[swt1899]

I think we've all heard that phrase "When it rains, it pours." Well, these past few days I've noticed that our AC hasn't been running efficiently. Thursday night I baked a chicken for dinner and noticed that it really heated up the house and the AC read 82 degrees. It took forever to cool down. Then last night I made gumbo and the temp read 81 after we ate dinner. I kept thinking, "Maybe I should make my large meals in the morning and then reheat them for dinner." It has been a hot summer here in TX so I could see how cooking dinner could heat up the house. Well, today I went to vacuum and noticed it was really warm in the house. I went to the thermostat and it read 83. I panicked because I had it set for 78. It wasn't even kicking on. So I called my DH and he had me try and locate the company that installed it when we built our house. I searched everywhere and couldn't find it. So I called my parents and they gave me the name of a guy who was reasonable in price. I got an appointment and he showed up at 7:15. My DH talked with him and come to find out we were low on Freon (sp?). I thought, no big deal. Well, this is more expensive than charging up the AC in a car. We are looking at $400-500 for this visit. And the guy is going to call and check with our warranty and then call us back. If we have a leak, then we plan on getting it fixed... or we may have to get a totally new unit. This could cost us $1,400. I wanted to cry. We still have a cushion in our savings account, but we were planning to use that for our son's surgery for his feet. It is a mess. I'm a SAHM so this is kinda scary. I do some online teaching, but our session hasn't started yet. *sigh* So I'm a little stressed. We do a lot of saving and conserving to cut down on spending. But this possible expense kinda worries me.
Anyone been through something like this? How did you handle it?
Sorry to rant, but I had to vent.