We're thinking of changing Charlotte the minivan's name to Ma Kelly. Every so often we have to take her to the mechanic and throw money at him so she can keep going. "Yeah, do it. Hey, it'll be good to see her spit again, eh?"
Today's happy Charlotte moment happened this morning when her serpentine belt broke as I was driving on 39th Street. It was expected - we'd been listening to it squeak for weeks and knew it was just a matter of time.
This morning I did the usual route, dropping off all the kids at school, and less than five minutes after the last kid was at the last school, CLUNK there it went. The car kept running, but I couldn't steer very easily. I turned right onto a side street, somehow, and parked along the curb. Then I called Hubby and AAA. While I waited, I walked to the nearby Safeway for a treat and Carter's lunch, and detailed the car with some handi-wipes. :)
Hubby met me at the car later and we decided, for fun, we'd take a walk and see if we could find the belt. There it was, still on the street, even after the usual morning busy-ness. But the very coolest part was this: When the belt broke and fell off, it also snapped off the belt holder-thingie (I'm sure Hubby knows what the name of this little part is but he's not here at the moment), and we also found IT in the street. Who knows how much it would have cost to replace it!
There was no inconvenience, no danger (imagine if it had happened on the freeway), no one needing a ride, no one missing school or even being late, no extra cost. We had Charlotte towed (free from AAA) to our favorite mechanic and had her fixed at a reasonable rate.
AND... it happened... on payday. We were very, very happy.
Blessings indeed.