The Car.

Like I wrote on the last entry, we took out our power steering over Thanksgiving break. On Thursday we took the car in for a look-over. They seemed nice enough, and even had a shuttle waiting to take us home and pick us up when it was finished. With all the estimates in (sometimes our brake light doesn't work, sometimes it does, and something to do with the alignment...?), the total came to just under $2,000. And we paid $1,600 for the car. Oh, and we need new tires as well, so there's $400-$500 as well. So all the way home, we brainstormed what we were going to do-and even with our parents' and/or grandparents' help, it was still going to be a lot of money. We thought maybe we could sell it for parts and get a new used car.

Well, on the highway back to Moscow (Pullman is only 10 minutes away), Zak noticed the engine temperature gauge was close to overheating. So he pulled over to let it cool down, and called the mechanics. They said something might have fallen off or something, but they basically just didn't take responsibility for anything. Weird, since we have been driving it just fine the last two months, and then we leave it with the mechanics for six hours and...the engine is running super hot, and there are new noises coming from the hood; it sounded like there were loose bits rumbling around.

Long story short, it took us like, half and hour to get home (a drive that normally takes ten minutes), because we had to pull over every two minutes or so to let the car cool down. Zak's friend Mat came over to look it over. He told us we drove home using the battery's power, which is kind of a miracle that we made it home in the first place. The guys looked online to see if there was a way to get the power steering parts needed; Mat figured he could fix it with Zak's help. They discovered they could get all the parts needed for under $200, and decided to work on it on their mutual day off, Sunday (yesterday). Oh, and to be an even better friend, Mat lent us one of his spare cars until they get ours fixed.

So after a few stressful hours, everything turned out for us. Yesterday the guys spent a good couple of hours working on the car. They got about 80% done before I made them take a lunch break (I made them enchiladas). They had to go get a part ordered that should get here by the weekend, so once it gets in, we should have a running car again! We are so grateful to have a friend like Mat! He is really a great guy and I'm so happy that he and Zak get along so well. They were awful cute yesterday, working with all the tools and the car, Zak seemed to enjoy learning about everything.

working hard

I also decided to make some kind of delicious dessert for Mat as a thank you gift. I settled on a 'tuxedo chocolate' cake, that was absolutely fabulous. The recipe can be found by clicking on these words (I posted it on my recipe blog).

worth every bite

So all in all, we learned to not really trust mechanics (they really did seem like nice guys, but oh well), and that Mat is a really great friend, and that I can make a killer cake! Thanks again to Mat and our family who have offered their financial help. We really appreciate it.