On Tuesday, we had our Cub Scout pack meeting and Mark and I did a skit. We played all of the characters and had little props to denote who was playing whom. The knight was always the knight, and most everyone else got switched around. The boys loved it when Mark donned a tiara and played the princess at the end.
I was the knight because I love saying, "What?! DIE!!!!" and stabbing Mark. He loves keeling over and sprawling across the floor.
... What does this say about our marriage?
Skit:
Knight: I’ve come to marry the princess.
Gatekeeper: Hold on, I’ll have to ask the king.
(to king): There is a man without, my lord.
King: Without what?
Gatekeeper: Without the gate.
King: Well, give it to him.
Gatekeeper: (Hands knight the gate) Here you go.
Knight: What’s this! Die. (stabs the gate keeper.)
(to king): I’ve come to marry the princess.
King: I’ll have to ask the queen.
(to queen) A man wants to marry our daughter.
Queen: Well, I’ll have to ask her.
(to princess) A man has come to marry you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Queen: No.
Princess: Then no.
Queen: (To king) She says no.
King (To knight) She says no.
Knight: What? Die! (Stabs the king)
Knight: (To queen) I’ve come to marry the princess.
Queen: I’ll have to ask her.
(To princess) A man has come to marry you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Queen: No.
Princess: Then no.
Queen: (to knight) She says no.
Knight: What? Die! (Stabs queen)
Knight: (to princess) I’ve come to marry…you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Knight: No.
Princess: Then no.
Knight: What! Die!
(Kills princess)
Ah! What have I done? (kills himself)
School-age boys have a morbid sense of humor. We have mad acting skills.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Icing on the cake
Okay, so I called the Subaru guys again and they said they'd have to call a Nissan dealership to get a quote on the price of the part. I decided to call a different Nissan dealership and talk to the parts department to find out how much the O2 sensor costs, and ask questions about the differences between the sensor you can get from Auto Zone and the one you get from a Nissan dealership.
Anyway. The oxygen sensors you can get from an auto parts store can fit a number of vehicles, and the certified and whatnot Nissan parts are made for specific models. But here's the kicker ... I called the Nissan dealership in Sandy and they told me the part was $130, not $200. The guy also told me industry standard (or something) time for replacing the oxygen sensor is 6/10ths of an hour. That is on par with what the Subaru guys told me 3 months ago. The guy in the service center told me the MOST he would possibly charge someone for replacing the O2 sensor is $110 if it was really hard to get to and they had to tear the car apart to get to it. (I don't really know where the "front O2 sensor is" but ... whatever.)
So I'm trying to figure out what to say to the Nissan guys in Orem. I'd really like the guys here in American Fork to fix my car because I've got a service coupon with them. A few years ago, this door-to-door salesman-type guy came to our house. We paid $90 to get 6 free oil changes at a local car dealership (this Subaru place) and it also had a list of other free services we could get (free emissions with safety purchase, some free labor, 10% off additional labor, free check engine light scan, etc.) and we figured it sounded like a good deal since most places charge about $30 for an oil change. If I gave them the oxygen sensor and used my 30 minutes of free labor I can get this fixed for $130ish. NOT $400. (which is the $518 estimate Butch gave me minus the $105 for the diagnostic fee.) Or I could go to Sandy and get everything fixed for about $200 because I wouldn't get any free labor.
I just hope the American Fork Subaru guys won't think I'm a pain in the butt because I keep calling them today about the oxygen sensor thing. I'm sure they're about ready to strangle me ... BUT I WANT TO SAVE A BUCK AND I'D RATHER STAY IN TOWN.
Could I just use my coupon and then slip them an extra $20 to say "thank you"? lol.
ETA: The Subaru guys said they don't have the computers necessary to replace my oxygen sensor and clear the codes. So off to Sandy I go! (forget you, Orem.)
Anyway. The oxygen sensors you can get from an auto parts store can fit a number of vehicles, and the certified and whatnot Nissan parts are made for specific models. But here's the kicker ... I called the Nissan dealership in Sandy and they told me the part was $130, not $200. The guy also told me industry standard (or something) time for replacing the oxygen sensor is 6/10ths of an hour. That is on par with what the Subaru guys told me 3 months ago. The guy in the service center told me the MOST he would possibly charge someone for replacing the O2 sensor is $110 if it was really hard to get to and they had to tear the car apart to get to it. (I don't really know where the "front O2 sensor is" but ... whatever.)
So I'm trying to figure out what to say to the Nissan guys in Orem. I'd really like the guys here in American Fork to fix my car because I've got a service coupon with them. A few years ago, this door-to-door salesman-type guy came to our house. We paid $90 to get 6 free oil changes at a local car dealership (this Subaru place) and it also had a list of other free services we could get (free emissions with safety purchase, some free labor, 10% off additional labor, free check engine light scan, etc.) and we figured it sounded like a good deal since most places charge about $30 for an oil change. If I gave them the oxygen sensor and used my 30 minutes of free labor I can get this fixed for $130ish. NOT $400. (which is the $518 estimate Butch gave me minus the $105 for the diagnostic fee.) Or I could go to Sandy and get everything fixed for about $200 because I wouldn't get any free labor.
