I certainly have many faults, but I am not typically a procrastinator. I usually take care of the annual car inspections 1-2 months before they expire. I started working on getting an appointment for the van in August, but for a variety of reasons, I didn't actually take it to the dealer until last Tuesday. I was stunned when they presented me with an estimate that exceeded $1,800 and said that in particular the rear brakes and three tires failed inspection. A few minutes after receiving that estimate I called Bastian and made an appointment for an inspection this afternoon. Bastian had done the front brakes on the van last year, and I had a very strong suspicion that they would charge far less than what the Toyota dealership was going to charge me. Toyota would have charged over $500 for the rear brakes, but Bastian charged around $150. Including the annual inspection, I paid a little less than $200, which was far better than $1,800! They passed the tires, but three of the tires they measured at 3/32, which means we will be replacing those in the next couple of months.
However, that will cost about $300, so in the end we will spend $500 total instead of $1,800. Paul got burned at the Mazda dealership last month when he got his brakes done. We only plan to go to dealerships for (free) safety recalls from now on. Otherwise, we will go elsewhere. I am very thankful that even though it felt like I waited until the last minute, I did get the sticker for the van a few days before it expired.
I took the kids across the street to the children's museum for about 45 minutes. We would have stayed longer, but they close at 4:00. I told Bastian I had my cell phone with me and to call if they had any questions. When we got back they mentioned they saw the sticker from Walmart and did a tire rotation and oil change. I said I just had both of those done the end of August, and the van wasn't due for either yet because the tires are rotated every 5,000 miles and the oil is changed ever 10,000 miles, and I had almost gone 3,000 miles. Since they failed to call me, they didn't charge for the oil change or tire rotation. That impressed me. If
they offer free tire rotations if you purchase your tires there, I would be very happy to buy my tires there instead of Walmart. I will have to check that out before we buy three new tires for the van. Usually we leave the house around 4:30 on Mondays and get home at 7:45. Today we left at 2:30 and got home at 7:45 because of the car appointment. We got one pizza, and I brought four cupcakes that I had made this afternoon. The kids were so surprised that I knew how to make cupcakes, ha ha! We generally prefer cookies, brownies, pie, cheesecake, etc. to cake so I rarely make cake, but Nadia's pen pal had included a handwritten recipe card for topsy turvy cupcakes. So that is what I made today. We only have two weeks left of choir rehearsals and our trips to Lewisburg on Mondays will come to an end. It means I'll need to find a different day to go to the library during the week.
Over the past few weeks there have been tools in ALL three of our bathrooms. Our master bathroom has been ripped up for 3.5 years. The shower in that bathroom is very dusty and
filled with tools, there's a circular saw the floor of our closet, etc. The kids' bathroom was a work zone for a month and during that time the shower curtains, window valence, bathroom rugs, etc have been stored on our bedroom floor since Paul was doing a lot of sanding in the bathroom. For one week of that time the toilet wasn't working. The shower hasn't been usable for a month. Then most recently the toilet in the half bathroom was leaking and couldn't be used. We've been using the jacuzzi tub since we haven't been able to use either shower. One of those times water came down from the jacuzzi through the dining room chandelier onto the dining room table. We need to buy another toilet because there is a crack in the tank of the half-bathroom toilet, which is the one we use the most since we spend more time on the main floor of the house than we do upstairs, but Paul put silicone on the crack, which has provided a temporary fix. The best news is that the kids' bathroom project is DONE. Glory Hallelujah! I cannot wait to take a shower tomorrow morning. I would be thrilled if I never took another bath the rest of my life. I greatly prefer showers!!! Right now there are only tools in ONE of the three bathrooms. I'd love it if that bathroom project could also be completed sooner rather than later, but one shower is SO, SO, SO much better than zero showers. And the kids' bathroom looks neat and tidy again, and the bathroom stuff is OUT of our master bedroom. This is a big relief to a person who can't stand clutter! I'm very thankful for progress.
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