Last week was like a blur…

All three boys had fevers and runny noses and were each miserable for a a day or two…On Friday I needed to get some things done in Montreal… I hesitated so much because the forcast was saying thundershowers for the whole day… but because the boys had been sick and I hadn’t done the things that I had planned so I didn’t really have much of a choice if I wanted to get those things done before we leave…

So… I got ready and I told the boys that we would go get some bagels at Timmies… Just as I was nearning the street to Timmies the serpentine belt that powers the power steering/alternator etc came off as it did a few weeks ago when we went through a puddle… so right away I felt the steering wheel get stiff and the battery light when on…

Knowing what had happened right away I went straight to my garage a few minutes away… they put the strap back on without charge and headed to Timmies and then the highway… scared to get another puddle…

A day of shopping… in and out of the car in the rain… First the MEC for a waterpac… then on Plaza St-Hubert to LL Lozeau for a Strap pad for my Camera bag, a cleaning pen and a UV filter and then I headed to the West Island to pick up my friend Gen to go to Fairview (a big mall)… First stop there was LensCrafters where I got a new pair of glasses that won’t take out my hair each time I take them off and that don’t transition… I also got a different style of glasses which is pretty cool… I will have to take a pic! then got some t-shirts for the boys, some new sandals for them also and some memory cards…

Simon met us there and then we headed out for supper…

I left Simon with the kids to go eat on their own… while Gen and I went for a quiet Sushi supper and great conversation across the street…

After that I left Gen at home and we headed home…

On the way back about 5 min from our place of the highway we caught a huge storm with the kind of rain that you can’t see within a foot in front of you and cars start going 30 km or stopping altogether ont  he side of the road… and of course… the serpentine belt came off again…

I took a chance and drove home anyway hoping that the car wouldn’t stall…

Yesterday morning I did some research and found that there is a fix for the problem that my mechanic had said was unfixable and found out that the part was availible at NAPA…. so I called them and they had it in stock but I  neeed to call around to see if there was a garage open and besides Canadian Tire… there wasn’t and with the way they talked to me on the phone (convinced that I had no idea what I was talking about) I wasn’t going there…But on Monday I will go to my garage…

But I hate knowing that the Car is there but I can’t use it if I need it… and I did need it… So I decided to tackle the problem myself….

I fought and cursed and got my hands dirty and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to get the belt on the tensioner after I had put it around all of the other pulleys… So google was my friend and I found this post and the wise words of wisdom from the authors friend…

“Matt,” he replied, “take the belt off another pulley – something easy to get to – put it on the tensioner, and then use the wrench to pull the tension out of the line and place the belt over the remaining pulley.”

And that… worked like a charm…and I am pretty gosh darn pround of myself… lol

So I went and did some groceries… just enough to tide us over until Wednesday and some snacks and the fixings for Sandwiches that I am going to be making for the plane…

and now we are in the getting ready and packing stage… needing to prepare the house for my dad who will be cat/house sitting…

ahh… how time passes quickly when you have tons to do…