For instance, last month our van ("You drive a minivan!" you say. "Yes." I respond. "And I look quite sexy in it too.") needed new tires.
So of course, I'm in the waiting room with two of my children who are determined to see just how far they can splash the water from the drinking fountain. As the man with the tick in his cheek will attest, it goes quite far. Then hallelujah, my name is called.
Tire man looks at me with a sad reservation I'm sure is forced. "You need new breaks too."
A stack of tires wobbles precariously. "Just a second," I respond. I grab 5 YO just before he crests the fifth tire in his ascent to 10 Tire Peak, haul him over to the counter, with 22 MO in my other arm.
"Okay, but I'm the room mom for my 8 YO Christmas party and it was supposed to start 5 minutes ago."
Needless to say, I was late. But thank heaven, so was the party. A week later, I returned for said brakes and rotors. This time, the tire man was
For all this, $700 bucks.
Fast forward a month. I wake up shivering in the night. It's 60 degrees in my house. My husband does what he can to fix the furnace to no avail. We call the repairman. 3 days, 6 hours, and $200 dollars later, he informs that the part is under warranty, but it cost 200 to deliver and 400 for labor to install (which is oh so generous of the furnace manufacturer).
But he thinks we should just get a new furnace.
He recommends the 2,000 dollar one.
So you know that vacation we were going to use our tax return on? To Washington DC for a visit with my SIL. Well now we get to stay home in our warm house. Or maybe we could go for a ride in our sexy minivan.
Cue creepy music: So now I'm left wondering, do the rotors count as my third in the law of three, or do I have one more to go?
Does this kind of thing ever happen to you? Just when you've saved enough money for something fun, it gets sucked into repair costs?
Oh Amber! What a week. That sucks you guys won't be able to come out this way. I hate when you plan on money for something fun, and life with its practicality gets in the way. I think you should take a drive in your mini-van and call it a vacation (and yes, I think you look sexy driving it!)