Saturday, January 29, 2011

RIP Suzuki

Thursday was the day I was supposed to get my Suzuki back. We had it taken to a man who claimed to be a wiring specialist since our mechanic couldn't find the problem.

Thursday evening, when I called to see if it was ready, I am informed that my car had caught on FIRE and the entire car was burnt down to the frame. I yelled so much they asked to speak to Brent.

Apparently the guy did not know what he was doing.

He wants us to come talk to him face to face. He also wants to blame our regular mechanic (which we all, including our normal mechanic) just think is hysterical since Lynn had it for 2 weeks and all it would do was a blow a fuze after a few hours and this yahoo has it for 2 days and blows the daggum car up. He replaced a fan and a relay system and it blows up. Hmmmm.

I got the fire report, it was called in at 5:20. So when I called at 5:15 and he was just starting to run his final diagnostics to see if he'd fixed it, it only took 5 minutes until the fire was started and bad enough that he called 911. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it probably exploded into fire as soon as he cranked it. Nice.

Any way you look at it, Rick's Auto Shop in Dalton will be owing me quite a bit of money. We're asking for $5800 (approx). $3200 is blue book value of the car, plus $1900 for all the custom paint and the body kit that was on it, another $600 for 3 carseats and personal items, and $115 for the car we rented this weekend til our tarus is back from the other (non-exploding) shop. I got quotes and print outs and estimates and reciepts to back up all those figures too. We aren't asking for pain and suffering or anything given he plays nice. If we have to go to court, things will get uglier. He will then pay for missed work, personal distress, sentimental value, court costs and for my lawyer. So he can pay us the $5800 or he can pay like $10,000, but either way I'm getting our money for that car.

Brent is super bumbed. He loved that car. And know what he said? The worst part of my favorite car blowing up is that I didn't even get to see it blow up!!

Men.

I'm just glad me and the babies weren't driving down the road in it when that happened! I don't know that I coulda got them all out in time if it spread that fast, you know? Carseats are tricky things!

Well, I'm not sure how things will go. Brent wants to go without me - I think he wants to prove to me that he can handle this and take care of our family. We got into it the other night because I thought we should bring an old guy for a witness and he got upset and I said he wouldn't stick up for himself at work so how am I supposed to count on him fixing this --- and I guess protecting us and protecting himself are two totally different things.

I just hope that he can handle it :-/ it worries me.

Time will tell...

Thursday, January 27, 2011

AAAARG

i am absolutely loosing my mind
i cant even blog right now because the children are driving me BATTY
and my hip is acting up again
AAAAARG

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Life goes On

Good call Sarah who spotted this blog on my prophetic blog... totally the wrong place :-)

Well, day 16 of the car-disaster ensues. I still have niether vehicle with which to grocery shop, haul off trash, or go to and from work. I am still buming rides as is my hubby. Favors are beginning to wear thin. But, I am surrendering to it. Maybe that's the whole point - for me to realize I can't do anything about it so I may as well relax over it. One day at a time. I have a ride home. I have rides to and from tomorrow, and I'm off Thursday. That's all I need for now.

I'm worn thin and so tired of everything that its not funny.

Well, we are going to NYC for our anniversary this year. Brent sorta dropped it on me outta the blue - he put in for vacay for the end of Feb instead of the end of March and I freaked thinking I wouldn't get time off since I JUST took a week vacay... but I think we'll be okay. I've been scouring the internet for days finding cheap romantic things to do in NYC -- we're going to coney island, we're going on a carriage ride in central park, having dinner in a rooftop resturant, going on a cruise on the harbor... a bunch of other fun stuff like that. I was desperate to show Brent I really do want to go on this trip (he doubted since I backed out of Paris and Vesquez) so I spent a ton of time looking for things we haven't done before, trying to make it romantic and different and spontaneous and less planned feeling.

But I'm ready to go and relax some. I'm ready to focus on my hubby and have some romantic nights out. I'm going to get a cute hair cut and some sexy little dresses to take. I'm so ready :-)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Stressful Week

Well, as my vacation drew to a close (ill blog about it later) i was somewhat ready to get back to work. I was ready for things to get back to normal. Sure I'd miss the kids but its life.

Sunday night we got 8 inches of unexpected snow. Brent was sent home from work mid-evening so he wouldn't get stuck in the ice (GA is funny because its not that we have that much more ice or snow than anyone in fact a bunch less, its that we aren't equipped to handle it. no snow plows or shovels or stakes for our tires.) He gets 3 miles from home and the car totally cut off and won't crank. The tarus is already in the shop with a bad headgasket, waiting for the mechanic to get around to it. We have it towed and a nice random person gives Brent a ride home in the snow.

We're stuck Monday and Tuesday. The roads aren't cleared until late Tuesday evening. We can't get out even if we had a car. My employers are understanding. The stores are opening late anyway, everyone is having the same problem.

Wednesday I convince a co-worker to come and pick me up since my Mother in Law still won't drive (VERY frusterating). Around 1pm the guy finally gets to my house -- the new guy they just hired. Talk about akward -- a 40 minute drive with someone i've never met before. I get to work and its normal. Nothing interesting to report really except that the new employee, Michael, seems to know a substantial amount about me as if he has grilled the existing staff or they've been volunteering way too much info. My other co-worker, Bob, is seemingly pissed off with me because Jimmy was fired although that happened on my vacation and (while I anticipated it) I had nothing to do with it.

Thursday I have to wait on Pam to get back from court (she had a ticket for having her dog loose in the neighborhood). Court started at 8am. She got back at 12. My boss was flipping out. I'd told him that I had to wait on her but niether of us anticipated it to take 4 hours. When I finally got to work, I was told to cut overtime that one employee was gaining quickly. I told Bob that he'd need to make arrangements to leave at 4pm so he could cut some overtime. He pitched a HUGE fit about how he's been here all week and its not his fault and he should get to keep that overtime (basically). I mostly say that I don't care and he needs to cut that extra time. There were enough other staff members that there was no reason for him to work extra hours. He sent an email to my boss. My boss told him to go home at 5:30 and we'd discuss in the AM. I sent an email to my boss following this that basically said that things were never going to get better if he didn't back me up on decisions like that. (remember Bob used to be my boss but he sucked at it and now I'm his boss). John (our DM, my boss) told me he understood. In the midst of all this? Bob went home at 2 for lunch and never came back. Friday he told me I said to do that. I didn't say to leave at 2 -- in fact Michael (other guy) and I were texting him trying to figure out WTH he went!

Friday was busy at work - thankfully. John instructed me to ignore the elephant in the room until he could talk to Bob. It was stressful. Friday night I get home and have a letter from the IRS saying I misreported my 09 taxes and owe them $1023. I cry and go to bed.

Today I am already stressed. Both cars are in the shop. I owe the IRS alot of money potentially and idk why. I depend on others to get to and from work. I can't even haul off trash or go to the store. I'm a sitting duck. Brent and I have been fighting off and on since I'm so stressed out about it. I feel like I can't ever get ahead! I am so tired of trying and working hard and doing everything I can and not making any progress. Oh yeah, and not making any progress on the film -- our camera is out for repair but the place we took it can't fix it --- its complicated. I hate the cold. I'm tired of the snow. I want my cars back. I want to go to church in the AM (aint happening).

*sigh* My ride should be here soon. I get to be an hour early to work. I'll blog more probably once I get there.