Wordless Wednesday- New Car & First Snow

We finally found a car! More pics to come :-)


Our first snow flurries this year! Today's high was 81 degrees F then a cold front came and it snowed! Only in Texas! It's not much, but I'll take it.

Oh What A Night

I am officially car less. We released my car tonight to the insurance company. In return, they'll be sending us a check.


We got an estimate for the damages and it was going to cost us about $11, 000 to fix it. The catch is, if we chose to fix it, they were only going to give us $3500, if we let them total it, $5000. That's not much, but it's something. And that can go into something newer and safer. We're thinking about our future and the safety of our children (because there WILL BE children) so we'll move on.


It was kind of emotional, I do have to say. Saying good bye, and removing our belongings. I know it was just a car, but there were a lot of emotions attached to it. It was my first car, my only car, it was paid off, it was my baby and it's life wasn't quite done. But I have to think that there are bigger and better things for us.


We went to the wrecker yard, and removed the floor mats, the steering wheel cover, the after market K&N air filter, the sub woofer and double checked that our belongings were cleared out. It was hard leaving it. I know you are all probably rolling your eyes at me now, but it's just one more loss to add to my list. Something gone before it's time.


So afterwards we went to IHOP for a late dinner. We were upset and decided we needed pancakes to cure our ails. I had pumpkin pancakes- mmm. And guess what? As we were leaving, I saw a familiar face. A face that was trying to pretend she didn't see us. A face that looked down and slightly away from us. A face I had not seen in a very long while. Uh huh, you guessed it... his ex!


Mr. H said he saw her when we got up from our table and she saw him, but immediately turned away and avoided eye contact. As soon as I saw her, I turned to him and just stared at him trying to figure out if he saw her too. He did. It was kind of weird seeing her. As we got in the car (he opened the door for me just to show off, because I'm sure that made her jealous *) the guy she was with was looking out the window. We were parked right in front of the window of the booth they were sitting at, so I know they saw us.


I think of her every once in a while. Not because I want to, but because it just happens. I'm sure that's my punishment for "stealing" away her boyfriend 9 1/2 years ago. I wonder if she ever thinks of us. I'm sure she had no idea we'd actually make it. I'm sure she probably wished bad things upon us. I'm sure she still wishes us these things. The thing is, I never meant to hurt her. And I'm sorry if I did. I know it's been almost 10 years, but it was a major happening in our lives and things changed drastically for her too.


I think Mr. H and I were/are meant to be together. You can't chose who your soul mate is, or how you find them, it just happens. But all these years later, I still feel badly. I do hope that she finds her perfect mate as well. I know she thought that person was Mr. H, but something bigger and better will come along for her too.

Oh, and we went to the orthopedic specialist today. We start physical therapy next Tuesday for whiplash. And my neck has been killing me all day. I took pain meds and I am feeling a little loopy and sick to my stomach. Well, actually a lot loopy. She also prescribed us an anti-inflammatory, so hopefully that'll help some.

* Mr. H never opens my door. And just because I wrote that, he'll say "Honey, yes I do", and start feeling bad because he thinks I think he's un-gentleman like. But between you and me, he doesn't. And that's okay. He does MANY other things for me that I often take for granted. So honey, if you're reading (and I know you are) I love you and thank you for being so good to me. And if we ever see your ex girlfriend in public again, please promise me you'll open my door for me without me asking :-)


Here is our first and last picture of us in my car. I'm not sure why, but we don't have any pictures of it besides the ones I took the other day and when it snowed here in 2005. So we are (sin make-up) with our lovely lady- Perla.

Weekend Fun...Don't Get Jealous!

I don't know why I was so excited about car shopping...that shit is exhausting. But I did manage to get a slight tan out of it. We have narrowed our search down to the car we want, we just need to find one in our price range with good mileage and the extras we want. So really, we've made no progress. Oh, and we managed to only cuss out one dealership. Record for us!

I babysat LD tonight. His mom's birthday was today so she asked me to watch him while they went to dinner. I was supposed to watch him from 3-9, but ended up staying there til 10:30. Boo. He was fussy all night and kept crying for his mom, which made for a terribly exciting evening.

Her baby shower was on Saturday. And despite everyone's efforts to keep me entertained so I wouldn't have to go, I did nothing that evening. Mr. H and I looked at cars til about 6, then went home looked at more cars on the net, then went to the bookstore to browse around. What ever happened to going out to have drinks?

