Bloody Merry

Yeah, my ability to have a Merry Christmas has been hit. Hard. Last week, my car A/C stopped working. Yesterday, on my drive home from work, the windows being down revealed a bigger problem. A grinding metal-on-metal noise. Upon taking the RAV4 to Tires Plus this morning (which fixes again and again wheel bearings, hubs & the like), they tell me it's my spindle and axle. AND they tell me it's around $700 to fix it. Given they never fix anything right (thus the again and again part of my earlier statement), I called someone else that I trust. But, he can't look at it until Monday. So, my weekend free is screwed. Don't want to risk driving around and having my wheels fall off of something. And of course, I need to drive to Tampa next Friday for Christmas with my family. So, I HAVE to get this fixed. Can't afford it, though. I need a Christmas miracle. Or at least a bandage for my bloodied "merry". And I need to try and act happy today at least for my son's birthday party.