One of those mornings…

The front doors on all of the apartments in our block are a bit ridiculous. You have to either turn the handle all the way and shut them unlocked, or slam them as hard as you can. Most people choose the latter option. Which is fine.

Except at 5:45 AM!!!!!! Sigh. Seriously people, turn the handle, shut door, then use keys to lock. It’s not that hard. Slamming it shut is so loud. It woke me up. It woke Daniel up. Daniel then woke Hannah up.

I went in their room and Hannah looked like she’d just run a marathon, stuck her finger in a light socket, fell asleep, and then was startled to only half awake.

She was so sleepy. And whingey. Sigh.

I cuddle Hannah, but Daniel wants some attention too and attempts to climb up my leg.

“Ouch Daniel! No biting!”

He bit my leg. Sigh. He’s a biter. Yesterday he bit the back of my leg. My upper leg. Have you ever been bit there? It HURTS. Cheeky boy.

We all ate breakfast, put away the kids clothes that I folded last night (in addition to the other 9 loads I also folded. Sigh.), got Hannah’s lunch ready, clothes on, etc.

Today is Thursday. Hannah’s daycare day. My one and only day to work. And by work, I mean write.

I buckled them in their car seats. Daniel is facing forward now. He’s such a big boy!

I put the key in the ignition. Turn it.

I hear clunky noises and all the lights on the dashboard are going mental.

The car won’t start. Sigh.

The smash repairers had the car for FOUR WEEKS and it doesn’t even last 2 weeks? I’m not gonna lie, I was cranky.

This took 4 weeks to repair

Related post: The Wrecked Wrexy

“I’ll have to call someone Hannah, the car won’t start. We might have to walk to daycare.” But I didn’t think we’d have time. It was almost 9 and they go to play session on Thursday’s. They leave at 9:30. And daycare is 2.5kms away. I can walk it in 30 minutes, I have before, but I would need to get the pram out of the boot, put warmer clothes on Daniel, and change my shoes. Not enough time.

Luckily Mel (Hannah’s Family Daycare provider. I would love to provide a link to her website, but I don’t want random internet people who may or may not be dodgy to know where my child goes to daycare) said she’d pick Hannah up on the way to Playsession. Awesome.

I left a message with the NRMA repair centre, who told me when I picked up the car to let them know if there were any problems. Did I mention they never bother to call back, and never bother to pick up the phone? Great, this had to happen today. Sigh. Better than tomorrow I suppose.

Tomorrow I’m supposed to go to a film studio so I can be recorded talking about some stuff for some things. I don’t know I’m allowed to talk about it yet, so I won’t give you any details.

Freaking out a little, I messaged the studio with a long-winded explanation about the stupid smash repairer not fixing the car properly, and the likely hood that I won’t have a car tomorrow to drive to the studio.  Just wanted to give them the heads up. I’m not one of those last minute people if I can help it.

There was no hope of the NRMA calling back. So I called Subaru Assist. Which just so happened to come free until 2013 with purchase of the car. Sweet.

When we first got the car. Yes, I was molesting the car for the photo. No, it wasn’t pre-owned, contrary to the wall behind me.

I explained that the car was recently in an accident only just got back from being repaired, and I don’t know what they did, but now the car won’t start.

“What does it do when you try to start it?” They asked me.

“It makes a lot of noise and the lights on the dashboard go crazy.”

“Sounds like a flat battery. It’s still under warranty, so it won’t cost you anything to replace.” Nice. Just what I like to hear. Especially since our every day bank account is looking very sad after paying the car insurance excess, going to Costco, and ordering too many board games on the internet.

Hmmm…but what caused the flat battery? The stupid smash repairer must have buggered up some wiring or something. It’s all too coincidental.

Subaru assist arrived within the hour. They replaced the battery with a heavy duty one that wouldn’t need any maintenance or water added to it.

Wait. What? I was supposed to be maintaining and adding water to my battery? You have to actually do stuff to your car battery? Hmm… Oops….

“So what caused the battery to die?” I asked them.

“Could be a light was left on. Could be age. Batteries just run out after a while, it’s normal. Nothing is wrong with the connections or anything.”

They were in and out of there in less than 10 minutes.

I drove the car back in the garage (they rolled it out) and had a lightbulb moment.

I’m constantly telling Hannah not to turn on the dome light over the back seat when she climbs in the car and into her car seat. She must have slipped one past me.

