Tuesday, April 24, 2007

AAAUUUGGGHHH%&&*()*()%&&)()*!!!

Last November we got a new (used) mini van. We really needed a bigger car and, although we didn't get it under the happiest of circumstances, we still feel so blessed to have it.

Except for the seat belts. Our other car (and Mike's old, crushed car) both have locking seat belts. The van, for some inexplicable reason, does not. And anyone who has ever tried to properly install a car seat with their spouse in a car without locking seatbelts will tell you that locking seatbelts are a true marriage saver.

So I was quite dismayed when I realized that, once again, Mike and I were going to have face car seat installation trauma. In an effort to avoid hours of therapy, I borrowed the Mighty Tite seatbelt tightener from Cori. (Although Eric is now 4, he is only 35 pounds and the doctor feels that it is still safer for him to be in a carseat. So technically he can sit in a booster, but, well, it's hard to argue with the doctor). The Mighty Tite is pretty amazing. You thread the seatbelt through it and crank this little lever, which secures your seatbelt, tight as a drum. Eric's carseat was going nowhere. I could have carted a nuclear bomb in that thing. As Cori was installing it for me, she did warn me that installation of the Mighty Tite can be pretty tricky....

Needless to say I have been a little frightened of the Mighty Tite and have not touched it since Cori installed it for me. Until Sunday. Mike and I had to drive separately to church and he was going to have to take one of the seats out of the van. I casually asked him to take Ryan's, but he didn't really hear me. I will take full responsibility for not explaining in detail that Eric's seat is not to be touched under any circumstances because I am scared of the Mighty Tite. So, of course while I was in my meeting Mike dismantled Eric's seat and put it in his car.
And I did not discover this until yesterday morning when we were sprinting out the door to try to catch the school bus (fine--I admit that I drive to the bus stop. I'm just proud of the fact that we actually make it on most days. Judge not...). So I quickly used Eric's seat as a booster, thinking I would reinstall the Mighty Tite when we got home. And that is when things really went south.
As of this writing, this is what Eric's seatbelt looks like:
This is after 2 hours of trying to untangle it. In my defense, I didn't read the instructions because there weren't any. I've tried pliers, I've tried taking the Mighty Tite apart (but they conveniently assembled it with these nifty little triangle shaped screws that are unscrewable) and I contemplated calling Dodge to see how much a new seatbelt would cost. I would have taken a sledgehammer to the whole thing if Eric had not been playing in the front seat. I believe this is how my sweet husband will be spending his evening.
When I finally called Cori in near tears, her reply was "oh, it sounds like you didn't do it right".


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was waiting for your usual Monday update. Oh my - thanks for the visual. The Mighty Tite looks very...um...tightly wound? as i'm sure your nerves are? too bad you don't have Dave "I can spend 2 hours untying kite string" Smith at your disposal... :)