Switcheroo!

This little black piece of plastic doesn't look completely shot out, now does it??

And it sho' don't look like it ought to cost $265, now does it??

It's a brake switch for my Altima.  My 4-year-old-less-than-46,000-miles Altima.  My car has a push button start.  You press the brake and then press the button and it starts up.  Last summer, it started doing this weird thing where every once in a while, the brake would lock up on me and the car would not start.  After I spent 10 minutes in 115 degree summer heat, I took it out to the dealership and they'd never heard of such a thing.  Said it was something I was doing wrong, that I wasn't pressing the brake pedal right.  Even though, I'd BEEN pressing the brake pedal right for three years.  It seemed to get better until I started wearing my boot cast three weeks ago.  I could not get that car to start.  Yesterday, every single time I tried, it took me forever.  The last straw was leaving Dr. Kinnebrew's office at 6:00 and it took me 30 minutes!!  And then, I had to call the dealership in tears because I was so frustrated. 

HOWDOIGETTHISCARTOCRANKSOICANGOHOMEI'MHOTTTTTTANDMYFOOTHURTS

OHMYGODDDDDDD.

I had to push my 1998 Altima back into the driveway one morning.  That was the last straw for that one.  This girl ain't pushing no car.  And this girl ain't gonna be hotttttt if she can help it.

The guy in the service department at the dealership (yes, that fine Nissan dealership out on 96) told me it was the brake switch.  When I reminded him of last summer and "it's something you're doing wrong", he said it wasn't.  It's a Nissan thing and they see it all the time.  But there's been no recall and of course, my car is out of warranty.  OF COURSE.  Last summer, it wasn't.  Grrrrrr.

He says it's $265 if it's JUST the switch.  If the wiring harness has gone bad, too, that's another $300.   Are you kidding me??!!  Now I can say I know a little bit about wiring harnesses since that's what I do (or did before THE FOOT) for a living nowadays and I knew it wasn't the harness.  It would do it ALL the time if there was a short in there. 

I was going to take it Saturday and just do the $265 but I thought better of it. A couple of guys at the base told me they'd do it for free, bless their hearts.  I called the good folks at Express Oil Change to see if they would do something like this and they said YES!  I've always taken my cars there for oil changes but I didn't realize they do other stuff, too!  So I took it to them after work and thirty minutes and NINETY-SIX dollars later, it's fixed!!  That's a whole lot better than $265!  And we ain't even gonna talk about the "other $300".

They gave me the switch and I'm keeping it with the receipt just in case Nissan ever does the right thing and recalls the aggravatin' devil. 

Sure hope your week's been better!!  :)

What The Snow Did To My Peace Frog

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas 'Round Here...

...and it's starting to tick me off.

It's OCTOBER. I went in Hobby Lobby today to get a pumpkin and a wooden picture frame for a fall craft get-together I'm going to Saturday at the home of one of the nurses I work with and they had ALL their Christmas stuff out! Not just the year-round Christmas stuff. ALL of it. Decorations, lights, wrapping paper, boxes, everything. I was most thoroughly disgusted. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas. Cannot wait for Christmas. If I wasn't already married, I'd marry Christmas, I love it so much. It's my favorite holiday of them all but gah, three months of it??! Plus seeing Santa and Baby Jesus with His mama and daddy right next to ghosts and witches cheapens Christmas to me. It might just be me. I don't know.

And then today after work, I went to Cracker Barrel to get some supper and Christmas has 'sploded in there, too!!

This putting Christmas stuff out early thing is relatively new. I remember when Larry and I were in Augusta in 2000 and I was at the mall the weekend after Thanksgiving. They were putting up the Christmas trees then. After Thanksgiving, like you 'sposed to. That was only nine years ago.

So what has happened in the past nine years?? I realize the earlier they put the stuff out, the more money they make but for me, it just makes me want to avoid stores that do that.

What do y'all think??

Where Were You?

Today is the eighth anniversary of the most cowardly terrorist attacks on our country, a day we refer to as 9/11. I remember wondering that day if "September 11th" or "9/11" would ever sound normal to me like December 7th does, the day President Roosevelt said was a day that would "live in infamy". Well, yeah, September 11th sounds like that to me now, only with one major difference.

I was alive for this one.

The morning of September 11, 2001 started like any other Tuesday morning. I went to work in Macon, probably five minutes late as was my habit. Ha! I was working for Citi then, of course. I always worked for Citi! I sat down at my desk and got busy doing whatever it was that I did back then. Just before 9:00, we heard on the radio that a plane had hit the World Trade Center but we didn't think much of it. It was probably some little private plane flying too low. We just hoped no one was killed. A little after 9:00, the guy on the radio said another plane had hit the other tower. Okay, well, now that was no accident. My boss, David, turned on our little color TV and worked with the rabbit ears until he got NBC to come in pretty clearly and we tuned in to find out what in the world was going on. We could not believe what we saw. NBC just turned the cameras on and let us watch. Katie and Matt didn't talk much. I remember sitting there in absolute horror when I realized those poor, pitiful souls were jumping out of those buildings. Jumping out of those buildings because it was so unbearably hot where they were. So hot that they thought falling to their deaths was a better fate. That will haunt me to my last day. I remember sitting there in absolute disbelief watching the towers fall in real time. Watching those towers FALL. Those magnificent, enormous buildings where so much work and fun and lives took place collapsed like they were made of matchsticks. It felt more like a movie to me. No way could this be happening to us, not the United States of America. I realize now how arrogant that was. Oh, yes, it could be happening to us, the great United States of America. It DID happen.

