Archive for February, 2009

February 28th, 2009

When It Rains It Pours

And I’m not talking about all the rain we’re getting this weekend.  I’m thankful for the literal rain, but I’m dreading the flood of problems pouring in on us right now.

I’m chocking this week up as one for the toilet.  Just went I thought the weekend was going to bring a little ray of sunshine to what’s mostly been a horrible week, I got more bad news.

Last Thursday we had to miss the funeral of our family friend because our Blazer broke down. $100 later the radiator was repaired, and the system was flushed, but while the Blazer was down for that Hubby went ahead and did a little maintenance that’s almost due.  He did a tune-up, changed the tranny fluid and filter, and oil change.

So when the truck came out of the radiator shop Tuesday we thought we were good to go.  After the radiator repair and a flush of the heater core I was happy.  The heater core was completely clogged which had killed our heat, and I was just happy we had heat again.

Within a couple hours things went south again.  On our way back from dinner the rpms started jumping.  It was barely noticeable, and you wouldn’t feel that anything was wrong unless you actually watched the needle barely move with your own eyes.  We got it back to the house and checked the fluid level to make sure Hubby didn’t accidentally overfill the tranny fluid. Everything was fine there.  The next day the truck acted normal again, so we figured it was just a glitch in the system that needed to straighten itself out.

Yesterday it started doing it again while Hubby was driving to work, but this time it was more noticeable. Just great. As the day progressed it got worse, but Hubby had no choice but to drive it back home considering he was stuck an hour away in North Carolina. It’s not a huge rpm jump of 1,000s or anything, but more like it barely jumps 200-500rpm while cruising.

He took it by Advanced Auto this morning to check the codes, but no codes are being thrown.  This afternoon he sat down with The Yellow Pages in search of a transmission shop in the area since our normal guy went out of business thanks to the crappy economy while I jumped on the Blazer forums to look for other people having similar problems.  We were going to call around to a few different shops before we settled on who was getting out business, but the choice ended up being easy to make.  He went down the list and called 8 shops in our area before he actually got a live person on the phone.

I found quite a couple posts on the Blazer forum suggesting we check the Torque Converter Lockup Mechanism, and when Hubby got off the phone with the mechanic he reported the exact same thing.  I hope this isn’t something that’s transmission rebuild material because we seriously can’t afford it right now not can we afford for our one and only vehicle to be out of commission.

A lot of people would say thank god it happened during tax season when I can afford it, but we’re the exact opposite.  We’re sitting here screaming why the heck did all this have to happen during tax season when I’m about to have to drop a pretty large chunk of change to the IRS.  Any other time of the year we could afford to work a large repair into our budget, but right now it isn’t an option at all.  We’ll be lucky if our savings is enough to cover our taxes this year, so if we absolutely have to do a pricey repair on the Blazer I’ll have no choice but to try to work something out with my Dad.  Thank god my Dad has never rejected me when I’ve needed a loan for an auto repair (because I hardly ever ask him to help us out in any way other than loaning a vehicle for a couple days here and there), but there’s always a first time for rejection.

CategoryRant | CommentComments Off

February 27th, 2009

Planning A Little Trip

Finally I feel so much better!  I’m telling you this was a rough week, but enough about that.  I feel better, and I’m ready to get out and go!  I hate being cooped up in the house, so I’ve got a list of things I want to get done today outside of the house.  Then I’m going to lunch with my dad and sister which should keep me out of this place until mid afternoon.  I think that should be enough to give me my get the heck outa this place fix.

I need to talk to my Dad about a trip Hubby and I have been wanting to take.  We want to go to the casino in Cherokee, and instead of taking a day trip as usual we’d like to stay overnight.  My dad goes up there a lot, and he racks up free hotel rooms for his stays, and he’s offered to let us use some of his free room points anytime we want. All we have to do is have him make the reservation for us, so I think I’m going to finally take advantage of the offer so Hubby and I can get away for a night.