I just hope the American Fork Subaru guys won't think I'm a pain in the butt because I keep calling them today about the oxygen sensor thing. I'm sure they're about ready to strangle me ... BUT I WANT TO SAVE A BUCK AND I'D RATHER STAY IN TOWN.
Could I just use my coupon and then slip them an extra $20 to say "thank you"? lol.
ETA: The Subaru guys said they don't have the computers necessary to replace my oxygen sensor and clear the codes. So off to Sandy I go! (forget you, Orem.)
Car drama
Okay, so I want to rant about my car drama. A few weeks ago, I brought my car in to get the check engine light fixed. Now you get to hear the rest of the story.
It wasn't the transmission. It was the battery. They charged me $105 for the diagnostic fee and $100 for the battery (which I knew only cost $50 or $70 at the auto parts store, but by Thursday evening, I just wanted to have my car back.) I was just a little bit mad, because when Butch (the car repair guy) called me, he said, "Well, it looked like it was a transmission error, but it also could have just been a low voltage problem." which made me tell him that, yes, we've been having problems with our car battery lately.
But the thing is, we brought our battery in TWICE and got both the battery and the alternator "tested" and they told us it was "just fine." I guess there are a few tests you can run on a battery, and ours passed the basic test but quickly failed the real "load test".
My check engine light came on again 2 days ago so I called the same old guys again to let them know I needed to bring my car back in. Butch told me if my light came on again in less than 30 days they'd fix it and I wouldn't have to pay another diagnostic fee. (GOOD, because your fee is $20 more than the other expensive dealerships! I was trying to avoid going to you.) Do any Google searches on check engine light scans and they'll tell you it's pretty much a scam. You can get your check engine light scanned for free at Auto Zone ... but they won't do any of the repairs for you and it's not a "real" diagnosis because error messages can mean any of a number of things. Google is your friend.
Anyway. I've been trying to remain positive about this whole experience but too many things are rubbing me the wrong way.
I'll back up and try to tell the whole story.
Two or three months ago, I went to Auto Zone to have them pull the error code. The first guy said, "It's your right O2 sensor." and went back inside. No print-out. We called the Subaru dealership here in AF (aka "the place where I have a service coupon for half an hour of free labor") to ask how much it would cost to replace our Nissan Sentra's "right O2 sensor" and they said it was a $100ish part and about 30 minutes of labor. I went online to look up the price of the part and the cheapest I could find was like $96. Okay. Whatever. The Subaru place also had the part in stock, and we had an appointment scheduled for Monday.
When I bought Les Mis tickets, I killed my car battery and the check engine light did not turn on again. So I called the dealership and cancelled my appointment, figuring I was saving myself $100 in case the O2 sensor did NOT actually need to be replaced and the error was a fluke. Our car battery had died a few times before and we'd brought it in to get it checked and that's how I know how much our battery costs. We brought it in AGAIN and they AGAIN said it was fine. (argh?)
The check engine light came on again after I got back from Washington, so we took another trip to Auto Zone to have them pull the code. I wanted to see if it was the same error message. This time, some girl came and read off the error code and she did NOT say "it's the right O2 sensor" but gave me a printout of the four things it could possibly be, the most expensive of which was replacing the O2 sensor. The part was also $105ish (maybe it was $120?) and I was like, okay, now we'll take it to the Subaru place and have them "officially" diagnose the O2 sensor and replace it.
But it wasn't that easy. The Subaru place is NOT a Nissan place and apparently this O2 sensor thing is special and needs to be handled by a Nissan dealership because my car's computer won't talk to their computers. (BUTTFACES.) So a few months ago they were more than happy to replace my "right O2 sensor" for $100 plus labor, and now they're telling me I have to go to the Nissan dealership because they can actually test things and determine which sensor it is and whatever garbldeygook.
Here's what makes me most uncomfortable:
I took my car in to the Nissan place 2 weeks ago after the Subaru guys told me they couldn't diagnose my error message. The Nissan guys ignored the "O2 sensor" message and jumped on the transmission thing, even though the car was also telling them it might be a battery thing. These are all issues I was aware of. So at the end of the day, they merely replaced my bad battery and ignored the O2 sensor thing. Yesterday, I brought my car back to the Nissan place (free re-diagnosis of the "check engine" light) and Butch came out and told me it was the O2 sensor ... and it would cost $500 to repair.
I had to get home to take Sadie to school and didn't have time to deal with this discrepancy. $500 to replace a $100 part, where the Subaru guys said it would only be half an hour of labor? To me, this only adds up to $150. I'll ask you about this later, Butch.
I only know this: There is no way you're getting $500 from me.
I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that a few months ago, the Subaru guys said they would replace my O2 sensor, and now that I've asked them to do it again they're reluctant. I called Butch and asked him to break down the cost and he said the part costs $200. Which I think is total crap because THREE PLACES say the part costs $100. He said his $500 estimate was wrong because he included a second diagnosis fee, but that still means he's charging me $200 for labor. The only explanation I can get is that they have the special computers that will calibrate the stuff in my car. BUT STILL.
