BJ and I have names for our cars. BJ's car's name is Miki as in Miki Moto the pearl guy, mine's name is Bagheera from the Jungle Book. Well today, Bagheera decided to threaten to die today. Let's just say, not a good time. Well here is how it all went down.
It all started Monday, when I got home from work BJ opened the garage door with the baby and said, "your car sounds funny." I thought well I haven't heard anything so it must not be that bad, and if it does sound bad, I have no clue how long it's been going on cuz I haven't been hearing it.
On Tuesday, as I was walking out to my car after work I listened to the car a bit and realized, yes it does sound a bit off. But just a tad off. Not enough for me to drop everything and rush it into the shop.
On Wednesday (today), I dropped Elijah off at daycare and on the way back to the house I thought, "this weekend I will have BJ look into the car thing and see if he can figure it out." I also realized that BJ left his phone at home today and I really hoped I didn't need him for anything today. I then jumped in the car, started it up, and backed out of the garage. On the way out my car stutters and I assume it got stuck on the newspaper, so I tapped the gas, off I went. I got down the drive way, onto the street and PTHHH. Car dead! Yeah this sucks. After throwing a mini tantrum beating the steering wheel, swearing under my breath and clenching my fists while pulling out my hair, I tried the car again. No luck. As I sat there looking at all the lights on the dash lit up like a Christmas tree I called my boss to let her know I was going to be a bit late.
Part two of sucky day: I call up AAA- which by the way is the BEST investment you can have if you are a driver. Tangent: for about $125 a year you get tows up to 100 miles, an unlimited number and then you get discounts on things, plus those free travel books if you travel. Back on topic: I spent about 45 min on the phone with them getting a tow truck and looking into a renta car. I was then transferred to Hertz to help me get a car...however, they ran out of cars. How do you run out of cars, your a rental car company. Anyway, I wait around and get a phone call thinking it was the tow guy saying he was here. No, No it was the tow guy saying he was lost. Fantastic, now I will be even later for work. I finally get to the car place and drop off my car. They call Enterprise and "They pick you up." On the way to Enterprise the guy asks, "what are you looking for." Me knowing perfectly well that anything that causes you to be towed into the repair shop will not be cheap says, "something small, and cheap." We get there and the next thing he says is I have an SUV you can drive for 70 bucks a day. Really what part of small and Cheap do you not understand? Anyway I drove off with a Kia Rio. It's small and it definitely is cheapish. I finally get to work about 10:00 and am completely disorganized. I was completely unprepared and I couldn't settle down.
Part three of bad day: The car place called to let me know what was going on with my car and to keep me up to speed with everything. He had checked the spark plugs, they worked, but old so he changed them. Still didn't work, then he checked the cylinders, no problems there, then he had an idea, a hunch. He did some research and found out the symptoms sounded just like some thing he read. Did more research found out Mazda 626's year 1998 had a recall on this part. The mechanic called Mazda and found out that this issue that was recalled, that happened to my car, did not cover my car. He followed this up with it will be costly to fix this do you want me to fix it?? Let me see, YES, my car isn't even driving, what will I do with it not working? He then wanted to know if he should call me with the final estimate. I said, "NO" because I would have to pay it somewhere, and it will be cheaper than buying a new car. By the time I got home I realize, I don't have my house keys, they are with my car, so was my garage door opener. I jump out of the car to use the key pad for the garage door, and nothing. The garage door refused to open. AWESOME!!!!!!!! After 10 minutes of pushing garage door buttons it finally opens I park and am done for the night.
I'm done, I'm tired, I had to do it all by myself like a grown up, and I'm dreading the cost of this wonderful day. All I have to say...thank goodness I didn't have to pay the towing fee. The rest of it... I have to laugh because there is nothing else I can do. However, I may be putting a collection together to cover the cost of the repair.
Final note: Bagheera, you're not aloud to die! Not yet, Not this way!
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