Neither of us are big on gambling, but it’s still fun to head up to the casino from time to time.  Plus we both love going shopping in the little village and seeing all the views a little farther up in the Smokies.  I’d like to go in about 3 weeks so we can take the bike, but we’ll just have to see how that goes.

Ok I’m out of here for now.  I’ve got things to do and people to see, so I better get to doing and seeing!

CategoryMiscellaneous, The Fam | CommentComments Off

February 25th, 2009

My Name Is Pathetic

At least that’s what Hubby’s been calling me all week.  I hate being sick, but I especially hate having the flu.  Then again, who doesn’t?  I’m sorry, but when I’m sick I’m going to whine, moan, and complain as much as I want. I feel as the person who has to feel absolutely miserable I have the right to do so.

At least now I seem to be on the getting better end of things.  I’ve actually been able to hold two meals down today, so yay!  I’m on day 4 of this nasty bug (actually had to look at my calendar for a sec to see what day it is), so hopefully I’ll start feeling better here soon.  God I seriously hope so.

I never realize how much cleaning I do everyday until I get sick and can’t do it.  In 4 days time I swear Hubby has worn every pair of boxers, socks, and jeans he owns.  How the heck he does it I don’t know, but I do know he doesn’t even know how to operate our current washer.  Ok so he could do it if he wanted to, but being a man he’d rather wear dirty clothes until I drag myself off the couch to wash a load.

I hate to see what will happen to him if my girlfriends and I ever do get to take our “girls only” vacation we often dream about.  We’re all the time talking about how we’d like to leave the boys at home for a couple weeks while we sail around on one of those European cruises, but I’m already seeing that if I did that I’d have to hire a maid or beg my mother in law to take care of Hubby while I was gone. He sure wouldn’t do it himself…and he calls me the lazy one. Pffft!

CategoryHealth | CommentComments Off

February 20th, 2009

Hits The Pocket

We didn’t get to go to Missy’s funeral yesterday because our car broke down.  I feel bad that we couldn’t go, but what could we do?  There’s going to be a remembrance dinner for her sometime in the next couple weeks, and we won’t miss that.  I think Hubby’s Dad’s band is also going to throw a benefit concert for her kids. We’ll help in any possible way we can.  I’d love to be able to donate a large sum to them, but it’s just not possible.

We’re currently struggling as it is just the two of us thanks to car breakdowns, taxes, and now a huge increase in our power bill.  We new Blue Ridge was increasing rates for the area, but we weren’t prepared for what we received.  We were expecting a 40% increase which I think is just ridiculous when the entire world is struggling right now, but what can you do?

According to our last 3 power bills, we actually received closer to a 60% increase!  Our power bill is normally between $90-110 in the winter months because we use our wood heat, and we don’t have to pay a heating bill.  The last 3 months our power bill hasn’t been under $170. I freaked out thinking something was wrong with our hot water heater or something, but Hubby had everything checked.  I talked to a few family and friends to compare bills, and after I figured their increases we all fall in the 50-60% increase range.

I seriously don’t have a clue what we’re going to do when the summer months get here.  $170 is a high bill for us when we’re running the AC.  I freak out if we hit $200.  I don’t know what I’m going to do if I get a power bill for $250-300 or even more.  I know it’s something I definitely won’t be able to afford.

I know there are people out there who say think about your options, make sure your house is energy efficient, etc.  My house is as energy efficient as it’s going to get.  We have a drafty house in the winter because it’s old, and it’s almost impossible to stop all the “leaks”.  Having wood heat means it’s not going to matter either way though because we heat it for FREE.  In the summer I only use the window AC units when I have to, and most of the time I rely on the awesome breeze we get daily along with the ceiling fans in every room.  Hubby’s the one that tends to turn the AC on when he comes home, and he might just have to learn to deal without it.

CategoryMiscellaneous | Comment2 Comments »

« Older Entries