Today started off well enough. Despite my brother missing the bus and me having to take him in, despite feeling like crap and running on about five hours of broken sleep, I felt okay. When I got home, Dan was up and we spent some time together, just he and I and Ryan (Alyssa is spending the week at my mom’s), before we left for work.
Early this afternoon I passed up a nap in favor of going to have an eye exam and see about contacts. Perhaps it’s unusual to make a sudden switch from eyeglasses to contacts for no other reason than wanting to? I don’t know, but the optometrist certainly questioned me about headaches, eye strain, etc. There are no headaches or strains. I’m just tired of glasses. I’m tired of water spots on rainy days. I’m tired of fogged up lenses on humid days. I’m tired of not being able to just lay down without putting my glasses somewhere. I’m tired of worrying about damage to my lenses (this particular pair has teeth marks on the lenses; thanks a lot Ryan). I have been wearing glasses constantly since I was seven, and I am just tired of them. So, I’m going to be switching to contacts. With my insurance I can get a six month supply of monthly disposables for $39.50. Not bad when I look at my receipt and see that my insurance (I! HAVE! HEALTH! INSURANCE! FINALLY!!! :happycry: ) is covering the other $160.50. The contacts have been ordered, and will mostly likely arrive on Monday or Tuesday. Then I go in for a fitting and training appointment on how to put them in, wear them, take them out, care for them, etc. I can’t wait! :biggrin:
Then it was off to Toys ‘r Us to hunt down a birthday present for Alyssa, and to pick up a pre-determined birthday present for Dan’s youngest brother, who is turning nineteen on Monday (I still think of him as the kid he was when I met Dan. At the time, he was only eleven!). After doing a mental inventory of the numerous toys Alyssa owns, the toys available at my mom’s house for her to play with, and the likelihood of what she’ll receive as gifts tomorrow, I decided on an Ariel Birthday Doll, paired up with the Little Mermaid DVD, a Crayola Color Wonder set, and a cute stuffed flower/girl…thing.
After leaving Toys ‘r Us, Ryan and I headed for Target. There, I picked up cat litter, shampoo and conditioner for myself, quick dinners for tonight (pizza for the boys, chicken and macaroni and cheese for Ryan and myself), and wrapping paper, bows and birthday cards. $60 for that bit of crap. :crazy:
Now the rather shitacular part of my day, the part that REALLY drove through yet another nail in my coffin. I was about half of a mile away from Target and had just made a right hand turn onto a rather busy, heavily traveled, tourist laden bit of road where the speed limit is about 45mph when my car sputtered and kind of hopped with the sputtering… picked up again… then sputtered and died. RIGHT THERE ON THE ROAD. I hit the hazards and did my best to steer my car over to the median in the middle of the road (I was in the left lane, so the right hand shoulder, which was pretty much nonexistent, was a no-go). Horns sounded behind me, but I tamped down my panic as I was able to guide the coasting car across the other side of the road (THANK GOD NO TRAFFIC. If there was I would have had to have stopped in the middle of the road, and my car and I would have been stuck there and hit for sure) and into the parking lot of a hotel.
At this time it was 3:15pm. Right as the car died I began to panic about getting home, as the rain was coming down in heavy slates, and my brothers’ school buses would be dropping them off at 3:35pm. Ryan had been up since 9:00am and out with me since 12:30, and was sleeping heavily in his seat (he slept throughout Target!). Did I mention it was POURING? Anyway, the car came to a stop alongside a border of bushes in the relatively empty corner of the parking lot, but I left the hazards on as I turned the car off, just as a precaution, since my car is black and probably not too visible in heavy rain (ever notice that it’s the low visibility cars that never have their headlights on when it’s raining? That bugs me to no end).
Of course, I didn’t have my cell phone with me. Way to go Jenn. I grabbed my purse and Ryan, locked up, and tried to shield Ryan from the rain as much as I could while I dashed across the parking lot and into the hotel. The people there were absolutely wonderful. Their kindness really surprised me and I can’t tell you – and them – how much I appreciated it. Not only did they allow me to use their phone (twice! Once to call my mom to have her go to my house to meet my brothers, and again to call Dan to have him come and get Ryan and I), but they ran to get towels for me and “that poor baby”, sat me down in the fancy restaurant, and brought us water, applesauce and crackers. The manager came by and offered us more towels, blankets, even a hot meal if I wanted one. I thanked him, but told him that I was from around here, so I wasn’t too out of my way or hungry, and my husband would be along to get us shortly. Two cooks from the kitchen went out and pushed my car into a parking spot for me.