I feel like I'm being fleeced, and I'm angry. I feel helpless. I also hate making phone calls. They give me panic attacks. I wish they didn't make me so nervous, because they have no REASON to make me nervous. I call this one of my "mind/body disconnects".
I'm sorry this was so long. I don't know what to do. : / Supposedly these Nissan guys are the "only" ones who can help me, but I absolutely do not trust them.
It wasn't the transmission. It was the battery. They charged me $105 for the diagnostic fee and $100 for the battery (which I knew only cost $50 or $70 at the auto parts store, but by Thursday evening, I just wanted to have my car back.) I was just a little bit mad, because when Butch (the car repair guy) called me, he said, "Well, it looked like it was a transmission error, but it also could have just been a low voltage problem." which made me tell him that, yes, we've been having problems with our car battery lately.
But the thing is, we brought our battery in TWICE and got both the battery and the alternator "tested" and they told us it was "just fine." I guess there are a few tests you can run on a battery, and ours passed the basic test but quickly failed the real "load test".
My check engine light came on again 2 days ago so I called the same old guys again to let them know I needed to bring my car back in. Butch told me if my light came on again in less than 30 days they'd fix it and I wouldn't have to pay another diagnostic fee. (GOOD, because your fee is $20 more than the other expensive dealerships! I was trying to avoid going to you.) Do any Google searches on check engine light scans and they'll tell you it's pretty much a scam. You can get your check engine light scanned for free at Auto Zone ... but they won't do any of the repairs for you and it's not a "real" diagnosis because error messages can mean any of a number of things. Google is your friend.
Anyway. I've been trying to remain positive about this whole experience but too many things are rubbing me the wrong way.
I'll back up and try to tell the whole story.
Two or three months ago, I went to Auto Zone to have them pull the error code. The first guy said, "It's your right O2 sensor." and went back inside. No print-out. We called the Subaru dealership here in AF (aka "the place where I have a service coupon for half an hour of free labor") to ask how much it would cost to replace our Nissan Sentra's "right O2 sensor" and they said it was a $100ish part and about 30 minutes of labor. I went online to look up the price of the part and the cheapest I could find was like $96. Okay. Whatever. The Subaru place also had the part in stock, and we had an appointment scheduled for Monday.
When I bought Les Mis tickets, I killed my car battery and the check engine light did not turn on again. So I called the dealership and cancelled my appointment, figuring I was saving myself $100 in case the O2 sensor did NOT actually need to be replaced and the error was a fluke. Our car battery had died a few times before and we'd brought it in to get it checked and that's how I know how much our battery costs. We brought it in AGAIN and they AGAIN said it was fine. (argh?)
The check engine light came on again after I got back from Washington, so we took another trip to Auto Zone to have them pull the code. I wanted to see if it was the same error message. This time, some girl came and read off the error code and she did NOT say "it's the right O2 sensor" but gave me a printout of the four things it could possibly be, the most expensive of which was replacing the O2 sensor. The part was also $105ish (maybe it was $120?) and I was like, okay, now we'll take it to the Subaru place and have them "officially" diagnose the O2 sensor and replace it.
But it wasn't that easy. The Subaru place is NOT a Nissan place and apparently this O2 sensor thing is special and needs to be handled by a Nissan dealership because my car's computer won't talk to their computers. (BUTTFACES.) So a few months ago they were more than happy to replace my "right O2 sensor" for $100 plus labor, and now they're telling me I have to go to the Nissan dealership because they can actually test things and determine which sensor it is and whatever garbldeygook.
Here's what makes me most uncomfortable:
I took my car in to the Nissan place 2 weeks ago after the Subaru guys told me they couldn't diagnose my error message. The Nissan guys ignored the "O2 sensor" message and jumped on the transmission thing, even though the car was also telling them it might be a battery thing. These are all issues I was aware of. So at the end of the day, they merely replaced my bad battery and ignored the O2 sensor thing. Yesterday, I brought my car back to the Nissan place (free re-diagnosis of the "check engine" light) and Butch came out and told me it was the O2 sensor ... and it would cost $500 to repair.
I had to get home to take Sadie to school and didn't have time to deal with this discrepancy. $500 to replace a $100 part, where the Subaru guys said it would only be half an hour of labor? To me, this only adds up to $150. I'll ask you about this later, Butch.
I only know this: There is no way you're getting $500 from me.
I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that a few months ago, the Subaru guys said they would replace my O2 sensor, and now that I've asked them to do it again they're reluctant. I called Butch and asked him to break down the cost and he said the part costs $200. Which I think is total crap because THREE PLACES say the part costs $100. He said his $500 estimate was wrong because he included a second diagnosis fee, but that still means he's charging me $200 for labor. The only explanation I can get is that they have the special computers that will calibrate the stuff in my car. BUT STILL.
I feel like I'm being fleeced, and I'm angry. I feel helpless. I also hate making phone calls. They give me panic attacks. I wish they didn't make me so nervous, because they have no REASON to make me nervous. I call this one of my "mind/body disconnects".
