One HOTTTT August!

Today was the first day of school for the kids. I'll post pics of that later. The craziness that happened today was 3 short hours after I got Cili off to start 4th grade.

My friend, Marie, and her baby Preston, and I went to breakfast at IHOP to celebrate all the kids going to school. It was lovely. I miss IHOP. That was mine and Jenn's spot to eat and study...sigh...OK, enough of memory lane.

I took our van in to get a tune up last week. It was sputtering and I wanted to know why. Also it had a squealing sound and we wanted that looked at, too. The shop called me the following day to say the squeal was a belt and they'd replaced it. They then called back and said the squeal was the A/C compressor and it neeed replacing. Cost for replacing that and the receiver dryer (dunno, just a part that they need for the A/C) was going to be about $729. After I choked and regained my composure (and John told me to just suck it up and let them do the work that needed to be done) we gave them the authorization. That was like...Wednesday the 29th. On Friday the 31st I called them and asked for an update. I was on my way to Kansas (pics of that to follow later...cut me some slack) with a friend and needed to know if I'd have a car when I got back. He said they got the A/C fixed up and it was charging and should be done Monday morning. Then they'd drive it and see if they could figure out the sputtering. He said it hadn't done it at all since they'd had it there. I found that hard to believe since it was doing it all the time, dying at stops and everything. But, OK, I will trust the mechanics.

Well, Monday came and went with nothing. Same with Tuesday. Finally, I called them on Wednesday, August 5th first thing in the morning and asked for an update. They said they thought it just needed a tune-up. I asked how much. They said the total was going to be $1100!!! I asked them what the hell they could be doing with a tune-up for $400. I let John talk to them. They told him that it was getting all new stuff because the parts in the car were original and it's 10 years old. Rotor, distributor cap, wires, etc. John was satisfied with their answer and we really thought if we put the money into it we'd be able to drive the car for a couple more years. John told them that we needed the car back by the end of the day because we had kids starting school and we needed to drive them. They called him at 4:20 and told him he could pick up the car.

We left the auto shop about 4:45 PM on Wednesday $1100 lighter. As soon as John got to the house and the car was idling it started to sputter and it died. I was already really mad about the pricing for some of the work they did ($89.70 for spark plugs and $56.25 for labor!!) so I was pretty torqued that they hadn't even fixed what we took it in for! John said he'd call in the morning. He called me while I was having breakfast with my friend to tell me that he'd called the shop and said he wanted the fuel injectors cleaned and asked how much it would cost and they said just to bring the car in.

That would have been lovely. The problem is that the car was choking so bad that after I put gas in it (filled it up, $40) I couldn't go faster than 20 mph and she died at every traffic signal. By the time we got to the entry gate nearest our home there was smoke pouring in the car. I called John and said I was just going straight home and he could sort it out when he got home. I told him about the smoke and he agreed that I just needed to try to get home.

We coasted to my little parking spot in front of my house. I tried to get into the driveway but my car wouldn't have it, she kept dying as I tried to drive. Marie told me it wasn't gonna happen so we just let her coast into her regular spot. I popped the hood to see if I could see where the smoke was coming from and I couldn't tell. The engine looked ok! Then I shut the hood and the mailman walked by. He asked where the smoke was coming from and I told him I didn't know. He asked me to pop the hood again.

Once the mailman looked under the hood the first thing he said is, "This is coming from your A/C!" I couldn't believe what he had just said! He didn't know what work I'd just had done! Then he said, "Ma'am you need to call the fire department, this car is on fire." Very calm. Me? Not so much. I called 911 and told them what was up. It seemed to take forever for them to get to our house. Within a few minutes the whole car was engulfed in flames. We hadn't been out of that car for 10 minutes when it was totally engulfed. Within a few minutes the windows were exploding and I was freaking out!

I called John and told him the car was on fire and he said he was on his way home. When he got there the whole street was blocked off.

Crazy!!

Meanwhile, the car was burnt to a crisp and John called the shop that had done the work and told them. He told them to come pick up the car. After I called the insurance company I called the shop to say that the insurance company would be picking up the vehicle. John got on the phone and asked if we would have to pay for towing. The auto shop advised John we owed them $50 for towing the burnt up car! Yes! Can you believe this?!?!?

Here's what the car looked like when it was all over...this is my seat! Notice no steering wheel? Yeah, my iPod is melted in somewhere too....Looking in from the rear you see the bench seat frame, the captain's chairs in the middle...and the front dash.

So, while the kids were having a lovely day at school I was darkening the skies of Fort Campbell with smoke from my burning vehicle. The auto shop will not be off the hook. I will not back down from this fight. But...for this moment, what's done is done. I have a rental, everyone in the car was safe, our home is safe. It could have been worse and I'm thankful for the miracles that saved us from that!

Needless to say, it was super HOT at our house today!!