It’s time

My first day off from working my long-term temp job and I’m already OUTTA CONTROL… the kids have 1 full day left of school, and then tomorrow they have minimum day that’s it.  So, I have 1.5 days of FREEDOM before kids start summer break… and guess what I’m doing?  Not a whole lot…

Because we took the Odyssey van in for maintenance to prepare for our long driving trip this summer.  It was time for a new timing belt (HA!) and a couple of other things that is going to cost $1,000.00.  So much for my little meager savings.  Now our long driving trip, what is not work related costs are going to be extremely limited, and we just are going to have to enjoy the hotels.  We won’t have money for anything else or very little.  (credit cards are getting some action)  Shoot, if we’re going to have a pity party, let’s get the Disco card, man.

“Craziest thing. Never seen anything like it. Ever.”

So, we were all set to leave town this Wednesday.  (what I mean by that, nothing is ready, just we were aiming to be ready)  The van was supposed to be done this past Saturday… UNTIL the mechanic broke the car.

That’s right.  (I couldn’t believe it either)

I guess parts they got from the manufacturer weren’t made properly, and essentially, when they installed it and ran the motor- everything “crumbled.”   They had never seen anything like it- never happens!  Of course, it doesn’t.  Just for us…now…to mess up our plans.  (good thing we like our mechanic and have been going to him for 10 years- or I wouldn’t have believed him.)

Funny thing, we didn’t want to PRESS OUR LUCK,  and tried having the timing belt replaced before driving miles, we didn’t want to chance having it break and damaging other things while on the road…yet, what we were trying to avoid, happened anyway!   The timing was off with the new part, and broke things. We got the Whammy, man, and we weren’t even playing!  So now they have to take the engine apart and figure it all out- find the broken pieces- and what other parts were damaged in this process.

              “Oh, okay, we understand. Shoot.”

REALLY?  How do you act to that news in a dignified way?  This might put a kink in our 4th of July plans, as our trip is now off schedule.  Since it wasn’t their fault, or so they say, we couldn’t fault them and be angry, but handled the news gracefully.  And ensured they understood we needed the car ASAP.  No amount of yelling and cursing is going to solve the issue or make the process go quicker.

Thankfully, they are fixing what they broke without extra fee to us and the mechanic will take it up with Honda… but now we are out the car 5-7 business days!  (approx.)   They don’t know how long it’s really going to take as they have to send a section of the motor to another source to really ensure it’s working properly.   Today, my hubby has to call the various hotels we had planned for the first two weeks of our trip and cancel our reservations.  That BLOWS.  While he’s doing that…

I have to focus on  addressing the mischievous pixie we have living with us.  That is the only conclusion I can come to as to why every time I turn around, there are piles of dishes and laundry to wash/put away… no matter how hard I work, those piles mysteriously never reduce.  Does anyone have the house elf, Doby’s (from Harry Potter), business card?  I need him to get rid of the naughty sprite and help around the house.  Maybe pack a few things for me- at no charge, of course.