A New Secret Weapon

I've told the kids about being sick over break, and they are duly impressed by my illness (plus we got to talk about silent letters and Greek root words). I've also discovered a new weapon I can use against them right now...when I get going laughing or yelling or something, I will have a coughing fit which makes me sound like a mad seal. So I tell the kids not to irritate me enough to make me cough. When I do have a coughing fit, the kids are all over each other, yelling, "YOU MADE HER COUGH, YOU JERK!" It's rather amusing. I don't believe for a second that most of them actually care about my health; they just enjoy having the chance to reprimand each other.

So far things have been going okay at school (other than the occasional coughing fit). I do get tired, but I don't think the tiredness is anything worse than before break. I am thankful that I didn't have to take off any time from work. That would have been horrible--deciding whether it was worth it to lose a significant amount of pay in order to recuperate fully. One teacher at school lost about 3 weeks during her pregnancy and got totally hosed. Even though she has short-term disability insurance, she still only got about $40 a day. That is crazy.

In other news, the check engine light came on over the weekend. This of course sent me into a complete panic, not only because I was worried about what was wrong but also because there is no way I would have the money to fix it after the holidays. I went to Autozone because they will plug in a diagnostic machine for free. It said that the cause was most likely a faulty oxygen sensor. When I researched it, it looked like it would cost me between $300-$500 to fix it. Eek. When I called my mechanic to get a quote, he told me not to bring it in yet because apparently Corollas are notorious for doing this. He thought it probably was a bad tank of gas or something messing with the sensor and I should just drive the car normally and see if the light resets itself. Well, I'm all about the wait-and-see approach, especially if it won't ruin my engine and costs me nothing! So please cross your fingers for my car...it just got paid off this month and I was really hoping to start enjoying not having to worry about car payments!