Only the Doyle’s!!!!!

I’m pretty sure the happenings this week only happen to us, so I have titled this blog “Only the Doyle’s.” I’m going to back up 3 weeks ago. The big vans brakes began to squeak just ever so slightly so I told Scott. In typical Scott fashion, not overly worried about such a minor thing he responds with a “yea, we need to fix those.” One week goes by and the squeak is getting louder and louder so I remind him again, “my breaks are squeaking.” Again in typical Scott fashion he hears my complaint but doesn’t listen to my complaint and gets in no hurry to have them changed. Two weeks have now passed since initial “Squeaking” began and we happen to be on Mason road when I remind him yet again that I sound like nails on a chalk board each time I apply my breaks. Now most of you have seen the Big Bertha (code name for Big White Utility Van) neither me nor the “cool” teenagers riding in that thing each day want anymore attention drawn to it that necessary. So we stop in at O’Reilly auto parts to purchase brake pads at which time my financial consultant husband proceeds to tell me HE will and can change the brake pads himself and I will be all good. GREAT, pads purchased squeaky noise on it’s way out the door… Oh not so soon, Scott the mechanic is way to busy each subsequent day to change them and now I am grinding my way to a stop and the kids are on the floor board embarrassed that people are staring at us as a I smile and truck along explaining to them, dad is sooooo busy and who cares what others think, we are so grateful to have a vehicle, you know the kids in Africa walk everywhere they need to go and we are so blessed to even be able to drive to McDonalds that who cares if the cashier has to remove his head set due to the ear piercing noise? Another week goes by and it dawns on me that maybe Scott is thinking if you buy the pads, place them strategically in between the seats on the floor of the van they will eventually figure out their purpose and take their rightful place, on my brakes!!!! The sound is now very similar to the that of an airplane landing and it isn’t isolated to just me stopping this thing is even grinding when I’m not applying the brakes. Christian says to me, Mom, when all the workers in town who drive matching vans to yours start staring at you, you know your car is jacked up!” I gently remind Scott AGAIN! I also remind him that he is leaving this week for work out of town and I need to be able to actually stop the van once I get it going… And now the rest of the story: 9 PM Wednesday night, 3 weeks after squeaky noise appears, Scott aka mechanic makes an attempt to change brake pads. Mom, aka doer of everything that makes sense, feeds kids, bathes kids, begs kids to finish homework, and convinces kids that staying up all night is NOT a good idea. 10 PM Mechanic Scott is working diligently on brakes with 4 helpers, yes 4 helpers, 2 of which need to be in bed but are holding flashlights for him to be able to see brakes in the dark. It only makes sense that one would wait until night to do this, right ? 11 PM brakes complete, and Scott decides to take van for test drive with new brakes. 11:05 PM Scott returns only to announce to those of us still awake the he changed the brake pads in the front, not the ones in the back that were actually squeaking!!!! Mom, Me, Wife, Mother, Doer of all things that make sense, driver of the van in question proceeds to ask the logical question here, “you changed the wrong brake pads? Did it not occur to you to ask the driver of the van where the squeaking was coming from?” Mechanic Scott then proceeds to ask the 19 year old helper to Google bleeding the brake line…. Now you are possibly beginning to laugh at this and I want to make sure you have a clear visual of this event. I am sitting in my chair rocking the baby, did I mention my head is spinning at this point somewhat similar to that of the exorcist ? Christian is “Googling” how to bleed a line, and Scott is standing in kitchen sweating profusely from the realization that he has no clue how to fix my car and he has to leave the house for his flight in 5 hours. He then proceeds to inform me that the breaks work you just have to press them all the way to the floor because there is no pressure in them… Sounds like a problem to me!! Before my head, that is spinning comes flying completely off my body, I decide it is best to call it a night and hope it’s all a bad dream in the morning. Boy was I WRONG the worst was yet to come. 5 AM Mechanic Scott, In trouble Scott, Leaving for Vegas Scott wakes me to tell me that he has called a friend of ours that lives around the corner and he has agreed to let us borrow his extra vehicle which happens to be a mini van. I gently remind him of how many people I have to tow around for the next 3 days because apparently he has lost count and we won’t fit in this mini van. I then proceed to ask how we are going to actually get the mini van since he is leaving and it’s just me and Christian and a broke down big van. I am then told that Christian is going to run over there and pick it up. Did I mention I have an appointment at 8 AM and he is telling me that the 19 year old who sleeps until noon is going to get out of bed at 7 AM and run to our friends house to pick up the van… When I say run, he was meaning physically, literally, on good ole Pete and Joe run to our friends house several streets over to borrow the van. I was in utter shock at this moment at his idea but had no choice in the matter . I also needed a crash course at 5 am on how to install the base of the babies cars seat, so outside we go… Still dark by the way. Scott leaves assuring me he will have a legit mechanic to the house asap to correct his mistakes. 7 AM roles around and lucky for Christian when I told our friend he was literally about to “run” over there he offers to come pick him up. So all is good right? Well not so fast my friend, Scott showed me how to install the car seat with these hook straps, the mini van doesn’t have them so I am doing it the traditional way with the seat belt which takes more than two hands. Please take a moment to visualize, I have a foot on the seat long strap of the seat belt holding it taut, each hand is holding a side to the seat belt and the my left knee is in the base to hold it down. I am now sweating my behind off and my hair is frizzing by the second. I finally get the base strapped in, run and grab the stroller out of Big van and open the back of mini van only to realize my buddy has “pimped” this ride to the max. There is a base (the radio kind) in the back so no matter how hard I tried the stroller will NOT fit, I bring it around to the passenger side only to realize that if I just sit the stroller in the seat it will probably fall forward and shatter the tv in the head rest (there are 4 of these.) I figure out how to hang the stroller off the seat to protect it from flying and I finally load the baby, but his seat isn’t clicking into place??? I have to move the driver seat up so it will sit properly in it’s base. I am finally in the driver seat, my knees are hitting the dash board and I look like one of those little old ladies that has their chest securely against the steering wheel. As I drive to my first destination all I can think about is how I want to ring my mechanics neck!!! Did it end there, of course not We found a mechanic to bring the van to, they say they can have it ready in 1 hour. Needless to say I brought it at 4:30, driving it 20 miles an hour down Cinco Ranch Blvd. cars passing and cursing me. 6 PM they call to inform me that the $250 dollars I thought I was about to spend has now increased to $850 dollars. I refused to let them do anything without a second opinion from my personal mechanic. He informs me that what they are saying is going to cost all that money is “NO BIG DEAL, and HE can fix that” OH GOOD LORD, not again. I refuse the service and 4 hours later big Bertha was ready to come home. As I drive away I think, “wow the silence is bliss” but don’t get too excited for me, that was short lived. Not only are they squeaking they are also smelling so we are now overstimulating 2 of our senses everytime we ride in Big Bertha, but never fear the mechanic flies home today and I am certain he will have a solution!!! LOL Lastly, if you hear me squeaking to a stop just pretend you don’t just as I pretend I’m driving my old Mercedes!!! Only the Doyle’s!!!