It Seems Like a Lot of Lemons

I have a confession: I've been a cynical grump lately. Small things have been getting on my nerves... except my dog.. she's a BIG thing getting on my nerves. She's been following me around everywhere; like, this morning, I was going to fix the thermostat down the hall and she needed to follow me there. Except that I made her sit and stay where she was. I'm positive she believes Waverly is going to eat her and the only way to survive is to walk on my heels. I digress. It's one of those "the next person (or dog!) who crosses me is gonna get drop-kicked" kind of thing. Not healthy. I just have to get out of this funk.

I also have a complaint: today is just not my day. On his way home from class today, Chandler's car died... on New Circle Road. We thought it might be the battery. That would only happen if today was my day, but it's not, so Chandler's alternator went out. It's a $400-$600 repair. It's not that we can't fix it (thank God for our savings), but we have to ask ourselves the question: How much money do we put in this car before we're putting in more than it's even worth? Don't get me wrong, the Audi is a really nice car and we got it for a great deal; however, when any car has over 200,000 miles, it's going to require more maintenance. We understood that when we bought the car, what we didn't take into account is that some parts of an Audi are...special. For example, after replacing the brakes (thanks to my stepdad, brother, and hubs), a couple of springs kept coming off and it became a problem so that we had to take the car to the shop. Remember, those "special" parts of an Audi... well, $70 later, we had those springs fixed. Had they been a bit more generic, they would've cost less than $10.

See my frustration? So, now we're in the process of determining whether or not we want to become a "one car family". Yikes. In a culture where independence is key, Chandler and I would be giving up some of that independence in a way. I like knowing that I have a car in the garage, even if I don't drive it. When we've been down one car for whatever reason, I wake up feeling stir crazy. This decision would definitely require a sacrifice in that way. On the other hand, one car insurance.. one car to repair.. plus whatever money we'd sell the Audi for.. I mean, financially, we'd be a whole lot better off. Maybe this is one of those blessings through hard times, kind of thing.

Oh, then I broke the teapot we painted for Waverly before she was born. It fell off the top shelf when I shut a door.. the windows are open, so the door shut a little harder than normal. Awesome. I glued it back together. It's sad.

If you think about it, pray for us. Not that our issues are huge, but there are a lot of little things going on that make our issues seem huge. Africa's right around the corner and it's getting harder and harder to stay focused on God's picture. Pray for us.