Jeremy v. Sara and the Magnificent Disappearing $500

It's on! Jeremy and I are racing to see who can lose the most weight before Disney World at Christmas time. The winner gets $50 to spend at Disney World.

Wish me luck! Don't wish Jeremy luck. ;) I'll be updating our progress each week.

Our Fusion broke down the other day. The check engine light has been on for about five months now...we're like Penny on "The Big Bang Theory."

"You know your check engine light is on?"

Penny: "Yeah...I've gotta put a sticker over that."

So when the car wouldn't start we assumed it needed to be engine checked, as the light has been telling us. Our car is under warranty, so no big deal. Took it to the Ford dealer. Paid $110 for the diagnostics. We need to change a canister purge valve, but that's not a big deal and not what was keeping the car from starting. It was just the battery...

...Never trust the check engine light. (Not really--that's not really my motto.) And the purge valve is not warrantied.

Sweet.

So we paid $110 for the diagnostics, they tried to charge us another $50 for a "battery test" that you can get for free at any auto parts store and we said no because we didn't authorize it and asked why we'd pay them $50 to do a test we can get for free anywhere else (to which the lady said to Jeremy, "Umm...good question."), and then we had to go buy a new battery. Ugh. We still have the change the purge valve, but that can wait. We've had about $500 of really great (sarcasm anyone?) surprises like that this past week. We said before we took it to the dealer, "We should just go get the battery tested." But then remembered that the check engine light had been on for months and figured we needed to get that diagnosed anyway.

Lesson here? Just buy new cars and lease them.

Today was a very productive day for me. I actually got Scarlet to take a nap in her crib, so I deep cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, and dusted the whole house, including the blinds. Tomorrow I'm vacuuming and doing some carpet cleaning.

Whew.

I even got to take a shower after I was all finished. It's funny how hard it is to get a shower during the day when you have an infant. I've discovered that she's fascinated by the voice coming from behind the shower curtain (me) and also by the orange contraption that makes a lot of noise and makes Mommy's hair fluffy (hairdryer). So it's easier to get that done now.

I've had an ear ache for 6 weeks, off and on. Mostly off, so I didn't worry about it. But this past weekend my ear swelled shut and had me randomly squealing from pain, so it was time to visit a doctor. The medication is where another part of that magnificent disappearing $500 went. Ear drops are kind of bank-breaking, even when you only have to pay 5%. But I can hear out of my ear again and I'm no longer falling sideways.

The guinea pigs are doing well. They got a clean cage today and got to play in a playpen for 4 hours this afternoon. They loved the change of scenery--they always do. :)

I had pictures and a video planned for this post, but videos and pictures at not uploading right now, so I'll save them for a post tomorrow. Time to go hang with the husband and the daughter. :)