Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Yet another Nellie update...

Ok..just to keep the blogging police(you know who you are) at bay, here is another brief update. Remember the "chug" I mentioned in my last post? The one that Nellie had developed? Well, that chug was actually a coil that had gone bad. It has now been repaired to the tune of about $250! Yikes! In the past 2 months, I have put between $900 and $1000 into repairing Nellie!!!! That is not a happy thing, especially as she only has 61,000 miles on her. But I am very thankful that I had enough money in my savings account to pay for the repairs, and I didn't have to go into debt for it. Now hopefully the little bugger will run like she's supposed to for miles/years to come :)

As some of you are aware, I have been on vacation in Pennsylvania. However, this is not a blog about vacation, and I am up to my eyelids in laundry and unpacking. I hope to have a blog up about vacation soon...complete with pictures. There! You happy now? Sure hope so!

Later....

Monday, July 14, 2008

Nellie Update(provoked by Steve H....)

Once again, Steve Hight has put me under pressure to update my blog. So here goes. Thanks, Steve :p

This is to ease your mind about Nellie. Yes, she is home, and being well-cared for. I was able to get her back on Wednesday afternoon, 2 days later than originally planned. But she is home, and running fair. She seems to have developed a new little chug in her engine, but hopefully things are going to be okay.

Well, I know this is brief, but didn't want to leave you hanging any longer:) So far today, I have played the organ for a funeral, worked out at Curves, and now am headed out to mow the yard. I also plan to study for my ACLS exam that I have to take on Thursday. So there you have it: my day in a nutshell. BTW, it was Bro. Wayne Pierce's funeral that I played for. He attended my church, and he is already sorely missed. He was a true saint of God, and is no doubt singing praises around the throne right now. Around our church, Wayne was known as "The Candy Man." He always had candy in his pockets for the children, and was always sharing a joke, or giving someone something from his garden. He was always quick on his feet(at age 91) to shout "Glory, glory, glory," and to take a little trip around the church when he was blessed. There is an empty spot in our church, but Heaven is certainly a richer place today!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Autopsy report

Yep, faithful reader, I did receive the autopsy report on poor Nellie. If you did not read my previous post, Nellie is my SUV. I don't understand everything they told me, but will give it a whirl. First, Ford called and told me that my spark plugs were "foul." They were going to change them to the tune of $265 + tax, and I could possibly get my car back last night. NOT! So they change the plugs, and then realize that Nellie still won't start, has no intention of starting. So with further investigation, they found that the power module is out. They said there is like no communication going on in my vehicle, and it's completely not driveable. They said it's dumping too much gas, etc. The good news is that it is covered under the factory 80,000 mile warranty. I told the girl that I didn't buy the extra warranty(never do!) But apparently, Ford covers this problem anyway! Thank the Lord for large blessings! The bad news is that I probably won't get Nellie back until Monday, due to having to order from the vendor, and with the holiday thrown in. Fortunately, I am able to borrow my mom's Impala while mine is being overhauled. Her car needs work too, but it's gonna have to wait on Nellie to return home. Her brakes are funny...well, maybe NOT so funny, as the car acts like it's having a seizure when you try to brake :) Also, her windshield wipers are stuck in the up position...annoying but liveable. They do work if you turn them on and keep them running nonstop, but the minute you turn them off, up they go. It's been a great conversation starter :) So that's all I know right now. I think I'm glad I decided to fly to PA later this month. I figured it would be cheaper, but I am also a little leery of driving huge distances alone and maybe having car trouble.

Well, gotta get ready for church...see ya!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Awaiting autopsy

Okay...I'm not awaiting autopsy, Nellie is. Who is Nellie, you ask? That would be my car. My green '05 paid-off Ford Escape. I'm a little bitter, because I just had my 60,000 mile check-up to the tune of over $400. Just wondering if they missed something at our routine check-up, or if something just quit suddenly.

I worked days yesterday in oncology clinic, got off right on time at 4:30. Headed to the bank to cash a couple of checks. Car started like a dream, no problems. Got my money and heading for Bloomington to help Steve clean out his apartment. Little Nellie decided to give up the ghost while I was pulling out of the bank lot and back onto the road. No matter how hard I tried to start her, all I got was chug-chug-chug. Some kind man pushed me into an empty lot across the street. So I was no longer blocking the road, the bank drive, and in danger of being killed. Thank God for triple A! I called, and the wrecker was there within 10 minutes. Mom had come to get me, and I thought it was gonna be longer before the wrecker got there. So I sent her to the grocery store to get her few items, then she was coming back after me. Meanwhile, the wrecker gets there, gets Nellie loaded, and his job there is finished. He wanted to know if he should take me somewhere, was I safe there? I assured him I would be fine. So I unloaded my stuff onto the grass and waited for Mom. I felt a bit like a vagrant standing there on the curb across from the bank :)I was relieved to see her coming quickly. It was unfortunate that I didn't have some cardboard. I could've made a sign asking for money, since I was directly across from the bank! Turn my little misfortune into a money making venture.
So I took Mom back home, changed clothes, picked up Kim, and we headed for Bloomington. Picked up Steve and ate at the Texas Roadhouse. Yeah buddy! Good eats. And then we proceeded to clean like a house afire for the next 2.5 hours. The place looks great and should pass his landlady's expectations. He moved out last weekend, and she was going to charge so much for every little thing left uncleaned. So he shouldn't incur extra charges, other than the ones he already knows about. So all in all, it was a full day.

Now I sit and wait on the phone call that will reveal Nellie's fate. I surely hope it's something simple and relatively inexpensive. Whatever it is, I'm sure to have to move money out of my savings account and into checking. I doubt the approx. $40 bucks in my checking is going to cover it, and I don't get paid again until Thursday :) And so life goes on. Just wanted to give my faithful few readers a tiny tidbit to chew on :)

Later....