Quick Update My Car

After spending the day at one dealership or another, the determination (so far) is that the cooling fan module went bad in my car, which is what caused it to overheat.

My car overheated, which blew the head gaskets.

The head gaskets blew, which warped my (aluminum) heads....

So, I am in a rental car for Goddess knows how long this time. Essentially they have to tear my motor apart. At this rate, by the time the warranty is up (THANK GODDESS FOR WARRANTIES!) I'm going to basically have a new car, motor-wise.

It just flabbergasts me that this car gives NO WARNING! When the tranny went out last summer, it happened like this:

Tuesday on the way to work, about 10:30ish, my check engine light came on. I called the dealership & made an appointment to bring it in and get it checked WHILE STILL ON MY WAY TO WORK. It went the rest of the way to work, and back home, a total of about 25-30 miles.

Wednesday on my way to work, as I was going from one interstate to another, at roughly 50 (ok, 60) mph, my jumped out of gear and stayed that way. I had to have it trailered to the dealership. They had it for 6 weeks.

This time really wasn't much different -

Monday on my lunch break I ran over to KMart - about 3 miles - and then back to work. When I pulled in the parking lot, the dummy light for the temp was on and my guage was in the red. The only place it went from there was home & then to the dealrship (again) All the damage was done in a matter of about 20 miles - from first warning to being "broke"

See..? No warning! Most vehicles, the dummy lights come on, and you've got a bit of time to get it checked out & fixed before it becomes major. Not my car - oh no, that'd be too easy! By the time my dummy lights come on, it's too late, the car is already essentially broken!

*Sigh* Oh well, such is life! This too, shall pass :)

Ok, gotta get ready for work.

See ya laterzzzzzzzzz!

Day off..? Yeah Right!

