A Bowl of Ice Cream and More Car Stuff

So, I make copies of the car key and go to check to make sure they work only to find that the front door won't unlock. WILL NOT UNLOCK with a key or from inside, trying to pull up the lock tab thing. I have an appointment to take Kev to Carheads, our mechanic, on Tuesday. They may need to cut a hole in the door panel inside the car to access the locking mechanism that is obviously jammed.

Today, I dropped Mel at her soccer game in Layton. I was about 15 min from Jen's house, so I went to visit. Kamiko was with me. While telling Jen, Marie and Eli about the car fiasco, Scott came in from doing yard and, like it was a joke or something (perfect timing), said he had bad news for me. While doing yard work, a rock had flipped up and hit the side window of the van, shattering it. WHAT?! You've got to be kidding! It took us about an hour to clean up the mess and get us ready to get on the road again. The girls were done playing soccer and able to find a ride home, so Kamiko and I just drove straight home with fresh air blowing in the van. 

So, here is where we stand. There are 4 cars in front of our house.

1. Sam's car, which no one is driving because I don't believe in borrowing cars.

2. Kev, the new kid car, which neither kid can drive because I haven't taught them how to drive a stick shift yet AND you have to enter from the passenger side and climb over to the driver seat.

3. My van, which is missing an entire window on the passenger side.

4. Keenan's Nissan. NOTHING WRONG with it today.

Oil change in van on Monday...Kev going in for lock diagnosis on Tuesday...Diamond Glass coming to house to replace van window on Tuesday.

That's why I'm having a bowl of ice cream.

The Saga Continues...p.s. I'm a Stress Eater

So, while at Melia's track meet today (after spilling a 44 oz. diet Dr. Pepper in the van), I got a call from Ciara that she's not selling the red car after all. Ugh! Ugh! I came home and re-checked my list and was reminded of Kevin, who's selling his aunt's car. She's the original owner and had replaced the clutch, timing belt, tires, brakes, etc. We took cash with us to West Valley and met Kevin at Walmart. We drove it around and on freeway. We bought it. I'll be glad when it's licensed and official. I'm a little skeptical of every car ad now. So many people are trying to rip people off. I think this should work out. So, we have a white 2002 Kia Rio named Kev. He has 107,000 miles on him and we paid $2250 for him.

P.S. I eat when I'm stressed. Came home from buying car and ate part of a mint brownie, some chips, some bread with Nutella and a couple of crackers. I'm going to bed!

A Car Saga

Where do I begin? I must write this so I don't forget the details. 

About 3 weeks ago, Allie caused an accident. No one was hurt, but the cute little Hyundai the kids drive was pretty banged up. I was hoping it wouldn't be totaled. All damage appeared to be on the driver's door. That's it! Well, about 5 days after accident, I got a call from collision repair shop telling me to come get everything from the car because it wouldn't be fixed. It was a total loss. What?!

I began car shopping, which I hate. I have become quite good and determining which ads on KSL are bogus, though. I found a cute little Saturn wagon. It smelled liked pets and needed a good cleaning, but the price was right at $1800. My kids are going through cars like they are fruit snacks, or something. Before going to finalize a sale, I called my insurance to make sure everything was squared away.

There was NO RECORD that the car had been totaled. They quickly sent a local adjuster to the collision place to double-check the estimate. I get a call that the car WAS NOT totaled. It would be fixed. I had mixed feelings. We would have made money had the car been totaled and we bought the saturn wagon. We would have gotten about $4500 for the car and paid $2000 to buy and clean the car. Ugh! However, My car hunt was over. I'm amazed at the number of seemingly-fraudulent ads and was really stressed.

So, we settled into a 2-week wait for the car to be repaired. All along I really wanted that wagon. I also was concerned that the repairs wouldn't be good. There was quite a bit of damage. I didn't want to deal with leaks, etc. Well, yesterday, I got a call that the car WAS TOTALED after all. What?!!!!! They found, upon dismantling the car that there was more extensive damage. The first thing I did was call the owners of the Saturn wagon. It had been sold on Saturday. Dang, I should have bought it, anyway.

