Hello, August!

How is it August already?! In ways my summer vacation is flying by and in other aspects, it is dragging on. I will sincerely miss sleeping in until 10:30 on my days off. Boo. School starts September 1st with our faculty meeting, kids come September 2nd and then it is a crazy month. I looked and we do not have a full week of classes until end of September/beginning of October.

July was a busy month! I did many fun things and not so fun things. My CST was July 11th and I sincerely hope I passed. I am afraid I didn't because I think I messed up on the speaking part. D-Day aka fate day is this Friday. Thank goodness I have off. Either way I am celebrating (or crying) with a big bottle of wine!

I also went to the Taylor Swift concert and spent a week in Disney. I am definitely going to recap that soon. It was a magical vacation, aside from it raining every day.

I have also been productive in making things for my TeachersPayTeachers store.  I look at all the stores I have bought things from and wonder how the heck they are so creative and elaborate with their designs. Part of me is hesistant to invest in so much on clipart and things however, it makes the items more interesting. I hope to create more items and have more followers. TpT was a godsend to me as a first-year teacher when I was *stuck* on how to teach a concept. 

I still have to recap my July 2015 stitch fix (especially since the August is being delivered today!) but first, I have to explain why I will NEVER take my Corolla to one dealership EVER again.

My car is a 2004 Toyota Corolla LE. Its my baby, aka Cora. I got it the summer after my freshmen year in college...when I finally got my license. (Don't get me started on that story). It has been through its fair share of accidents. (One my fault, the rest caused by others). I had contemplated getting a new car this summer but when I found out I lost a portion of my classes & salary for next year, I quickly decided to rethink that plan. My car has 156,000+ miles on it and they're built to last so it is not exactly at the end yet.

I took it in last Thursday because it needed the inspection. Shortly before I went to Disney, it started making a rattling noise. I figured maybe a nut/bolt came lose and that is all that would have to be fixed. Fast forward to my appointment and they tell me that the exhaust pipe/system under my car was rotted and missing a piece that connects it to the muffler. Between the parts, labor, etc it would be $2000. I almost spit my coffee out on the guy. My mom was at home sleeping so she wouldn't answer the phone. My brother called his friend who has a shop and the guy said absolutely not. My friend Pete said to get out of there as soon as possible and go to our friend Mandy's mechanic. 

I told the guy that I didn't have the money (quite technically *not* true) but I would be back when I did. He told me it was unsafe to drive because while I was on the phone, they apparently discovered there was a leak in the gas line and thats why there was a gas smell in the car. Umm, news to me since I drive it every day and didn't smell ANYTHING other than the smell of smoke from when the air is on too long (my car came off a lease from people who had been smokers). The guy at Toyota basically told me my car was unsafe to drive (I live 5 minutes from the dealership) and they would give me a ride home. They wouldn't give me a loaner car unless I left my car at the dealership for them to work on. Umm, No thank you.

I basically told the guy to give me my car back because I didn't have the money and I wasn't allowing them to do the work. Because of this supposed $2000 repair needed (when my car is only worth like $4000 trade in) and the sudden gas repair that would be approximately $45, I wanted to get the heck out of there. They wouldn't pass it for inspection, which is fine. 

I took it to my friend's mechanic (side note: she has been trying to tell me for YEARS to stop going to the dealership but I wouldn't listen...plus my car had another recall that I was trying to get fixed but they didn't have the parts in yet). I didn't tell him I had it inspected at Toyota. I just told him it needed an inspection and there was a rattling sound. He came back and said it needed a new exhaust pipe and it would be $275! $275 vs $2000! I almost died of happiness. He welded it together until I got my work schedule. I brought it back yesterday and had it fixed there. So much happier with him. I will be going there from now on (unless I can't get the recall fixed there and then I will go to the dealership where we bought it from who are a LOT nicer). 

I am so glad I got a second opinion. It sounds so much better and my wallet thanks me!