slumber par-tay!

i am finally so excited to go on this holiday. we could have never planned it in advance, but while i'll be in the golden horseshoe next week a blog-her slumber party has been created! yippee! i can hardly believe it!

erin, deb, connie & mike todd's sister lynne and i are all going to be luxuriating in the lovely niagara falls, ny for an evening together. i can't wipe the smile off my face!

now the only real hurdle to cross is the car. we took it in about a month ago right after we got our tax return and said "we need to take a huge road trip - and we have some $ - please go over it with a fine toothed comb and fix any and everything so that we know if we can afford to still go on vacation. they gave it the thumbs up and fixed only a couple minor things.

we took it to the store that shall not be named to get an oil change and the guy told us there were 3 things leaking (it is a 20 year old volvo station wagon) - yikes. was it someone trying to "sell us something" or was it a finer tooth comb?

we had ordered a rad hose that needed to be replaced and had picked it up in the states when we had the oil change done - the phone call came yesterday while they were replacing the hose (we told them to check the stuff the oil change guy said needed looked at) and it turned out that it wasn't just a rad hose, but a whole rad that needed changed and some other things. i'm so glad they caught it, and that it's not outrageously expensive (is there anything better than a mechanic you can trust?) so now we wait to hear if the parts get in today and if they can get it done in time.

they didn't think it would be a problem - but hey, they didn't catch it the first time either... sigh. every time i awoke last night i had thoughts of being broken down in the green mountains of vermont with a car that some rip off mechanic thinks "is not worth fixing"...

so needless to say the excitement of the slumber party is getting me through all of this - and my kids have now started to get in on the excitement of the trip and stopped picking at each other (and me) and are cooperating like they normally do.

i don't know the kind of access we'll have to the internet on the trip. we're bringing the laptop (hoping to get a chance to really write the children's book we've noodled during the week the kids are at camp). i'll post as often as i am able - please have a great couple of weeks! oh, and could you water the plants if you stop by! :)

UPDATE: "all" of the parts made it in this morning, but one of the parts wasn't "all there"... some flange for the radiator was missing and things looked like they wouldn't be sorted out until tuesday (as monday is a holiday here in canada) - but after i pushed them to source it over the river in the states they miraculously found a "whole" one at the same place that originally short shipped it and it's SUPPOSED to arrive here by 4:00... please pray it makes it and that the volvo is roadworthy. i told liam it was probably best that it didn't cause this much stress a month ago when we had it in because we might have canceled the trip all together... and for lots of reasons it's important we go. thanks for praying!

UPDATE 2: crap 4 crap. the second shipped radiator was also missing the SAME PART. so while they were waiting they repaired the old rad and are re-attaching that. can you say AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! so now i get to watch the gauge the whole trip... sigh. oh well - at least it will be done today. sometimes living simply and on the edge has it trials...

UPDATE 3: okay, they patched/welded the old radiator and tested it and it's doing just fine. we leave tomorrow a.m. as planned. sleeping in vermont tomorrow night and celebrating canada day back in canada. have a lovely long weekend, eh!