I went to the CVS this evening to return my redbox and take the landlord to get his McDeath for dinner. As I was driving away from the CVS, my car started acting funny. Thanks be to my misadventurous youth, I know what a car feels like when it's running out of gas, so I maneuvered to a blank spot in the parking lot and had myself a little think.
We ended up walking over to McD to get his food, since he's insulin-dependent, and I don't want to deal with blood sugar issues. He did not have the dog or the cane, so he couldn't walk home.
We get back to the car, and we're trying to brainstorm who to call. His father, the obvious choice because he lives five minutes away, has already turned his phone off for the night. His brother, on a rare in-town weekend, is actually camping with his kid. I could walk to the gas station, but I have no gas can and no money to buy one. He's willing to spring for gas, but doesn't have enough to buy a gas can, too. What happened to the days when gas stations would have a gas can on hand and let you borrow it?
I'm scrolling through my phone and it's all Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, DC, New York, Texas! Oh, wait, he lives two hours away. Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, damn I know a lot of people in OK. I finally found someone and managed to get hold of her after three unanswered calls, and so a ten-minute trip to get food turned into a three-hour sit in the car. She got there, had already procured a gas can and had filled it, and a random guy that she just happened to know was there and offered to come help.
Anyway, car started right up, I got a tank full of gas (I asked for it last week, but this is not the way I anticipated it happening, lol), and I even got my Fossil Felix the Cat watch back, because my friend had found it a week or so ago, and remembered it was mine.
While we were sitting there, I commented that the one time I leave the house without my Kindle is the one time I needed something to occupy my time. After I declared that I was never leaving the house again without my entire purse, including my Kindle, we had a good ten minutes riffing on what would be in the magical backpack in the trunk from now on (included a tent, a camp stove, chainsaw (wtf) and various other goodies).
We also talked about energy exchanges and how he'd come to understand them.
I've never been comfortable asking for help. The last five years have been an exercise in curing myself of that in a big way. Anyway, I've reframed the help thing in my head, because someone once explained to me that everyone likes to feel useful or needed or just have the warm fuzzies, so when I refuse to ask for help, I am depriving other people of an opportunity to do something that makes them feel good. I have to tell myself this a lot sometimes, but it works. Sometimes.
Tonight, though, he talked about it in physics terms - you know, the universe is energy and everything is energy and it flows around and through everything. When I try to be self-sufficient, I'm frakking up the energy flow - I can't put energy out if I'm not taking any in. I'm not explaining it very well, but it hit me that by trying to be all I need no one and can do everything myself, I'm mucking up the flow and that makes things worse for everyone, including the people around me. So I've got some thinking to do and more reframing of the crap in my head.
And on that note, what stopped me from calling any of a dozen people was the idea behind saying, "Hey, I ran out of gas, will you come rescue me?" which is, "Hey, I'm a loser who doesn't even have enough money to put gas in my own car, and I ran out of gas five minutes from my own house, and won't your Saturday night suck if you come help me." Gah! I complain that no one ever calls me for help, even though I would, gladly, even at my own inconvenience. So what makes me think that others don't want the same opportunity? My head is a frakked up place. I'm blaming the 60s.
But. Full tank of gas. Felix the Cat. I bow to the universe.
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Helluva Day!
(original lj post 02/06/2013)
A couple of days ago, when I was running my landlord around, doctor, Home Depot, lunch, etc, something weird happened in my car. I spent the last two days figuring out what the problem is, even going so far as to call the guy who replace my oil pan (and kept my car for an entire frakking year!) and ask him, since he's a Volvo lover.
Bought a light tester today, couldn't figure out from the directions how to use the stupid thing, and ended up pulling each individual fuse out of two different places in my car (inside and under the hood) to find the blown one/s. None. And now my hands hurt. So, it's a relay. I also took each one of them apart and checked, but could not tell if any of them were blown - have no frame of reference. Auto Zone guys were completely clueless. O'Reilly's guy at least knew exactly what I was talking about when I told him what I needed, but told me it was a dealer part, $40 each, nonreturnable, and O'R have no way of testing those, so I can't figure out which one it is. Maybe Volvo does. I really don't want to go to the dealership.
