Carpocalypse '09: The Not-A-Fishening

Since Sunday, my brakes have been making a grinding noise at low speeds. I waited a day to see if that went away on its own. It did not.

Yesterday after work, I brought my baby in to my dad's favorite mechanic, who is Totally Awesome and Funny. He gave me a loaner, told me he'd check it out first thing in the morning (I was bringing it in near closing time) and call me back with the prognosis. I knew that there was also some structural damage from this past January, and that I was overdue for an oil change and the 50,000 Mile Maintenance Checkup.

(Please note, I spent the last twenty minutes searching my computer for a picture of my car which I love, and was saddened that I could not find a single one. I know they exist; I've posted them before!)

I got a call today. Awesome Mechanic did his look-over and said that there was $2,300-Give-Or-Take-A-Couple-Hundred worth of work to do. Taking off the things I can easily do myself, that brings it down to about $1,800. I can easily afford this, but I have to dip into my savings to do so.

You guys don't mind not getting Christmas presents this year, right?