Problem Solved--I HOPE

After my minor neuroses (sp?) yesterday, I've been told my car is really fixed this time. The people were nice about it, found the problem right away, and said the leak was so small they were surprised it even showed up enough for the check engine to come on. Here's hoping they are right. You know how some people are petrified of snakes? Elevators (I'm serious, I once knew a girl who would not get on an elevator)? Various other things? Well, that's kind of how I get with cars due to my expensive previous car problems. That and I'm a bit of a spazz, but especially with anything car related. So perhaps now I can get back to blogging about other ridiculous things like whether or not to try to be a vegan again, my continued home-owning updates (we'll need to review the first year since we are approaching the one year anniversary, perhaps that'll be a good one for the 100th blog), etc. Until then, have a good one!

Here's Hoping the Third Time's a Charm

I've heard the third time's a charm and I've heard bad things come in three's so either I'm hoping by this time tomorrow or a little thereafter I've been charmed and/or my bad luck is over. As you may remember from a previous blog, my car and I are not bff's. I have taken my car to a local shop twice to be fixed. The first time they "fixed" the problem (about two weeks ago) it cost "only" $111 or $113. Sadly, that is cheaper than many of my car problems. Well, alas the problem was not really fixed as last week I had to bring it in again to get fixed because the check engine light came back on. Approximately, $700 later everything was all set (Tuesday). Well, here we are one week later and guess what? My check engine light is on AGAIN. Seriously?! Seriously?! Yes, seriously. So guess what I get to do after work tomorrow? Take it in again. I'd like to take it to a different place, but since this place has all ready "fixed" my car twice, they told me to bring it back and I guess I have to in case they messed something up. They warrantied their work so if I go there, they will "fix" (or hopefully fix) it for free, where at this point if I bring it some place else, it could cost another $700. UGH! Why can't I live within walking distance of work?

Yeah, I Know It's Hot, but It's Better Than Being Cold

Given where I live, I suppose I must do the obligatory blog complaining about the heat. I don't really want to complain though (yes, you read that correctly, the queen of complaining is refraining). Yes, I know it's hot. If I couldn't tell by stepping outside or looking at the thermometer, it's on every news station, newspaper, etc and it seems to be the "hot" topic of conversation this week among nearly everyone I've talked to. I get that it can be dangerous as people can get heat stroke, dehydrated, etc, but I wonder, what do the people in hotter parts of the country or in other parts of the world do (i.e. near the equator)? Do they complain about the heat all the time or is it just so normal that there's nothing to say. My friend was in Iraq years ago (he's in the Air Force) and it was well over 100 nearly everyday he was there. And that was apparently fairly normal for them. Now I will admit, I confess I too have made some adjustments due to the heat. I did not go to the gym or walk today because of the heat (though I did go yesterday). Instead I did an exercise DVD at home in front of the fan, which kicked my butt. A couple of days ago, after work, I eventually got annoyed with the heat and went upstairs to the one air-conditioned room in my house and was incredibly lazy. I parked myself on the bed and watched TV for probably longer than I should have. Some friends are coming over for dinner tomorrow night and they asked if we could go out instead of eating here because they said it would be too hot too cook as I have no a.c. in the kitchen. My car thermometer said it was 103 when I was running errands today, I can't tell you the last time it said 103. It's likely it's happened before, but I don't remember. Additionally, I spent most of last summer working on the new home and was only usually out earlyish in the morning and late at night, when it wouln't typically be 103 so if it was that hot then, I didn't really notice (I'm sure there's a good chance that it was about that hot when I was in AZ last summer, but I wasn't in my car then). So yeah, it's not, but you know what? I can park myself in front of my fan or go upstairs to my bedroom and put the A.C. on (which is nice as my last home did not have A.C. in the bedroom and it made for some hot nights). I have access to pools here or I could go bug my parents and use their pool. So I will take this ANYday over the cold. Even with a.c, my electric bill is MUCH lower than in the winter (I have electric heat and let's just say that's pricey!). I don't have a.c. downstairs, but with my two fans going, it's comfortable enough down here. This place is decent in the summer, but for part of the winter, it was rough.. I think it's not well-insulated or something. Also, earlier in the year, my kitchen heat was not working well at all. Thankfully, Mr. C fixed it for me so I was able to stop wearing a winter coat in the kitchen. I like cold drinks so if I'm hot, I just grab a big ol' glass of water. I don't like most hot drinks so even if I'm cold, I'm not likely to go get a cup of coffee, esp as I don't have a coffee maker. There is no snow in the summer, no ice to worry about slipping on, and no piling on layers of clothes to prevent frostbite, and no cringing if you wake up in the middle of the night and have to go to the cold bathroom because you turn the heat down at night to save $. So do I want it to be 103 every day? No, of course not, but given a choice, I will gladly take this over winter. So if summer wants to last 'til say November, I'm cool with that. :) I will add one more confession, usually there is no a.c. where I work in the summer, but this year, there is. I confess I may not be so okay with the heat if I didn't have a.c. at work. So I'll take the heat, but if you work outside or in front of an oven or something, you go ahead and complain, you are entitled to. So there's the obligatory heat blog.