I looked up, and there it was. The source of the flat battery. That darn light was in the on position. And stupid me didn’t even notice. Probably because the lights always come on when you open the door. They dim and then turn off in a little while, so I just didn’t notice that this particular light was going full blare. Sigh.

I guess it’s a good thing the NRMA doesn’t ever call back. I’d have to explain to them that I’m the stupid one. Not the smash repairer.

Yes, I am awesome. Sigh.

Oh, and then I had to message the film studio. “so…it was just the car battery…car is fine, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I’m sure they think very highly of me now. Oh well, we all know that I’m awkward.

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The wrecked wrexy

“The car is really dirty, we should wash it next week.” Aaron told me as we drove down our driveway.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

To the right, a big blue Commodore, blocked the view. Plus the other 2 cars parked behind it. And the crest of a hill. That doesn’t help much either. To the left, a little Barina was parked right next to the driveway. Aaron looked to the right before we got to the foot path. Checked to see if anyone was coming. You have to look under the cars because you can’t see through them/over them/beyond them. Unless you stick the entire hood of your car onto the road. But then you’d be blocking a whole lane of traffic.

It’s ok when there is no one parked to the left of the drive way. Then you can turn onto the side of the road and look from there without being collected as you pull out.

No one was coming. He checked again, then hit the gas. Gotta be quick since you can’t see past the hill even if there are no cars parked there at all.

“AARON!!!!!” I screamed. Or something to that effect. I can’t actually remember what I said. Just that it was said whilst screaming. He didn’t see it until I screamed.

A flash of red was right next to us. The car jolted and made hideous screeching and crunching metal-on-metal noises.

I could see the blue car that was parked to the left of our driveway. My side of the car was headed straight for it.

The blue car we side swiped

More screeching and crunching filled the air. People came running out of their apartments to see what was going on.

I was shaking like a leaf. Hannah was laughing. Apparently this ride was the super fun.

Somehow we managed to pull over to the side of the road just behind the red car we collided with.

The red car we collided with

I sat there, shaking in my seat and practically hyperventilating. I don’t know why. The accident didn’t even jolt us about. We weren’t hurt in the slightest. Just shocked. Or something like that.

Our poor WRX

I stayed in the car for a while. Watched Aaron jump out and enquire as to the wellbeing of the man and woman in the other car. They were fine too. I sat there. Watching. Shaking. Regrouping.

We only just paid off the car. Did I mention that? Yeah. Just a few weeks ago. It’s finally ours. We finally own one thing that costs more than a thousand dollars. Sigh.

The people in the other car were very nice about it. They said their driveway is really hard to see from too. They completely understood. They weren’t even annoyed. Just relieved that everyone was ok.

They were turning right from a street across the road and to the right of us. They weren’t even visible through the cars. No wonder Aaron didn’t see them. By the time he was on the road it was too late. Plus he was looking left anyway, to make sure he didn’t hit the blue car when turning.

We were on our way to church. Today was the church’s birthday. They were having pony rides, face painting, a jumping castle, and a petting zoo. Hannah was so excited.

But now we have no car. We had to speak to the insurance company, get a tow truck, organise a rental car for the next couple of weeks.

I got the kids out of the car and took them inside. Hannah wanted to get her tool box out so she could go fix the car. I told her she couldn’t because there were lots of sharp pieces of glass. She wanted to do some pasting instead.

“What do you want to paste?” I asked her. She gets me to cut things out and then she pastes them onto a sheet of paper.

“Cars.” She told me “Three cars.”

And this is what she made:

How sad is that?

“Daddy doesn’t look where he is going.” She told us. “Daddy crashed the car. But mommy looks where she is going.”

My little Hannah tiger

Eventually we did get to church. Hannah got to ride a pony, with her face painted like a

Hannah having a pony ride

tiger. And then we went home. On the bus.

 

And now, as I write this, I can hear people running over little bits of our car as they drive past. Aaron swept up what he could, but it was kinda hard to do in traffic breaks. Sigh.

Daniel watching the petting zoo

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I hate spew

Oh. My. Goodness. Remember when Aaron and I were at the Gold Coast  and Hannah chucked all over the rental car. And then YaYa’s house, and then had to go to the hospital? You can read about it here.