Still gotta catch up - it's on my list, but that list is getting outta hand....
Today is supposed to be my day off...ROFLMAO! Let's back up a bit...Saturday I got off earlier than usual (5:00), and Ashley had my boy - and wanted to keep him for a while, so I had a few hours to myself - that never happens! So I needed to get my (new!) phone looked at, because I couldn't close the door over the charger port, it would cut calls off to reboot for no good reason, and half the time when I opened it, it would start loading an email application or Sprint music store application, and I would have to wait for it to finish loading to exit out to do what I needed to do. And, I used it as an alarm last week, while working early, and when it went off Saturday am, the only way to turn off the alarm was to turn the whole phone off - at 6:00 am...
SO I went to Sprint, told 'em my issues, and got in response "Huh. This is one of the best phone we offer (ic902), it's really unusual to have problems with one of these. I have to get it to reproduce the issue to do anything (which it surprisingly did right on cue). Ok I can swap it out, but I don't know what I'll swap it for, these don't exist anymore (?!?), they are being "revamped" (uh-huh). you can't get these anymore, (?!? "one of the best we offer???), so I'll have to swap for a comparable model, which would be the i880 (I'm ok with that)"
Then she went to the back of the store, out of hearing (go figger) for about 10 min, when she came back out she said "We can swap it out, but you'll need to go to the Greenwood store, We're out of them, since we've been swapping so many of them out (?!? uhhhhhh...did she just tell on herself? If there's rarely problems with this phone, why are you swapping so frequently you're out of the replacement..?) So I went to Greenwood store. My point here is I lost 1 1/2 hours of "time to myself" jacking around with Sprint - again (that's another post I need to get up *sigh* I really need a clone...)
So when done with that I went over to DSW Shoe Warehouse to see what they had that I couldn't live without (no, 35 pairs of shoes aren't enough - yet another story to come...) They didn't have anything, so I figured I'd go across the parking lot to Kohl's. When I went to start my car (see I DO eventually get back to my original point...), I hit the key, it turned over, but it didn't catch. *sigh* I hit the key again, this time it caught - sorta. Now I've had my share of hoopdie rides. For years I was always having to decide if I wanted my car to go or stop -fixing the motor or tranny so it goes, but the brakes are so bad it won't stop is usually a bad idea, but fixing the brakes on a vehicle that you can't get to go over 20mph due to motor/tranny issues is kinda pointless...but in fairness, it's been a looooong time since I've had to deal with that. My Hunny is awesome at keeping me in GOOD vehicles. But....it was like she wasn't getting any gas, when I hit the gas I could hear the motor sucking air - never a good thing. I finally got it to catch, and held her at a higher RPM to blow out whatever the problem was, and she ran - mostly - fine. Until yesterday (yes, that's two whole days)
When I came back from lunch yesterday, my dummy light indicating she was hot was on, and the needle was in the red. I only went about 5 miles each way, and didn't idle at all. I told hunny, so he came by when I got off to follow me home. At least that was the plan...We got about - oh I dunno 3 MILES and she was back in the red. Pulled over, cooled her down, added coolant. (Mind now, the motor is aluminum, so I have to have a "special mix, using only DISTILLED water" per instructions on the cap). A half hour later, I headed for the house and he headed for our boy. Have you ever had to drive a vehicle, with the heat on full blast in 95 degree heat..? Not fun, lemme tell ya!
I got about 6 or 7 more miles, and she was back in the red. We finally limped her home with the help of Mike & Missy. I just wanted to go get my boy, go home, change to swimwear, go to the pool, relax for a bit, and have a nice peaceful evening, then spend my day off just being OFF. Silly me, what was I thinking..? That NEVER happens...We ended up having Stacey keep our boy overnight (yeah, I had to take him back at 9:30 last night), and while I did that, Mike & Missy followed Hunny to the dealership to drop my car off, then he took them home & kept Mike's truck. He's really not happy with that - he HATES driving someone else's vehicle! (So do I, so I understand...)
Oh yeah, did I mention our air conditioning is out..? Again..? So I had to get up at 7 when the air guy called, to let him in - apparently the coil's leaking. They may or may not have one, so it may or may not get fixed today...here's our forecast for the next week...
So, here I am, on my supposed "day off" I have to deal with the air guy, deal with the car dealership (although I will say, the man I deal with down there is awesome - he's the reason I'm willing to take my car 25 miles to be fixed when I could go 5), oh yeah, and the power steering is squalling on the truck (which we bought new in 2006, and have had in the shop about 7 - 10 times...), so even though I dodged having to sit at O'Brien's all day waiting on my car, I get to go to Skillman's and sit all day waiting on the truck...
AND I was supposed to go to the doctor's today. Needless to say that's been rescheduled.
Ok, now I feel a little better, since I've actually posted here. I still have a bunch more to write, but It's gonna hafta wait a bit. I need to get a laptop, so I can do this shit somewhere other than home, since there has apparently been a new Universal Law added to my list of rules, right under "Can't leave house without forgetting something", "Not allowed to buy a vehicle without major issues" and "If reminded of something - anything - it will promptly be forgotten" that says "Not allowed to spend days away from work doing anything other than running around like chicken with head cut off."
*SIGH*
Ok, gotta go run like chicken without head!
*GRIN*
See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzz! 

Catching Back Up (Kinda Sorta...)

OMG, OMG, OMG - I am SOOOOO behind here! There is so much I want to get in here - Holiday World, Tooth fairy, the rotatation of the planet, damaged cars, bubble wrap & back injuries, undone laundry, air conditioners that quit working (and the accompanying "notthebrightestcolorinthecrayolabox" owner of the house's spouse issues). And a whole buncha other stuff I've already started to lose *sigh*


BUT time has been scarce (scarce..? Hell it's bee almost non-existent!) and I just haven't gotten here, which really SUX! 'Cuz I know the three of you spend you days in a heightened sense of anticipation, just waiting to see what's coming next...*snort, giggle*


BUT - the wonderful man over at The Vinyl Village has given my my very first BLOG AWARD! and I haven't even had the time to acknowledge it let alone thank him :(


THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! If someone had told me I would win a blog award, I'd have probably laughed in their face! I didn't even know I was in the running, or competing or whatever it is you do to get an award - the last award I won was for Extemperaneous Speaking - a century and a half ago, when I was in 6th grade...