While I was there, another O'R guy came in and after I described everything, including the blooming chime that never shuts up, he said, "Sounds like your alternator." It does not sound like my alternator, but I just looked at him. Apparently I used my 'mom' look or something, because he said I looked confused. "Well, your alternator is basically a small electrical generator." Really? I had no idea. I've never worked on a car before in my life, or rebuilt a carb, or helped pull an engine, or worked at a parts house or a dealership. I didn't say any of that, though the frustrated bitch in me surely wanted to. Actually, the frustrated bitch in me wanted to smack the crap out of him, but that's neither here nor there.
I've never owned a Volvo before, and I have to say that it's been a big, fat pain in my ass. Parts are impossible and expensive, and finding someone to work on them that doesn't work at a dealership is extremely difficult. I'll go back to American from now on. At least I know how to find the parts and how to fix them. Mostly.
Got back, and the guy (I call him Scrawny Hernia Guy) who was supposed to do the painting on the side of the house did a crap job, much like the crap job he did in my landlord's closet (none of the shelves are level, and seriously? Landlord's blind, but you aren't. Frakker.). He wanted to get paid anyway, and his reasoning was he was paid to paint on the second story (uh, only one story on this house) and that's what he did. If we wanted it done right, as in old paint scraped completely off before the new paint goes on, he'd have to come back next week, and we'd have to pay him the same amount as today, again. Uh-huh. Maybe that works for other people, and maybe that worked for landlord before he had me, but I'm a perfectionist, and I don't pay people to do crap jobs and to come back to do the job right the second time instead of the first. I'll get up on that stupid ladder and paint that one little piece myself before I'll pay you another flipping dime. Idiot.
On the other hand, nine days until Die Hard, and only three until Saturday, plus, my fingers have been typing a lot of stories lately, and none of that sucks, so... :D
Maybe I'll take some benadryl and go to bed early tonight. Wake up on the right side of the chair tomorrow. lol
A couple of days ago, when I was running my landlord around, doctor, Home Depot, lunch, etc, something weird happened in my car. I spent the last two days figuring out what the problem is, even going so far as to call the guy who replace my oil pan (and kept my car for an entire frakking year!) and ask him, since he's a Volvo lover.
Bought a light tester today, couldn't figure out from the directions how to use the stupid thing, and ended up pulling each individual fuse out of two different places in my car (inside and under the hood) to find the blown one/s. None. And now my hands hurt. So, it's a relay. I also took each one of them apart and checked, but could not tell if any of them were blown - have no frame of reference. Auto Zone guys were completely clueless. O'Reilly's guy at least knew exactly what I was talking about when I told him what I needed, but told me it was a dealer part, $40 each, nonreturnable, and O'R have no way of testing those, so I can't figure out which one it is. Maybe Volvo does. I really don't want to go to the dealership.
While I was there, another O'R guy came in and after I described everything, including the blooming chime that never shuts up, he said, "Sounds like your alternator." It does not sound like my alternator, but I just looked at him. Apparently I used my 'mom' look or something, because he said I looked confused. "Well, your alternator is basically a small electrical generator." Really? I had no idea. I've never worked on a car before in my life, or rebuilt a carb, or helped pull an engine, or worked at a parts house or a dealership. I didn't say any of that, though the frustrated bitch in me surely wanted to. Actually, the frustrated bitch in me wanted to smack the crap out of him, but that's neither here nor there.
I've never owned a Volvo before, and I have to say that it's been a big, fat pain in my ass. Parts are impossible and expensive, and finding someone to work on them that doesn't work at a dealership is extremely difficult. I'll go back to American from now on. At least I know how to find the parts and how to fix them. Mostly.
