When it rains....

This weekend has already been an interesting one. We started out yesterday with our oven kicking the bucket. Now, we have known for awhile that our oven was on it's last leg and it has already been repaired several times. So we had already decided that when something else went wrong, it was time for a new one. But seriously, did it have to happen three weeks before Christmas? So now, we need to find an oven, quick. I'm looking at a double oven! Kind of fun, but a little pricey. Anyway, that was Friday.

Today started out nice. We had our ward Christmas party at 10 am. Something different, but it was good to have a breakfast and get things over with. The party was nice and the kids had fun. Jared had to work, so I took the kids alone. Luckily, the ward members are always there to help out.

After the party, we headed out to Walmart to pick up some Christmas lights. For some reason this year, 70% of our Christmas lights went out. The quick trip to Walmart ended up being a lot longer. After purchasing our cheap lights (which one set didn't work from the get go), we headed out to the car to go home and finally finish decorating the Christmas tree. Not so fast. The Xterra was dead. It would start, but just sputtered for a minute and then would die. It was obvious it wasn't getting any gas. After a few tries, I knew we were in trouble. Jared was at work and not available. So I called a tow truck. Luckily our insurance covered this. This was my first experience with a tow truck. I didn't realize it took them an hour to drive the few miles to our car. You can see some very interesting people in the Walmart parking lot if you hang out long enough.


Once the tow truck got there, I had them take it to a local mechanic who happened to be open on Saturday and was near our house. I had to call Jessica to come and pick us up. Apparently, tow trucks don't accommodate moms with two kids and two car seats. We finally got the Xterra to the mechanic. They said they would call with an estimate. Sure enough a few minutes later, the call came. $750.00. Your fuel pump is out and they are really expensive. Uh, that seems a bit too expensive. Don't do anything, I said.

So I called around, family members, the Nissan dealership-they would do it for $625.00, Checker Auto parts. Yes, it was very expensive they all said. I called the mechanic back. All of the sudden, they were down to $650.00. Still too expensive. I asked them to itemize how they came up with $650.00. After hashing it out, we are now paying $500.00 to get it fixed. Probably still too expensive, but I would have to have the Xterra towed again and pay the mechanic $50.00 for finding the problem just to get it out of there. I guess the mechanic thought I was desperate and would just say, "okay, fix it" with his first price. Can't trust these guys!


So now, new oven - $800.00 new fuel pump - $500.00. Merry Christmas kids.