Well, that pretty much happened again this morning, without the hospital part. Only this time, it was our car. Yeah, our WRX that we only just got paid off. The one that I referred to in my post  only a week ago. Specifically I referred to the car saying that when I take the kids to the doctor I hope they don’t vomit all over the leather interior. Sigh.

Oh, and this time, I had the kids all by myself. I had just pulled into the parking lot at the gym when some dodgy sounding burp-ish noises erupted from the back seat.

“Are you ok?” I asked Hannah.

“Yeah.” She told me.

And then the vomiting started. Just like the Gold Coast. Not once, not twice. Three times in quick sucession. It was everywhere. Ick. Churns my stomach just thinking about it. Did I mention that I have a vomit phobia? I looked it up once, it even has a name: emetophobia.

Oh. My. Gosh. What was I going to do? I was all by myself with 2 kids in the car, one covered in vomit. I don’t like dealing with vomit ever. Not even when it’s mine. Ick.

But even if I wanted to deal with it, what would I do with Daniel while I cleaned Hannah up? What would I do with Hannah while I cleaned the car and car seat up? Sigh. I can’t just put them in the house (er..apartment). You can’t see the garage area from our apartment, it’s at the back and we live at the front. I can’t just put Daniel in the house by himself.

Nope, I couldn’t do it on my own. So I called for back up.

“Boo (that’s Aaron, my husband in case you’re new here), I need to pick you up. There’s vomit everywhere and we’re in the car.”

Luckily he was only about 2 streets over, running. 17kms finished from the 22 he was intending to run. Oh well, more important matters at hand.

“I think my unicorn pillow needs a little wash.” Hannah told me as she sat there, covered nearly head to toe in her own disgusting vomit.

Then the front car seat was covered in Boo sweat, the back covered in vomit. Ick.

Thanks Boo for cleaning it all up.

Maybe next time, when Hannah tells me her stomach doesn’t feel well, I’ll turn around quick smart and high tail it home.

Ok, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Ever.

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Slow down!

Our WRX goes from 0-60 KPH in 5 point something seconds (or something like that…).  This is very handy when going on a rather short, uphill on-ramp to the motorway.  The light went green and I hit the gas.  What’s the point of having a fast car if I don’t use it?

“Ok, you’ve proved your point. SLOW DOWN!”  YaYa told me, rather shakily.

“Um….I’m not even up to speed yet.  I’m only going 90, the speed limit is 110.  It’s a lot harder to merge if you’re going 20k’s under the speed limit.”

YaYa: “Oh.”  YaYa is apparently not used to fast cars.

P.S. There is no excuse for not getting up to speed on on-ramps that are down hill, yet most people try to merge at like 40k under the speed limit.  Seriously people, that is DANGEROUS.  Just the other day, I was cruising down the motorway, going the speed limit when someone tried to merge way, way under speed.  He (or she, couldn’t tell) pulled right out in front of me, despite travelling along at snail pace,  forcing me to quickly change lanes (or slam on my brakes if there was someone in the next lane.  Luckily there wasn’t).  It’s dangerous, Speed up people!

WRX: The new family car?

The key wouldn’t turn.  Poo.  I went around to the passenger door.  Key wouldn’t turn.  The key hasn’t worked in the boot for many months, so that wasn’t an option.  I fiddled some more.  Key wouldn’t turn.  Poo.  Aaron tried to turn the key.  Key wouldn’t turn.  Humph.  We went inside in search of the spare key (which has never been able to actually turn the car on, only open the door).  Hmmm…I put it somewhere safe, but where was that safe place?

“I got it!”  Grandma touched the key and just like magic, she could turn it.  Maybe all the shaking was just what the lock needed (poor Grandma).

“Don’t lock the door!”  Aaron said.

Time to get a new car.

Some time later:

Looking slightly sheepish “I kinda want a WRX,” Aaron said.

“Is that really practical?”  I asked, sceptical.

“You know when you have always wanted something that you couldn’t have and then there’s a chance you could have it and you really want it? (I can’t remember the exact words that were said here, but they went something like that)”

“You mean like a cat?”  I said.

“Oh man, I walked right into that.”

“You can get a WRX if I can get a cat.”  Oh snap!

The car shopping began on the weekend.  Because I know nothing about cars, and I just like things that look pretty, Aaron compiled a nice list of potential cars within our budget, had good safety ratings, and well, I’m not sure what else.

