Like my new ride? Yesterday as I was driving home from the school pick-up, the lovely, inviting engine malfunction indicator popped on in the Honda Odyssey. I was slightly aggravated, but figured I had nothing left to do, but hop on the highway and drive home. Once in our driveway, I took out the manual and read what said light indicator meant.
Have you ever actually looked at your car's manual? Who writes these things? Could they make them a little more fun? Maybe a few colors and a new font? Thicker paper perhaps? Anyway, after consulting the contents list at the end of the book, either page 68 or 728 were listed. I decided to try page 68 first. Once there, the reader is immediately directed to page 728. Here is my question: Why even bother listing that it is on page 68 if there is NO information on that page? It seems like it would save ink to just eliminate the intermediary step.
So, once on the correct page, I learned that either my gas cap was loose and to tighten it and wait up to three days for the light to disappear OR my engine was about to combust and needed immediate attention. Really? There is nothing else that could be the problem? I called the dealership and preemptively told the man on the phone, that I had already checked the gas cap and that was tight. He advised me to get it in to be checked and to not drive too much. After discussing the over idling and difficulty driving, we decided to have the car brought in this morning to have it looked at.
This is when we realized that car 2 was also in dire straights so to say. We have three kids. All still need to ride in the back seat in booster seats. We have three booster seats. There are three seat belts there in back. The car was running...except one of the seat belt buckle mechanisms was completely missing! I tried to fish it out, but could not even feel it!
So, now we were stuck with one car that was basically inoperable, one with one seat belt too few, and two different locations to be at within one hour. Thankfully, my Godmother lives nearby. She helped me get my son to his appointment while my husband took the girls to German school. After drop off, Benedikt (my husband) took his car to the dealership and they were scratching their heads about how the buckle was wedged so far in. It actually took a few service people to fish it out! Now we have one car that we can all fit into, and the Odyssey is still being diagnosed. We brought the mom-mobile in about two hours ago. They told me that I was so lucky because they were so slow, they were bored. Yet, they close in 30 minutes and I still do not know the outcome of the diagnostics. Hopefully, the phone will ring with good news soon.
On the bright side, we now know how to refish the belt buckle out of the trunk should that ever happen again. I also was able to spend some quality time with my Godmother and I found the perfect clock for the kitchen to replace our old, banged up barely functioning one.
I absolutely love it! I was worried about the aquamarine against the orange walls, but it is totally fab. And as an added bonus, the hour and minute hands are a fork and knife! How cool is that? My old clock is sitting on the dining room table looking forlorn. You served us well old friend, but the multiple bruises from the multiple moves over the last 10 years have rendered you breaking. We will miss you, dear friend.
As you can imagine, a little pick-me-up was needed this morning while I was waiting for my Godmother to pick us up. This song flashed through my head. It is a song that the Wheatones, one of the a cappella groups at my alma mater, Wheaton College, sang at every show when I was a young college student. Hopefully, it helps you get to a happy place the next time you are having car problems too!
No comments:
Post a Comment