Since the closing of our family furniture store last month my Mama has taken on a new task: budgeting. She is holding off on finding a new job until June in hopes that by then I will know what my work situation will be, and she can be employed by watching our dear Savannah (and we all really hope it can work out that way!!!).
In the meantime, a strict, mean budget is necessary. Well, she sat down to make her budget and planned for it to start April 1st. She drives a 2007 Toyota Camry (the best car out there... literally) and allotted herself $900 for the year in miscellaneous automobile expenses.
OK. Budget is made. April has begun. Mama decides to take a day for herself, to bum around across the river in Illinois, meander through antique stores, spend time in the library... you know... piddle around. She has had a great day and decides to stop for one of our beloved Steak N Shake iced teas on the way home. Now, she always keeps her purse in the back seat while driving. Therefore, she places her car in park after ordering, reaches back to get her purse, then tries to put the car in drive. Drive? Drive. Why won't it go in drive? It will go in reverse, neutral.... but not drive! Good thing there is no one behind her so she can reverse into a parking spot.
Mr. Towtruck man was called. The nice man tried for a long time to get the car in drive, but much to his dismay, he couldn't do it either! He was rather unhappy about having to tow a Camry (he had never had to tow one before) and feared the problem was rather severe, and expensive! (ie: transmission issue costing roughly $2000 to fix... waaay over budget!!). So, Mama's car was towed to the closest Toyota dealership, my brother picked her up, and she awaited the call to see what the problem was.
The next day, the Toyota dealership calls saying "you won't believe this....". Well, there are shifting cables underneath the air conditioning unit under the hood of the car. A little quirrel decided to hide his snack up there. The technitians (after about an hour of running tests and looking around for a problem) came across a huge walnut perfectly wedged inbetween the cables, preventing the car from shifting into drive!! Seriously? A walnut? Yes. A golf ball sized walnut.
Now, that walnut ending up costing my Mama $110 (thats what an hour of hard labor will cost you), but that was awesome compared to the dreaded $2000!!
So, yesterday, we were very appreciative of squirrels, walnuts and the ever reliable 2007 Toyota Camry.
End of story :)
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