First Week of March Randoms

One.  Lets start of with something positive………the SUN is shining!!! Has been out all week.  I just opened my window and can hear the birdies chirping away out there.  Spring is near!

Two.  After a three days of having my car in the shop, I now have it back.  I am sure no one wants to hear my car drama of the week but I am going to summarize it for my own records here.  A few weeks ago my speedometer quit working and simultaneously I noticed some hesitation with my transmission shifting out of 1st gear.  I made an appt to get it looked at…naive and positive me was hoping it wouldn’t cost an-arm-and-a-leg to get fixed.  Diagnostics showed that the wheel speed sensors that send signals to the speedometer and transmission (telling how fast to go) were malfunctioning.. Inspection showed the rear two were completely rusted out and corroded.  Only $330/ea for the parts. &*!$@.  Replacement of these did not completely solve the problem, I also had bad tone rings on my rear axel shafts.  Unfortunately Lexus does not sell the tone rings separately ($60/ea), but only pre-assembled on new axel shaft (for $1050 each). WHAT!! Not only that but my axel shafts were rusted into the berrings (to the extreme) and they were worried about doing more damage to get them removed.  A this point they told me it could be up to $4k to get fixed.  That is when I had a minor melt-down, and feelings of hopelessness about the dang car.  Who has an extra $4k floating around to dump into a car just to get the speedometer to work??? Not me. The good news is that my mechanic found another local place who rebuilds axel-shafts.  They were able to over-night the part I needed and get everything back together by 6pm on Wednesday.  The best news is that all repairs came in at $1300, which was the absolute best-case-scenario for everything that needed to be done.  My car runs better than ever now! It is great to drive a Lexus (until something goes wrong and then the repairs will cost you!). By the way, overall my Lexus is a great car and has been very reliable for me over the past three years.  This problem was due to damage from the terrible MN winters….salt is an absolute car killer.  Thinking about possibly leasing a car at some point in the future but want to look into it more.

Three.  My parents are driving home from Florida right now.  I have missed them!  Both of my brothers and their families (including Amanda) were all able to go down to Florida over the past few weeks to spend time with them.  My nieces have been to Florida as many times (3) as I have in our respective lifetimes.  They are 3 and 4, I am 33! Maybe next year??

Four.  I have had bad chest pains the past few days.  I do get bad indigestion and take a Rx for it, so not sure if it is related to that or just stress.  Something similar happened around this time last year and I had my heart fully tested out and I am just fine, so don’t think it is heart-related.  Unless dealing with my car almost gave me a heart attack?! Kidding. Must be the stress.

Five.  Go check out the awesome participant galleries for Photo Hunt #6.  I have a couple of Guest Judges helping me out this time around.

Six.  I am taking an online photography class right now that my SIL Michelle is teaching.  Great stuff for learning how to use my new camera! The others in the class are all in the same boat.

Seven.  No school tomorrow! It is a teacher work-day to get ready for upcoming parent-teacher conferences.

Eight.  No big plans for the weekend.  Hoping the sun stays out!

Nine.  My taxes are done and I do not have to pay in this year!

That’s all I have to say at the moment.