This really is more just a vent...
DS (32 mo) and I are home without a car today. Hubby's car does not have heat so it is buried under 8 inches of snow in the driveway and we have been trying to operate on 1 car because he refuses to put any more $ into that POS, but we can't afford a 2nd car payment right now. He has meetings tonight and tomorrow after work so he needed to take the RAV ("good" car) to work.
I also babysit - usually I have one girl on Mondays and Tuesdays, but she had a fever over the weekend so grandma (goes to her 3 days, me 2 days) and I traded days so she will be with me Thursday and Friday instead. I also have a little guy on Wednesday. Of course, we have things going on W-F that I will need the car, so we will be driving my hubby to work, but I am annoyed that the two days it is just DS and I, are the two days we do NOT have a car. I thought about walking - we have a small shopping center close by, but the weather is not cooperating (freezing rain/grossness).
So, all in all, I am just kinda cranky. Sometimes on long days, we play in the basement with balls, etc. but our basement is currently torn up - we have had a leak and during a recent "thaw" (yep, gotta love the mid January random thaw!!) our basement flooded so we ripped out the carpet (this leak is not a new problem and we wanted to make sure there wasn't mold or other stuff going on)...so, no basement.
Any creative ideas for me?? Usually I have lots, but I am out. I even asked DS this am if he wanted to make cookies and I nearly fell off my rocker when he said NO....!! That is WEIRD for him... So, instead we started making some valentines, I even hauled out glitter! (yes, that is how desperate I am for something "different") and he didn't last long with that either. I think it is going to be a long week...
@ ReverendRuby - I have TRIED getting my husband to take it in to at least find out what the problem is/get an estimate. I even impressed him by saying some of the inexpensive fixes it could be. However, he suspects it is because his coolant is low/empty, but a while back, he filled the coolant and then found a puddle on the driveway...he thinks there is a leak somewhere that isn't allowing the coolant to stay in the car, hence, the heater doesn't work. I have TRIED.... The car is barely worth less than $1000 so an "inexpensive" fix isn't even worth it. Inexpensive to us would be like $25...Really, our best bet in terms of the POS car, is to push it over a cliff.....
Yes, I know I can take the car in myself. I know I can insist on getting it looked at, but it's not just my husband who doesn't want to put more money into it!
And, the money we spend on gas would not even out to the cost of fixing it because once it is fixed, the price of gas to run him to work simply goes into the other car's gas tank.
I talked to him last night, he got his act together and cleaned off the car and drove it to work today. So, today is a better day!
You could camp in. Use blankets and whatever furniture you have in the house to make a tent. When I was little we would put rope from one chair to the other and put a blanket over it. Then we camped.
Take the car in and have it looked at. I had one that suddenly had no heat, turns out it was low on antifreeze. It happened to another car and it was a broken wire.
Both simple inexpensive fixes.
Okay, here is my story of when my first born was a Toddler and before she attended Preschool:
We have only 1 vehicle, ever since my first child was born. Can't afford 2.
Anyway, I was a total SAHM since my first child was born.
And I ALSO... did childcare out of my home.
I had my daughter, plus 2 other kids. 5-days a week. Full days from 8:00am-5:00pm.
No vehicle at home. My Hubby, at that time, was taking it to work, which was a trek distance wise.
Therefore, I could not do errands. I was housebound with 3 kids of varying ages from infant to Toddler. Everyday. And I would then do my errands etc., AFTER the kids I babysat, left, or did it on weekends.
But I survived.
Then, I got pregnant with my son. And I then, continued childcare... up until I was about 8 months pregnant with him. I was like a beached whale by then.
But then after my 2nd child was born, I quit doing childcare.
And then once my 2nd child was born, I did have our vehicle daily and use it. It is a necessity. And my Hubby... to get to and from work, either car-pools, takes a bus, or... I have to drive him to work in the mornings and pick him up after work. Plus, drop off and pick up my kids to and from school.
But we have somehow managed to survive with 1 vehicle.
Thus far.
Sorry to be long winded. But there is always worse or better.
I would, to entertain your son... get out some sheets. And using the furniture/chairs... make some sheet-tents and forts.
Kids LOVE this. I did too when I was a kid. My parents let us sheet an entire room! We'd make caves, forts, and put pillows under it and play in it. Tons of fun.
And endless fun.
But you have to not mind, the house being a sheet town, all day.
AND, well at least for my kids... when they do this... they entertain themselves for awhile, being in their sheet town/fort/caves. And I can sort of just hang out too, relax.
Make a fort and eat lunch under it. Heck - we don't need a snow storm to do that!! We pull out sofa bed, make popcorn and watch movies too!!
Hide and seek
draw - I STILL love to color!!
get him all dressed up - boots, gloves, layers, and pull him on the sled - yeah -the weather sucks but why let it hold you back? It can be a quick walk around the block - come home and make some hot chocolate...
heck...we even napped together!!
Puzzles - small puzzles that will be easy but fun! Or make your own puzzles...have him draw something on the inside of a box and you cut it out and both of you try to put it back together....
memory games...flip cards over and see who can remember where the cards were placed and match them up.
NEVER GIVE UP!! NEVER SURRENDER!! :)
On a side note? If you own your home - take out equity if you have some and fix the leak and buy a new/newer car. Check your insurance and see if they cover the leak repairs...
Find out exactly what is wrong with your POS car and see if you can budget to get it fixed. IF not - sell it - AS IS. If you aren't using it - you are wasting money on insurance for it. So get rid of it.
Good luck!! Have fun!!
we J. painted with shaving cream with food die in the tub on the weekend and i also got the ingredients to make snow inside
1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup hair conditioner J. mix and its ready the instructions say (havent tried yet)
do you have cornstarch? you can do science experiements with it
also apparently if you lay salt on wax paper and drag chalk along it it colors it and makes it sand art essentially. i'm planning on doing that soon too
if you have old magazines and glue, paper, and scissors J. let him go to town
when emmy was little she always enjoyed when i'd fill a huige pan of water and let her wash all of her toys and play in the water
M., take the car ANYWAY, once the snow is not an issue. You don't need permission to take the car for an estimate I would spend the money to get it fixed even if he didn't like it. Why have you let your husband think that he gets to make the decisions about how money is spent in your household?
If you had an emergency, you'd be in a pickle. Time to reassess how decisions are made in your home. Start with the car.
Dawn
Would the money you're spending on gas while driving DH to & from work offset whatever costs would be incurred by repairing the other car? It's most likely the same difference.
Why not just just get an estimate yourself? Sounds like he's being lazy, honestly.
