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Vehicle Repairs, Travelling and Sickness - A Meandering Post
Well, the Xterra finally seems to be better. First they took it and called me to tell me the head gasket was blown, which as I posted previously, was covered under the generous warranty my mom and stepfather provided. Mom came and picked me up to go get my truck on Friday (yes, I spent a whole week driving the 1988 Suburban...affectionally known as The Tank). We keep it around for snowy weather, hauling big stuff and because it is green and gold (William and Mary colors). But I digress. We got there, the Xterra was ready to go. Thanked Mom for the lift (a big deal, she lives 30 minutes from me and then it was another 40 minutes to the car dealer).
First stop was the bank. I noticed while I was in drivethru that the car was idling rough. Since they had replaced the timing belt, I figured the timing was off and thought I would call them when I got home. As I had a busy day. I needed to get home and make cookies for a cookie exchange that Katrina and I were going to. I continued homeward, but within 10 minutes, it was obvious something was wrong. Different Idiot Lights started flashing, then the ABS light came on and stayed on, but when dim whenever I used the brakes. I pulled into a parking lot and called the garage. After not being able to get anyone in service to take my call. I called my mom back and asked her to come meet us back at the Xterra place (fortunately, she wasn't all the way home yet). We turned around and went back. I pulled into the garage, turned off the vehicle and went to complain...loudly, all the while thinking about the cookies I needed to make. The technician went out to take the Xterra for a drive (so he could see what I was seeing) and the battery was dead! They jump started it and drove it into the garage. Turns out, they had not tightened a bolt in the alternator when putting everything back and it drained the battery. EGADS!
It was almost one o'clock when we got home, and then I had to work on those cookies (we were leaving at 3). Turns out, one should read the complete recipe before actually making the cookies. The dough had to be made, then chilled for two to three hours before the next step! I quickly looked through my Christmas cookie recipes, found one I had the ingredients for, then called the hostess to make sure that no one else was making them (as she wanted no duplicate recipes), no one was, so we were in business. The last cookies came out of the oven at 2:55 pm and we had a great time at the cookie exchange!!!!
Meanwhile....Jack woke up Friday with a cough and sore throat. Saturday morning I took him into the doctor because I was afraid that he may have strep since he had strep last year about this time and he was really complaining about his throat hurting. We had a 9:30 appt, and waited for one hour to be seen. They had to bring in another doctor, because the one that was there got sick and had to go home... The doctor felt like Jack had a virus and the worst part would be over in a couple of days. The strep test came back negative. Here we are a week later. Katrina and I have it and Jack is still coughing. None of us feel like doing much of anything.
We are now in Illinois (hence the travelling part). We were originally coming out to IL because we thought Daniel's contract would be ending and he would need help packing up and coming home. Then when we thought the contract would be renewed, we thought we would come out and help him move to a house (someplace bigger for us to come to next summer). But they delayed the contract renewal until Daniel didn't have time to look for a house to rent. So we are just here because we all had in our head that we were coming out in December. So we are here this week, relaxing during one of the busiest times of year. We are watching Christmas movies, playing DS games and I am knitting a couple more scarves for gifts. And trying very hard to feel better!
We have all been getting sick here one by one with a cough/cold type virus too. Kids keep coughing at night and it won't go away. Baby L is only one who got a fever and is so sad looking the last couple days. Wonder if you had the strong winds we had today? I actually saw some chickens blow a few feet into air by some gusts. Crazy sight.
And congrats on your great score on your course. Next one should be interesting too.
Blessings.
