# Chateau de la Tobler

## Sunday, December 13, 2009

### AGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yesterday was awful! Truly, one of the most frustrating day's I've experienced in a long time.
Just for background...
Last Tuesday was Benjamin's orchestra concert. I dropped him off at the school with the promise to be back when the concert started in a half hour. Jeff has his stake duties on Tuesday, so it was just going to be me and the kids and then Benjamin was going to walk next door to Young Mens. When I got home to start getting the kids ready to go, Jeff was about to walk out the door to the stake center. This didn't work out to well, since he couldn't get his car to shift into gear. It turns on and idles, but won't come out of neutral. Jeff had to take the van to his meetings, and the rest of us missed Benjamin's concert. We can't let Jeff's car just sit there non functional, so we made arrangements to take it into the shop on Saturday.
Jeff figured out that his clutch is fine. The best guess we were able to get was that it was something called the slave cylinder that was loosing it's hydraulic pressure. Jeff picked up the part and we figured we were in good shape. It even only cost $18.
Saturday started out normally. We got up and put up our Christmas lights. Jeff called the shop and determined that he could be fit in around 12:00 so just before that Jeff left, towed by our neighbor to get to the shop.
More background...
We normally take our car to a guy named Roland in Mesa. He does a great job and gives us a great price, but he is really to far away for us to take a totally disabled car to. So we got a reference to a friend of a friend who gave us a reasonable deal at his shop which is just ten minutes away.
Jeff called me around 2:00. It's not the slave cylinder, it's the Master Cylinder that needs replacing. I need to run to the parts store and pick it up and bring it to him. Not a huge deal, but it is $75, not $20, so it was a bit of an ouch.
Jeff's car is finished and he is home around 3:30. Great! We have our ward party at 6:00, but we figured we had some time in which Jeff and I can leave Benjamin in charge and get some Christmas and Birthday shopping done. We climb into Jeff's car and head off down the road. We get about a mile and a half away, (Wallgreens for anyone who knows) and Jeff hits the clutch to shift into first and...Nothing. It's the exact same thing we thought we had fixed not three hours ago!
Jeff and I push the car across the intersection and into the parking lot and Jeff pulls out his phone and pops the hood and is talking to the mechanic. Jeff goes into the Checker Auto Parts Store that shares the parking lot and pulls one of their guys out and they start this three way consultation. At this point, I realize that it doesn't really matter what they figure out, we need the van. So I tell Jeff I'm leaving and take off for home.
I got home around 5:15. I called Jeff when I got home and he informed me that they had determined that the Master cylinder I had bought not five hours earlier was defective. I had drive to Jeff, tow him and his car back to the shop. Then we had to buy another Master cylinder and take it back to the shop. The mechanic promised to switch it out right then and there, so I left Jeff and went home.
It was 6:15 when I got home. I had called ahead, so all the kids came piling out to get in the car so we could rush to the church. We were less then 20 minutes late to the ward dinner, but by the time we got there, they had already run out of eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy and orange juice. We would have to make do with pancakes and melons. Heather spent the next hour pouting in the lobby, in tears because there wasn't anything there she would consent to eat.
I was at the absolute end of my rope by the time we all got home at 7:30. I can't remember a time when I was more grateful for a day to end!

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