Saturday, March 7, 2009

Can it get worse??

Yes, it can always get worse.....but I'm sure hoping it doesn't. A few weeks ago, actually probably a couple of months by now, my GMC Envoy started making a strange noise. We could tell it wasn't the engine so we didn't rush to take it in. It is very inconvenient to do without my car even for a day since I use it in my job and also because I pick Jacob up from school most everyday. We had people say it sounded like a fan blade, a belt, but never anything real serious. Even when I got to the dealership to have the oil changed, tires rotated and "noise" checked out, the service writer didn't think it was very serious. Well $785.00 later, I am the proud owner of a new water pump.......just what I was dying for. But, in all seriousness, I have never had a vehicle that I liked as much as this one. Usually by 50 to 60 thousand miles, I am wanting to trade. Not this time......I do love my envoy. It is a 2004 and I've had it 5 years and 101,000 miles later, I really do not want to trade it. I've been thinking the last couple of days how much better it rides and drives since I'm not hauling around "a loose water pump". The bearing had gone out in the water pump and it was "loosely" riding around under my hood.

Now, the rest of the story! Today on my way to Jacob's baseball scrimage, which I was so anxious to see how he was doing, my car started "acting funny". I was almost there the first time I noticed it and I was hoping that when I left there, it would be just fine. Wrong......it was LOTS worse. At first, I could feel it "hanging" and not switching gears, then I couldn't get over 20-25 miles an hour.....then I actually got up to about 40, but the RPM's was very high. I manged to get back over to the town when we live and work to the dealership to leave my car. They are open for limited business on Saturday so they "looked" at my car and called to tell me that it is definitely my transmission and it is sounding like I may have to have a new one. I'm thinking if a water pump is $700.00, I don't even want to know how much this is going to cost me........and no, I'm not one of those people who bought the extended warranty. It was one of those cases where I will get it later......NOT......

Oh well, I still love my envoy and I guess I can look at it like when I fix this.....surely God will smile on me and not let anything go wrong for a while. I really don't want a new car, especially when while waiting on my daughter to pick me up, I walked to the showroom and saw a new Acadia, which by the way, I do love those, for $41,000.00.

Somehow, I'm loving my envoy even more tonight, everytime I think about that sticker on the window.

Have a great Sunday!

Vicki

Thursday, March 5, 2009

I'm back!

I know I've been "gone" for a while. It's just kinda been nuts around here.

Some of you may know that our oldest daughter and her son live with us. They have been here for almost 2 years now. Right after she moved in with us, she went back to school to finish her degree to teach. She loves kids and is very good with them. Well, as soon as she finished her first semester back in May is when she was diagnosed with hodgkins so the two classes that she was going to take last summer were put on hold. Determined not to let that slow her down, she is carrying quite a load this semester. She goes to school on Monday from 3:00 - 9:00. Tuesday through Thursday she goes from 6:00-9:00. I'm not sure that it's not way too much for her as she is also "subbing" as a teacher assistant for 12 weeks. I don't think her stamina has built up enough yet.
I said all of that to say this........we have become "full time parents" again. She doesn't see him at all on Monday and just a couple of hours the other days. Of course he goes to his Dad's every other weekend so there's not alot of time for them. It sure has rocked our world, but it will be worth it when she gets her degree. I'm so proud of her for her determination.

Have a great rest of the day!

Vicki