Wow.


I'm aware I may seem to be being a bit facetious, but truly, I am so flabbergasted at this that I am at a loss. Plus, I have no idea how a normal person should react to an honor like this, since I'm not anything even remotely resembling normal...


Anyways, this beautiful award, the “Arte y Pico" comes with some stipulations, rules & regulations & stuffs :)

Winners must:

• Award five blogs that contribute to the blogging community through creativity, design, and interesting material, regardless of language.


• Name each of the five blog authors and provide a link to his or her blog.


• Award recipients must show the Arte y Pico Award image and the name of the award-giving blog author, as well as the award-giving blog author’s blog link.


• Award recipients must provide a link to the Arte y Pico blog.


• Award recipients must show these rules.

So, here goes

I will award to Tom, at Fate's Acquittal This blog consistently has wonderful enteries, and I feel it is a definite plus to the blogging community. Great content, always interesting, and not at all distant, but rather a real person who acknowledges comments and questions.

I will award to (another) Tom, at Tom's Hideaway Here you find interesting info, a lot of sports stuff, and an opportunity to compete in a Daily Trivia Challenge! That rocks - or at least it does for me (when I do well...)

I will award to Reas (not her real name) at Trench Warfare Here's a woman doing her best to help where she can, and finding herself thanked with kicks to the head - yet still she slogs onward, with style & humor -when possible.

I will award to Anji at Anji Patchwork simple observations & sharing of life. Always a nice place to visit, and sit a while.

FInally, I'll award Goob at Hey It's Free! The only thing better than cheap is free! And he has the free! He also throws in the occasional contest to keep things interesting :)

Ok, gotta go home. Will try to add more info on all of the things I want to get to * sigh*

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzz!

The Life & Times...

HAS GONE TO HOLIDAY WORLD! SHOULD (HOPEFULLY) BE BACK MONDAY, TUESDAY AT THE LATEST!

:)

Where Have I Been..?

Ok, I guess this is what I get for daring to say things had been "slow". *Slap in the face* That'll learn ya! Let's start with the boy & his tooth...

As you know, we've had a loose tooth for quite some time now. Well, It finally came out Tuesday. Lemme tell ya - that boy was excited! And of course he had a bazillion questions...as usual! Which I really wasn't up tp answering...

You see, this is where the "keepyourmouth(keyboard?)shutandNEVERsaythingsareslow" comes in. I had a doctors appointment Tuesday. Nothing major, just an Rx fill, and having a couple of skin tags removed on my neck. Which I wouldn't have bothered with, except they happened to be right where my necklaces hang, and right where my tags hit my back, when I wear a shirt with a tag (I try not to - there are so many tagless options now, and I LOVE THAT!). But they were irritating, so I figured I'd have the doc take 'em off. No biggie, I mean really - how bad could it hurt? I've given birth!

So I took my boy to Stacey's and dropped him off about noonish, and proceeded to the doctor's. I actually got my car most of the way cleaned out, since I got there early! That's a feat! My car creates shit...anyways, I went in, paid sat for a minute or two (they're really good about not making you wait if you have an appointment - now coming as a walk-in is a different story). After about 5 min id the room, the doc came in explained what he was going to do, and did it. Not bad at all, kinda felt like having hairs plucked out. He rubbed some antibiotic ointment on the spots, gave me my prescription and I was done. In and out in about 25 minutes total.

I had gotten a coupon for a $25 gift card from CVS for a new or transferred Rx, so I headed on down to CVS to get it filled, since it was in the area (I usually - almost always - go to Walgreens...). As I was driving down there, I was talking to Hunny, and telling him how easy it had been.

"Hell, they don't even hurt, it's more like an itch where they took them off" That would be me tempting fate again...

