THE NEVER ENDING STORY....

BUT HOPEFULLY THIS IS THE END!

We are on our way to Montana this morning. Dylan tested negative on Friday and Amber tested negative on Saturday. It's a 2 day drive so all should be well. 

This is what I found in a Google search: "If you have already been positive and are testing to see if you are recovering or recovered, then as soon as you become negative, it is appropriate to assume that you are no longer infectious." Jan 24, 2024 

We had another issue with the car on friday night when we left Adam's house. The emission light came on again. Had it at the dealer on Saturday morning and they did found a small crack in a throttle body gasket. They believe that was the problem. So glad it happened before we left. 

We did have a wonderful evening with Adam, Gabby and James which is always a joy for me. ❤

I will join in on Wednesday Hodgepodge but I don't think I will be reading many blog posts while we are gone. I know you all understand but it is hard for me not know what's going on in your life. 

However, it is important that I give my full attention to hanging with Amber and Dylan. Dylan only has 2 days off. If we were able to go the week before he had 4 days off. 

WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE #400

Thank you Joyce.

To play along go HERE

1. I feel like episode 400 cannot go without comment. That's a whole lot of Hodgepodging folks. 2000 questions if my math is right. So, what's something you feel like you do 400 times a week? 

I've played along with every Wednesday Hodgepodge and I thank you Joyce for your questions. I leave my office and go to get something in another room all day long! I'm sure there will be some interesting answers here. 

2. Tell us where you were and something about what your life looked like in the year 2000? 

I have nothing to report. My posts only go to 2009. This is where I go to look back on my life. My photos on my computer only go back to 2008. If you have a suggestion let me know. 

3. Do you like cinnamon? What's something you make and enjoy that calls for cinnamon? Of the cinnamon 'foods' listed which is your favorite-red hot cinnamon candies, cinnamon toast, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon toast crunch cereal, apple cinnamon oatmeal, churros, an Indian curry?

Yes I like cinnamon but I don't use it regularly. I think I would pick a cinnamon roll as my favorite. Churros can be very good but I'm never anyplace where I can get one. I do like cinnamon on my oatmeal! 

4. Does Christmas 2020 (or Hanukkah) look much like it has in years past, or is this year vastly different for you and your family? How so? How are you feeling about it all? 

This year is vastly different. We will be social distancing over at Adam and Gabby's. I find it all frustrating and I find myself crying all the time about it because it's supposed to by our day at our house. However I am thankful that we can meet with them. 

Gabby's Mom and sister will be there since they were going to be alone on Christmas day. We will be wearing masks and being at least six feet or more apart. Her sister already had it and they both stay isolated. It should be a safe meeting. I wouldn't go if I didn't feel comfortable about it. 

However I have learned something that I think was important for me. Less is more. As I put out some of my decorations I realized I have too much and I'm just not capable of doing all the work anymore. 

We had a strand of lights go out. Fuses did not work. Thankfully they sent another strand along with this tree and thankfully I didn't have my 400 ornaments on the tree! I do have about 20 ornaments on it because I had some new ones I bought from Hallmark and a few that are usually used in a different place. 

5. What's one thing you need or want to do before this year ends? 

I need to make two sweet Bohemian Hoska breads. Mark wants his own and I am bringing one on Christmas day to Adam and Gabby's. We are also bringing the filet mignon and a shrimp tray from Costco. So I will make one bread today and one tomorrow. 

I have one large package to wrap for James which is a children's trampoline with a handle. We brought over all the other gifts last weekend which was two IKEA bags filled. We did that so we would have room for his motorized tractor!

I also need to watch a few of my favorite Christmas classic movies! 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

P.S. I have to apologize to everyone. I hit the wrong button in my Feedly account today and deleted 100 posts I planned on reading. I know that I will be able to find some of them but I've just been busy the last few weeks and haven't had time for much reading. (2020 sucks)

R E A L L Y ! ! ! !

So if you read my post from Friday you know that I was heading to the doctor for a recheck on my injury from last Tuesday. Well that didn't happen, I had to cancel.....

Let's start with the morning at 7:00 am when Mark was leaving for work. We had super strong Santa Ana winds Friday morning. He opened the back door to go outside with the dogs and then I heard something crash. 

I went into our bedroom to see what it was and as it turns out the opening cover to our attic, which is in our closet, fell to the floor creating a bit of a mess. The suction must have done it but that has never happened before. So Mark got it back up and taped it just in case and I vacuumed up the mess. 

I was on my computer for awhile, then I got showered and started to get ready for my appointment at 10:00 am. Had a huge blowout argument with Amber which is not a great way to start our day! Then I went into the garage and my car was dead! ($%&#) 

So I called AAA to come out to the house. I also called the Mini dealer to see if they had an idea of what it could be. Possibly the battery or starter. Long story here about my battery but I'm not going to go into that now other than tell you that we put a trickle charger on it often because I don't drive often enough to keep it charged with all the computers on board. 

