Sunday, July 28, 2013

I Feel Like I Am On Holidays

Sunday 28th July, 2013

I know it's been quite a while since my last post but I am still having trouble adjusting to Tony only working half a day.  It feels like we are on holiday or something.  I can't seem to get into a routine.

Since my last post we have been busy with the everyday things of life.  Two weeks ago we had Katie for a few days and yes she did come to stay not feeling too good.  She had a persistent cough and just feeling blah most of the time.  I ended up going to the chemist to get her some medicine for her coughing and sore ears.

On the Saturday night we went to dinner at Zapata's, a Mexican restaurant, for Tori's birthday.  The food was very nice but way too much for us to eat.

an assortment of dips


On Sunday Katie wanted to go to 'Build A Bear" at the Plaza. This shop has only just opened up in the last couple of months.  She wanted to make a Port Power bear but they didn't have the clothes so instead she chose a rainbow bear and called her "Cuddles".


meet 'Cuddles'


After making her bear we came home and chilled out.  I cooked dinner but she wasn't even up to eating that.  Monday morning she woke up feeling a bit better, the cough medicine had done the trick and she wasn't coughing as much.  When Tony came home from work she asked to go ten pin bowling.


We went to the Village Bowl and she was excited because she bowled 3 strikes.....the first game she beat Tony and then Tony beat her in the second game.  She also played some of the game machines and ended up winning 740 tickets which she redeemed for prizes.   As Kerrie was going to take her home we ended up dropping her off at Kerrie's work around 5pm.




The nice spring weather we had enjoyed for a couple of days was short lived.  The cold and wet conditions returned again. Last weekend we had very wet weather.....almost 80mm of rain over a few days plus a very cold blast of Antarctic air which caused it to snow in the Hills and on Mt Lofty.

This past week has not been a good week for us.  They say bad luck comes in threes and so I hope our bad luck has ended.  Firstly, on Monday I had to have the washing machine repair guy out as the machine was leaking water all over the floor.  It looked as if the door seal may have been worn as that was where the water seemed to be coming from. 

Tony had a look at the machine himself and found that one of the hoses was blocked.  He unblocked that but it still didn't fix the problem, but at least we could see the water was now gushing out from under the machine.  When the repairman looked at it he found that the drain hose had slipped which was causing the water to flood the floor.  He attached it back to the outlet and so far so good.  No more leaks.

Over the weekend we also noticed that the mat I've got in the vanity area was wet again.  We couldn't actually see any water coming up from the drain but we decided to go and get a ball top drain cover.  I don't know what they're called but there's a little ball that sits on the top of the drain hole and it's supposed to stop water from coming back up the drain and flooding the floor.  We decided to go and get it Monday afternoon after Tony came home.

After more rain on Sunday night and Monday morning I noticed that there was more water on the vanity floor. It wasn't coming up from the drain, saw that the water was coming through the light fitting. Oh no!!  


When Tony came home he went up into the roof to try and see where the water was coming from.  Luckily while up there we had a shower of rain and he could hear the dripping of the water onto the air conditioning duct.  Maybe because of so much rain the air conditioner had filled up with too much water and was overflowing, that was our hope anyway.

Because it was too wet he couldn't go onto the roof to check it out.  Tuesday it was still too wet to be climbing on the roof and so he waited until Wednesday.  He was in for for a shock when he finally looked at the air con.  There was no water inside it but instead the bottom had completely rusted out and with the strong winds that we'd been having was blowing the rain up and under and down along the duct in the roof. With the light fitting being at the lowest point the water was gathering there and running down the light fitting into the vanity area.  Luckily it had done no damage to the ceiling.

The rest of the afternoon was spent making phone calls getting prices to have the air conditioner replaced.  Looks like we will be up for at least $3500.

Now for the third thing........two weeks ago we took the car in for it's service and just like all the previous services we've had on the car we told them that the istop was not working. They rebooked the car in for last Thursday as they wanted to investigate further.  They believed now that the alternator may be at fault.  I dropped the car off Thursday morning as arranged.  They wanted to have the car overnight and so they gave us a loan car.

By Friday afternoon we had heard nothing and so Tony rang them.  He was told they would ring him back around 5pm. At around 5.15pm Friday afternoon we still had not heard from them and so Tony rang again.  He was told that the problem had been fixed and that they had put a new battery in which we had to pay for.  

Tony questioned us having to pay for another battery as they only replaced the battery back in June last year and to our knowledge most batteries these days have a 24 month warranty on them.  Not Mazda batteries apparently they only have a 12 month warranty.  We were 6 weeks past the warranty period.  Also according to them the alternator was fine, it was charging the battery but the battery wasn't holding the charge. A completely different story to what we were told 2 weeks ago.

Still not happy about having to pay for the battery we told them that we would pick the car up on Monday. Tony had to work yesterday morning and we decided to go and pay for the battery and get the car.  He rang them first to tell them we would pay for the battery and to get the istop working and he would go and collect the car.  

About half an hour later City Mazda rang him to let him know that there were no batteries in South Australia and one would have to come from interstate which wouldn't be here until about 11.00am on Monday morning.  

Huh?  

Less than 18 hours earlier if we had gone and paid for the battery it was our understanding that we could have taken the car there and then.  Where has this said battery gone from Friday 5.15pm to Saturday morning 10.00am for one now not to be available???

As far as we are concerned having the istop not working is or should be a warranty problem.  It has not worked properly since February last year and they have been told each time the car goes in for a service.  If they want to keep changing the battery each time why should we have to pay for it.  The problem has to be far greater than the battery but try telling that to City Mazda!!!

Grrrrrr City Mazda!!! We are not impressed!!! And you want us to recommend friends and family who are in the market for a new car to come and purchase one off you.  I do not think so!!!!

Our next option is to take it to the RAA and to get their mechanic/auto electrician look at it.  Tony thinks it may be the circuitry that's the problem.  Let's see what the RAA comes up with.

So that's the third bit of 'bad' luck this week.  Let's hope there's no more.

On a far better note the past few Saturday nights we have been going out for dinner with Robyn and Bob to various hotels around town using the Split the Bill vouchers.  Some of the pubs have been hit and miss but on a whole most have good food.

Last night we went out to dinner with them to a Chinese restaurant, Queen Bee.  They are members of a Bird club and the club decided to go out for dinner and so Bob asked if we would also like to go.  It was an all you can eat place for $18.50 per head.  Yum, the food was very nice and being all you can eat we over indulged. When it was time to leave I think everyone 'waddled' away.  

Today they forecast showers but so far even though it is windy there is still lots of sunshine.  A good time to do some gardening methinks.  We'll see, it's too warm and cosy inside!   


1 comment:

  1. They say "When it rains, it pours." I have always found that to be true. You've certainly had your hands full lately. I can understand your frustration having hubby around all day long. Maybe if he had a hobby, you would get some of your "time" back. It's difficult to get much done around the house when the guys are home. They sort of forget that we can't "retire" from the housework. lol. You have a wonderful day. hugs, Edna B.

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