When I got to LD's house, there were bags of baby stuff everywhere. She even called me into her room to look at her new bassinet. Hold on to your seats, the excitement continues! I saw onesies, a baby carrier, a doggie hamper, nipples, bottles, nipple brushes, a swaddler, socks, towels, bibs all in shades of boy.

Speaking of boys...I found this little guy hanging out by the boys' fountain the other day. So tough, yet harmless. As soon as I saw him, I thought of Cooper and Brayden- Mrs. Muelly's boys. Bugs, spiders and insects remind her of them too.

On a brighter note, it is raining here. It hasn't rained in a few weeks, so I'm pretty excited. It is thundering, lightning, and the wind is howling. I love when it rains. I just want to lay in bed, open the windows and fall asleep. I just may do that...Good night.

What did y'all do this weekend?

Psst...

We're going car shopping!

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Also, if you'd like to contribute to the Survivor Project: A Breast Cancer Survivor Scrapbook, for my grandmother, click the link above. I'd be more than honored to include you. Please say you'll help.

Shitty Day

I had kind of a shitty day. I really tried for it not to be, but it was.

I tried to register for the Race for the Cure in November, but I didn't realize it costs to walk. I'm sure this is customary for all races, 5K's, 10K's, marathons etc. to charge an entry fee, but you can tell from the size of my hips this is not something I do on a regular basis. The only other thing I've done was the March Of Dimes (last year) and they didn't charge per person to walk and show support.

My grandma was excited when I told her we were thinking about walking for her. She just completed her race this weekend. My Grandma wanted my mother and aunt to participate as well, but if we all walk (like she wants) we'll have to come up with over $210 just to enter. That doesn't include any fundraising. I was reading the registration info and it says that 75% goes back into cancer research, and the other amount goes towards bottled water, snacks, and "free" t-shirts. This kind of irritates me.

I asked my aunt (the one who walked with my grandparents) about it, knowing full well she'd make me feel like a cheap-ass for not wanting to fork over $60 TO WALK. She works at a breast center, so they all walked together. I thought maybe she got a deal from her job, and that's how they afforded to walk. Come to find out, they got a senior citizen discount (half off). My aunt's reply was something like this "Do what you need to do...your grandma has done so much for you...priorities, blah blah blah" I asked my other aunt (the one who lives here) and my mom if they'd walk with me. My aunt said she's participating in a diabetes walk instead and my mom is going out of town. So it looks like I am the one feeling guilty and I am the only one trying to make this work. Bull shit.

Today was the first day I met LD's grandmother. I thought she'd be really sweet and caring and grandma like. She half ass shook my hand and never looked at me again the rest of the day. She doesn't speak English, so maybe that's her excuse or maybe I'm not good enough to take care of her grandson. Whateva. LD's mom asked me to stay late today since I took off last Monday. She, her friend and her mom went shopping for 5 hours at BRU. They showed up exactly at 6 to pick LD so they can continue running errands. It was a lonely day. I felt like hired help.

And their dumb ass, bottomless pit of a dog ate my lunch. Little Dude was sleeping, so I sat down to eat my oh-so-good-freshly-made sandwich. I took 3 bites before he woke up. His new trick is to climb out of his crib and knock on the door for you to come get him. I rushed over to him and left my sandwich behind. As soon as I started to change his diaper, I heard my plate hit the floor. I put LD back in his crib, ran to save my sandwich only to find there was only a slice of oat-nut bread and lettuce left on the floor. I yelled at the dog (called him a few names) and went back to get LD. He was standing in his crib with his diaper off and he took the sheet off his mattress. He has also learned to open the security gate by pulling at the bottom corner. I tightened it as much as I could, but he still got out 4 TIMES today. Ugh.

My back and neck were hurting and I almost called Mr. H to bring me some pain pills, but I didn't want to fall asleep on the job, so I didn't call. I didn't have any Tylenol or ibuprofen to take either, so I just had a slice of pumpkin pie in attempts to make things better. It kind of helped.

Mr. H called me halfway through my day. It was nice to hear his voice. He only had bad news. We have to return the rental car, because their insurance isn't going to pay for it anymore ($40/day). They have decided that our car isn't worth fixing and because they are closing the claim and writing us a check they are no longer obligated to pay for the rental. Although I still don't have my car back. They are willing to pay us retail value of the car (about $6500 as opposed to $4500). If we keep the car to fix it, they will give us this amount less the salvage value (about $1200). If we decide to let them keep it (total it) they'll give us the retail value plus the salvage value. The salvage value is the amount the salvage yard will part the car for, which basically means they'll take it apart and sell all the pieces. How sad.

