Everyone must remember me lamenting all the rain that we have had recently. I was sick of it and asked for "no more". Well, that is
NOT rain you see on my windshield. When I took the dog outside last night around 11:30 PM, it had started to snow. It didn't stay on the ground very much, but it did accumulate on other surfaces. By the time I had to leave at 7:30 this morning, I only had to turn on my windshield wipers, but I heard at the garage that others had to scrape the ice off. That is my punishment for complaining. Others have it much worse. Ten Canadian cities, including Montreal, have declared states of emergency. They are losing everything they own due to flooding. Some people have died. And yet I had the audacity to complain about the lack of sunshine. Changing weather patterns are affecting everyone.
The reason I had to leave so early this morning was an appointment to have my "leaking brake fluid" problem looked at. Well, they found the cause. They need to replace a valve that costs more than all four brand new tires cost me today. They don't stock it, so it had to be ordered. I have another appointment for Thursday morning to have it installed. And because it is labour intensive, the cost of installation will also be higher. I am looking at another $800, on top of the $661.60 I was charged today. I'm not very happy.
On the way home, I stopped at No-Frills and paid $1 for 4 AA EverReady batteries on sale, and I stopped at Shopper's for 2 dozen eggs and 3 loaves of whole wheat bread (only $1 a loaf), and two blocks of cheese at $4.99 each for a total of $17.83 off my gift card, so no more OOP. When I got home I pulled out the ingredients I had prepped for bread pudding and chocolate chip cookies and got those made up.
I will take some cookies with me for my grand kids this weekend and leave some for my son and his GF who will be looking after the dog. I will probably finish off the bread pudding all by myself with a little of the homemade yoghurt I made yesterday. Once again, it turned out really nicely. I am liking this new yoghurt maker.
Oh, no, not snow! Better than rain, though, I suppose. I've a friend living in Canada whose basement and backyard are flooded, from recent rains!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the expensive car repairs! But brakes are kind of important, aren't they? Hopefully, once that is done, nothing else will need doing for a good long while.
Yay, you bought the eggs and did your baking! The bread pudding looks good, but those cookies look even better! Yum!
The bread pudding IS good, so I am hoping it will take my mind off of the cookies so I will have some to take with me.
DeleteI am sorry about the expensive car repairs as well; but, the repairs need to be done. I am most grateful that I have the money to get it all done properly.
Today is sunny and cloudless. It is cold but cold is something I can live with. I should be able to get outside work done today. Yay!
Does it mean that if I wish for rain, I'll get a hurricane? Probably. Ugh. I'm sorry it's snowing but glad you're not affected by the floods, as I heard that some people in Ontario were. We had rain last week (although not enough to fill up my rain barrel, it's not even at the half-mark and it wasn't completely empty to start with) but none this week at all. Everything is burned to a crisp and seeing a few neighbors' (on other streets) very green lawns makes me rabidly angry because we're under water restrictions and there is no way their water-thirsty grass is staying that green with watering only once a week!
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad that you won't miss your grandson's birthday. He would have been very disappointed.
I hate dealing with car repairs especially when they're so expensive but you do need new tires and brakes otherwise you can't use your van at all so you're stuck with the repairs, unfortunately. I suppose your closest son didn't inherit his dad's mechanical aptitude. How old is your van?
I have to take my SUV in for service this month and it's wayyyyyy overdue (by something like 40K miles), I do get the oil changed and whenever there's a problem I have it fixed, but I haven't had the timing belt replaced. My garage also doesn't work on transmissions and I should have it flushed but I don't want to go anywhere else as the staff at my garage is very honest. I don't want to take it to the dealership because they're so expensive and they're crooks too, although it would be nice if they could fix all the electrical problems that I have. I can live with them though, there are workarounds for now. Once my daughter is away at school (and before Youngest Son gets his license, which won't be until at least mid January next year), I'll start driving the Ford Focus instead. Greg is starting to make noise about wanting a new truck and with him, he pays lip service to getting a used vehicle but he'll want a brand new one (and a 4WD this time) as a reward for working so hard. I agree that he deserves it but, damn it, I don't want to sink 40K-50K into a vehicle anymore!
I can understand your anger at seeing your neighbours green lawns, knowing full well they are cheating. Who do they think they're kidding, and why do they think the rules shouldn't apply to them? Makes me angry too. We put up with burned crunchy grass during our summer droughts. First of all, the grass is going to come back; and secondly, I would rather use water on my flowers and vegetables than waste my money on the lawns. We have restrictions every summer, starting with using water only every second day. Even numbered houses can water on even numbered days. Odd numbers on odd days. Sometimes we are restricted to "No water by hose" in any circumstances. Having to lug water by bucket out to the garden, means you have to be very choosy about what you want to water.
ReplyDeleteMy van is a 2007, so ten years old. Rick had a friend who would help him with his mechanical repairs. I could also use him, but I am dependent on his busy schedule. He might be able to get around to it eventually. I figure that I should get it fixed properly first, take care of the serviced maintenance, and then get him to look at different issues as they arise before they become too great a problem. I think I will also need to get my muffler replaced before too much longer, but it can wait a little while longer I am hoping.
I would love to get a new smaller car sometime, but this vehicle has to last a while. I need to save a bit of money first. I can understand Greg wanting a new truck. He travels so much. He should be able to get quite a bit in a private sale, rather than a trade-in, shouldn't he?
Probably, but he's like me and doesn't like dealing with people and surely wouldn't have the patience to do that... plus he's the one who thinks everyone on Craig's List is a serial killer so I highly doubt he'll want to sell the truck that way, ha. I was thinking we'd keep it for Youngest Son but Youngest Son might be the kind of boy who'd rather drive a small car than a large truck... which would be cheaper in insurance and gas, for sure.
DeleteI think we are restricted with "no water with hose" too but if your hose has a nozzle, then it's OK? I'm not too sure, to be honest. I use the hose to water the flowers (with the nozzle) and I use rain water than there's enough in the rain barrel and the jugs. Right now I'm being lazy because I still have about 10 jugs full of water but I'm using the hose, twice a week. My patio has a mountain of empty cat litter jugs that I was hoping to refill (well part of it) after the rains of last week, but as I said, my rain barrel isn't even halfway full :( We are restricted to watering only once a week right now. Again, I think. Since I get my water bill via email, I never receive any of the notices that they include when they mail a paper bill, despite my complaining about it several times. So what I know about watering restrictions comes from what gets published in the paper, and I only see it if the paper decides to put the article on their website since I don't subscribe. Anyhoo, we haven't watered the "lawn" in a few years and it used to be that Greg was the one obsessed with watering it. I always thought it was stupid to water grass and then to have to cut it when it was too high! It is nice to have green weeds (that look like grass) when we get regular rain, though!
I agree that you needed to get the brakes and tires taken care of ASAP so you couldn't afford to wait for your friend to be available.