The Saturday 7

1. The car saga: I brought my car to the shop on Monday night. They called me Tuesday morning and said they couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, and it needed to be looked at by a transmission specialist. My dad drove me back to the shop so I could drive my car down the street to the Ford dealership. They called me on Wednesday with the great news: the transmission has something majorly wrong with it and either needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Of course, it's some special kind of transmission that Ford only made for a few years before realizing it was more trouble than it's worth. So the parts are hard to find and very pricey. The estimate to rebuild is $2500. That's more than half of what I paid for the car a month ago. The Ford guy said this problem has undoubtedly been happening for months and the guy who sold it to me had to have known about it. :-( I'm entirely too trusting and think that everyone is honest. Maybe the craigslist guy genuinely didn't know about it, but I doubt it. Lesson learned about buying a vehicle off craigslist I guess.

2. As a result of my car being in the shop, I left the house exactly twice all week: once to go to Bible study Monday night and once to drive my car one mile from one body shop to another. I didn't even make it to church on Sunday because I was sick. Suffice it to say, I have a little bit of cabin fever!! Fortunately, my friends were nice enough to come to me on Wednesday for a playdate. And I've done surprisingly well with being stuck at home. Very little depression to be seen. Even despite the horrendous news about my car. I'm very much a big picture person. I know that this whole car situation is part of God's sovereign plan. He is allowing this to happen for a purpose, whether it's to remind us that we have to rely on him just when we start to get comfortable financially, or just to grow me, I'm accepting of that. That said, I have the encouragement that we'll be getting our tax refund in a few weeks that will totally cover the cost of the repairs, so I'm not really stressed about it - just annoyed that the money couldn't go elsewhere.

3. I posted this picture on facebook this week:

Part of me totally wants to do it again, and the other part remembers how painful that huge belly was. Haha. It got me thinking, though, that since my first pregnancy in 2009, this is the longest I've gone without being pregnant!

4. I bragged about my Trivia Crack prowess on facebook and got a whole slew of new people wanting to take me on . . .and take me down. Lots of them succeeded. Haha. Although here are my most recent stats:

Not too shabby. The fact that I can get 70% of the sports questions right is a testament to my observation skills over that past 9 years of marriage. Haha. Justin helped me on very few of those questions.

I'm unhealthily obsessed with this game, though. I've been playing it for a week and a half and I'm already on level 57. Why can't I do anything in moderation? I have such an addictive personality. It's a good thing I don't like the taste of alcohol . . .

5. I didn't read any books this week. You'd think opportunities to read would abound since we were housebound all week, but I think Trivia Crack took precedence over reading. Although I'm also trying to read something non-fiction now after all the fluff reading I've been doing. I just don't get as hooked and zip through those kind books.

6. I spent two days this week sorting through the totes of clothes in the basement, pulling out size 2 for Lena and purging her closet to make room. I went through the 2T tote and was surprised to only find two pairs of jeans. I made a mental note to tell Niki she needs jeans for her birthday, made room for all the new clothes, went downstairs to put some of the old stuff in the 18 month tote and discovered another whole 2T bin that was literally bursting at the "seams." I found eleven more pairs of jeans in that tote, bringing the 2T total to 13! What two year old needs 13 pairs of jeans?!?! Not to mention the plethora of dresses and skirts and GAP hoodies. Oy. I had to put half of Lena's clothes in Lucy's closet, and I still have a pile of stuff on her dresser because I ran out of hangers. Ridiculous.

7. Lena's turning 2 next week, so I decided it's time to get on the potty training wagon. I've been preparing her that soon she's going to stop wearing diapers and go potty on the potty chair. She is absolutely terrified. We dug out the Elmo undies this week and she loves wearing them over her diaper, but any time I ask her about going potty she says, "No!" I've even told her that she gets to have candy if she goes potty, but that's not winning her over either. This might be harder than I expected . . .