I got to CVS, and as I was walking in, my hands, palms and inside of wrists, began to itch. "Cool! I'm coming into money somewhere!" Yeah, right...I went back to the counter, gave her my card & id, all the while scratching my hands & wrists surreptitiously. She said it would be about 10 mins, so I figured I'd stroll the aisles and see if I could find anything I couldn't live without. But then I got a little light-headed, and my scalp started itching pretty bad - and scratching was BAD. I went over to the waiting area and sat down, and told hunny I was going to go. I was feeling pretty bad, and didn't want him freaking out...he was at work nothing he could do. By now I was thinking it might be a bit more than a sign of incoming income. My hands were starting to swell, and my whole body was turning bright red.

They called me up to get my medicine, and the little gal asked me "Are you alright..?"

"I don't think so."
I went and sat back down for a minute, then asked directions to the restroom, pretty sure I was about to hurl all over their waiting are. Now mind you I NEVER vomit. Ok, not never, but in 41 years, 14 of which were spent as a dancer who got paid by the drink, and another good 10 as a bartender, which means I DRANK, I'd bet I've only gotten physically ill 10 times. EVER. So this feeling keyed me to the fact that I might be in serious trouble. I didn't actually get sick, but it was a near miss. I went back to the waiting area and called the doctor's office. I had only been gone 15 minutes max, and I was only about 3 miles down the road.

Me: "Hi, this is Jodi, I just left there, I really, really, really need to talk to Linda or Dr. _____" My voice sounded a bit shaky to my ears...

Receptionist: "I'm guessing this is an emergency..?"
Me: "Yeah, I think so..."
Linda came on the line momentarily...

Her: "Hey Jodi, what's up?"
Me: "What was the stuff the doc put on my neck>"
Her: "It was just a triple antiboitic, why?"
Me: "I think I'm having an allergic reaction to something in it..."
Her: " Have you ever used it before? Ever shown any reaction?"

Me: "I've used antibiotic ointment on every tattoo I have (please understand what I am saying when I say that - I quit counting tattoos when I get to 40 - and there are still more to go...), and I've never had any problems with it."

Her: "Well do you think a couple of benedryl will help? What's happening with you..?"

Me: "Well, I'm shaky, I itch everywhere, my body's turning red, and it's kinda hard to breath..."

Her: "So you're having trouble breathing? Is your throat closing up?"

Me: "Starting to.."

Her: "You might want to think about coming back up here, how far away are you?"

Me: "Just down the road at CVS."
Her: "You better come on back..."
Me: Ok, on my way."
I went up to the counter to get my stuff, and the gal asked for my CVS card. I was shaking so bad, she took the ring out of my hand and said she'd find it. She also said that she wasn't sure she was comfortable letting me leave in the state I was in (and truly..? She probably shouldn't have) But I told her I was going to the doctor's office up on 56th St. we were at 34th St. and she let me go.

I got back to the doctor's, and they whisked me in the back. I ended up getting two shots of Epinephrine AND a shot of cortisone, to reverse the reaction... My skin was bright red, swelling (the rings that usually are trying to fall off my fingers left marks where the skin swelled around them), and itching to beat Hell. The whites of my eyes even turned red. Scary shit. But within 45 minutes of getting back to the office I was pretty much fine, not 100%, but probably 80%.

Apparently at some point, I have acquired a sever allergy to bacatracin(sp?)

Meanwhile, my boy was busy losing his tooth during a water fight *grin* He was so excited when I got there he could hardly stand it! And, he got his first bee sting - the same way I got my first bee sting, running through a sprinkler and stepped on it. I'm fairly certain he took it much better than I did. I HATE bees. I actually broke my tailbone some years ago trying to back away from a bee...
Damm! Gotta go for now, but will try to get back soon! Work calls again...
See ya laterzzzzzzzzz!

