Soooooo close…..

Monday morning, instead of loading the family up to go to Legoland, I began researching mechanics to have the van transferred to.  I found a Toyota specialist in my town on the Car Talk website; they had good reviews, sounded familiar (I know I’ve seen their logo somewhere), and gave me a good feeling, so I opted to have the van towed there.

They confirmed it was, indeed, the booster and fixed it and called me today to inform me that it was ready.  I did a goofy dance around the house and headed down there.  The kids had been dropped off at Grandma’s, which was probably for the best, as things did not end well.  Before I paid, they offered me a test drive so I did and it was like buttah.  My car STOPPED.  And stopped well!  I remember when we bought it how quick the brakes had been and they felt good again – I hadn’t realized how soft they’d gone.  So I paid and hopped in the van and drove off to get the dh from work.  And I got about a block when I realized – how odd, the car isn’t moving forward when I take my foot off the brake.  Aren’t automatic cars supposed to move a bit?  Well, I’m certain they aren’t supposed to come to a full stop complete with that little jerk you feel as your body deals with the laws of motion. And then, why won’t the car GO? And finally, what’s that smell? So I drove the car right back (I’d only gotten about a block away, but by the time I got back, it was really difficult to drive) and they are keeping it overnight.

WAHHHHHHHHHHH!

FUCK.  Dammit.  I want my friggin car.

They said they don’t want to point fingers (the very saying of which pointed fingers) but they think it may have something to do with the master cylinder which was, if you will remember, installed by the Toyota dealership.  Whatever it is better be affordable.  Or sueable.  Whichever.

Also, I really hope this place is as trustworthy as the reviews on CarTalk.com said they were.  *sigh*

Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday The Husband took the day off and we all went out to a local pumpkin patch which is located on a dairy farm. I won’t go into details about the trip there except to say that Google Maps gave us the wrong freeway exit and we spent more time driving up and down the wrong street than it took to get out to Lakeside to begin with. I told the Husband to sto being such a damn stereotype and ask for directions. It took a phone call to the farm to finally find the way there.

The rest of the day was pretty nice. We had tons of fun on Cottonseed Mountain sledding, surfing, and rolling down the mound of aromatic seeds. We enjoyed a haybale maze, climbed on tractors, milked a fake cow and took a hayride of sorts.

The distrubing part of the day was the cow birth we witnessed. It bothered me as a natural birth advocate, but since I know nothing of cows I refrained from judgement until I spoke about it with some friends who know more about cows than I do. No one has ever heard of such a thing happening as how they do it at this farm (it involves a rope tied to a gate and pulling the calf out by the other end of the rope) and for that reason I think we may find another pumpkin patch for future years. I will miss cottonseed mountain, though.

Click here for the set.