We're going tomorrow to get the results of the x-rays taken at the chiropractor's office last Friday. Next Tuesday we will be going to get a second opinion at the orthopedic specialists office.

Today sucked big donkey dick. How was your day? Got any good news?

Pain In The Neck

A couple of you have emailed or called to see how we are, so thank you.

It's been pretty quiet around here. We went to the wrecker yard on Tuesday to look at the car and take pictures. In some ways it didn't seem as bad as I remembered, but in others it seems worse.

In this picture, the bumper is bent, the front guard is cracked, the hood was shoved up and over about 4 inches and it doesn't open. The light assembly on the passenger side is shattered and the metal around it is in shreds. It's amazing how something so tough (metal) can just disintegrate in a matter of moments. The damage doesn't look so bad, but there is slight frame damage and that's where the big bucks come in.

Also the air bags deployed and that jacks up the estimate by about $2000. The driver door only opens about a foot because the whole front was shoved over- ugh.

Moving on, we went to the ER Monday (minor emergency) to get checked out. We went there rather than to our regular docs because we both wanted to get checked out by the same person. He gave us muscle relaxants and pain meds. I was hoping I wouldn't need them, but my neck and lower back have been killing me. The right side of my neck more than anything. Mr. H is having trouble sleeping and is more anxious than ever- thanks universe for fucking us over once again. I do realize it could be so much worse, but why??? It's so frustrating.

We are going to see a chiropractor tomorrow afternoon. We'll see what he has to say. Aaron has been having back pain as well. He missed a half day of school on Monday and half a day today. Monday he went to see his pediatrician (which he claims to be too old for) and today he went to see an orthopedic specialist. He has recommended physical therapy for two weeks, then he'll be re-evaluated. The doctor did extensive 360-degree x-rays and thinks he might have a slight fracture in one of his discs (which is apparently a common occurrence in auto accidents). This stinks.

Good news- the lawyer friend of my in-laws is on board. He has already contacted the insurance company and sent them a letter telling them he was representing us and to back off. They have. He also told us that most likely the cost to repair the vehicle will not be disputed. Yay us! We're not in this for the money, but it doesn't hurt either. I don't know how people go around getting in intentional wrecks and pretending to be hurt just to get reimbursed for their "pain and suffering". This is tough work. I guess everyone's gotta make a living- only some chose to do it honestly.

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My grandma is walking this weekend in the K.omen Race for the Cure along with my aunt and grandfather. I am so proud of her, I wish I was going to be there with her. I'd hold her hand and cry with her every step of the way. Oh, I love her. The walk here is the first of November, and I'm hoping to go. BTW, she melted a toaster on the stove the other day. There's a melty gaping hole in the bottom of it...lol. Just another reason why I love her :-)

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More good news- LD's mom hasn't said anything about rescheduling the baby shower. And I wanted to ask, but I figured if she did change the date she would have said something. Her mother and friend from V.enezuela and S.pain are coming int his weekend. Her mom is staying til January. Yeah you read that right, over 3 months, and her friend for 2 weeks. And she still wants me to be there on my normal days so she can go "shopping". In fact she asked me to work an extra day next week since I took a day off this week. Again, so she can go shopping. Whatever.

One more thing, I don't know why I go into the nursery. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. And I opened the new dresser expecting it to be empty. It wasn't. It was full of newborn onesies, bibs, socks, gowns and hats. I just wanted to take them all out of the drawer and smell them. I wanted to touch them all and rub them against my cheek. Why do I go in there?

Time to log off, the pain meds are kicking in...wee!

Details

Okay, so I owe you all a few details.

Mr. H and I had just picked up Aaron from my mom's house and were going home at around 6:30pm . Our house is 3 miles away and a narrow 2 lane road connects them. We got half way there when the accident happened.

Off the road is a side street that leads to a neighborhood. The speed limit was 45 mph. Ahead of us, on the right, were 2 cars at a stop sign. The first car took off from the stop sign with plenty of space between us and it. The second car took off right after the first- kind of a stop and roll- a yield (kinda). Except we were fast approaching. Mr. H was driving, I was on the passenger side, and Aaron was sitting behind me.

He started honking at her thinking she would realize we were *right there*, but she kept going. Mr. H swerved to the left trying to avoid the car by going around it, but it was inevitable she wasn't stopping. She crashed into the front right corner of the car. The air bags deployed and we wound up in a field across the street. It all happened so damn fast.