So, now we are back to getting about $4800 for the car and time to look for a car. Allie found a really cute Dodge Neon that she and I went to test drive last night. We even stopped at the bank to get cash just in case. Well, upon closer inspection and with help from the guys at Jiffy Lube, we found that it needs a windshield, new clutch and motor mount. The guys at Jiffy Lube told me to offer $1000, but no more. Ciara, the car owner, didn't accept our offer. She had other people coming to look at it. As we left, I told Allie, "We won't get that car. Someone will pay her what she's asking." The story does not end here.

All along we have been praying for help and calling our mechanics Heather and Cary for help. Ugh!

We drove a Saturn that seemed to occasionally steer by itself. A bit scary. I got home last night and looked at the classified ads until after midnight. I wrote notes and narrowed down my search and made a plan for today. I got up and made arrangements to go check out a Kia this afternoon in Taylorsville. I also called on a Taurus wagon in Provo for back up. My search is just beginning.

Well, I get a call this afternoon from Ciara. She said the other person interested offered her $1000 also and she wanted us to get first chance to get it for that price! It needs about $1000 in repairs (clutch, windshield, motor mount, etc). I called Heather, our mechanic, and Keenan and we all decided to go for it. I cancelled my appointment for this afternoon and told Ciara we want to come buy the car. We can get it in a couple of days when she has finalized her purchase on a new car. Whew! It is even a better car than the Saturn wagon, which doesn't surprise me because the Lord always takes care of us. I know He does and I'm grateful that He does. 

So, hopefully, in about 2 days, we will have a kid car again! Wow, that was a long story.

Our End-of-Year Food Labs Party!

Kilee, the intramural champ, and Ben Luthi and Jenny, our food buyer, and Chris Fosdick

Kilee and Ben, Brandi Fausett , former TA, and Chris Fosdick

Catherine, Matt, my Friday TA, and Melissa and Marian Burton 

Sean Lewis, me, KC Cook, and Jessica Lewis

Cute little Jessica, our nursing TA from Livermore!

This was SUPER fun. Right after the semester ended and before finals, we all got together at Starlyn Hjorth's friend's house for a Wii party. We danced, ate, sweated, and just blew off steam. Many of our TA's were there, with spouses, siblings, friends, etc. We had a great time. These kids sure make my job great. I love them! KC, Brandi and Cameron graduate. Kilee leaves us to student teach. Kamiko leaves us for a mission. Thank goodness we have Jessica, Matt, Forrest and Melissa sticking around.

I'm Now on Spring Break

Last week, the girls didn't have school. I was done teaching, too. We had a fun week. The girls both had good friends home, so they had a great time hanging out with friends. I shuttled them around, since Allie's car is in the shop. She caused an accident a couple of weeks ago and we're still waiting on the repairs. Everyone was ok, but the car was banged up. 

Well, I'm now on spring break. The girls are back to school and I have this whole week til I have to go back to work. Today I was quite busy. My visiting teacher came over at 8:30 and shared a message about the importance of humor in our lives, to help us get through hard times. I really appreciated that. I then went on a 12 mile run. YES, TWELVE. I'm training to run a marathon in a couple of months. After completing 12, I'm not sure how I feel about working up to 26.2. 12 took me over 2 hours. Yikes. I then cleaned up and went to Costco and Walmart for stuff we needed. Then I took Melia and friend to soccer practice and went visiting teaching. I made dinner, then we discussed earthquake plans for family night. Wow, what a day! 

I plan to kinda take it easy tomorrow. Think I'll find time to go to the temple.

A Great Sunday Afternoon

Me and Keenan at Temple Square 

The flowers were just perfect!

Allie and Melia on top of Conference Center

Allie laughing because she didn't know where to look on iPad for pictures

Allie figured out where to look...with Melia

On our way home, in the van.

Allie mentioned that she wanted to go to Thanksgiving Point to see the Tulip Festival. I suggested we go to Temple Square, since it's beautiful and free. We went after dinner yesterday and had a great time. The flowers were just perfect. We went to the top of the conference center and walked around up there, too. Then we went to City Creek, the new mall in downtown Salt Lake City that just opened. The stores aren't open, but the outdoor mall is. We just walked around and enjoyed the beauty of it. Wow, that is a gorgeous mall! I love spending time with the girls. They are so fun. A very good day.

FYI...

I hate writing letters of recommendation. Too much pressure. Enough said.