A day of weird mishaps

First thing this morning, AwesomeCloud and I brought the Prius to Toyota to have the grill replaced, because the body shop didn't do it. That part was all right. They have a beautiful waiting room, with a playroom and snacks and nice bathrooms. We played for an hour, got a bit of sticker shock, recovered from our sticker shock, and happily drove home.

Then the mom we were going to have a playdate with called to say she was sick. I had volunteered to be on the Chinese New Year committee with my adoption agent, but I wasn't going to go to the meeting because I didn't want to cancel the playdate. However, with the playdate cancelled, I called up my agent and told her I'd be there.

"Great," she said. "It's been moved to noon, though, not eleven like the email said."

"That's fine," I replied. "We'll be there at noon."

I cleaned the house a little, made some soup for an early lunch, and then AwesomeCloud and I left to go to the meeting at the agent's office.

It was 5 degrees out, by the way. Not that this changes my story. It just adds an extra dimension of chill. Brrr.

We arrived at the agent's office, and it was empty. Vacated. Not even a stray pen cap or push pin left lying on the floor. Even the soundtrack of chirping crickets was missing, probably because it was noon on a January day with 5 degree temperatures.

Back into the car we went, with me planning to call her when we arrived home because I don't have a cell phone. I got on the highway, and something on the car made a mysterious crunch. Followed by a mysterious grating sound. I pulled over on the shoulder to look, and found a plastic part that had been under the bumper had cracked and was now hanging down and pressing against the left front tire. I taped it up with medical tape, managing not to get run over by oncoming highway traffic in the process (a hearty thank you to the guy in the semi and the guy in the SUV who pulled into the far lane before you reached me! You guys are awesome! And boooo to the fifty-odd people who didn't.)

Then, because we were only two exits away from Toyota, we went back there and told them that something was seriously wrong with something under our bumper, and it may or may not be related to the work they'd done this morning.

We played in the playroom again and ate more snacks. Then Toyota informed us that the broken piece was a piece that the body shop should have replaced, rather than quick-fixed, when our car was in the accident. And that if we took the car back there, maybe the $400+ cost of fixing it now could be covered by the insurance.

So now I have to get on the phone and call the body shop and the insurance. Because Toyota's quicker-quick-fix wasn't designed to last.

Yay.

At least AwesomeCloud was in a good mood all day. He was picky about eating his lunch, but then he'd had all those snacks, so who can blame him? This past weekend he was both finicky AND foul-tempered. I think he had a cold or something, with no outward symptoms but that left him feeling miserable just the same.

By the way, I still haven't found out what was up with the adoption agency. Obviously, they moved. But beyond the obvious, I know nothing, and I don't feel like calling her up and asking her about it right now. I'll do it later.