I've always thought that if I were ever in a car accident (this was my first) I wouldn't get whip lash. My child/pet/stuff wouldn't fly through the windshield, because I'd put my arm out and stop it. Yeah right! It happened so fast I didn't even have time to think of what was happening. I was worried about Aaron because I didn't know where her car would collide into ours. I didn't know how bad the damage would be. No, my life did not flash before my eyes, but it was a little scary. Shocking to say the least. In the seconds before the cars hit eachother, Mr. H yelled out and I thought he was hurt, so that only worried me more.

Once the airbags blew up in our faces, I knew it was serious. It immediately burned our skin and it smelled like smoke. Like something was burning. That kind of freaked me out. We got out of the car, called 911 and waited for the police to come. None of us seemed to be hurt, which is a good thing, but we are a little sore in the usual areas- neck, back, shoulder, collar bone (from the seatbelt). We have a few scratches, bruises and burns, mostly from the airbags, but we are okay.

Mr. H keeps blaming himself because he thinks if he had braked sooner, if he swerved in the opposite direction, if we was going a little slower, if, if, if... he could have avoided it. We could have done all those things, but the bottom line is, if she had stopped at the stop sign instead of running through it, we wouldn't be where we are. Can I hear an 'Amen'?

The cops arrived, took our statements, and found the other driver at fault. She swears she stopped at the stop sign, and looked both ways before turning. Well she must be blind and deaf, because I don't know how she missed us. What really pisses me off is that the cop had to physically tell her how to stop at an intersection. "You need to come to a complete stop, look both ways, then proceed..." How did she get her license? (I have a few funny ideas about how she got one, but I won't share them here :-P)

She is a middle eastern woman driving a fairly new Lexus with 3 KIDS UNDER THE AGE OF 4 IN THE BACK SEAT! Not only could we have been seriously hurt, but she could have killed her kids. Dumb bitch! People like that really chap my hide.

We went to retrieve the police report this morning and in it she claims we hit her. Whatever. The first car that was in front of her, turned around after witnessing the accident in her rear view mirror. She gave her statement to the cops, so that's on file as well. They can say whatever they want, but she's the one who got the ticket. And that has to stand for something.

I have a nice car (I think). It's a '98 Explorer Limited. It's not a "wow!" car, and it's certainly not a luxury car, but it's my car. It's the only car I've ever owned (and it was paid off) and it was a CLEAN car. The interior looked like a brand new car. Mr. H is very much a car nut and he takes pride in maintaining my car. Earlier in the day, he took it to get inspected, and get the oil changed. Just last weekend he changed the brakes by himself. Earlier in the year we had the transmission rebuilt. We have put at least $5000 into this car this year alone.

They are talking about totalling the car because it's 10 years old and it's going to cost more to fix it then it is worth according to NADA. The problem is we have put so much time and money into maintaining this car. A car salesman over the weekend asked a confused, "why?" in response to the amount we have put in to the car. The thing is, a car is an investment. It's like a home. You add to it. You fix things that go wrong. You improve it's performance. You take care of it. You don't toss it out like a used sponge and buy another one everytime it starts to smell. Sure, if it's a POS, then go ahead, but mine wasn't. It was good to me.

They say it's worth $4500 and I think that's bullshit. There is no way we can replace my exact car in the condition it is in for that amount. No way! Sure we can find another car, but it's not going to be fully loaded like mine was. And if it is, we can't afford that with the amount they're offering. And why should we have to make payments on a car because some freakin' idiot doesn't know how to stop at a stop sign?

We looked at a few cars this weekend. Some I even liked. It was exhausting though. There's so much out there and we haven't car shopped in a long time. We also picked up a rental car today. It's a 2008 white Explorer. It's nice but it doesn't have the character mine did. We also went to the ER today to get checked out- just in case. He gave us scripts for V.icodin and and muscle relaxants- woo hoo! Oh, and Mr. H spoke to a family friend who just happens to be a personal injury lawyer. His specialty? Screwing over insurance companies :-)

Happy Autumn Y'all!

Friday Night Lights

We got in a wreck. The idiot driver ran a stop sign. My poor beloved car is going to be totalled. I am upset and angry, but we are not hurt. I didn't really feel like blogging, but Aaron was appalled because I hadn't already done so- so here I am. Got any questions?

Photo credits: Aaron (he made me add that!)