Why Do Car Repairs Cost so Much?

Sometimes I miss living in Boston and taking the T and not having to deal with a car. Of course I'm sure when I lived there, there were times when I hated waiting for the T and wanted a car. So as you may remember from previous blogs, my car and I are not exactly bff's and going to the mechanic stresses me out (for good reason as usually it costs me big bucks). Last week my check engine light came on so I took it to the mechanic (I tried a different one this time that was supposed to be more reasonably priced than the one I've gone to in the past). They ran the test and said all they could figure was the gas cap. So they put a new gas cap on ($13 plus the cost of the test) and said if the light didn't come on again in 100-150 miles the problem was the gas cap and life was peachy (they didn't actually say peachy, I just added that part). Guess what? A week later when I put my car on to leave work, the light was on again. Grr. So I called the mechanic again and they said to bring it back in and they'd do the test for free. So I brought two books (finished one and started another), good thing, as it was only supposed to take an hour... after three hours, I was getitng a little impatient and went to the desk to get a status update. Well, apparently, something was leaking and something else might have been leaking, but they couldn't tell until they drained gas. Of course they were going to charge me $100 to drain the gas out, and then another $100 to put it back in. Um, can't they just fill the tank with one of those little buckets, it should not take an hour, I can fill my gas tank in a few minutes. Plus it was only half full so shouldn't it take less time? If it only takes 10 min, I don't see the point in charging me for a whole hour. If I work for 4 and a half hours, I get paid for four and a half hours, not for five hours. Well, I reluctantly gave the approval, walked home, and they called me a little later to tell me the problem was what they thought it was and the parts would be in on Tuesday. I would tell you what the problem was, but I don't remember. The guy was really nice, showed me a diagram and everything, but I'm a spazz and all I really saw was the price. There was a gas leak so a wire/cable/something had to be replaced and something else with the tank (I think) needed to be fixed too. So I have been carless since Friday. I was able to find a ride to book club, a wedding , and one of the only people at my work who lives in the same city as me said she'd drive me to work tomorrow so it's been doable, but I've been a little annoyed that I couldn't grocery shop, run a couple of errands, or go to the gym. However, since the bill is going to be more than a week's pay perhaps it's for the best as I won't be able to afford to buy any of that stuff. Maybe I'll finally lose that weight I put on ha ha. So once again I ask, why do mechanics make so much money? I mean no disrespect. Cars are important and I'm sure the mechanics work hard, but some people consider my job necessary (others clearly do not) and I make less than half what they do so I have to work over twice as long. Maybe one of the kiddos will grow up to be a mechanic and give me a big discount. I would like my next car to be one that has one of those crazy/long warranties on it and one with a reputation for not breaking every year. Of course with all the money I spend on repairs (for a car that supposedly has a good rep and doesn't have that many miles on it) I won't be affording one any time soon. So here's hoping I can get at least three more years out of this car that do not cost me a fortune.

Sleep, Hair, Eggs, Etc.

It seems like every time I turn around, people are talking about getting older. I finally accepted the fact that I turned 30 and was okayish with it--as one of my friends said, it beats the alternative (not making it to 30), but truth be told it doesn't feel that different from turning 22 or 26 or 29 or, you get the point . Yesterday I was walking with some friends who are ten plus years older than I am (and absolutely wonderful). They talked about how when you get to be their age, you don't sleep so well, you keep waking up during the night. Guess what? I slept fine Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, but last night I woke up several times. Go figure! A couple of weeks ago some people started talking about hair. Someone said you should start dying your hair at 30. What?! I wasn't aware of that. My hair is still blonde, why do I need to spend money on hair dye? (Someone did correct this person and tell her most people can wait 'til 40, phew, I've got 10 years to save). Someone else told me you shouldn't have hair as long as mine at my age. What?! Why not? I'll have you know, I have a friend 9 years older than me and her hair is just as long as mine. My hair looks awful really short and I want to still be able to put it in a pony tail for dance class, the gym, Zumba, walks, bad hair days, etc. I'll trim it, but I'm not cutting it all off just because I'm "old." Moving on, on this happy topic, I heard once you get to be a little older than me, it's a BIG pain in the arse to lose weight--great, I struggle with that now, I can only imagine how it'll be if I turn 40. Finally, a friend of mine, recently told me she wanted to have a kid soon while her eggs were still good. She is not much older than I am. Does this mean I need to get married now and start popping out babies? I'm so not ready for that yet! I still have a couple of things on my to do list before babies. Well, I hope I haven't depressed any 30 or 30 plus-year-olds with my today's blog. Maybe I'll do what my friend is doing on her birthday next week and instead of turning 30, she is turning 29 and 12 months. :-) Happy Summer! Stay cool.