Got back, and the guy (I call him Scrawny Hernia Guy) who was supposed to do the painting on the side of the house did a crap job, much like the crap job he did in my landlord's closet (none of the shelves are level, and seriously? Landlord's blind, but you aren't. Frakker.). He wanted to get paid anyway, and his reasoning was he was paid to paint on the second story (uh, only one story on this house) and that's what he did. If we wanted it done right, as in old paint scraped completely off before the new paint goes on, he'd have to come back next week, and we'd have to pay him the same amount as today, again. Uh-huh. Maybe that works for other people, and maybe that worked for landlord before he had me, but I'm a perfectionist, and I don't pay people to do crap jobs and to come back to do the job right the second time instead of the first. I'll get up on that stupid ladder and paint that one little piece myself before I'll pay you another flipping dime. Idiot.
On the other hand, nine days until Die Hard, and only three until Saturday, plus, my fingers have been typing a lot of stories lately, and none of that sucks, so... :D
Maybe I'll take some benadryl and go to bed early tonight. Wake up on the right side of the chair tomorrow. lol
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Things I've Learned
Spending a week in a hotel in San Antonio made some things clear.
I miss SA. A LOT.
Though we've been making do here in DFW with On the Border for Mexican food, it's really not Mexican food. I miss having good-tasting, affordable Mexican food just about on every corner.
I miss TV. A lot.
I am fat. Fatter than I think I am.
Doing anything that requires walking is a thing of the past. I just can't do it anymore, not without paying for it later in ways that are unacceptable.
Driving more than about an hour is extremely uncomfortable, and by the end of two hours, is painful. Six hours in the car was really not a good idea. I'm thankful I built in an extra day to recover before the "festivities" began. Driving back yesterday was a big ball of notfunatall.
I miss being the structure of life I had as a military dependent - maybe that's a childhood thing. Knowing what's expected of me, what behavior is unacceptable in public, being among other who think nothing of standing for the National Anthem, rather than looking at me like I'm crazy (which I am, but what do they know?).
The idea of being homeless terrifies me, maybe as much as the idea of going to jail.
My stepmother really doesn't like me. No, I mean really. She said hi to me at the graduation, from a distance, and otherwise stayed a minimum of ten feet away and ignored me. At least I got a hug from my dad.
Being "home" again has made other things clear.
Clearing out the remainder of the apartment is going to take longer than I have. I will end up tossing perfectly good things, or giving away things I want to keep (like my mother's writings), just to get everything out of the apartment by the end of April.
I am going to have an extraordinarily difficult time living alone, IF I have a place to live.
I don't really like living here and want to go "home."
I'm really, really depressed, and have doubts that I'll come out of this one sane, or at least as sane as I've been claiming up until now.
I miss SA. A LOT.
Though we've been making do here in DFW with On the Border for Mexican food, it's really not Mexican food. I miss having good-tasting, affordable Mexican food just about on every corner.
I miss TV. A lot.
I am fat. Fatter than I think I am.
Doing anything that requires walking is a thing of the past. I just can't do it anymore, not without paying for it later in ways that are unacceptable.
Driving more than about an hour is extremely uncomfortable, and by the end of two hours, is painful. Six hours in the car was really not a good idea. I'm thankful I built in an extra day to recover before the "festivities" began. Driving back yesterday was a big ball of notfunatall.
I miss being the structure of life I had as a military dependent - maybe that's a childhood thing. Knowing what's expected of me, what behavior is unacceptable in public, being among other who think nothing of standing for the National Anthem, rather than looking at me like I'm crazy (which I am, but what do they know?).
The idea of being homeless terrifies me, maybe as much as the idea of going to jail.
My stepmother really doesn't like me. No, I mean really. She said hi to me at the graduation, from a distance, and otherwise stayed a minimum of ten feet away and ignored me. At least I got a hug from my dad.
Being "home" again has made other things clear.
Clearing out the remainder of the apartment is going to take longer than I have. I will end up tossing perfectly good things, or giving away things I want to keep (like my mother's writings), just to get everything out of the apartment by the end of April.
