Car Repairs

I would just like a month without any car repairs. I was going to post about the house on Monday since we verbally confirmed the deal on Sunday evening. However, I had some excitement with our big brown truck (or BBT as some like to call it). On Friday the brake and ABS light came on. This was a little surprising because we just had brakes done all around in August. The brake light came on in Septmenber but it went off with the addition of brake fluid and the dealer seemed to think that was not a problem and no leak was found.
Then on Sunday the transmission started slipping. You could accelerate but had to do it gradually. Needless to say I was not looking forward to driving the BBT to drop off the kids at the sitters and then have to drive clear across town to sit at the dealer while waiting for the BBT to be fixed. It turns out however, that if it had worked like planned that life would have been very simple.
I get the kids loaded up in the morning and we set out. About 5 miles out from the trailer the transmission started engaging only sporadically. So a kind police officer who was going the other direction turns on his lights (I already had flashers on) and I am able to get to a small dirt road and pull over. I assured him that I was ok and I went to work on the cell phone. First I had to call the auto roadside service plan and get a tow truck. The lady freaks out on the phone that I have three little ones because she doesn't know how I am going to fit them in the tow truck. Then I called our babysitter to see if he could at least come pick up the boys, and then I had to update Jim on my progress. So Ben arrives and we get the car seats loaded as it is starting to rain (of course) and he wisks the boys off. There was not enough room in his little car for three car seats so Jo gets a bonus day with mom. Then Jo and I wait for the tow truck. Finally (about 1 hour after I have started out from the trailer) the truck comes and he loads up our big Dodge truck and we head down to the dealer. The driver was completely enamoured of Jo so he spends half of the drive talking to her.
We get down to the dealer, get the BBT off the tow truck, I finally get to go to the restroom, and then the guy behind the desk is ready to talk to me. It turns out that the guy who usually does their transmission work had brain surgery the previous week and the dealer has not hired anyone new because they didn't know if their guy is coming back. SO I make another call to the auto service place and they approve towing to the next dealership down the road (30ish minutes away), and then I called Jim to update our progress. The exact same guy in the tow truck comes back to pick us up again and we all head down the road. After Jo falls asleep we had a nice long conversation about RVs as we drive down the interstate.
We get to the dealership in the next town and they of course have several jobs ahead of us. So I get everything all set up and we go to rent a car. We get to ride in the courtesy car to the car rental place. Of course then we have to wait in line at the car rental place. Then of course they don't have any vehicles that can hold three car seats so we get to ride to another branch to go get a car. Finally we get a car that we are praying will hold 3 car seats (which it turns out it just barely does) and we can head back home in time to pick up the boys.
So the bad news out of that is that I spent the whole day dealing with car issues and not really getting any other work done, but the good news is that so far everything (including car rental) is covered under warrenty. Jo has gotten to ride in a tow truck 3 times in her short 5 month life, and she gets some bonus days with mommy because I accidently left the breast pump in the BBT and it is not worth the drive to go get it. As my husband would say, "We are stressed, but blessed"