I'm sorry this was so long. I don't know what to do. : / Supposedly these Nissan guys are the "only" ones who can help me, but I absolutely do not trust them.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Epic Game Nights at the Dewey House
We were playing Bang! tonight and I had the world's most epic turn. The Sheriff turned over the Fistful of Cards and it was the one where you draw from the discard pile and discard to the draw pile. I had one of the cards in front of me where you get to draw three cards, and one of the cards I drew with that was another card that lets you draw three cards as well ... then I had an Emporio, where everyone gets another card. By this time, I had gone through the entire discard pile and we had to figure out what to do. We decided that meant the mine was mined out and we would start playing normally now (because you could end up with this weird loop of using a Wells Fargo and Emporio and stuff over and over, switching between the draw and discard piles).
By this point, I had approximately 6 bajillion cards in my hand and I was kind of disappointed I didn't have a Volcanic (where you can shoot as many Bangs as you want instead of the usual one.) I Panic'd several cards from people, and at some point I stole a card from the Sheriff ... and it happened to be a Volcanic! I shot Carolyn a few times and killed her, then got to the Sheriff and used up the rest of my Bangs and a Duel ... and ended my turn with 3 cards in my hand (which is how many hit points I had ... it didn't matter, because I was the guy who can hold any number of cards in my hand. But it was interesting. The next guy killed the Sheriff and the game was over.
BUT DUDE IT WAS AWESOME.
Carolyn looked at the discard pile when I was done with my turn and counted up 31 cards. In my turn, I got 31 cards discarded, not including the fact that I had drawn through the entire discard pile in the <i>first half</i> of my turn.
Oh man.
Game nights at our place are EPIC.
By this point, I had approximately 6 bajillion cards in my hand and I was kind of disappointed I didn't have a Volcanic (where you can shoot as many Bangs as you want instead of the usual one.) I Panic'd several cards from people, and at some point I stole a card from the Sheriff ... and it happened to be a Volcanic! I shot Carolyn a few times and killed her, then got to the Sheriff and used up the rest of my Bangs and a Duel ... and ended my turn with 3 cards in my hand (which is how many hit points I had ... it didn't matter, because I was the guy who can hold any number of cards in my hand. But it was interesting. The next guy killed the Sheriff and the game was over.
BUT DUDE IT WAS AWESOME.
Carolyn looked at the discard pile when I was done with my turn and counted up 31 cards. In my turn, I got 31 cards discarded, not including the fact that I had drawn through the entire discard pile in the <i>first half</i> of my turn.
Oh man.
Game nights at our place are EPIC.
Monday, April 18, 2011
You know the phrase "retarded cat" is redundant, right?
Random thoughts of the day:
A few things I love:
It's so much fun watching Carmen pick up new words and express her interests and thoughts. Every day, we pass the Mount Timpanogos temple on our way to Sadie's school. I've pointed it out a few times, and today on our way back Carmen pointed out the window and said, "Temple!!! Look!" (Sure, it was "tampoo" but still!) It reminds me of my friend's kid who was watching Star Wars and said, "Hey, it's Moroni!" when he saw C-3PO. Ha ha!
I also like how instead of asking to be picked up, Carmen says, "I hold you!"
Carmen loves the song "Popcorn Popping" and knows two parts: "me" in "Spring has brought me such a nice surprise" and "Soooo!" in "It wasn't really so".
This morning, we stopped at the Wal-Mart by Sadie's school before dropping her off. Carmen recognized the direction we were going, and when we pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, Carmen turned to Sadie and waved and said, "Bye bye, Sadie!"
I went to the gym last week and when I came back to pick Carmen up from the day care, the ladies said, "Carmen had a rough time this morning. There was a baby crying and she really wanted to comfort it, but every time she would snuggle the baby and try to pick it up, the baby would cry even harder. We had to tell Carmen to leave the baby alone and told her to sit away from the baby, and Carmen sat there and pouted and glared at us." I'm sure that actually it was quite comical.
I love kids' empathy. They are the biggest sweethearts in the world!!!
Also, our cats are hilarious. Every time I open a closet door, Ravis comes BOUNDING across the house and DIVES into the closet. So I shut the door on him, and a few minutes later he starts meowing. I open the door and he's got this confused look on his face, like, "What just happened?" and he comes out of the closet. So our cats are both retarded AND gay.
Some things I love about having a 2-year-old:
~Fewer diaper changes (looking forward to when she's ready to potty train!)
~Able to feed themselves
~Able to talk and express themselves
~HILARIOUS when they talk
~They understand you
~They are independent and can move and climb onto things and do things for themselves. Sure, they can get into things, but exploring is so important for learning!
~I even love temper tantrums. It gives us a chance to learn how to appropriately express emotions and deal with them.
I'm also looking forward to when Carmen gets even older. We found a "letter" Sadie wrote in her kindergarten class, and it says, "Dear SADIE To SADIE From SADIE." Guess what word Sadie knows how to write? ;) It's adorable!!
The first year is pretty hard because it seems like it's all maintenance. But then it pays off for the rest of time!!!! Awesome awesome awesome!