Awake at Five A M

Hey all. Yes,  I'm still here, and I actually have a few minutes to myself. Kinda. It's more like, despite it being five a m, here I am, awake. So I figured I'd take a bit of time to check in. There really hasn't been much happening here, lately, Probably the most exciting thing recently just happened yesterday - I finally got a table - ok desk- to set my sewing stuff up on. Woohoo. Yes, I am easily amused,,,

I haven't heard back from my dil on watching one of the boys...I don't know if that's good or bad, I'm gonna go with good, on the assumption that she found someone else, and it's no longer an issue,

My boy's tooth is now just hanging by a thread, so to speak, The new one is growing in behind it, I tried to get a pic, but the kid just isn't capable of holding sill long enough for me to get a clear shot,,, Hunny says it's the same tooth he has recessed, I'd never really noticed one being recessed until he pointed it out - guess that means it's just not that noticeable, and I just won't worry too much at this point,

Ok, gonna go try to sleep again, Hope it works, cuz five am is entirely too early to get up and still be functional to drive home 23 miles at 9pm,,,

G'night - I hope

See ya laterzzzzzzzz

Horrible Gramma

Ok, so here's the deal...I got a call from my daughter-in-law Monday. She left me a voice mail (I was at work) asking if I could keep one of the boys when she & my son go to Vegas in August. This is bad. In today's world, it is accepted, Hell, even expected that grandparents will care for their children's offspring on a regular basis, even to the point of raising them. This is the "way it works" so to speak, in most families.
My in-laws rarely keep our boy, and my parents are both gone, so we don't get much "help", and time child-free is almost non-existent for us. On occasion, Stacey or Rosa will keep him over night, and on very rare occasions (usually if I have to work on Saturday, which kinda ruins the benefit) she'll take him to the lake for a weekend in the Summer. But as a rule, if we aren't at work, we are in the company of the (usually) sweet (monster) boy. And he requires a lot of...well, something. I'm not implying in any way, shape or form that I think this is bad, just trying to explain our situation, and why we feel the way we do about this request.
We are not a typical Grandparents (in case you hadn't picked up on that). For one thing, Hunny and I both work full time (I work at least 40 a week, and he usually works 60 a week). My schedule is really screwy, and what time I have off is usually so full, I work harder on my days off than I do when at work...Now I know many of today's grandparents still work full-time, as grandkids are coming along earlier in life. But let's add in to my mix the fact that I have a five year old of my own. I still deal with a little one, usually to the point of exasperation every day. Most folks who are grandparents have children that are grown, or at least mostly grown.
If my (usually) sweet (monster) boy had never put in an appearance, my life would be very different. I would be more than happy to take my grandkids and keep them for a weekend, or a week, or...well, you get the picture. But he did. My life is much better for that, but consequently much fuller, and quite frankly I really have absolutely no desire to chase a 16 month old, Mama's boy who freaks out whenever his parents aren't in sight, or provide the constant attention required by a 4 month old. And deal with my 5 year old. He's a handful all by himself!
I talked to Hunny about this, and my reluctance to do this, and he agreed with me (I love my wonderful, supportive husband!).
She hasn't called back yet, which her message said she would do, but when she does, I'm afraid it's going to start a "family feud." I love my grandkids, but between work, my (usually) sweet (monster) boy, and ongoing health issues, I'm just not up for it. I'm a horrible gramma. And probably a horrible mother-in-law...
Any feedback, comments, opinions or advice would be welcome at this point. I really do love my grandkids, as well as my son & daughter-in-law, but I just can't go there. I think it would be a bad idea, for everyone involved.
Ok, gotta get ready for work...ugh!
See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!    

The Day Has Arrived (I hope)

We're off to the doctors today, to see if we get to be cast free. I hope so. Do you have any idea how hard it is to bathe, or even shower, a five year old in a cast, and not get the cast wet..? Can you say impossible? Yet it is stressed how important it is to keep it dry. *sigh* Not in this house...

OK, I'll be back after the dr.

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzz!

***Edited to add*** We no longer have a cast. Woohooo! We do still have a wrist brace for another 3-4 weeks, but doc said he can sleep without it in about a week, and it can come off for baths, swimming & sprinkler running. I now have one happy little boy. He has already figured out how to slip it off over his hand, rather than undoing it - not sure if that's good or bad...but I guess it is what it is :)

Ok, back to the grindstone...

See ya laterzzz!!!