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December 26, 2006

Merry Christmas ... maybe

So another Christmas has come and gone. This year was an interesting one to say the least. While the holiday events themselves were enjoyable, I wasn't really able to enjoy myself. As I arrived at Michael's house on Sunday, the timing belt in my car broke. I wasn't aware of any problem upon my arrival, but when I tried to start the car and head to Amanda's mom's house, the car wouldn't start.

Initially, we thought that it might be a gas gauge problem, so Michael got out his gas can and put some fuel in the car. Afterwards we tried to get the car running by popping the clutch. No go on either of those, so we decided to park the car and deal with it after Christmas.

At this point, Amanda and I called her sister to come and get us so that we could participate in the events at her mom's. It was hard to enjoy myself during the festivities, and I think that it showed more than I cared for it to. Amanda kept looking at me and asking if I was OK. I told her that I was fine and tried to keep my spirits up, but I was really having a hard time doing so. On top of that, my wrist began to hurt as I had jammed it on the back of the car trying to push it while Michael attempted to pop the clutch.

We stayed the night in Frankfort, staying at Amanda's mom's on the pull-out couch. We went to church with her family, which was pretty enjoyable. I got to see a school mate of mine from high school, who was very very pregnant. She approached me and I realized who she was immediately. As she was in the middle of introducing herself, I said "Hi Sarah" and said my hello. This was nice, as it has been a very long time since I had seen someone from school. Had it not been for the car breaking down, I doubt that I would've had that opportunity.

This was also the first time that we had been back in her family's church since the wedding. It felt quite different with the amount of people that were in there, in addition to the changes that were made to the stage. It had been setup with a nativity scene and most of the stage was covered in hay and by a set. The cross in the background was covered by a star that lit up to represent the star that guided the wise men to baby Jesus.

It was nice.

On Christmas day, we spent some more time with Amanda's family before they brought me back home. As I wasn't expecting to stay the night, I didn't bother to pack up any medicine. My alergies were beginning to bother me, and my stomach was understandably upset for most of the day. I had Ashley take me home. Amanda came with, but was going to be heading back to Frankfort to take the car to the dealership to get it fixed today. I decided to stay home, as there was no point in coming here, heading back to Frankfort for dinner and coming back home.

Today, Amanda had the car hauled to the dealership. Originally, we had planned to have it towed to Louisville to have our mechanics take a look at the automobile. Unfortunately, our insurance would only pay for 10 miles for towing, so we opted to drop the car of at Jeff Sach's in Frankfort to have it looked at.

This afternoon, Amanda called me with the news. Jeff Sach's quoted her a repair price of $1800.00 to fix the car. According to the mechanic that she spoke with, the timing belt broke and warped the valves in the engine. I had Amanda call her dad, as he works on engines and knows the right questions to ask, and had her call the dealer back. She called me back and told me that after she asked her questions, they backed off their original statements and told her that they hadn't actually verified that the valves were warped.

Man I hate car dealers. They always try to rip you off.

After Amanda called Dewey back, he told her that he and his friend, Dave, might be able to get the car hauled away and get it fixed for us. Amanda and I are're hoping that Dewey's friend will be willing to work on the car. And until this is taken care of, we're going to be down to a single car.

When it rains, it pours.

~out...

Posted by ed at December 26, 2006 06:16 PM

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