Then I called the doctor to cancel my appointment. AAA showed up and yep it was a dead battery. Just so you know they can't replace the battery on a Mini. Mini has their very own special shaped battery which is very expensive. So he jumped my car and I headed over the the dealer. 

So after 3 1/2 hours at the dealer I was on my way with a new battery, new wipers and one recall taken care of. I have one more scheduled for November 11th. What a day I had. I actually wanted to stay home on Friday to get ready for our trip to the beach. By the time I got home all I wanted to do was have a glass of wine, Friday night pizza and a movie!

What I did do on the way home was stop over at the Urgent Care and asked if they could do me a favor. I just wanted them to look at my wound and tell me if it was looking okay, healing like it should. I told them about my morning and having to cancel my doctors appointment. They did look at it and said it was looking good. I was so thankful. 

Then I ran over to Sprouts because they have their Home Run Inn pizza at half price and wanted to get more for our freezer. These are a Chicago pizza and truly one of the best frozen pizza's around. We stopped ordering delivery pizza about six months ago and are really saving a lot of money buy buying these at Sprouts! 

When I got home Mark was getting home too. He told me he got an email from Amber with a picture of the pumpkins they carved. They were all moldy and one was leaking all over Mark's lovely cabinet in his office. (I had them on foil) I could not believe my eyes!!! So there was another mess to clean up and no pumpkins to put out for Halloween Saturday night. 

Anyway it was one of those days......but I am thankful for all the blessing God has given to us. Now let's hope things are going well on our beach trip. I'll let you know.......

THEY REDEEMED THEMSELVES BUT.....

Redeemed: past participle, past tense of re·deem (Verb) Verb:
1.Compensate for the faults or bad aspects of (something): "a disappointing debate redeemed by an outstanding speech".
2.Do something that compensates for poor past performance or behavior.

So I was able to get my car back today. Of course they waited until 5pm so I could sit in traffic on the freeways. But never the less I have my car back.

I have had Mini Coopers for almost 9 years now. My first Mini I had for five years. Loved it so much. My current Mini is almost four years old. I had upgraded to the Mini S and I love it too!

I bought both of my Mini Coopers in Irvine, CA. The dealership there has been excellent, I really like them and trust them.  I get three free oil changes with my mini. I go once a year for my annual oil change. It is required every 10,000 miles but I don't put that many miles on so I just go once a year.

So two years ago when a Mini dealer opened closer to our house I decided to go there. Well the experience in my opinion was horrible. I felt that all they wanted to do was sell me things I didn't need. Looking back now I understand why I had to buy a new battery at that time but I was angry. See you can only buy their battery, no other battery will fit and they are expensive. I can't remember the other thing that happened at that visit but I left there with $600. less in wallet when all I went in for was the free oil change. So I told myself that I wouldn't go back and I didn't. Last year I went back to the Mini dealer in Irvine.

Well when my battery was dead yesterday I didn't want to risk driving the car to Irvine so I went to the local dealer. I told them this is crazy, we put a new battery in two years when the car was only two years old. My last mini had the same battery for 5 years. Because of the constant draw that the computer requires the car needs to be driven more or eventually (apparently every two years for me) the battery will no longer hold a charge. The Mini S has a computer that drawers even more from the battery. I get that and because of that it is not covered under warranty.

Well they did redeem themselves.  They covered the cost of the battery but asked that I buy a device to help keep my battery up to par when it's not being driven. I agreed to that. Since I already had the car in the shop I went ahead and got an oil change too. They also gave me a discount coupon for the oil change so I walked out of there today with a charge of $l58. which was fine with me. The annual oil change cost is close to that price anyway and now I have this little device which will hopefully keep this from happening again.

Believe me, the Mini Cooper is a very nice car, don't let this experience of mine ever keep you from getting one if your desire one. My next new car will be another Mini Cooper!

But........I will still be going back to my dealer in Irvine because they are superior to this local dealer.

VENTING

No it's not about the vents in the car

it's my hot air!

Did you even have one of those days that even though you may not be looking forward to it you know that it will be nice to get out of the house. I had said yesterday that I was heading out to Irvine to the Mini/BMW dealer to get a recall fixed on my 2008 Mini Cooper S. I also had an emissions light come on that needed looking at. So I waited to get the recall papers and then I called to set up the appointment. Well they are running weeks behind because of the recall so April 9th was the date I had set up. I told the guy I would be waiting for the car and that my emissions light was also on. He said just tell the guy when you drop it off.

So I leave the house and it's one of those perfect green light days to the freeway entrance and I'm thinking, way to go, this is going to be one of those smile days. See I had gotten an email earlier in the day from a baby lost mother (Looking For Blue Sky) that I have know for about 2 years 9 months now who lives in the area and was taking her girls to a birthday party near there. She was going to run into the dealership to give me a hug. We have never meet before in person. Told her my appt. time and that I would be waiting. I was kinda hoping I would get a chance to meet her son Brady who is going on 4months old. She was going to be in the area around 1:40 if I was still there she would stop in or text her if I was gone by then.