A few things I love:
It's so much fun watching Carmen pick up new words and express her interests and thoughts. Every day, we pass the Mount Timpanogos temple on our way to Sadie's school. I've pointed it out a few times, and today on our way back Carmen pointed out the window and said, "Temple!!! Look!" (Sure, it was "tampoo" but still!) It reminds me of my friend's kid who was watching Star Wars and said, "Hey, it's Moroni!" when he saw C-3PO. Ha ha!
I also like how instead of asking to be picked up, Carmen says, "I hold you!"
Carmen loves the song "Popcorn Popping" and knows two parts: "me" in "Spring has brought me such a nice surprise" and "Soooo!" in "It wasn't really so".
This morning, we stopped at the Wal-Mart by Sadie's school before dropping her off. Carmen recognized the direction we were going, and when we pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, Carmen turned to Sadie and waved and said, "Bye bye, Sadie!"
I went to the gym last week and when I came back to pick Carmen up from the day care, the ladies said, "Carmen had a rough time this morning. There was a baby crying and she really wanted to comfort it, but every time she would snuggle the baby and try to pick it up, the baby would cry even harder. We had to tell Carmen to leave the baby alone and told her to sit away from the baby, and Carmen sat there and pouted and glared at us." I'm sure that actually it was quite comical.
I love kids' empathy. They are the biggest sweethearts in the world!!!
Also, our cats are hilarious. Every time I open a closet door, Ravis comes BOUNDING across the house and DIVES into the closet. So I shut the door on him, and a few minutes later he starts meowing. I open the door and he's got this confused look on his face, like, "What just happened?" and he comes out of the closet. So our cats are both retarded AND gay.
Some things I love about having a 2-year-old:
~Fewer diaper changes (looking forward to when she's ready to potty train!)
~Able to feed themselves
~Able to talk and express themselves
~HILARIOUS when they talk
~They understand you
~They are independent and can move and climb onto things and do things for themselves. Sure, they can get into things, but exploring is so important for learning!
~I even love temper tantrums. It gives us a chance to learn how to appropriately express emotions and deal with them.
I'm also looking forward to when Carmen gets even older. We found a "letter" Sadie wrote in her kindergarten class, and it says, "Dear SADIE To SADIE From SADIE." Guess what word Sadie knows how to write? ;) It's adorable!!
The first year is pretty hard because it seems like it's all maintenance. But then it pays off for the rest of time!!!! Awesome awesome awesome!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thank Goodness for Warranties
A few weeks ago, the "Check Engine" light came on in our car. Sigh. I wish cars would take care of themselves 100% as long as you rotate your tires, change the oil, do regular maintenance, and get in no accidents! Sadly, life doesn't work out that way.
I've been putting off taking the car in, and when I took it to Auto Zone to have their technicians read the error message, they said, "It looks like it's something with your O2 sensor or the fuel injectors ... maybe it's not a big deal. It will just affect your gas mileage and you'll probably fail emissions so you'll have to get it fixed then."
I realized I had a coupon for a free check engine light scan and some free labor at a local car dealership, so I brought it in this morning. It's Spring Break so I don't need to take Sadie to school. When they looked at the error message, the car mechanic said something along the lines of, "It's a brand-specific error message and we can't do anything with it. You need to take it to a Nissan dealership to have it looked at."
They gave me the number for the Nissan dealership in Orem and they were able to take me in right away! Part of me wanted to grumble inwardly, but ... seriously? There are people out there who can fix my car and it's spring break! There's nothing else I need to be doing and we could turn it into an adventure! Carmen could play around the mall, which is approximately six bajillion times better thanstudying in your shower playing around alone at home.
The Nissan guys were pretty nice and it sounded like whatever was going on with our car was probably covered under our warranty. (A word to the wise: you probably don't need to buy an extended warranty on your vehicle. This is how most car dealerships make tons of extra money. We were foolish car buyers impulse-buying a car at 9:30 pm. DON'T DO IT.) Aaaaaanywhooooo.
A few hours later, I got a phone call from the Nissan guy. All I really understood was, "Error messages all point to ... probably transmission ... whole thing might need to be replaced ... covered under Nissan's extended warranty for their CVT transmissions ... things we need to do ... keep your car ... drive it for 150 miles ... requirements for warranty service ... with your permission ..." and I was like, "Uh-huh, uh-huh .... keep it until tomorrow? Okay, I'll just need a ride home ... Of course you can drive it ... it's covered? That's great ... Uh-huh ... thanks." and I hung up, kind of in a daze.
Well. Transmission. Yuck.
So let me tell you a little something I learned about our transmission a few years ago! You may have noticed I called it a "CVT" transmission. It's not standard. The less-technical explanation is that a standard transmission is where you switch gears and stuff (first gear to fifth gear). Even in automatics, you can feel the car switch gears as you speed up. If you watch the RPM thing in your car, you'll see it go up to someodd thousand RPMs, then the car will switch gears and the RPMs will go down. With a CVT, you never see that happen because instead of switching gears, it's like a cone. It's really cool, because our car actually gets better gas mileage the faster it goes.
Like, we get better gas mileage going 80 mph than we do going 65 mph. Weeeeeeird.
