Just when we thought we were over it.....

we are now under a winter storm watch with predictions of up to 6 inches of snow by Friday morning. I just knew old man Winter wasn't through with us that easily. Although it may warm up and end up being just rain like the last storm we had.

I'm not complaining. I'm not a fan of snow.

Not much has been going on in my little corner of the world and that makes blog material very scarce. With the crazy fluctuations in temperatures, it has been a playground for germs. In a 12 hour period our temperatures can go up or down 40 degrees or more. I caught a mild version of the flu....very mild. I'm grateful for that and I do think my flu shot was responsible for that. My daughter and her family caught it and it went much worse for them. One Wednesday night at church it seemed like everyone was coughing and hacking, sneezing or nose blowing. It didn't make me feel too good about all the hand-shaking that goes on. You kinda hate to whip out an antiseptic wipe because that could be insulting, but it does cross your mind.

I finally got the window fixed on my car. It's been only......oh ten years or so that it quit working. I was told that it was going to be horribly expensive to fix it, so I didn't. The last straw was when the credit union moved their ATM to the outside wall of their building, accessible by vehicle only. Since my money is direct deposited, this is how I get my cash out.....so I had to do something. I was pleasantly surprised that a friend fixed it for $125.

You know the commercial where the little piggy is going "wheeeee wheeeee"? Well that's just what I felt like doing the first day I drove my car with the repaired window. I wanted to put it down, hang my head out and drive down the road yelling "wheeeeee". Something how such a little thing can give you such enjoyment.

I hope to be back soon but don't misconstrue that to mean I want some drama to happen so I'll have writing material....right now, boring is just fine with me. Hope everyone else is drama-free also. In the meantime, keep smilin'.

My- my, how time does fly.....

Well, I now have a happy car. $1,237 later. Its a shame when you see on the bill that nearly $800. of it was labor.

They had to replace the crank shaft sensor, replaced both rear wheel cylinders, replaced rear break pads and turned the rotors, replaced the brake line and did an oil change and winterization maintenance. The only two things on this list I fully understand are oil change and winterize.

Its just too darn bad that I didn't take an in-depth course in auto mechanics. I certainly could have saved myself some money in this case. Of course, I'm not going to complain too loudly. Having these repairs done may have possibly saved my life and I'm grateful to my 'angels' for looking after me.

I was cleaning out a bookcase and came across a DVD set of the old Amos n' Andy TV series shown back in the 50's. I watched a few of them this weekend and even though the quality wasn't the best, I got a kick out of them. This is definite proof that a program could be entertaining, creative and funny without a bunch of sexual innuendos and crude jokes or actions. I know it was felt that the programs were a slam against a certain racial group, but I never thought of them in that way....no more than you would think that of The Beverly Hillbillies or Married With Children. It was just good creative entertainment with plots that were sometimes brilliant. I sure did enjoy bringing back some memories ("Holy Mackerel Andy") and am looking forward to watching more of the discs each weekend. Do you remember this classic old program?

My car is sick.....

I was finally able to get my flu shot on Monday. The Health Dept. and all the drug stores and senior centers and other places that were giving the shots were out of them completely. I managed to find a doctor's office that still had some. I'm not going to get the H1N1 unless my doctor specifically tells me I have to have it. I'm just glad that I was able to get one. I've had a flu shot every year for over 30 years and have rarely had the flu and even when I did have it, it was a very mild case. So I do believe that the shots help a lot.

The other day my car stalled while I was driving down the highway. Not cool to be driving along at about 45 mph and suddenly your car quits. Its never done that before and it was pretty unnerving to say the least. Since then its been doing it a couple times on the way to and from work....and its only a 6 mile drive one way. I figured that maybe I got some bad gasoline or worse yet....maybe my fuel pump is going. As much as I hate to part with the money, I need my car and have to keep it healthy so I decided that on my day off (today) I would take it in to see what's causing this.

I had my daughter follow me so I could leave my car there. I took it to the dealership for the repairs. I've always used the dealership unless its something small like an oil change. I trust the mechanics there. I told them to winterize it and change the oil too. Also I told them to check the brakes because they still don't feel right to me. I had them checked a couple months ago because they felt "spongy" to me but the place I took it to (not the dealership) stated that the brakes were fine. I was beginning to feel like I'd lost my mind. I figured they were right and I was wrong.

Now I want to tell you all something that just proves beyond any doubt that I have some powerful guardian angels looking after me. I've learned to listen to their whispers. See, I've been driving my car even though I felt something was wrong with the brakes.....but I was driving it because people who are supposedly professionals told me there was nothing wrong. I probably would have continued to drive it even though I still felt that the brakes didn't feel right. That is until this new thing happened with the stalling. Having a car that stalls out in heavy traffic is extremely stressful and only a fool would put up with that. So that made me go and have my car looked at and while there, I felt a nudge at my shoulder and a whisper in my ear.... I heard myself saying, .....'oh yes, would you check the brakes while its here....they feel spongy to me but no one seems to think I know what I'm talking about'. Yes ma'm....we'll check them out for you.

They found the reason why my car is stalling....some sort of electrical problem that can be fixed without much trouble. But.....the brakes.....the brakes, the brakes. Seems as though my rear brakes have been leaking brake fluid for quite some time and the brake pads are soaked and the master cylinder has to be replaced. Dangerous? You bet! They will be repaired and yes, its going to cost more than $600 for everything to be repaired....the stalling plus the brakes, plus a tune-up. I'm going to do it even though my car is old. I'm going to do it because I've taken very good care of my car since I bought it new and it has low mileage and I can't afford to replace it right now. I'm going to do it because my car has always been dependable and has never caused me any trouble. I'm going to do it because my guardian angels have gone to a lot of trouble to make sure I knew about those brakes. Somebody up there loves me.

Son to the rescue.....

My son has redeemed himself. I will forget about what he did to my laundry because he worked on my car and probably saved me about $150 in labor.

If any of you follow astrology you know that Mercury is retrograde right now and when that happens things to do with communication, contracts and transportation can get messed up, misunderstood or break down. I’m not into this in a big way but I do know that a lot of times when it happens, something of mine needs repair; last time it was my garage door, the time before that, my computer. After that my mind draws a blank. Its an age thing.

So I was not surprised when I drove home Monday evening and my dashboard light came on next to my battery gauge. My battery was low…….very low. So I came home after my stop at the jewelry store and put the car away for fear I would get stranded somewhere, which is not a fun way to spend an evening. I didn’t have to work again until Friday so I knew that I was going to have to get it fixed within the next 3 days. Visions of dollar signs danced in my head.

I called my son and described the symptoms to him and he said it was probably my alternator – definition “big bucks”. Or I may need a new battery…which costs a lot less. He came over and fiddled around with it and said, Yep, it’s the alternator. (of COURSE it would be, YOU knew that) He called around and got a price then took my money and picked it up. He got his tools and went to work. How did this offspring of mine, who I had such a hard time potty training, learn how to do this stuff? I was impressed. He fixed it for me, saving me the labor costs. I offered to pay him, but he refused, saying….I might need a favor sometime. That caused my blood pressure to rise just a bit and my heart to skip a beat. Anyone who has children knows that a “favor” can be a loan of $5 or a request to co-sign on a new vehicle. I just hope his favor won’t be too expensive.