So I merge onto the freeway which happens to be crawling at barely 9 miles an hour at 9am in the morning. (#$%@) Add your choice of words here. Well it took me about 40 minutes to go maybe 10 miles and I knew I would be late. After an hour I had to get off to make a pit stop!!! (remember I'm 60 1/2 yrs. old) Got back on and traffic started to clear and I actually got there about 5 minutes late for my appt. which wasn't bad at all for the traffic I encountered.

Anyway I connect with the guy who is writing up my order and I told him I would be waiting for my car. He said you can't wait. I said I always wait. He said an emission light on takes all day for them to check, can someone get you or can we give you a ride. Well no that won't work, I live in Riverside which is an hour away. I said they didn't tell me this on the phone and I told them about the emission light! He said he could give me a car for the day. (me don't like driving other peoples cars, I don't even drive Mark's)I told him okay but I won't be back tomorrow, that is my gone all day day! So he said as long as he has my car he will take care of the rental.

So I texted Trisha telling her the news that I would not be there when she is in the area. She texted back bummer :( and that's exactly how I felt!

So I head over to the rental but then I remembered I needed my bowling ball out of the trunk. So I told him and he said get the car then come back around. So I go to the Hertz car rental that is in the dealership. I told him I would like a small car and he said we will have a mini for you. So I sign my life away and we go out to the car. I get my seat all adjusted, turn on the car and I hear the familiar "ping" of it's time to get some gas thingy! So I go inside and asked him if they rent the cars with only a little fuel? So we go through the paperwork again and he takes me out to another mini. It's a new 2012 so that was cool! I was so flustered that I actually made a few wrong turns getting back onto the freeway to come home. (#$%@)

I could see the tank was kinda low and you have to return it with 1/4 tank. Well I just get off the freeway for my home exit and the fuel light comes on. So I stopped and put some gas in and hopefully it's enough. So I come home and go to click my opener to the garage and you guessed it....I forgot to take mine out of the car. Let's hope tomorrow is a better day.

Thanks for letting me vent :)

MY CAR ~ MY BABY

I have always been an overprotective mom to my cars and I don't share well. My children were never allowed to eat or drink in the car although I think I let them have a bottle/sippy cup with water. A spotless clean car is a must, inside and out. (my daughter has followed in my footsteps)

Now I am not as big of a clean freak anymore because I am no longer physically able to do it. I remember when my children started driving and my husband expected me to just give them my car. Talk about hard! I eventually gave in but depression followed. I really don't know where this came from. Needless it say it was important that my children got their own cars!

So fast forward to the present and I am still very controlling of my car. I had my first Mini Cooper for 5 years, my husband never drove it. Got my second Mini CooperS two years ago and he hasn't driven this one either. I did let my family test drive it but that really doesn't thrill them because they know how I am.

So we have the trip to Mammoth Lakes this year, right? My daughter has a Toyota Yaris that is going on five years old. It's in great shape (low mileage) and would surely make it up in the mountains but she really didn't want to drive it. Our son is in the process of getting a new car but wasn't able to drive the car he is currently driving because it was just to old and didn't actually belong to him. So they start asking if they could take my car.

Conversations went on for a few weeks and my stomach was going crazy at the thought. So then my daughter had to remind me of the woman we had worked with who lost her son at 19 to an accident that happen in the grocery store he worked at. She always regretted that she never let him drive her sports car. He had always asked and she would say no. Obviously it wasn't very important in the long run and wished she had said yes. So I am thinking what should I do. I keep thinking what if something happened and they were not driving my car, what if my car would have been safer.

Finally I said end of discussion, I don't want to talk about it anymore. I knew my daughters car would be just fine. Then right before the trip I heard my husband on the phone with our son and I could hear him say "mom said no." Then I was feeling really bad so right before my husband and I left for Mammoth I said "do what you want, I don't want to know!"

So they showed up in my car, which I knew they would jump on it given what I had said. It all turned out well and they made it safely to Mammoth Lakes. So at that point I knew that I was going to be the one driving it home. Now we have been going there for over 16 years and this would be the first time I would be driving. Guess what, it was okay and I actually passed many cars on highway 395. My daughter was with me and she gave me a high five. My Mini has power and I actually enjoyed the drive home. (passed two motor homes at once, also two cars and a motor home! Gee, do I need to be first like my husband?)

So our daughter drove back with me and our son drove with my husband who took him back to Los Angeles before heading home. It was a great vacation and I was okay with the way it turned out.

And no you can't borrow my car!

P.S. Keep in mind that I am a very giving person and give my children all that I can, just don't ask to use my car. Also the rules for parking is that you must ALWAYS park on an end and preferably to the right so you are next to the passenger side of the car next to you with the hopes that it is just the driver without a passenger. Yes I do have a long walk when I park!