If one more thing breaks, I’ll…
It seems to me that household item and vehicle breakdowns all happen in waves. Our early summer (and almost $1000) was spent on vehicle repairs - first mine, and then Kevin’s, and then Kevin’s again.
Here’s a run-down of the last two weeks:
~Last week, our modem started going out, causing our DSL connection to slow down like the old dial-up days, and causing much consternation and gnashing of teeth. Ordered a new modem: $100.
~Also last week, our DVD player started acting tired and cranky. It would play the first hour of a movie and then start skipping and freezing. Since we do not have cable, our Netflix subscription and DVD player are a must! (I know, I’m totally spoiled.) New DVD player: $50.
~Tuesday our toilet stopped working. It would flush, but the tank would not refill unless I turned the water main under the toilet off and then back on again. Kevin replaced the float thingy Tuesday after work. Not expensive, but a hassle.
~And now we come to Thursday night. I was in the kitchen, ready to prepare dinner. I turned the oven to the desired temperature and then pushed the Start button. It kept flashing and beeping at me as if I hadn’t pushed it. I tried several times to turn it on and push Start, but nothing happened. Nothing, that is, until the lock light went on and the oven went into self-clean mode - all while the knobs were all turned off! I had to unplug the entire oven to stop it. This happened twice. I finally managed to preheat the oven and put my teriyaki chicken in to cook. Halfway through, the oven started beeping and flashing an error message at me. I turned it off and back on and managed to finish cooking my chicken. I absolutely dreaded telling Kevin that one more thing had gone wrong. After calling the appliance store Friday and being told that new parts to fix that particular error message would cost $315 - not counting labor - we knew we needed to buy a new range. And it was only 8 years old! So Saturday found us shopping for a new oven. $467. Ka-ching!
You want to know the most frustrating part? To me, at least - probably not for Kevin. I scrubbed that darn stove from top to bottom just last week. It’s the cleanest it’s been in five years and it’s now sitting in our back yard waiting for the next trip to the dump.
possible you over cleaned it?
everything there looks cheaper than it would be over here in the UK
August 27th, 2006 at 12:52 pmwhere did the middle bit of my comment go? The bit that went after the wink, and said looks really expensive, but
August 27th, 2006 at 12:53 pmDontcha just hate it when stuff like that happens?
August 27th, 2006 at 3:59 pm*Hugs-a-bunch*
Jax - that’s what my husband said! (that I probably broke it by cleaning it.)
PopTart Mom - yep, I do. Thanks for the hugs!
August 27th, 2006 at 4:41 pmI would have thought the SAME thing, about cleaning it and then it breaking–lol!
August 27th, 2006 at 8:27 pmWe had a DVD player do that a few months ago - very annoying! (or a good way to limit screen time, take your pick :^). At first we thought something was wrong with the disks, but then it got too predictable so we knew it was the player.
But we only had that one thing go wrong at the time - I hope your streak of bad luck is over soon!
August 27th, 2006 at 8:34 pmI feel your pain
August 27th, 2006 at 11:55 pmBoth our vehicles required major work this summer. The van still needs major work. We got it back from the shop, and one of the pneumatic struts on the back gate broke off…
I keep telling Rubi that vehicles nowadays are made to be disposable, but she can’t stand that thought.
I feel your pain. I have many an appliance horror story. Also, you may be unsurprised at how well I can troubleshoot (and fix) toilets.
August 28th, 2006 at 5:16 amI know how you feel, we’ve had to do a lot of work on Hubby’s truck this summer, almost wonder if it’d end up being cheaper to get a new one!
August 28th, 2006 at 6:25 amSigh… some days (weeks/months/years) go that way. We don’t notice when everything works the way it’s supposed to, because there must be long spells of them. But it seems breakage kind of clumps together, doesn’t it?
I don’t normally have a temper but forking out money for car repairs make me mad. I always imagine how many books I could’ve bought for that new transmission!
August 28th, 2006 at 1:14 pmLady Laura - I clean it so seldom that maybe I shocked it!
TJ - I hope it’s over soon, too!
Kev - that is a scary thought - disposable vehicles.
Andrea - I wouldn’t be surprised if you could fix the modem and DVD player, too!
Lynn - we’re almost at that point with my hubby’s van. Almost, but not quite.
Carol - I’ve never thought of it in terms of books! Now I’m even more depressed.
August 28th, 2006 at 1:49 pmOh wow! WHAT a rough time! That really stinks about your oven. I’d be pretty cranky.
So sorry you are having so much troubles all at once. (That whole rain pouring thing is so true 
)
August 29th, 2006 at 12:55 pm[…] 32. The most recent thing someone else bought for me is: A new modem, stove, DVD player, and float thingy for the toilet. For the whole family, really, and only because their predecessors went belly-up. […]
September 1st, 2006 at 7:18 pm