Busy Week

It’s been a very busy week and the weekend is proving to be even busier. Our church is hosting our first annual conference and I’m helping out in various areas. We’ll be attending several teachings throughout the day, and tomorrow morning. Thankfully the conference is just 40 miles from where we live so there isn’t too much expense involved (aside from gas which thankfully has gone down to $2.45 per gallon).

We’ve had some more expenses this week, Mr. A’s work truck was not running correctly and he tried to diagnose and fix it but we finally resorted to taking it to our mechanic. This shop actually has “mechanics” not simply “technicians”. I’m at the conference site early this morning and resorting to using AJ’s laptop. I hate laptop keyboards, especially the one on his computer.

The first diagnosis and “repair” from our mechanic was the truck had gone out of timing somehow. Rare, but possible. $65 to fix. But the next day Mr. A drove the truck and discovered it was doing the same thing (AJ drove it home and it didn’t act up for him). So we took it back the next morning. The next diagnosis was that the timing chain needed to be replaced. They got that fixed and we started home with it again, only to find it was still having the problem. !! Mr. A took it back and after an hour of pondering, they came to the conclusion it was the catalytic converter.

I had to leave to help at the registration table yesterday afternoon, so am not sure how much the charge was for the timing chain – around $400 I think. The catalytic converter, I think the quote was $240.

Luckily we have some money left from Mr. A’s last big job which we had to wait 35 days to be paid on. We’ve been tracking all of the repairs on Mr. A’s truck, as well as the mileage for tax purposes. If I understand correctly, we can deduct either the mileage (which is a lot since we live so far out) or the gas costs (also a lot sheesh) and vehicle repair expenses. By the time we get done with deductions we could be at a loss with the rate things are going.

One more thing. I’m a little bummed this morning. Mr. A was rejected on a bid yesterday, for a pretty big job. He submitted a quote, and the guy pretty much asked him to cut the bid in half. Mr. A usually underbids on jobs as it is, and this one was going to be working on a 30 year old building that contains asbestos. He resubmitted the bid, lowering it by 20%. But that wasn’t enough for the guy. I guess that’s how it goes.

Well, I need to get going. Just wanted to touch base with y’all.

Don’t forget to study up for this coming Tuesday. I am going to spend some time this weekend reading over the propositions so I’ll be an informed voter on Tuesday.

Yours Truly,

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