I think I am being tested to see if I really believe what I wrote in my last blog. You know, the part about “it’s just stuff and it can be replaced, so it’s not worth getting all upset about”.
I wrote that in the context of all of the stuff we had damaged by the lightning during the storms on April 27th. Well, here’s an update on our “stuff” since Friday when I last posted:
Sunday night, Travis figured out that one of the speakers in his surround sound setup isn’t working properly anymore. We are guessing it was due to lightning damage also, but we just hadn’t noticed it yet. Eh, no big deal, we’ve already got to replace the TV and Blu-Ray player, what’s one more thing?
Monday at work, I get a call from Travis. He’s on his way home from work, and his car is overheating. Like all the way in the red as far as it goes. He pretty much coasted all the way to the repair shop so he wouldn’t burn up his engine, and by that time, it was about 5:30 PM, so he just left it overnight for them to take a look at it on Tuesday. Travis was hoping it was just a hose leaking or something…
A little later that evening, we are about to sit down for supper, and we notice that our ice maker hadn’t made any ice all day. (Travis took his lunch in a cooler to work Monday and emptied the whole bin). Hmmm…that’s strange. It’s a brand new refrigerator. Didn’t even look like the previous owners used it before we got the house. Travis tried everything he could think of to get it to work. Googled it, tried everything in the manual, nothing. Of course, the 1 year home warranty the sellers bought for us when we bought the house doesn’t cover refrigerators. You have to pay extra for that. So, we’ve ordered a new ice maker, and it’s on it’s way.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning. Travis hears from the repair shop about his car. The radiator and thermostat need to be replaced. Almost $700. If you remember, this is the same car that we were debating about getting rid of before buying a house at the end last year. The car isn’t even worth $700…haha. But, rather than make a hasty decision about buying a new car, we decide to just get the radiator and themostat fixed and hope the car will hang on a little while longer.
Tuesday night, Travis notices that the thermostat in our house (you know, the programmable one that he was so excited about installing a few months ago) is starting to MELT. Just a little corner of the cover, but it definitely has a dimple that it didn’t have before. And that part is really hot. Not sure what’s going on with it, but I hope it doesn’t catch our house on fire. Could have been damaged with the lightning too I guess…
By the way, Travis got his car back Tuesday evening after work, so that was good.
So, then, yesterday Travis gets home and tells me that the A/C in his car quit working. Seriously? At this point, we have decided we aren’t throwing away any more money into that car, so he’s just going to have to live without A/C this summer I guess.
It’s still early today (Thursday), but I’m wondering what’s going to break or malfunction today that I just don’t know about yet.
Now, I’m NOT telling you all of that to complain. I’m really not. It’s frustrating and it’s going to cost a lot of money to fix everything. But, surely things cannot continue to break or fall apart at this rate. All of you “responsible adults”, do you really come home EVERY DAY to find one or two things not working anymore? I’m hoping this is just a bad stretch of luck that will end before too long. And if it’s not just luck….if it’s the devil tempting me to go back on what I said last week, then I’ll show him…haha. It’s still just stuff. I’m not happy about it all breaking and having to replace it, but it can be done. I’m going to look at this as a personal challenge to maintain a good attitude even during frustating times.
“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Philippians 2:14-15
How has your attitude been this week? You can be part of this challenge with me: Let’s all try to complain LESS and be positive MORE :)
3 replies on “Bad luck or a test?”
>I understand this all too well. All in one week our washing machine started dumping water out, our dishwasher broke, and our fridge quit working… It was such an overwhelming time. Luckily we were able to get it all fixed, but living 5 months without a dishwasher really made me appreciate it every time I use it.
>Can't say we've had THAT much bad luck, but we also keep finding more and more "quirks" around our house. We're just telling ourselves it adds character. :-) We also completely understand the car situation since Penny quit working on us within a couple of weeks of moving, although we opted for getting a new one instead of repairing. There are some great deals out there right now, so I wouldn't rule it out completely! I admire your ability to keep a good attitude through all of this and hope I can do the same!
>Wow, Katie, that's pretty bad! If you can make it through that, I think we can get through this!
Ashley, I didn't know Penny died! What kind of car did y'all get? I think we're going to start our search soon!