I am going to have an extraordinarily difficult time living alone, IF I have a place to live.
I don't really like living here and want to go "home."
I'm really, really depressed, and have doubts that I'll come out of this one sane, or at least as sane as I've been claiming up until now.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Nothing Important Happened Today
Bonus points if you know from whence that came.
I got a little bit of stuff out the door to a new owner, who knows several families recently affected by fire in their homes, so more stuff may go soon from her referrals.
Moved some stuff around to make it easier to access once Mr Potatohead leaves for Basic Training tomorrow. OMG, it's tomorrow! :(
Held Baby Potatohead while he slept. I love doing that. He also helped me list things on Amazon by pounding on the laptop, and helped me hold my Snapple bottle so it wouldn't run away from me.
Made some guacamole in the middle of the night. It tasted better than the chips, so I ate it by itself. I may have already told you this.
Got my car fixed and got the title in my hot little hand.
Got a couple dozen new items listed on Amazon, and shipped something to Norway (!).
I got a little bit of stuff out the door to a new owner, who knows several families recently affected by fire in their homes, so more stuff may go soon from her referrals.
Moved some stuff around to make it easier to access once Mr Potatohead leaves for Basic Training tomorrow. OMG, it's tomorrow! :(
Held Baby Potatohead while he slept. I love doing that. He also helped me list things on Amazon by pounding on the laptop, and helped me hold my Snapple bottle so it wouldn't run away from me.
Made some guacamole in the middle of the night. It tasted better than the chips, so I ate it by itself. I may have already told you this.
Got my car fixed and got the title in my hot little hand.
Got a couple dozen new items listed on Amazon, and shipped something to Norway (!).
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Just a random post
I'm up at a ridiculous hour of the night because I've been cleaning out (also known as decluttering, lol) my email inbox. I've got two packages ready to leave my house (stuff that's long overdue to go somewhere) and another couple of First Class things to mail. Now, if only I can get enough sleep and wake up in time to get my car fixed at 1400 on Saturday. This daytime sleeping is for the birds.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Scream!!!!
I hate not having a washer and dryer. I either have to go to the laudnrymat or go to my in-laws to do laundry, and for a while we did not have a car to go either place. Now that we have a car, I can't get the laundry down the stairs, there's so much of it. And I'm down to my last pair of underwear and my last clean towel! Ugh. Where's the darn laundry fairy?
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
I got a car!
Today I got a new-to-me car. It's a 1996 Volvo, green, in very good condition. It's very snazzy, with little perks my Blazer didn't have.
The first thing I did was pack the kids all up and go to the title office, then to the Post Office, then to Target. Tomorrow is laundry.
See what you can do when you have a car? lol
The first thing I did was pack the kids all up and go to the title office, then to the Post Office, then to Target. Tomorrow is laundry.
See what you can do when you have a car? lol
Yesterday...
I slept most of yesterday. I woke up relatively early, but didn't really feel good, and hurt a lot, so I took some Aleve and Benadryl and went back to sleep. Woke up about 4.
Got some reading done, found a few art books and got them listed, then last night I got a spurt of energy, and found the pieces to a shelf and put it together. Found a bin that had my extremely generous supply of incense and candles. Found a bin that had my high school Pep Squad pompoms. lol
So, with that little bit, I feel as if I actually got something done.
Now, I should be trying to sleep, because my mom (yes, the one who removed me from her Facebook page) is taking me to get a car. I imagine she'll want to start as early as possible (she knows I'm a night owl), so I may just stay up and forget trying to sleep until after I've gotten home again. I'm not really interested in the lecture involved in answering the phone from a dead sleep and saying I'm not ready to go.
I really do need to find some matches or a couple of reliable lighters, though. I ran out of matches and can't find a single damn lighter in the whole house. I want to burn some incense!
