Chocolate and Cars

Can someone get me a wipe!! I like chocolate!! You know it is the little things I appreciate most in life. I love taking pictures of my girls they are sooo very amusing and beautiful!! This one is a mug shot I did of Haley when she was about 1 years old.
Today was a bad day for me. My car has been in the shop for over a week now. And I have to go to work tomorrow and I have no car. Very frustrating stuff dealing with mechanics. I had a great one for 8 years I went to this place and the owner always did the work on my car. It would cost your average price for a mechanic, these were not the backyard kind, and I gladly paid for great workmanship. Well the last two years I have lost faith in this place, I no longer have the actual owner as my mechanic it is someone called Jon. So Jon looked at my vehicle a couple of years ago and said "how much do you love your car?" I new it was bad news, I needed a new radiator and I asked him to check everything out, you know I am not a mechanic, I don't even play one on tv. I trusted that he would check everything out. So he fixes my radiator and a few other things, plus changes oils and stuff like that. Then the next time I call him I told him I thought I might be needing a new power steering pump and that the passenger side window would need a new motor because it was going real slow. As for my diagnonsense for the steering pump I told him that in the morning when it is cold it makes a loud whining noise and then after it warms up it goes away and then that sometimes when I turn the steering wheel it is hard to turn. Then I ask him to check everything out so we can make sure she is a reliable car. So I don't remember what all we fixed that time but it cost about 2000. buck. We figure over the course of a year that is a pretty cheap car payment. Well when he had the car the last time he said I did not need a power steering pump. I said well are you sure because the fluid always never moves and I think it isn't working. He said he would flush it out for me if it would make me feel better, then he said I didn't need a new window motor that it just needed lubed. Well not 2 months later the window stopped rolling up. It was stuck open about 2 inches down and it rained all inside my car!! So I told him that it broke and he said bring her in. So when I get there he said well it will cost between 250 and 500 dollars to fix that. What!! I was like what do you mean "between"? I mean he just had it in the damn shop I asked him to look at it he should just be able to say that is such and such motor and it is going to cost this much money. I felt like the SOB was hosing me!! So Wes went online with the vin number and found the part for 70 bucks. It got here in two days then her looked up some instructions on line and put the dang thing in himself!! Saved us anywhere from 200 to 370 bucks!! Fast forward to today and here I am with car problems and no mechanic. My car is starting real hard it still turns hard and I don't trust anybody. So Wes gets a hold of some guy that had great recommendations from a co worker of his and we take it down there. Already this guy is great he says he will not charge us anything to look over the car and see what is wrong then when he figures out the problem he will call with an estimate. So I told him in the morning when I turn the key the thing goes VVROOM,vvroom,VVROOM and then dies. The little stick thing goes up and down, the idle stick, and it goes up and down real fast and a lot then if I don't give it gas it dies. Then I told him it had gotten worse because the other day I started it and it did the VVRoom thing and then a little "click" "click" thing and when it clicked the cruise control light would go on and off. So I new it was getting worse.
I know I am such a non mechanic person, I did it for a few years with my first car. Bought the Chilton's Auto guide for my car and everything. I even changed my own alternator!! You should have seen the look on the guys face at the garage I took it to get the brakes done. They were like "wow" I was like "Yeah I still have a bunch of left over parts!" They ended up tightening my belt and putting on the "extra" parts, said they never say a car start up with such a wobbly belt. But again I digress,
So today my mechanic is like, well first last week he said someone put oil in my power steering pump!! Filled it with oil huh. Nobody has worked on my car but the one guy needless to say I did need a new pump. Also I need some box thing that went out and that is why my car starts hard. And he actually did the wire test to shut off my check engine light!! I bought the car in 2003 and the light has always been on. So everything will cost about 1500. OK so then the big wait...the parts did not come in before last Friday so it would not be until Monday. Monday comes and they say that not all parts were delivered then they say today...today comes around and they say they got the wrong dang box thingy so it will need to be reordered!!! What!! Didn't they see it yesterday!! Couldn't they have known this a day ago and ordered both parts yesterday!! You know if I could afford to go with out a dang vehicle I would not be trying to fix this!! Wes tells me don't get upset it is out of our hands, what choice do we have? Rational, yes. I'm sitting here thinking would he be so lax if it was his truck!! I have work tomorrow and it would be nice to go in my own car and not look like a scrub riding in someone else's. In the meantime I am going to have some chocolate and look like Haley here!! Todays thought;"If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact - not to be solved, but to be coped with over time."--Shimon Peres