We’re blessed
It was an interesting weekend, to say the least…
On Friday evening, our tv and light started turning on and off on their own, as if possessed. Upon investigation, we found that a switch that is used to turn on that particular outlet was extremely hot and making popping noises. This didn’t seem good. After cutting the circuit and letting things cool down, we took the switch out of the wall. It looked like it was from 1950 (when the house was built) and smelled awful. Ironically, we smelled this earlier in the week, but thought it was the computer that had just died.
After avoiding an electrical fire on Friday, we hit the road early Saturday morning to look for a new computer (and stop at Lowe’s for a new switch). We carried the cell phone with us, since we were hoping to pick up my husband’s truck on the way back – it was in the shop for an oil change and to have the brakes looked at (it started shimmying when going down hills this week, so we wanted to have it checked on right away).
On the way to the store, we got a call about the truck. I knew the news could not be that good, as my husband used words such as “Really?”, “Wow”, and “Sure, Monday would be fine…” when he was on the phone with the mechanic.
“So, what’s the damage?” I asked, after he got off the phone.
Basically, the tie rods were about to come off – the mechanic said he was surprised that my husband had not been in an accident – they were that bad. We were also going to need new rotors, as the old ones had been machined a couple of times already. Coupled with the annual inspection and emission test, along with a radiator flush, I knew things weren’t looking too sunny. The price tag? Close to $1000.
My husband cringed as he broke the news – I think he was waiting for the four-letter words to start flowing, which is rare now that we have a kid. But in old times this situation might have warranted at least a couple of them.
I kept silent for a minute, and then asked him if he thought they would let me use my $30 off $300 coupon. We both burst out laughing. Even the kid started laughing from his car seat, as if the idea was hilarious.
The way I see it (and my husband agrees), we are very lucky. Our house didn’t burn down, and I much rather pay $1000 in car repair bills than have a husband in a car wreck. We’re thankful that we have the emergency fund – a couple of years ago, this would have been a pretty big financial hurdle. Now it’s just a bump in the road.
We’ll still put the bill on the credit card (to get the rewards), but will pay it off in the same day. Needless to say, we’re going to put off purchasing another computer for a couple of weeks (at the very least). I know that we still have a lot of debt, and are not close to true financial freedom yet, but it’s so nice to be able to laugh at things like this and easily see the bigger picture.
What about you? Could you laugh this off? Or would it have been a string of expletives?
