Tuesday, February 26, 2008

What's happening

These past two weeks have been very interesting and some what stressful. It all began 2 1/2 weeks ago.....

I took the van in to see why it over heated and what was making the noise I was hearing in the engine. I thought it had to do with valve lifters, a problem we had around Christmas. At the time they only fixed some of the lifters and said that if the others started making noise they would replace them as well. So in goes the van...

The mechanic called me back and said that the van had 1 quart of oil in the entire engine. The oil was leaking from both the front and the back of the engine. To fix it they would have to take off the water pump, the transmission and drop the engine. Also, the antifreeze was leaking from several places. It was going to be $1,600 to fix. Oh, and it needed all 4 new tires. One was so bad the radials were sticking out of the rubber. Gerry said we needed to decide whether to fix it, or trade it in. Let's see, a 1998 Plymouth Voyager with 170,000 miles on it, no power windows and power locks that lock you out if you close the door after starting the engine.

Hmmmm, Fix or trade in????

After a long conversation about what we could afford, what our dream would be and what we realistically could do. We told Gerry to put some stop leak in it and let it go. We were in the market for a new vehicle. That was Monday.

Tuesday Bruce took off work and we went vehicle shopping. Did I mention that it was cool and snowing. We looked at several different models and decided on the Saturn Outlook (it is a crossover vehicle).

Bruce spent the rest of the week thinking over vehicle packages, gadgets, payment options and loans.

Here is where we take a break from the car search.

On Wednesday we went to our weekly church events, in the Saturn SL2. Can any one say cramped and pass the oil please. Emma came home from church complaining of a sore throat. I figured it was from too much running and yelling at Skooters again. I took her home, gave her some water and sent her to bed. Thursday she went to school, came home and asked for Chloraseptic. You know when a 5 year old asks for that stuff her throat must really be hurting. I called the dr. They said that they had been seeing a lot of viral throat infections and that unless something else happened, they didn't need to see her. Friday she went to school and came home asking for more spray. By 10:00 Friday night she was running a fever and had a rash all over her face and hands. I called the dr again. He said to take her to the lab at the hospital, and he would call in a strep culture. Sure enough, Emma had strep and the rash was scarlet fever. I was to give her an antibiotic and watch the rest of the family for symptoms.

Now back to the car.

Friday we called Saturn and told them what we wanted a red, 2008 Outlook.


Saturday Saturn called us back and said that they had found the car closest to what we wanted. It is almost loaded, but not quite. The kids wanted the DVD system, Bruce wanted the advanced audio system, I thought the navigation system would be helpful, and no body was interested in the all wheel vs. 4 wheel drive option. So, we didn't get those. Bruce told me that we could go and get a portable DVD and navigation systems. That way they could be used in other vehicles. The kids are holding him to that. So, off we went Saturday night to sign papers and drive home our new "truck".

Sunday Emma and I stayed home from church. Ethan and Eliza too, but not because of sickness. Bruce went to church. Disappointed he could not take the new truck.

The next five days were great. A new car, no worries, no strange engine noises, and a nice new car smell.

Saturday we got up and went to the kids soccer games. They play indoor soccer at Liberty Bible church. On the way Emma complains of a stomach ache. I told her we would do the soccer games and then go to lunch. No one had much breakfast and she was probably hungry.

An hour later we were back in the truck. On our way to the car wash and then lunch. The truck needed a good cleaning. It was very salty, and Ethan decided to drag a finger at waist height all the way around the truck. In line at the car wash Emma yells " I need cold air" and then proceeds to throw up on the back bench of the truck. Bye bye lunch. Bye bye new car smell :-( She was so scared that she was going to get in trouble. Maybe because I kept saying " Oh no, she's throwing up in the new car, get her out of here! Oh my gosh, I can't believe she just threw up in the new car..."

After we got out of line for the car wash (which just happens to be in the parking lot for a grocery store. Bruce and Ethan went off for cleaning supplies) I assured her that she was not in trouble. I was not mad at her. It was not her fault. I was more angry at myself for thinking that she should sit by the door and not moving her. I didn't want the argument I know I would have to have with Ethan as it was his day to sit next to Eliza. So we got cleaned up. The car washed and went home.

Emma had the stomach flu all day. I started feeling ill Saturday night. Emma was fine Sunday morning. She and Ethan and Bruce all went to church. Eliza and I stayed home. I was sick all day Sunday. I felt better by bed time. And made it thru the night with out incident.

Monday while Emma was in school, I took the truck in to be detail cleaned on the back bench and floor. My new car smell is back!

Monday night it started to snow. It snowed all night. Emma had not school on Tuesday and Ethan was on a 2 hour delay.

Oh, so far, no one else had gotten strep throat, scarlet fever or the flu and it is still snowing.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the new car!

I'm glad Emma recovered from her tandem scarlet fever (!) and strep throat so quickly and I hope she'll be feeling good for a while.

Tam

Celestial Freak said...

Poor Emma! As a side note this was an interesting article...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,333408,00.html

I'm still not sure I'm for flu shots because of the possible connection between a possability to link with autism, but most docs say that isn't so...

Still poor thing. Glad to hear everyone else has for the most part been OK, hope everyone continues to be healthy, you included.