Saadia Says...

...POST

So I'll post.

This hasn't been a great week. Nothing tragic, everyone is healthy (ptht, ptht, ptht), but just not great. Saadia: you wanted a post. I'm sorry this is the post you are getting.

Last Saturday i left home early to drive to Springfield to finish going through my mom's stuff with my brother's Mark and Dennis. Long story short, my engine light went off before I even got out of town, and $320 and 2 hours later I was back on the highway. This not inexpensive repair got me all the way to 25 miles outside of Springfield before it happened again. This time I spent 2.5 hours in an un-air conditioned car in the mid-day, 92 degree heat. Even with the AAA card, the tow cost me another $100.

The car was towed to the dealership in Springfield after service was closed, so there was no hope of the car being seen until Monday. I called in to work for Monday, which was good, because I woke up at 3:30 a.m. Monday morning with a terrible migraine.

I don't think I mentioned that Monday was Columbus Day. And in Springfield, this is the worst day of the mechanic's year. Every state worker makes an appointment to take their car in for service on Columbus Day.

So when it became obvious that my car wouldn't be ready until later in the week, I booked a seat on Amtrak ($50) and took the train home Monday evening. They called Tuesday to say that they had driven the hell out of the car and it was driving fine. Yeah. Like kids, the damn car won't perform when you ask it to.

So, with their assurances that it was working fine, I took the train down Thursday night (another $50), and spent a few hours peacefully knitting on the Swallowtail shawl. I made great progress. I also made a mistake several rows back and have to tink back. Sweet Frozen Niblets!

So -- Thursday night I spent another night at my brothers -- I think he's getting sick of me -- loaded the car full of photos from my mom, and set off for home. On my way out of town I picked up 2 dozen Mel-O-Cream donuts as an offering for my office.

35 miles outside of Springfield the engine light came on again and the car shuddered a little. I freaked out. I got off the highway at Atlanta, Illinois and headed to Mattingly's (sp?) service, where I waited 45 minutes for the garage to open. The guys there were SO nice. (And the dog, whose name was Mopar, I think, dispensed some much needed doggy-kissing medicine.) They ran diagnostics and got back error codes they'd never seen before. They pronounced the car healthy enough to drive to the nearest dealership -- about 30 minutes away -- and refused payment. So I left them a dozen Mel-O-Cream donuts in gratitude.

I drove to the dealership, and they, too, performed a bunch of diagnostic stuff. And they re-set my radio, which had stopped working. They reset the automotive computer. And they told me I need to have the air-bag computer completely replaced. ($300 - $400 just for the parts.) And they said it was fine to drive. They refused payment and I left the other dozen Mel-O-Cream donuts. (I would bite the head off of a Rabbi for a caramel long john!) I made it to work only 3 hours late...on a day I was only scheduled to work 31/2 hours.

So the way I add it up, this trip will end up costing me $1000 -- and I don't have so much as ball of lace yarn or a caramel iced donut to show for it. And I have 5 rows of lace to tink back.

This was the week the universe decided to stir the turd.

You asked for it, Saadia.

(P.S. Today was Myfanwe's garage sale. I made enough with my split that I can order some Cashmere/Silk blend from ColourMart. Wooo Hooo!