I remember asking David "why?" and "what did we do to deserve this?" and "WHO could have done this?" I asked him if he thought it was Saddam Hussein and he said his best guess was Osama bin Laden. Osama who?? I had not even heard the man's name until right then. He had never stepped over into my little world until that morning.

We watched TV at work for three days. We couldn't NOT watch. We watched with hope and prayed for survivors to be found and were crushed when there were none. I remember going to give blood and being turned away because it wasn't needed. I remember how our country came together and crime went down. Everybody loved everybody and we all went to give blood and volunteer to look for survivors and take food to the folks working at Ground Zero. We were at our best during those first days and weeks following September 11th. We flew our flags and wore our pins and by God, we were proud to be Americans!

That sure didn't last. We're back to hating each other and bickering over every little thing. I learned a lot from September 11th. I learned that our lives can turn on a dime and to tell the people I love that I love them, every chance I get. I learned that the world hates us because of the way we are and live. I'd never even entertained that idea before. I wasn't very politically aware back then but I sure am now. I wanted to know WHY this happened. I won't let some monster sneak his way into my little world ever again.

This may sound crazy but this is my blog and I can say what I want. :) When I pray about September 11th, I don't pray for a stronger military to keep us safe. I pray for my big old beautiful country to be safe through peace, understanding and compassion.

Hey, it could happen. Look who I'm praying to.

The Times They Are A' Changin'

I am only 42 and I'm already hearing the M word.  That cannot be possible.  I am only 42!

I am too young for this, right?

Wrong.  

I have the blood test results to prove it.

I am beginning the perimenopausal stage and the more I research it (and I've been just devouring everything online!!), the more I realize that this crap has been coming on me since I was 36.  Thirty-SIX.  It started as horrible mood swings that my doctor diagnosed as PMDD, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder. She gave me some happy pills and I went on my way.  

That's as bad as it got until April. As in three months ago. Aunt Flo totally forgot how to get to my house and then when she found it, she completely trashed the place and would NOT freakin' leave.  It's been that way ever since.

I still have the mood swings but they don't seem to be getting any worse but something else has happened to me since 'round about April.  My sleep is ALL messed up.  I go from sleeping all the time (as in taking 3-hour naps every day when I get home from work) to not sleeping at all. And twice, I've woken up drenched in sweat and had to take a shower in the middle of the night.

Good times.

I'm determined to just roll with it and embrace this new journey in my life with the best attitude I can muster.  Poor Larry.  We are learning all about this together.  Neither one of us has a clue.  My doctor and I are trying some things because she also believes that I'm too young for this. I tend to lean more toward the natural way of doing things than she does but I hope the combination of our two approaches will slow this train down.

Choo choo chugga chugga chugga.

Little Fake April Rose

I'm writing my very first blog about how creepy people on the internet can be.

I read a lot of blogs and will eventually post them here. I was reading one a couple of months ago and saw a link to another one about a young, unmarried woman who was carrying a baby girl who had been diagnosed with Trisomy 13 and was not expected to live long enough to be born. She was expected to die in the womb.

The doctor suggested terminating the pregnancy and mom, "B", refused, choosing instead to cherish what time she had with her daughter and pray that she'd be born alive and be with them (she and baby daddy, "D") for a few minutes before she passed away.

And she started a blog about her. The baby girl that she named April Rose. April because she was sure the baby would be born in April. Her due date was in May but no one expected her to go to term.

I never really connected with "B". I didn't really like her writing style and I thought she was waaaaaaaay too dramatic and upbeat for someone who was losing her daughter. I really got suspicious a week or so ago when she posted ads for little baby girl stuff like ruffled diaper covers and hair bows.

Why on earth would someone whose baby is dying want to look at sweet little girl stuff??

I know now. There was no baby! And the ads were just a way for her to make money. She started this prayer circle called His Will Wednesdays a month ago and would take prayer requests and while that was admirable and very Christian of her, it was also making her rich because every hit to her site brought her more money from the sponsors. And she was taking donations from us poor people who believed her. Although I didn't send her any money, thank God.

Well, Sunday, June 7th, April Rose was born. "B" and "D" had a friend, Raechel, post minute-by-minute updates as to the baby's vitals and kept us informed through the birth and the hours afterward.

I prayed for this baby. I prayed for her parents and I asked God to give them the strength to endure losing her.

And then they posted a picture of the baby.

A small, dark picture in the sidebar. A picture of a baby who was asleep and had weird looking rough blonde hair. That combined with my gut feeling, I Googled "April Rose hoax" and guess what I found out??

It IS a hoax!! Some people recognized the picture of "April" as being one of those reborn dolls named Avery! This chick couldn't find a picture of a REAL baby?? She had to use a DOLL?

So she's busted now and I'm heartsick that I, along with thousands of other people, was tricked into believing her story. Her blog is completely down and so is her Twitter.

How could someone DO THAT??

Just Google April Rose hoax or April Rose scam and read all about it.

I have invested three months of my life in this baby, this story, and I'm so mad, I could spit nails.

"B" is a sad, sad person and while she needs prayer, she won't get mine anymore.