Our Sweet Buella

I'm forcing myself to sit down and do this. I have so much to do right now that it almost makes me sick at my stomach!! BUT I just knew that if I didn't get this down in writing that I would forget some details and it wouldn't be near as funny!!!

It all started on Saturday morning when I tried to move Geoff's car...

In 1994, when I was in college, I bought this 1992 Saturn for $9000 and my payments were around $150. When I went on my mission in 1995 I didn't want to sell it so I let my little sister make the payments on it while I was gone - mistake #1. When I came back I resumed payments and took my car back. My sister and I lovingly named her Buella. Shortly after Geoff and I were married in 1997 we paid her off. She has been a great car ever since. She has well over 400,000 miles, though no one can be real sure of the exact number because the odometer stopped working a few years ago. The fan on the motor stopped working so Geoff rigged up a toggle switch that he can flip when she starts getting a little heated. The driver side door no longer will open from the inside so he has to roll down the window to get out. This really isn't a huge problem except in the winter or really rainy days! The AC stopped working several years ago so she really is a beast to ride in during the summer! Also, Geoff has the inside driver's side door panel duct taped to the frame because it started falling off. Now, I tell you all of this mostly in an effort to gain some sympathy from you all! But also so you will better understand what was going through our minds this weekend when a series of 'problems' occurred with afore mentioned vehicle... Buella.

As most of you know, we are getting our house ready to sell so that we can move to Arkansas. I was wanting to take a picture of the front of the house for the new blog I have created for people to be able to see pictures. Anyway, I went out to move Geoff's car out of the way and it wouldn't start. Geoff seemed surprised by this... I did not. It's on it's last leg folks!!! I know it's going to die any minute but we really need it to last until we get moved! Anyhoo... Geoff tried and it wouldn't start for him either. We assumed that it was the battery but weren't going to have a chance to get a new one until the next day. The next day arrives and Geoff replaces the battery and it works like a champ! Good. It may still yet last a few more weeks. So, I go to move it to take that all important photo of the house and when I go to turn the key off it gets stuck! Stuck in the ACC position (whatever the heck that means)! It wouldn't turn to start and it wouldn't turn to off! It was S-T-U-C-K. Stuck! So we spent the next 1 1/2 hours trying to get it unstuck! Finally, Geoff was spraying some WD40 and I was wiggling it with a pair a pliers and the key snapped! It broke off in the ignition! I won't tell you what I said - it wouldn't probably be appropriate for this family oriented blog but I was flaming mad!!!! I couldn't believe it!! What else could happen? Well... let me just tell you! Do you see this picture:

This is what happened when I was in the car steering it into the driveway and Geoff was pushing it. Well, our driveway has a slight incline and it picked up some speed and I kept slamming on the brakes and THEY WEREN'T WORKING!! I pumped them all the way to the floor and NOTHING!! Geoff was yelling at me to ream on the brakes and I'm yelling at him that they're not working!!! And then all of a sudden - THUD! I hit the basketball goal!!! Now, I REALLY won't tell you what I said! But I will say this, at this point we were so exhausted that we just fell into each others arms and started laughing! We were just glad that it didn't hit the garage! Geoff was gonna just lock it up and call it a night but I made him help me straighten up because I didn't want the neighbors or any prospective buyers to see it!

AAA sent out a locksmith and we got the ignition changed out so it's up and running. What about the brakes you ask? Um. Well. I realized shortly after the incident that.... I was pumping the clutch. {sheepish grin}