I Should Have Seen It Coming.

Repair kit on the right = cheap
Broken porcelain on left = NOT cheap

One of our two toilets broke about a week ago.  I had to wait until I had a day off to fix it.  Imagine my surprise when the cost of the broken part was about $10.  Finally, some good financial news.  I should have seen it coming.

I began tearing apart the toilet.  Aside from the black stuff building up on my hands from the ten year old grommets in the toilet tank, the repair was seemingly straight forward.  I should have seen it coming.

Contorting myself to fit between the wall and toilet while  I bent on one knee with my left hand forcing a screw driver into the tank and my right hand ratcheting a nut onto a bolt under the tank.  I almost impressed myself considering I have ZERO experience with toilet repair.  That's when I heard it.

Crack!  My heart skipped a beat as my $10 repair turned into a $200 repair because I just overtightened the nut and cracked the porcelain toilet bowl.  I should have seen it coming.

For some reason, when I attempt a seemingly easy repair myself, it tends to turn into a big, hairy mess.

Which is why I took my gas guzzling Suburban to the shop for an oil change today.  $40 and 60 minutes later, Big O Tire informed me that the vehicle I would be depending on to take my family 600 miles to Disneyland in four weeks needed just under $2000 in repairs.

Low coolant led them to pressure test my radiator and I've been informed the radiator is "completely falling apart."  Of course, they can't recommend a new radiator without new hoses, thermostat, etc etc.

Long story made short, they recommended front hubs, a 100,000 mile tune up, complete radiator overhaul and more that I can't remember.  I went in for an oil change.  I should have seen it coming.

Some day I'll share the story about how I tried to save $50 and do my own tune up.  I cracked the spark plug in half inside the engine block.  The dealership had to take the head off the block and hone out the spark plug hole.  It cost me over $1000.

This day just plain sucked.