Got some reading done, found a few art books and got them listed, then last night I got a spurt of energy, and found the pieces to a shelf and put it together. Found a bin that had my extremely generous supply of incense and candles. Found a bin that had my high school Pep Squad pompoms. lol
So, with that little bit, I feel as if I actually got something done.
Now, I should be trying to sleep, because my mom (yes, the one who removed me from her Facebook page) is taking me to get a car. I imagine she'll want to start as early as possible (she knows I'm a night owl), so I may just stay up and forget trying to sleep until after I've gotten home again. I'm not really interested in the lecture involved in answering the phone from a dead sleep and saying I'm not ready to go.
I really do need to find some matches or a couple of reliable lighters, though. I ran out of matches and can't find a single damn lighter in the whole house. I want to burn some incense!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Gotta lotta cleanin' done
Actually, it wasn't me at all. My son-in-law got a wild hair and decided to clean the living room. Where before we had a very narrow passageway through boxes and other things, now more than half of the living is passable. There's even the Suburban third seat clear now, so I have someplace to sit while I'm sorting stuff. Through his sorting, I came across the TV remote I'd been looking for since we moved, and an art book that I've listed on Amazon, as well as a small bag of heirloom linens that belong to a client.
I don't know what got into him, but I appreciate it muchly.
I don't know what got into him, but I appreciate it muchly.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Busy weekend
This weekend has been beyond busy, with lots of auctions ending, and putting stuff up on the new site. I have twelve packages ready to go out, with six of them paid for.
I listed my truck up on craigslist, and have already gotten two responses to it. It's only been an hour. Sheesh. I mean, good, because I want to get rid of it to have something more useful to me, but unexpected.
Tomorrow I have to go to an unemployment meeting, mandatory, at 9am. I guess that's technically later today. Ugh. I hate mandatory meetings, much less first thing in the morning, when I haven't been able to get to sleep the night before.
The cats all went to the shelter last week, and I miss them. I wish that I'd had the money to keep them, but since they weren't even mine, I guess I just have to live with what is, rather than what I wish.
I listed my truck up on craigslist, and have already gotten two responses to it. It's only been an hour. Sheesh. I mean, good, because I want to get rid of it to have something more useful to me, but unexpected.
Tomorrow I have to go to an unemployment meeting, mandatory, at 9am. I guess that's technically later today. Ugh. I hate mandatory meetings, much less first thing in the morning, when I haven't been able to get to sleep the night before.
The cats all went to the shelter last week, and I miss them. I wish that I'd had the money to keep them, but since they weren't even mine, I guess I just have to live with what is, rather than what I wish.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Friday Focus
Today was pretty much all watching baby, all day. Very late shower. Brief trip to the post office to mail eBay packages. Text on the way home asking for dinner items, so a little side trip to the grocery store. After that, a wee detour to pick something up from my parents. I leave my parents house and get around the corner, come to a complete stop at the stop sign, and hit the gas pedal. Sputter, sputter, cough, roll back. Yep, I've run out of gas! What the hell? Several texts and phone calls later, in-laws bring me a gas can with a gallon of gas, and I thank them profusely and get back in the car. Turn the key and clickclickclickclick. Yes, the battery is dead. Dad is at the grocery store, and will bring his jumper cables as soon as he gets home. Half an hour later, I'm finally on my way home.
Thus does my brief trip to the post office take three hours to complete.
At least I got spaghetti out of the deal.
Speaking of spaghetti, I was reminded recently how much I liked spaghetti the way my mom made it, so we've been making it that way for a couple of months. I got a huge jar of Prego on sale last week, so we had Prego spaghetti tonight. First time I've had it in a while. I like mom's better, even if it does come out of a packet.
Thus does my brief trip to the post office take three hours to complete.
At least I got spaghetti out of the deal.
Speaking of spaghetti, I was reminded recently how much I liked spaghetti the way my mom made it, so we've been making it that way for a couple of months. I got a huge jar of Prego on sale last week, so we had Prego spaghetti tonight. First time I've had it in a while. I like mom's better, even if it does come out of a packet.
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