Apparently it's obnoxious to work with and repair and replace (because it's a newish technology?) so all Nissans with a CVT transmission have an extended warranty on the transmission. So I think the repair would've been covered without the dumb extended warranty we fools got when we bought our car. ;)
So I guess we're carless until tomorrow. Oh, well, I don't need to do any grocery shopping and it looks like the weather's going to be nice this week so I won't miss the car too much no matter how long we need to go without a vehicle.
I'm so glad we bought this house. We're a mile from Mark's work, a little less than a mile from the library (which is on the way to Mark's work), across the street from the gym, and near several parks.
Seriously. Ideal. Love it.
I've been putting off taking the car in, and when I took it to Auto Zone to have their technicians read the error message, they said, "It looks like it's something with your O2 sensor or the fuel injectors ... maybe it's not a big deal. It will just affect your gas mileage and you'll probably fail emissions so you'll have to get it fixed then."
I realized I had a coupon for a free check engine light scan and some free labor at a local car dealership, so I brought it in this morning. It's Spring Break so I don't need to take Sadie to school. When they looked at the error message, the car mechanic said something along the lines of, "It's a brand-specific error message and we can't do anything with it. You need to take it to a Nissan dealership to have it looked at."
They gave me the number for the Nissan dealership in Orem and they were able to take me in right away! Part of me wanted to grumble inwardly, but ... seriously? There are people out there who can fix my car and it's spring break! There's nothing else I need to be doing and we could turn it into an adventure! Carmen could play around the mall, which is approximately six bajillion times better than
The Nissan guys were pretty nice and it sounded like whatever was going on with our car was probably covered under our warranty. (A word to the wise: you probably don't need to buy an extended warranty on your vehicle. This is how most car dealerships make tons of extra money. We were foolish car buyers impulse-buying a car at 9:30 pm. DON'T DO IT.) Aaaaaanywhooooo.
A few hours later, I got a phone call from the Nissan guy. All I really understood was, "Error messages all point to ... probably transmission ... whole thing might need to be replaced ... covered under Nissan's extended warranty for their CVT transmissions ... things we need to do ... keep your car ... drive it for 150 miles ... requirements for warranty service ... with your permission ..." and I was like, "Uh-huh, uh-huh .... keep it until tomorrow? Okay, I'll just need a ride home ... Of course you can drive it ... it's covered? That's great ... Uh-huh ... thanks." and I hung up, kind of in a daze.
Well. Transmission. Yuck.
So let me tell you a little something I learned about our transmission a few years ago! You may have noticed I called it a "CVT" transmission. It's not standard. The less-technical explanation is that a standard transmission is where you switch gears and stuff (first gear to fifth gear). Even in automatics, you can feel the car switch gears as you speed up. If you watch the RPM thing in your car, you'll see it go up to someodd thousand RPMs, then the car will switch gears and the RPMs will go down. With a CVT, you never see that happen because instead of switching gears, it's like a cone. It's really cool, because our car actually gets better gas mileage the faster it goes.
Like, we get better gas mileage going 80 mph than we do going 65 mph. Weeeeeeird.
Apparently it's obnoxious to work with and repair and replace (because it's a newish technology?) so all Nissans with a CVT transmission have an extended warranty on the transmission. So I think the repair would've been covered without the dumb extended warranty we fools got when we bought our car. ;)
So I guess we're carless until tomorrow. Oh, well, I don't need to do any grocery shopping and it looks like the weather's going to be nice this week so I won't miss the car too much no matter how long we need to go without a vehicle.
I'm so glad we bought this house. We're a mile from Mark's work, a little less than a mile from the library (which is on the way to Mark's work), across the street from the gym, and near several parks.
Seriously. Ideal. Love it.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
What I've been up to ...
When I was 16, I picked up cross stitching as a creative hobby. I'm not exactly sure why I did it, but I've done approximately a bajillion cross stitches since then. It's funny that I can look at a site with a bunch of counted cross stitch kits and I can be like, "Did that one, did that one, did that one ..." and I've got these serious-looking callouses on my fingertips that prove my studliness.
Interesting ... the photo looks more impressive than the cross stitch itself! I didn't realize the water on the bottom is actually starting to look like ... water.
It's been a while since I've actually finished a cross stitch. Maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm only thinking that because I had several cross stitches I hadn't done the finishing touches on and I've been working on finishing those instead. Several weeks ago, I pulled all of my mostly finished cross stitches out of the closet and bought frames for them. Now I have more of my handiwork hanging around the house. :) I guess I ought to take photos of them and post them here or something. Unfortunately, two are in Camren's room and she's sleeping right now. I bought a puppy cross stitch in November to make for her because she looooooooves puppies.
Here are a few of the BIG cross stitches I've finished in the past couple of years:
I tend to fidget nervously when listening to lectures, so I would cross stitch to stop myself from drawing hearts and stars all over the margins of my notebook.
