My car has been making very odd noises for quite some time. Last week, the noises started to get scary so I reminded Esteban about it and his answer was for me to drive his car to work. That doesn't really solve my problem so I wait a couple of days and ask him again what to do about my car. He wants us to try going to one of those mechanics who works out of his home and I insist on a shop. He thinks we'll save some money by doing it his way etc, but I think we'll waste a lot of time because both of us will have to go to drop off the car and there's the issue of going to buy the parts and I want to be able to pay with a CC and get a receipt etc. Home mechanics usually only take cash, there's no receipt, no warranty... Well, I lost the battle so on Monday, we take the car to the mechanic, who was referred to us by his co-workers...
I program the GPS and realize we are a little over ONE HOUR away. Problem number one! But I don't say anything and start the long ride. When we get there, the mechanic takes a look and decides to take the car for a test drive. I take the kids for a walk to entertain them while the mechanic assesses the situation. As I'm almost around the block on my walk, my husband pulls up in my car with an odd look on his face and says he's had an accident. The car looks intact so I smile confused and try to figure out what he's talking about. What he said next, I did not hear. But he pointed to my car and there I saw it. My windshield was completely shattered. Unfortunately they did not secure the hood before taking it for the test run and it actually popped up while driving and cracked the entire windshield.
As I'm typing this, I'm realizing how horrible this could have been. Thank God, we were out in the boonies somewhere between Haines City and Dundee, a good hour away from home and they were on a back road somewhere with minimal traffic. The air bags did not deploy and there was very little damage to the frame of my car. And thank God, only a few shards of glass fell into the vehicle. No one was hurt. At the time though, I was not counting my blessings. Ok, I admit. I was fuming! Neither man knew what to say and I was so upset, but I was conscience that we were not alone so I bit my lip. They drove back to the house and when I walked up, they had assessed the situation. The brakes and struts were bad and my poor new wheels had no tread on the inside. This could have been a one day fix, but I called the insurance company and they weren't able to send anyone out for the glass until the next day. So Esteban and the mechanic rush off to buy parts and I take the kids for lunch. There's a Walmart nearby so after a leisurely lunch, I pass the time there.
Finally Esteban arrives. It was so late. On the way home, he kept apologizing, but what was done was done and there was nothing we could do. It wasn't his fault, but I kept thinking if we'd only gone to a regular shop, this wouldn't be happening. God's grace was with me though and I did not say anything to make him feel worse about the situation. Thank you God. We had pleasant conversation most of the way home, especially after the kids had finally fallen asleep.
Today, we head back to the mechanics. The glass should have been repaired between 10 - 1pm. But when we get there at 12:30pm, there's no sign of them. I called and was told 45 - 60 minutes max. But an hour and 15 minutes goes by and nothing. Great another wasted day! I had already listened to a good hour of my audio book, gone through my mail for the past week, re-organized and purged my coupons, cut out new coupons, gone through my email... Now all I had left was cranky Maya and my loose cannon, Jayden. I decide (or Esteban decides for me) that I need to get out of there. I took the kids for lunch. The closest McDonald's was 20 minutes away, according to the GPS! But off I went and when I got back, my windshield had been replaced and we were good to go.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time and did not get to finish the second part of the repair job, the tire replacement and wheel alignment. So now, I've called out for tomorrow to stay home with the kids so that Esteban can take the car to get the new tires and alignment. Lucky me gets to stay home with the kids. Believe me, after two days of crying and cranky toddlers, I was so ready to get away from them and go to work. (Is that bad?) But instead, I'll be home probably doing laundry, listening to Maya shout noooooooo, miiiiiine, or shhhhhhare and asking Jayden what number comes after 2, for the hundredth time!
The line for the Easter Bunny was way too long and when I combined that with the fact that Jayden and Maya refuse to sit still for pictures, I decided it wouldn't be worth it. The real bunny was just as fun and no line. Here's Jayden checking him out.
Maya takes a turn to pet the bunny.
Afterwards, we let the kids play in the playground. Here's Jayden on what turned out to be his favorite!
Maya was a maniac on the swings. E was pushing her pretty hard and I was pretty nervous, butt she seemed to enjoy the whole thing!
