Friday, August 8, 2008

The Good News, and The Bad News

Whoo wee! What a busy day! My little one was being a spitfire, and man, did she wear me OUT! I did wind up talking with their pediatrician about her, too, because her off-the-wall behavior is becoming a bit concerning to me. He actually saw some of it in action while we were in the examining room, and he said that although he's not ruling out that she's being a typical 3-year-old, with an AMAZING intelligence level, he is definitely willing to keep an eye on her, and continue to hear me if I come back time and time again and gripe about her hyperactive behavior. I personally think I have another ADHD child in the making, but I guess we'll just have to wait it all out and see.

So... do you guys want the good news, or the bad news? Oh, I guess I'll just start with the good news first.

We didn't go any further than the customer service desk at K-Mart, because I got quickly annoyed and exasperated by my little one, who went everywhere else but right beside me, even though she promised she'd stay with me (as an obvious ploy to get out of going into a carriage). Once I made my returns and layaway payment, we walked over to TJ Maxx, to try our luck on the clearance racks there.
Lo and behold... we found one pair of cute jeans, one pair of denim capri pants, and a really adorable "hoodie" style button down baby-doll top for R. All in the Juniors department (which we now have to routinely shop in, because of her budding "figure"... ACK!), and all totalling less than $20!! I also found a really cute pair of Champion sneaks (reminiscent of Sketchers) for $10 bucks at PayLess. So, she's pretty well set for back-to-school.

The bad news is, on the way out of the TJ Maxx strip mall, and on the way to another stop off at a local bakery (they have the BEST fresh rolls and bread ANYWHERE), I noticed a funky light come on on my instrument panel. I pulled into the parking lot of the bakery, pulled out my owner's manual from the glove compartment, and panicked when I found out what that light was a symbol for -- the engine!

I grabbed my cell phone, called my husband, and tried my fool best not to flip out. He asked me if I'd gotten any gas lately, and I said yes... I'd just filled the tank before we headed out. He reassured me that maybe, just maybe, it was a sign that the guy didn't tighten the gas cap on enough, and that I should try to tighten it again. He thought that would do the trick. So, I went in, bought my bread (and resisted the urge to shove half the loaf into my mouth all at once -- I eat when I'm stressed), and took the girls back out into the parking lot, securing them both into their seats before futzing with the gas cap.

I took it completely off, and tightened it enough to hear that "clickclickclick", got into the car, started it up.... and still saw the engine light.

So, once we got settled into our next destination... lunch at McDonald's... I called my husband again to vent some more. Again, he reassured me that it might take a day or two for the car to "run through all of its checkpoints" before the light went out. I have no idea what that means, exactly, but I sincerely hope that it's true.
Engine work is the kiss of death for a car, and we can't afford the repairs right now.

It's always something, isn't it?

Pray that there's no light tomorrow. We still need groceries.

5 comments:

Natalie said...

You will have to go and read my post from january 3rd, 2008..it is so similar...and hopefully you have the same end result! I freakin hate car problems....they seem to always get ya at the worst times! We just paid 203.00 for a repair that should have cost 4.00 at the most...a fuse that had been pulled out by a family member who was trying to fix the original problem...long story short...mechanic did not check fuse..family member did not tell anyone that he had removed it..after eight hours of repair to find out what in the heck was the matter...he (mechanic) notices that fuse is missing...feels like an idiot and ended up writing off 5 hours of labor...thank heavens..but still...expensive considering! I will keep my fingers croseed for you!

Erica said...

I hope it's just a fluke and the light just wants to scare you with the car.

Mama C. said...

Oh, you guys don't even know how terrified I am. THIS car (a 2003 Dodge Durango) is a REPLACEMENT car for my beloved Isuzu Trooper (which crapped the bed because of engine troubles!).

I wound up selling both old cars to the junkyard, and my MOM had to sign for this new car, and is the primary persn on our insurance, as well. Our credit sucks so badly, that if we'd signed for everything, we'd be paying at least double what we pay now.

I only got this car back in January, and I'm not anywhere NEAR being finished with payments! Plus, this is our ONLY car! So, if this one dies, we have no way to get around to do ANYTHING. And, if it gets "sick"... we have no money... NONE... for any serious repairs.

I'm sweating bullets right now.

I'm praying with all my might that you guys (and my husband) are right... that it's just a weird technicality that these new cars go through. I think they'd have to haul me away to the funny farm if it was anything serious.

Natalie said...

So when will you find out what it is ? Good luck..I'll keep my fingers crossed!!

Mama C. said...

I don't know what to do about it, and the light's still on, as of today.

I think I'm going to have to find out the name of a half way decent mechanic (is there such a thing?), and bring it in for a look-see. I'm just praying it's something relatively easy (and inexpensive) like the spark plugs. If it's the engine, I'll be selling one of my kidneys on EBay.