I ought to take pictures of some more of my cross stitches before I send them off to people. I made a cross stitch for my father-in-law last year and forgot I wanted to send it to him until I found it in my pile of cross stitches when I decided to frame everything ... oops! Don't tell him. It's still gonna be a surprise. ;)
This is one I started in February:
It's been a while since I've actually finished a cross stitch. Maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm only thinking that because I had several cross stitches I hadn't done the finishing touches on and I've been working on finishing those instead. Several weeks ago, I pulled all of my mostly finished cross stitches out of the closet and bought frames for them. Now I have more of my handiwork hanging around the house. :) I guess I ought to take photos of them and post them here or something. Unfortunately, two are in Camren's room and she's sleeping right now. I bought a puppy cross stitch in November to make for her because she looooooooves puppies.
Here are a few of the BIG cross stitches I've finished in the past couple of years:
This is a Greg Olsen painting I worked on while finishing up the Finance Jr. Core at BYU in 2008:
And this is a cross stitch I did while taking my last 2 classes at BYU:
I'm a sucker for bright, colorful stuff.I ought to take pictures of some more of my cross stitches before I send them off to people. I made a cross stitch for my father-in-law last year and forgot I wanted to send it to him until I found it in my pile of cross stitches when I decided to frame everything ... oops! Don't tell him. It's still gonna be a surprise. ;)
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Combs won't last very long with kids
You don't expect much from a dollar store comb. Only the bag these combs came in advertised them as "unbreakable".
This fact makes me giggle.
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
Well, I'm back from my vacation in Sammamish! It's fun to go out and see my family, but at the same time it's wonderful to be back home. I have my own bed, my own food, my own neighborhood, my own schedule ... Carmen loved staying up late partying with her uber-exciting aunts and uncles. She also loved sleeping in and napping right before dinner. We're still slowly adjusting her schedule back to normal. ;)
I really appreciated Elder Cook's talk in Conference on Saturday morning. I have to wait until the transcriptions come out online before I can do a lot of analysis on the talk, but I loved how he talked about how valuable mothers are and acknowledged all kinds of mothers (those who work, those who stay at home, and those who are single, etc) and praised them. I felt appreciated and loved, even though motherhood tends to be undervalued (read: unpaid!!) I liked how he talked about telling a nonmember about women serving in the Church and she said, "The last thing women need is another unpaid job."
I've loved and valued work and education so much in my life that it's sometimes hard for me to keep things in perspective. When Carmen was a baby, I had a hard time feeling like I was much more than an unpaid robot. She'd lay there (and cry most of the time ... she was very colicky) and my job was to simply be there and hold and comfort her and feed and change her until ... I don't know. Until she needed something else. I felt like I had very little to offer her different from what anyone could offer her.
Now, however, life is great! Ever since she started noticing the world and crawling and walking and wanted to know things, I feel like I've been able to do a lot and I'm thrilled to be a mom! (So things got much better after 5 or 6 months, then after a year, then after 15 months, then after 18 months, and now she's turning 2 next month! WHAT HAPPENS TO THE TIME?!) She is so expressive and loves to talk and we share such sweet moments together.
It's been wonderful to watch Sadie every morning. I love watching her learn and grow, too. Today, she told me how she can count by 5's and 10's to 100. She told me she doesn't know how to read yet, but I told her at least she knows how to spell her name and loves to look at books together so at least that's a start. She told me the other day that her mom gave her permission to get her ears pierced when she asked, but has decided she doesn't want to get her ears pierced because it will be painful. She and Carmen are learning how to get along together and I get to practice more of my teaching and mediating skills.
I'm enjoying the book Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child. It talks about empathizing with your children and helping them learn to address and deal with their strong emotions instead of dismissing or demeaning them. It requires a lot of intimacy with and attention to your child, so ... I guess I feel really thankful I have the opportunity to stay at home and develop that kind of a relationship with my children without having other major distractions in my life. There is nothing else I'm doing that is more important than teaching my children to be the best they can be! (And yet, I find room and time to do so much and my life is full!)
A few Carmenisms:
Carmen put a sticker onto a piece of paper then tried to pull it off.
"Stuck!!" she complained, surprised.
A few months ago, we got a free broken key from a locksmith. It's got buttons on it. Carmen found it in the toy basket and started pushing the buttons. "Beep, beep!" she said (because that's the noise cars make when you lock and unlock them.) She walked over to the window and looked outside, to see if any of the cars were reacting to her key. "Papa's key." she said. (Grandpa has a key like that to his Honda Pilot.) This is proof that Carmen loves Grandpa Brad and pays attention to him.
Sometimes, Carmen blows her nose with toilet paper, but more often than not, she rips it up into tiny pieces and sticks the pieces up her nose. Then I hear her snort and sniff for a few minutes and she goes, "Stuck! STUUUUCCKKK!!!"
(PS. I remove the toilet paper with tweezers to make the extraction process as excruciating and obnoxious as possible.)
Last night, our friends blessed their baby, Phoebe. Carmen loves babies and has been picking up names really well this past month. While we were getting into the car, she sat in the back seat talking to herself about how excited she was to go see "Baby Pee-Pee." She also learned our friend Sterling's first name: "Durling." IT'S ADORABLE.
