The moles own four cars. Kayla has an 2002, Emily a 2004, me a 2006 and Brian a 2011. Please tell me how he ended up with the newest and best vehicle. I guess that’s what happens when you are outnumbered 4 to 1 in your own house. About six month after  Kayla got her car, she kept saying the brakes weren’t right. Brian looked at them several times and even fixed the back rear brake as it kept locking up. After that was fixed the front brake was then acting up. He changed the pads and they were becoming even worse so he took it to the shop down the street. The guy looked at it and said the brake fluid had been contaminated and the entire system had to be replaced. He suggested we ditch the car and start over. As if I have five grand lying around and the time to try to find another car with low miles. Her car is only at around 50K miles so the engine and the transmission should be good for a long while. I hate to say that and jinx myself, (Refer to my magical thinking post). After much discussion and yelling we decided to fix it. I googled contaminated brake fluid and every single person that posted that they had the issue it started in the rear brake locking up and moved right along the course of Kayla’s car. The guy that fixed us told us it can take one to two years after the wrong fluid is placed before it ruins everything. So either the dealer did it which seems highly unlikely or the oil change place Brian takes it to. This is the only car that Brian does not change the oil in. He said it is a nightmare and not worth it. However from now on he will be telling those jokers not to fop off any fluid, that he will take care of it himself.

The car was finally finished today. I had already paid 800 so they could order one of the most expensive parts. So I went down to pick it up and it was another 600. The guy didn’t want to take a credit card again as he said my credit card charged them almost 200 for using mine. I of course said that’s total bullshit and asked him if he wanted cash. So he let me take the car and I picked up Kayla. We went to the ATM and the max withdrawal is 300 so I took out 300 and she took out 300. Apparently the ATM was out of 20’s so the guy ended up with 60 ten-dollar bills. He was telling us that the valves could have blown at any moment which would have left zero brakes and could have been a tragic car accident. He also gave her instructions that it would take 200 miles to get the brakes to set so not to be waiting until the last-minute to stop and to give herself plenty of time. He also wants her to bring it back after 100 miles for an adjustment. He was really, really nice.

It’s been a rough week, sharing vehicles and having to drive her to places. It’s one advantage of having older kids, no longer being a chauffeur. After 1400, I hope the repair bills are done for a while. However, my car will be ten years old (I purchased it in 8/05) and if have 167,000 miles on it. The passenger side mirror has been missing for two years or longer. The air conditioner has now gone out. It’s only a matter of time before I will have to crack and get a new one. My hope was for it to last until Kayla graduated high school and I’m a year past that.

Mole moral~ Why didn’t I just write a check you ask? I didn’t even think about it, until Meg asked. That probably made more sense but now the shop has plenty of ten-dollar bills.