recommended one of the people Grease Monkey already told us about, so with two recommendations we went with Todd's Automotive. We were also able to get a tow truck to come, which was covered by my insurance ($91 saved!). I was going to have my first quilt lesson by Carol at 1:30pm so I called to cancel and instead Carol and her husband came with both cars to take us home. I was really at a loss on what to do and was very fortunate that my mom was there to help me know what the next steps were.  The kids were fine and we even had lunch for them.  Another car stopped by and offered us a ride home since she saw we had kids in the car. That was a very nice offer and I probably would have taken it if we didn't have things already arranged. The situation got handled very quick which was great because it's not good to mess with Hannah's nap. After things settled down, I even got the quilting lesson in that day too.

Our plans were to go to the Temple and have fun in Idaho Falls the next day, so having the car in the shop was a huge blow. After talking to Todd's and finding out we won't get the car back until Monday, we decided to rent a van. It was a 2012 Dodge Caravan with 3 DVD screens, automatic doors, and a backing up camera. I really liked the car though it wasn't the most friendly car for car seats since it was difficult to climb over Hannah to buckle Robert. 

Since my sewing was on the kitchen table and we had a stressful afternoon,  we got Papa Murphy's Pizza and ice cream and had a picnic downstairs while watching a little show. The kids really enjoyed that.

On Saturday, I was able to go to the Temple as planned and to the Adult session of Stake conference kid free, expect Rachel.

On Monday, we went to pick up the car. Ultimately, the ball joint just wore out and there wasn't anything I did that caused it to fall apart on me. We are pretty luckily that it happened when we were going slow instead of on the highway going to IF and causing more damage. Since it was going to happen anyways, it happened in the best way.  The mechanic also talking about how our timing belt was wearing out and needs to be replaced soon. He also looked at why our AWD light was on to make sure it wasn't anything he did. On our invoice ($250), it said they recommended getting the car realigned. Since, they didn't say anything about that in person, I just assumed that didn't do that kind of thing and we just left to get it done at Les Schwabs. They however, found another part in the front of the car that was wearing down and needed to get fixed. So that was $300 more towards the car.

On Tuesday, I decided that I wanted the belt replaced since we were going to go to Utah on Friday and I don't want the car to break down on me again. I wish I would have gotten it fix all at once but what is done is done.

Also on that Monday, my washed stopped working. Nathan was able to drain it but we need a repair guy. That was fixed on Wednesday. The problem was that Rachel's tiny sock went up and over the cloth barrel and got stuck in the pipe. So, we spent $55 to get a sock removed but that was an easy fix and cheaper then a new machine. The repairman was very nice and told me that my machine was built well and should last a long time. The washer that we have is an easy one to take apart and to fix it.

About two weeks later, the ABS (anti-lock brake system) light went on which happened because the wire was resting on the hub and was shorting out. The hub had to be replaced and we decided to get the AWD repaired at the same time. (Another $800 on the car). I hate car problems! I might scream if we have to fix another thing with this car with in the next year. By the way, we have a 2003 Chevy Venture. It's our free car that we got together and it was completely paid for within a year of us getting it. We have had it for four years now and until recent we haven't needed to do a lot for it.