This post is done for sole purpose of me venting.  By sharing some of what I’m going to share with you,  I want to be very clear that I’m venting and not asking for anything. 

Today has been a really,  really rough day.  Lizze is really in a tremendous amount of pain right now and there is no relief in sight.She can’t even eat without getting sick and that greatly concerns me. 

We were still using my parents car today cause the van is still in the shop. Actually…..while
we’re on the subject of the van,  let’s talk about that for a second.
I called Waterloo Transmission because I hadn’t heard anything back from them.  Turns out they have been trying to call but due to the freaking awesome (total sarcasm)  service we are getting anymore from Sprint,  my calls are going straight to voicemail. 

Anyways,  it was bad with a pinch of good news thrown in.  The good news is that they got everything figured out.  The bad news begins with the fact that there are some major problems. 

The A/C compressor is shot,  the valve cover needs replaced,  the tie rods are both shot,  both front tires are chopped with the chords showing,  the rear brakes are messed up and the rear shocks are actually broken.  I think that sums it up.  The valve cover is a recall,  so that’s free and the last bit of good news.

The main chunk of bad news is the cost of the repairs. To fix everything we’re looking at over $2, 200. If they fix everything but the tires,  tie rods and shocks,  we’re down to $1, 300. We can make the van safer to drive for the $1, 300 but it will take $2, 200+ to actually make the van safe to drive. 

I’m so frustrated with this because it’s my fault.  If we manage to pull this off,  it will put the grand total at somewhere between $7, 000 and $8, 000 in repairs alone in the last 11 months. I say it’s my fault because I picked it out and I trusted the seller and I shouldn’t have.

We bought the van for about $2, 000 after searching in vain for many months.  We couldn’t afford a car payment and we were only being offered vans with monthly payments in the neighborhood of $300/month.

When I found this van,  it was a private owner.  I test drove it and it was in good shape.  The body was perfect and it was a perfect setup for the boys. We need a van with 2nd row captains chairs in order to separate the boys.

We were desperate for a van and this was inside our budget,  so I bought it. 

Since then,  it has been an absolute nightmare.  The really frustrating part is that if you take the $8, 000 in repairs and divide it by 12 months,  it’s like we had a $600/month car payment anyway. If I had any hair left,  I would be pulling it out right now. At this point we have to make some tough decisions about what to do with the van.  Right now we are without car and that presents a problem in and of itself.  Sigh

That pretty much set the tone for the day.  Gavin fell down the steps and has literally walked into the wall,  countless times today.  I feel like I should be sticking him in his room for his own safety.

I ended up dropping the boys off at my parents to work on pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving.  While they were there,  I did last the running around that needed done.  I went grocery shopping and was stuck with the cart that make this really loud cranking noise the entire time I was there. 
All the while I was running around,  I was trying to figure out whether or not to tell Lizze about the van.  She’s already so stressed out,  this would just make things worse.

When I finished the running around,  I picked up the boys and took them to therapy and then home to bed. 

By the time all was said and done,  it was 9pm before the Gavin and Elliott went to bed.  Lizze went to bed about 6pm with Emmett and I was left alone,  once again,  with my thoughts.

I mentioned about the twist of awesome.  Well,  I got a surprise shipment from FedEx yesterday.  It was from Motorola,  and it was addressed to me.  I opened the box and found 2 Motorola 32 GB Verizon 4G LTE ready XOOMS Tablets.  These are Android powered and very expensive and I get the pleasure of giving one away. More on that very soon..

While it was a crappy day,  I get to give a tablet away,  and that makes me feel really good.  So despite how the day went,  any day that I get to help someone is a good day 🙂