Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Everything's breaking!

Over the last few days, an extraordinary number of our material possessions have stopped working. It's really annoying. It's like a little black cloud is over our house. I realize it could be worse. They are mostly minor things(with one big exception) and can all be replaced. And at least it's not any of our physical persons that are breaking. We've gone through phases where that has happened, too. So, here's the low down:

1. Andrew's car. Yes, this is the big one. It finally bit the dust while he was gone to Mexico.
We went minivan shopping over the weekend. Andrew fit the best in a Dodge Grand Caravan, so that's most likely what we're going to get. The one that we were test driving already had 48k miles on it and we were hoping for closer to 20k. Carmax is shipping one here for us that should be in today or tomorrow.

I've been carless since Friday! Luckily we have that great park within walking distance of our house. Whit and I have made the trek twice already. It takes 15-20 minutes. Maybe being without a car for a short amount of time is a good thing--I'm getting more exercise and can't shop much.

2. Our garbage disposal. One morning I used it and then that evening it wouldn't work. It wasn't jammed or anything. Called a repairman. After he got here, he informed me that yes, it was broken; no, they don't repair garbage disposals; and yes, they charge $57 just to make a service call. He spent less than 5 minutes in my house! I somehow managed to get out of the $57.

Handyman Andrew bought a new one
and installed it this week. I'm so impressed.
(Greg--notice he got a Badger.
You know what you're talking about!)

3. Our answering machine. I don't know what's up with it. It keeps resetting to the default message and we've lost a few messages that I know of. I hope I didn't miss any calls telling me that I've won a million dollars! This breakage has prompted me to look into getting Vonage for our phone service. We've heard great things from two friends. Anyone else tried it?

4. My cell phone. I can't hear the person on the other end unless it's on speakerphone. That's kind of embarassing when I'm out in public. My contract is up in June, so I don't think I'll replace it until then. Luckily, I don't get that many calls on it.

5. Remember that AWESOME patio set that we bought and loved so much???? Well, after the first rain storm here, Andrew found that there were quarter-sized rust spots under the legs of all the chairs. (On the patio that looked brand new from his power washing, of course!) Hello! This is PATIO furniture and will inevitably be exposed to the elements. It's not allowed to rust--especially after the first storm. We were so annoyed. Andrew took the chairs back this week, but we've yet to get replacements. (Back to the one car problem--I can't run any errands.)

I think we've gone a week now without any new breakages so maybe the little black cloud has moved on. Let's hope so. This is getting expensive!

10 comments:

Unknown said...

don't get an american car!!!!! just make andrew ride shotgun whenever he's in it!!!! or get a ford excursion, they probably get the same gas mileage.....hehe. the next car i buy is gonna be a toyota, nissan, or honda.

andrea said...

Yea, we thought the same thing. We were set on getting a toyota or honda. But the same year with the same milage is like $4000 more for a honda than a dodge! That's a lot of money.

Anonymous said...

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andrea said...

LOL!!

Anonymous said...

Oh Andi, that's so frustrating. I'm sorry. It seems like whenever bad stuff happens it is a ton of it all at once. Are you going to buy your van sooner than expected now that the other car died?

Anonymous said...

Oh that stinks!! Must mean something REALLY GOOD is about to happen, right???? It does seem like this stuff always happens in batches, though, doesn't it? Well - hopefully a new car will get you moving around town again so you can get all the other stuff fixed and taken care of!

Ang said...

The worst part about having stuff is that stuff breaks! At least you haven't had any computer trouble (knock on wood). And I love my Grand Caravan--we haven't had much trouble with it at all and it's almost 7 years old. I think you'll like your Dodge. (And that's why we didn't go w/ the foreign minivans--so much more expensive! Although I hear they're great vans, too.)

Anonymous said...

Your experience goes well with the theory that all life follows the second law of thermodynamics, which states, "The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time". In other words, everything in the universe is on a slippery slope down to destruction and chaos. Take a look at www.secondlaw.com

I replaced our garbage disposal over a year ago and took it apart to see why it failed. It turns out that a staple got in the motor and ruined it.

Don't send your black cloud our way. We had it last month.

Anonymous said...

testing

Anonymous said...

okay - that's weird. I've written 2 very witty and insightful responses to your blog in the last few days - and neither one of them would post....hmmmm...so I just did the "testing" one and it worked!

Love you!
Mom Sweat