When it rains, it pours...

And it's MONSOON season around here...

Along with my blahs the past two weeks, I have been saying for this entire summer that I want my car (payment free) to last as long as possible. Why? Well, buying and remodeling a home costs money, and a new car and it's payment would be the last thing I would want on my plate at this time. Well, Saturday while sitting in DQ's drive-through, my sweet little Bessie decided to send me a message, "Hey fattie - too much ice-cream lately, I can't take it!" and begins to chug her way out of the lot. So I carefully maneuver her fragile frame to our local shop with fingers and toes crossed that it's just a loose wire or the simple equivalent. An hour later the CarX guy tells me that Bessie is having a mid-life crisis, what with the thought of rolling over to 100,000 miles, and she needs some cosmetic surgery - new plugs, wires, filters, and some flushing should do it, all to the tune of about $700. GULP. OK - whatever it takes to keep my sweet baby running.

Flash forward to Monday morning, me thinking Bessie will be just fine and dandy. Haven't heard anything by noon, starting to panic. Nothing by 1:30, the sweat is beginning to roll. Finally, 3:00 rolls around and the phone rings. Dave from CarX tells me the worst possible news - TWO, count them TWO head gaskets are cracked!!! I have no idea what that means other than the last time that happened to damn Bessie, it cost over a thousand dollars to have her big ass fixed! For the love of all that is good and holy, Dave, how much would this set me back? Well, I faint (good thing I was sitting in bed when he told me) because he believes it could be well over $2,500 to get everything worked out that is wrong with my stupid Bessie.

My Sweet Bessie's photo cred

Whoa is me! The love of my life, my vehicle, my relationship with Pontiac is coming to an end. Not that my relationship hasn't been bittersweet, but there is no way on this earth I am shelling out thousands of dollars to fix a problem on a car that I have already fixed once before. Especially since it boils down to being a manufacturer defect that they don't want to take responsibility for. You see, Bessie's "moisturizer" is called Dexcool (evil evil evil), and it basically corrodes her from the inside out even though it is supposed to keep her cool when the going gets tough. I have had my share of curse words with the big dealership that she comes from. I refuse to ever do business with them again. I tell everyone I meet my whoas and hardships when it comes to their refusal to help me out when my warranty was up by less than one month and they refused to fix what was essentially their problem.

So now I'm here with a broken car, a broken heart, and a broken spirit because I hate car shopping. I have to work a new car into my budget, along with find a way to pay for these astronomical housing repairs. And to top it off, my doctor calls and tells me a test result came back positive so I have to go back in 6 months for a second test! WAH! And these things happen in threes, don't they? So what's going to happen next?

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I think I could puke from the thought of it all!

Busy busy busy

This past week was very hectic and hard. We have been getting my dad's house ready to be renovated so hubby and I can move in. But before all that, Dad's old stuff needed to be moved out. He basically has everything he wanted in his small apartment at the retirement village, so it was a matter of having an estate sale and then trying to get rid of the rest through Craigslist. Let me tell you, people on Craigslist can be I-di-ots! I did manage to get two big pieces sold, but not without my share of headaches. Finally this past Tuesday, the Salvation Army came and took the rest away. I stood there and cried my eyes out watching my childhood furniture being hauled off piece by piece. I was there all alone - my sisters weren't there, my dad didn't need to be there for his own emotional well-being, and my husband was at work. I texted him at one point saying 'this is harder than I expected' and when he called back immediately, I just cried! He felt so bad, and it wasn't his fault, but it's hard watching your childhood get loaded up into a van. It wasn't anything I wanted to keep, but it was a part of me that I had to let go, and it was more difficult than I had imagined.

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The next day I met hubby for lunch by his work. After dropping him back off, I started driving and ended up at Mom's graveside in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Again, I cried, telling her I was sorry it had been so long since I had last visited, and even more sorry I gave all her stuff away. (She forgave me.) It was nice to visit with her alone, because usually it's a group visit of my sisters and my dad. This time I had a chance to sit and chat alone with mom, which I hadn't ever been able to do before. I felt much better after my visit with her and decided I was at peace with all that I had been at odds over the past several days.

The long road out of the cemetery.

After leaving the cemetery I ended up driving towards the city and ended up at the new Citygarden. Very cool. Unfortunately, I didn't have my good camera, just my point and shoot, so I didn't take near the amount of pictures that I wanted to. I have fiddled around with Eros Bendato and made it into a design I like and will share here. I'm always leery about doing this because I'm afraid people might steal this and make it their own - so please, don't steal my work!!!

Thursday was dinner out for a friend's daughter's 13th birthday! I remember her when she was just turning 2! Nothing ages you quicker than a teenager being around, that's for sure.

Friday night was girl's night out for my sister's birthday. We had so much fun laughing and giggling. We went to Grappa Grill for dinner and had a little room all to ourselves, which was a good thing since we were a bit obnoxious with our giggling. We couldn't help it we were having so much fun!

Kathy, Laura, my sister Debbie, and the birthday girl (and my other sister), Diana.

Diana, my friend Jen, and me.

Saturday night I went with my sister in law and two of her friends for our annual visit to the Stages Theater in Kirkwood. This year we have season tickets, which has been fun. This past weekend we saw The Drowsy Chaperone. Check that off my list of never having to see again. Not a fave. Oh well. Afterwords, we always go out someplace fun for dinner, and this time we hit Stoney River out in Chesterfield. OMG! To die for. Expensive!!! but delish! I had salmon and we split a bottle of zinfandel that I have to find a wine store somewhere because it was the best bottle of wine I ever had. I enjoyed my dinner, was stuffed to the gills, and was glad I experienced it, but feel I don't ever need to pay that amount again on a dinner just for me. If you would like to see my meal, go to this site, let the pictures cycle through, and when you see the salmon meal, that was mine, and yes, it looked exactly like that - YUM...

Stoney River