First stop Subaru, to check out Aaron’s preference, the WRX.  I liked the look of the Forester.  Roomy, plenty of boot (trunk) space, driver sits up high (which I like because I learned to drive in a van.  My van.  My van was awesome.).  I don’t know, I just liked it.

They wouldn’t let us drive the WRX first.  Apparently they get a lot of hooligans coming in who just want to drive it, and have no actual interest in buying it.   Eventually, we were allowed to drive it.  The salesman (Rob) went first.

Aaron trying out the 2011 WRX

Rob stepped on the gas. VROOOM!  I actually went back in the seat a little bit.  I was so not expecting that.  VROOM!  It was exhilarating.  Who knew a car could be so much fun.  Hang on, that’s not true, I kinda knew.  I knew go carts and dune buggies could be that fun.  Of course Aaron will never ever ride with me in one again, but that’s not the point.  I’m surprised Aaron wanted to buy a fast car after riding with me in a dune buggy.  He still maintains I almost killed us (not true, I knew I wouldn’t hit that tree while sliding around that corner).  Wow, this was a good car.  So comfortable too….

I moved the seat forward and tested the pedals.  Nope, still too far back.  I moved it forward again.  Still can’t reach.  I pushed the seat lifting lever.  Oh, that’s better, I can actually put my foot all the way down on the clutch.  Awesome.  I relaxed the clutch again.  Uh-oh.  My knee hit the steering column.  Bollocks.  “I can’t drive this car.”

I think Aaron’s heart broke a little bit.  He looked flabbergasted.

Then we got in the 2010 WRX.   Just in case.  Save Aaron’s dream a little bit. Plus, I really want a cat.  Hmmm…the steering column in the older one (I say older, but it was still brand new and the 2011 had only just come out) is slightly smaller, allowing my extremely short legs to reach the pedals whilst allowing room for my knees (which were millimeters from hitting the steering column).  I don’t think car manufacturers think about fun sized people when making cars.

Next stop: Holden.  We wanted to try the new Cruise (I don’t think they spell it like that, but I really can’t be bothered looking it

Hannah playing in the playroom while we waited for a salesperson

up.  I think it’s Cruz?).  We looked around at all the cars, but no one came to help us.  Doesn’t anyone want to sell us a car?  Did we not look serious enough (or old enough)? Hmmm….

“Maybe if you held your hands at 10 and 2 like you’re supposed to, you could see the speedo.”  A salesman finally helped us and we were test driving the car.

“I’m not changing the way I hold my hands when I drive, this is how I like to drive!”  Did this wanker actually think he was going to sell us a car by patronising me?

“How fast does it go from 0 to 100.”  Aaron asked sub-par salesman.

“That’s irrelevant.”  Seriously guy, you’re going to tell a customer that his question is irrelevant?  How do you even sell anything?

Even if we did want the cruise, there was absolutely no way we were buying it from him.  We sat at his desk and talked price (because it’s impossible to just get away no questions asked after a test drive).  Obviously we didn’t buy it and got up to leave.

“Hold on, I’ll just get the manager to come and say hi before you go.  You can have a seat.”  Um…

Then the manager came over and sub-par salesman pretty much told him why we were leaving.  It was so awkward, uncomfortable and random.  It was like they were trying to guilt us into buying a car or something.  So uncool and pretty much made us not want to buy a Holden, ever.

We checked out some Toyota’s as well, the Rav 4, and the Aurion.

We um’d and awed all night.  Did we want a small SUV, or a car?  We went back and forth.  One of us would want the Forester, the other the WRX, then we’d switch.  Car buying is hard!

Too bad they took the photo in front of the used car sign...

Eventually, we decided to go with the WRX.  It may not seem like it, but it really is a family car.  For Aaron, it has a turbo engine and a sporty exterior, for me, it has leather seats, a sun roof, gps, a dvd player, a boot that fits the pram and groceries (oh, and it’s shiny), and for Hannah, well, she’s a baby, so she doesn’t really care.  But it fits her car seat, and it can fit another one next to it (for the future, no, I am NOT pregnant!), along with room for someone to sit in the back.   I’m sure when she’s a little older, she’ll like the dvd player too.  Plus, all it’s doors actually open when you want them to, the windows roll down, and the air conditioner doesn’t take 20 minutes to start working.  So you know what?  I think the WRX is the perfect car for our family right now.  We’ll get a bigger one later.

So we got the WRX, where is my cat?