I guess while I'm talking about names, I'll have you know she calls Marissa "Sissa", gets ridiculously excited about our friend Ray (and can say his name no problem), and loves her friend Braxton who is 6 months older than she is. She calls him "Bobby". One time we were playing at Braxton's house and the conversation went something like this:
Braxton: Carmen, I am not Bobby. I'm Braxton.
Carmen: Bobby!
Braxton: No, Braxton!
Carmen: Brrrrrrrrrrrr-obby!
Me: *lol*
I love hearing Carmen talk to herself. She walks around the house and plays with her toy kitchen or her tool set and talks about what she's going to cook or fix. She carries her babies around and changes their diapers and puts medicine on their ouchies. (She's got a sad history of diaper rashes and so she is quite familiar with Bordeaux's Butt Paste.) When I was a kid, I'd put my stuffed animals in time-out and spank them for trying to leave. Carmen kisses her babies and gives them medicine. Hmm.
I really appreciated Elder Cook's talk in Conference on Saturday morning. I have to wait until the transcriptions come out online before I can do a lot of analysis on the talk, but I loved how he talked about how valuable mothers are and acknowledged all kinds of mothers (those who work, those who stay at home, and those who are single, etc) and praised them. I felt appreciated and loved, even though motherhood tends to be undervalued (read: unpaid!!) I liked how he talked about telling a nonmember about women serving in the Church and she said, "The last thing women need is another unpaid job."
I've loved and valued work and education so much in my life that it's sometimes hard for me to keep things in perspective. When Carmen was a baby, I had a hard time feeling like I was much more than an unpaid robot. She'd lay there (and cry most of the time ... she was very colicky) and my job was to simply be there and hold and comfort her and feed and change her until ... I don't know. Until she needed something else. I felt like I had very little to offer her different from what anyone could offer her.
Now, however, life is great! Ever since she started noticing the world and crawling and walking and wanted to know things, I feel like I've been able to do a lot and I'm thrilled to be a mom! (So things got much better after 5 or 6 months, then after a year, then after 15 months, then after 18 months, and now she's turning 2 next month! WHAT HAPPENS TO THE TIME?!) She is so expressive and loves to talk and we share such sweet moments together.
It's been wonderful to watch Sadie every morning. I love watching her learn and grow, too. Today, she told me how she can count by 5's and 10's to 100. She told me she doesn't know how to read yet, but I told her at least she knows how to spell her name and loves to look at books together so at least that's a start. She told me the other day that her mom gave her permission to get her ears pierced when she asked, but has decided she doesn't want to get her ears pierced because it will be painful. She and Carmen are learning how to get along together and I get to practice more of my teaching and mediating skills.
I'm enjoying the book Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child. It talks about empathizing with your children and helping them learn to address and deal with their strong emotions instead of dismissing or demeaning them. It requires a lot of intimacy with and attention to your child, so ... I guess I feel really thankful I have the opportunity to stay at home and develop that kind of a relationship with my children without having other major distractions in my life. There is nothing else I'm doing that is more important than teaching my children to be the best they can be! (And yet, I find room and time to do so much and my life is full!)
A few Carmenisms:
Carmen put a sticker onto a piece of paper then tried to pull it off.
"Stuck!!" she complained, surprised.
A few months ago, we got a free broken key from a locksmith. It's got buttons on it. Carmen found it in the toy basket and started pushing the buttons. "Beep, beep!" she said (because that's the noise cars make when you lock and unlock them.) She walked over to the window and looked outside, to see if any of the cars were reacting to her key. "Papa's key." she said. (Grandpa has a key like that to his Honda Pilot.) This is proof that Carmen loves Grandpa Brad and pays attention to him.
Sometimes, Carmen blows her nose with toilet paper, but more often than not, she rips it up into tiny pieces and sticks the pieces up her nose. Then I hear her snort and sniff for a few minutes and she goes, "Stuck! STUUUUCCKKK!!!"
(PS. I remove the toilet paper with tweezers to make the extraction process as excruciating and obnoxious as possible.)
Last night, our friends blessed their baby, Phoebe. Carmen loves babies and has been picking up names really well this past month. While we were getting into the car, she sat in the back seat talking to herself about how excited she was to go see "Baby Pee-Pee." She also learned our friend Sterling's first name: "Durling." IT'S ADORABLE.
I guess while I'm talking about names, I'll have you know she calls Marissa "Sissa", gets ridiculously excited about our friend Ray (and can say his name no problem), and loves her friend Braxton who is 6 months older than she is. She calls him "Bobby". One time we were playing at Braxton's house and the conversation went something like this:
Braxton: Carmen, I am not Bobby. I'm Braxton.
Carmen: Bobby!
Braxton: No, Braxton!
Carmen: Brrrrrrrrrrrr-obby!
Me: *lol*
I love hearing Carmen talk to herself. She walks around the house and plays with her toy kitchen or her tool set and talks about what she's going to cook or fix. She carries her babies around and changes their diapers and puts medicine on their ouchies. (She's got a sad history of diaper rashes and so she is quite familiar with Bordeaux's Butt Paste.) When I was a kid, I'd put my stuffed animals in time-out and spank them for trying to leave. Carmen kisses her babies and gives them medicine. Hmm.
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