If It Wasn't For Bad Luck...

...I think that Cathy and I would have no luck.

Going back a couple of weeks, this is the list of things that have gone wrong, and approximate values that they have cost us to fix.

First, it was a tire went flat on Cathy's car. It got a hole in the sidewall, and that required a new tire. Well, of course, you can't get just one tire without replacing at least one more, so two tires were purchased. Cost: $200

Next, it was a spring on the garage door snapped. I couldn't figure out how to fix it myself, so we had to call someone in to take care of it. Of course, like a tire, when you replace one of them you pretty much have to replace the other one. Cost: $200

After that, it was the graphics card on the computer went bad. We couldn't get it to work at all, so we had to replace that. Cost: $100. Unfortunately, that $100 card didn't work either. So we had to go back to the store and get ANOTHER one. Luckily, this one cost a bit less. Cost: $50

Next, we had the stove go out. The heating element in it went bad, and after doing some research it was going to cost us at least around $200 to get that fixed, and the stove was pretty old, so we decided that instead of putting several hundred into a dying appliance, we should probably just get a new one. Cost: $400

Last, we came home from work tonight and it was cold in our house. Luckily, it was pretty warm outside for Michigan in the middle of December. So I looked and sure enough it wasn't lighting at all. We ended up calling Aspen's 24 hour emergency service, and they sent a technician out at around 10:00 PM. It was only an extra $50 for the emergency service, and it was probably worth it because otherwise we'd have had to take some time off of work. After checking a bunch of stuff, the tech told us that it MIGHT be a transformer, but he didn't think it would fix the issue. The problem?? If it was the thing he was pretty sure it was, it was going to be a $900 repair. So we opted to try the transformer and see. LUCKILY, the transformer fixed the problem. We are still working with a 22 year old furnace, and we may think about having someone come out to give us some options on replacing it soon. Anyways, we had to pay for the service and the part. Cost: $350

So that puts our luck lately at a total cost of $1200.

Nothing like spending $1200 on things that aren't any fun at all to spend money on in the month before Christmas, and the three months before the trip to Hawai'i.

Oh, and just to finish up on the bad luck part...when the guy was fixing the furnace, he managed to turn the hot water heater all the way to it's lowest setting...so this morning?? Yah, I got to take a shower in 40 degree water. Awesome.