I’m not allowing myself to think about what’s wrong with the car and how much it will probably cost to fix, because quite frankly I don’t want to think about it. I don’t have the time and I certainly don’t have the money to deal with this right now. If it’s the alternator, which has a tendency to go in Kia Spectras around 83k-85k miles (my car has 84k), we’re looking at $500. If it’s the fuel pump or injection or something along those lines, I have no idea. Maybe I’ll be lucky and the car just ran out of gas? Despite the needle of the tank being low, I somehow doubt that it ran out of gas, because 1) the light never came on and 2) I also keep an eye on the mileage; I KNOW my vehicle and I KNOW how many miles I get per gallon), because why would I be so lucky to have such a cheap fix?
So, that’s my day. My mom and Alyssa will be leaving soon, the boys will be going to bed soon, and then I’m going to finish up the laundry, wrap the presents, decorate, and then begin working on the food for the party tomorrow. Oh, and after the birthday party? We’re all packing up and going to Dan’s uncle’s house for a Halloween party. Tomorrow is going to be REALLY busy!!!
Maybe it is the battery? Besides your car running out of gas, that would probably be the cheapest problem.
When I was in Arizona over the summer, my Aunt’s car ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, there was a pizza place (the only building on the whole road!) just down the street a bit. We went in for directions to the nearest gas station, but instead the pizza delivery boy drove us to the gas station and bought us gas!
It’s really sad that simple acts of kindness, such as what happened to you today, and my running out of gas fiasco, can be such a surprising event.
I’m glad everything turned out okay though. Hopefully fixing your car won’t be expensive!
Oh, and just as a quick thought about contact lenses: you said that you’re tired of taking your glasses off when you want tp take a nap- but when you have contacts you have to take them out before you sleep, otherwise they can get stuck. It’s not fun, trust me! :yuck:
Wow those guys at the hotel were awesome to you
You should bake them cookies or something :D I’m sorry about the car thing though, that must have been so scary.
Yeah it could be a ton of things that are under $100.00 to fix. I’m really lucky that my husband can fix just about anything so it doesn’t cost me much, otherwise I’d just go nuts when stuff like that happens. Bonus of having a husband around!
Oh and fitting and training appointments….I used to do that for a living you just brought back memories. I had one poor girl just break down in tears. To be fair she had tried and tried before, had the worst eye sight I’d ever seen and her only option was really hard gas perms that you use a plunger to get out of your eye. I about cried for her. Contacts intimidate me so yay you for going for it!
Sorry about the car situation, but I’m glad you had such amazing people to help you out afterwards in the hotel. Hopefully the car won’t be a god awful fix and things will be fine.
Yay for contacts, too. They make a world of difference, or so I hear. Almost everyone in my family wears them… Hope you enjoy them when they arrive!!
Geeez, I’d send them a thank-you card! lol. Wow. I hope your car is okay!
That is excellent. When my car broke down (one of many times) I ended up pushing it myself for at least a block while other cars pass me and hardly give a look of concern. You know being “female” and it being 2007 makes it hard for people to stop for you and offer help anymore. Independent women and all. Another time I pushed it into a gas station parking lot, only to try and ask these young guys for some simple help only for them to no zip all about cars (I though they knew stuff because their hands were ‘mechanic’ hands – dirty, and greasy – turns out they were just homeless druggy young adults!)
Congrats on the Contacts thing! Contacts are awesome. What brand are you using? I love my Acuvue Oaysis, I can sleep with them in for up to two weeks at a time!
Wow, those people in the hotel sound lovely!! I bet you walked into a nice place rather than a mean one, imagine what would of happened if they had just told you to go away?? (though I doubt that they would, considering you had a cute kid with you lol)
Contacts have always scared me. But I haven’t got glasses yet (getting them soon though >.<) so I don’t know how annoying they are
ahh. i hate car troubles. if it is the alternator, do you know ANYONE handy with cars? you can buy one at autozone (or any car part store) & usually replace it yourself. my husband has replaced our alternator & starter on our ’91 rodeo. the thing runs like a champ!
he didnt even know anything about the rodeo. just looked up how to fix it. both fixes cost us under $200 each.
i love when people are kind. it’s so hard to find a nice person when you are in a sucky situation. i would send them a card