Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Broken!

Last week, when we were leaving for church, our garage door opener broke. It made a horrible noise and then the motor continued to make noise, but nothing was moving. So, Spencer released the garage door, backed the van out and then got out to close the garage door again.

Of course, the boys were all in the van and were all very concerned about our broken garage door. Well, Charlie was just concerned that Daddy got out of the car...like I was going to jump into the drivers seat and leave Spencer on the driveway. But, besides Charlie, to everyone else, this broken garage door opener was a big deal. Everyone was shouting, "Where's Daddy going?", "What's Daddy doing?", "What is the matter with the garage door?", "Who's going to fix it?", "When are they going to fix it?", and my personal favorite "How are we going to keep living in THAT house?". Seriously?!?! I don't even know who said that, but they were serious...like the whole house was broken because we could no longer push a button to open the garage door.

I was cracking up inside, but then explained to them that when I was growing up, we did not have a button to open the garage door and my mom or dad always had to get out of the car to open and close the garage door AND! our garage was not even attached to our house so, we had to go outside to get to the garage. There was SILENCE in my car until Jack said "Are you JOKING?!?!?!" I wish my writing could capture the tone that he used when he said it. But, you'll just have to take my word that he was beyond shocked!

Whenever something breaks, Spencer and I debate about whether to call a repair man or just replace what is broken. We *always* make the wrong choice. We are pretty clueless about what to do when something breaks. Of course, we don't want to pay a repair man to come out to tell us that he can't fix it, but we also don't want to pay to replace something that can be fixed relatively easily.

So, I called the garage door repair person on Monday morning. Of course, it was the wrong choice. The guy pushed the button, said the the motor was broken and that he couldn't fix it. Nice. By this time, it is about 10 degrees outside and I was totally at this guy's mercy. I already owed him $90 for telling me that the garage door opener was broken. Whatever garage door opener he had to sell in his truck was mine. I called Spencer at work to confirm it was ok and then bought the nicest darn garage door opener that you have ever seen.
It not only opens the garage door...very, very quietly, I might add, but it also tells you the time...



And, the temperature of the garage!!! Which I guess will be very handy when deciding how long I can leave the groceries in the trunk of the car???


And, do you wonder what my kids thought of our brand new garage door opener?

Jack looked at it and said "cool. It is just like the Lord!!!"

Me: "Ummmm....what?"

Jack: "THE LORD!!! You know, the garage door opener is 3 in 1, the temperature, the time and opens the door. Just like the Lord is 3 in 1, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit".

Ummm, yeah. I'll take that as a compliment and assume that he approves of our new garage door opener. I hope so considering how much it cost. ;)



8 comments:

Cathy said...

Ha Ha Ha!!! That is so funny! Way to go Jack!
Hey Kelly and Spencer... here's a piece of advise for you... next time you think something is broken, call ME first... I am FREE!!! With all of my expeiences in repairs, I would be able to give you pointers! It was funny when I read your story because my mom would do the same thing... call the repairman... when it's something that I could have fixed myself. Enjoy your "Lord" of garage opener! :)

Mishelle said...

You know...I kind of forgot that it used to be manual opener only! How times change huh? I hope you enjoy your new opener!

Anonymous said...

Tell Jack that we didn't even have a garage when I was growing up , we just parked on the side street. I am always amazed by his comments. Oh and the connections the boys make--you have a holy garage door opener,cute!

Jennifer said...

Oh, so funny... the boys' comments that is, not the bill!!! I'm not disappointed in Ben, but I sure wish it was MY Godson who made the 'Lord/ garage door' connection. :-)

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's way to funny! I jealous...I was the garage door opener (and channel changer) growing up! ;)

Katie said...

I think you got a pretty good deal. We just went to buy ours finally for our new house and it was $700 for two including the installation and it wasn't the super duper model. We have the belief that someone else needs some work and if we do it we'll spend twice the time and probably bungle it up. Hope you are enjoying it!

Karen Geringer said...

I had John read this & he just laughed! It is a cool opener! It is amazing what kids remember & what they say. I'm not sure how we made it through our childhood with all the hardships we had to endure! I told my niece that we did not have cable or computers when we were little. She asked me if we were poor. I had to explain that we were not poor, that those things just did not exsist! She was shocked!

MamaOtwins+1 said...

I found my way over here from Multiples and More - this is hilarious. I can totally relate to the boys thinking it is the end of the world. I have twin 7 year olds and a two year old.