Sarah had a swim meet on Wednesday night. It was against Mt. Airy so we traveled up Highway 52 to get there. It's about 50 minutes from the house but it is a very easy drive - not a lot of traffic, the highway is pretty straightforward and at the end of it you are literally dumped into Mt. Airy.
Typically for sporting events in that direction I will drive to Dan's work and we will go together as it's on the way from his work. But he is working on a new project and it's very large and will most likely consume him for the next three years and he didn't think he would be able to leave in time to get to the start of the swim meet. I went separately because even though a high school swim meet can last between an hour and a half to two hours depending on the number of teams swimming, I didn't want to miss anything.
Sarah was swimming a 200 Individual Medley. She's never done that one before and she was VERY NERVOUS so I didn't want to miss it. It's a good thing I drove on my own because Dan missed her first two events and one of them was the 200 IM.
She did great! She didn't win but we were excited that she finished, didn't choke (she was worried about that), didn't throw up (also worried), and kept up pretty close to the Mt. Airy girl she was swimming against. I was very proud of her! She was so relieved when it was over and her coach promised her that next week she would get to swim back stroke again. (Her fave)
After the meet (both our boys and girls teams won!) we headed to the parking lot. I started my car and Dan helped load Sarah's back pack and swim bag and we had a couple of chairs as well in case there wasn't enough seating on the deck. As we were doing all of this, we noticed my car making a very odd sound. There were no warning lights on the dash so I headed home. Luckily we made it with no problems.
I took the car to the shop yesterday morning and they determined that the tensioner was malfunctioning or broken or whatever. I don't know all the correct mechanical terms. This was causing the timing belt not to work. So they need to replace the tensioner (which was already replaced once and should still have another 50k miles in it but apparently we got a bad one and of course, it's 5 months out of warranty) and the timing belt. But apparently the timing belt and the water pump are part of a kit so they have to be replaced together.
Long story short: cha-ching, cha-ching!
I'm hoping they can have it completed by late morning. Mom got to escort me around to all of my errands yesterday and then I had to borrow her car to take Sarah to swim practice so I'm hoping that I get my car back today. There's too much to do to be down a car!!
On the positive side, I think I might be about 75% done with my Christmas shopping! That's good news. I need to reassess my lists today and see where I stand. Hopefully this time next week I will be done!
Enjoy your weekend!
4 comments:
Car problems are the absolute worst. I hope your car is fixed quickly and that it turns out cheaper than the estimate! Have a good weekend.
Car problems seem to abound this time of year! Currently, my check engine light is on. My car guy is telling me it's the sensor that the dealership JUST replaced; so an appointment is needed to make sure it's under warranty.
75% done with Christmas shopping?! Color me impressed! I'm so woefully behind.
Oh brother. Glad the car did not die on your way home. I have never even heard of a tensioner. Someone just put on FB 'December you expensive bitch!' So true. We are having Tank and Mini's wisdom teeth out Dec. 27th. Ouch- in more ways than one. Jealous of the gifts purchased. I wrote down the names of our 8 godchildren this am. That's all: just jotted down their names. No gift ideas just yet. And that is my progress to date. #drowning- and I am not being asked to swim an IM!
Car troubles are a bummer $$!!
At least you had Mom to help you out. Great pics of Sarah swimming. Kudos to the kiddos!
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