when it rains it pours

So, over the past few days we have made some hard decisions and some unfortunate discoveries. It's been good news-bad news the whole time.

Turns out our heater isn't broken, its just that we're low on engine coolant! That's good.
We're low on coolant because there is a coolant leak. That's bad.
Auto service place says, "You're absolutely right, there is a bad leak in your radiator." That's sorta good.
"And by the way, we found a leak in your oil pan. AND we're going to charge you $45 to tell you you were right in the first place." That's bad.
"To fix your car, we will charge you $1000!" That's good for them. Bad for us.
I hope that my silent scowl while paying $45 is correctly interpreted as "F-you bastards for telling me nothing i didn't already know and having the balls to charge me for it." That's highly unsatisfying.
I get quotes for the same work from various radiator shops around town that are all much lower than this place. That's good!
None of the quotes are under my new $100 policy regarding this car. That's bad.
I can buy a reconditioned, warranteed radiator for about $75. That's good!
Supposedly this model and year of car is a bitch to do radiator work on, which is why all the estimates were so high in the first place. That's bad.
My father-in-law has volunteered his garage and tools and to help do the work ourselves. That's good.
It's still going to cost at least $75+ and probably an entire day of work to do it ourselves, and if we screw something up could put the car out of commission (always an option when I'm involved). That's bad.
The dog had diarrhea and shit in the middle of the living room in the middle of the night. That's bad.
I got to mop the entire downstairs of the house, a chore that was long overdue. That's good.
The dog did it again two nights later, this time pooping in the living room and in the dining room, both in the exact locations where we either put Felix down on his play mat or where we sit his bouncy seat. Seems like something more is going on. That's bad, bad, bad.
We do some soul searching and finally decide that the dog needs to go live in the country. That's bad and good.
Suzanne is going to lend us her crate so we can more easily contain and minimize clean up the dog when Andrea goes out. That's good.
If the dog can actually be crate trained, he might not need to go live elsewhere. That's really good. Good for everyone.
Dog still needs to be trained, which is time consuming and the whole reason why he hasn't been trained yet. That's bad.
Andrea and Felix will still be trapped at home during the day until we can use the crate...and even more so now that it is so cold and the car has no heat. That's BAD.
And of course it is getting very cold and we have a drafty old house, which means our heating bill has already started heading for the ceiling, which is just bad in general, but not our most impending bad news. I would consider that to be part of the general ambient seasonal badness.

I honestly think that Xmas is the magical wonderful time it is for children specifically because they never know what their parents are going through.