Friday, June 22, 2012

Freakey Friday

 Oy vey...it's been a week, I'll tell ya...

  On Tuesday, I kept the Irishman's truck to run errands. Did all that, and came home and did some housework. In the process of burning a bunch of paper stuff (feed sacks, etc) I came through the house, picked up a bunch of junk mail paper and took it out and dumped it into the burn barrel. Unbeknownst to me, the truck key was apparently caught up in the mess and got burned to death.

  Now, I don't know if you've ever done anything this stupid...I wasn't paying attention, plain and simple.  The problem here, is that the key (naturally) is not just a key..it has a computer chip inside it.  When we bought the truck, they gave us 2 keys....only one had the chip. The other key will lock and unlock the doors and even fit the ignition and turn it on...but the truck will not start.  As you can imagine, I became hysterical. Not right at first...it took me 2 hours of searching and trying to retrace my steps, and then sifting through the ashes to figure out that it was burned up. Problem was...I had to go pick himself up from work. My son has my car. I am screwed.

  I called my neighbors and they generously loaned me their truck, after talking me off the ledge. She recommended I call the dealership they bought their vehicles from to find about having the key remade. I went back home, made a call, and was told that to have a key made, it would be 300.00 and I had to have my truck towed there so they could program the key to the vehicle. I nearly lost my lunch.

  After much wailing and gnashing of teeth and nearly having a nervous breakdown, I got out the phone book and called a different dealership (north of here, in the town where the Irishman works). They were very kind, and sympathetic. They said that unfortunately, those keys are very expensive. I said, yes, I know.  They said they would have to make 2 keys. I said , yes, we need to have 2 anyway so this never happens again... They said I would have to have the truck towed there , yada, yada, yada.  And then they quoted me a price that was HALF what the other dealership said.  Still a big chunk of change (for us) but...doable.  I hadn't looked at my online bank numbers in a couple of weeks, but I was pretty sure I had about 600 dollars at least in there. When I checked, it was only 200.  OMG...I nearly fainted.

  I called the insurance guy, and asked about the towing on my roadside assistance...would they tow me from my driveway to the dealership?? And he said yes they would, that my policy would cover the first hundred dollars of the tow, and I would have to pay the rest out of my pocket. I said I understood.

 To make a long story short, the next day (Wednesday)  I got the tow, got the keys, put some gas in the truck and came home. And got a call from the tow truck company saying that I owed them twelve dollars over the hundred the insurance company paid and I could put it in the mail. I finished off the day with a whopping balance of about 24.00 left in my account. Luckily, this week was payday.

  Sigh....I hate this financial insecurity. My guts were in knots...in spite of my losing it, everything worked out okay, except that I have lost 400.00 that I can't account for.

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  Thursday I spent at my neighbors house so she could go to a birthday lunch. I whipped up a batch of granola and took it with me to toast it in her oven.  :)  I didn't get home until about 4, with my batch of granola and some plant starts she gave me. I made a batch of granola bars, did a little laundry and made supper. I couldn't decide what to fix, so settled on a soba noodles with peanut sauce.  I went out to the garden, picked about 2 quarts of snow peas, some fresh basil, a few green onions and a handful of spinach. I had a couple of carrots left,  and turned it into a marvelous meal.

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  Today I cleaned house while the Irishman watered the gardens (still no rain)...I vacuumed, mopped, dusted, cleaned the glass panels on the chandelier (10 of them--they come off, and get so nasty looking, I have to wash them in hot soapy water and dry them with a paper towel so there are no streaks). Then I went out to the garden while he took Molly to the reservoir to run...I picked a container full of chard and spinach, and another one full of the 2 lettuces. I picked another small mess of snow peas. After returning home, he went over to help the neighbors put in a small split rail fence. Then when he came back, we took buckets out and started picking blackberries. Got about 3/4 of a gallon. Pretty good for the first pick of the year....

 Afterwards, we cleaned up and headed for Edwardsville to pick up some groceries and to eat lunch at Crazy Wraps and Bowls.  We needed some yogurt and some organic stuff--red onions, cucumbers, carrots. It was a nice lunch (13.00) and a nice trip to the health food store. Then we came home and vegged out. lol

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  About 7 we were starting to think we should eat something, but because we had such a late lunch, we weren't too hungry, so I made another big bowl of the minty watermelon and peach salad. And that's what we had, with multigrain crackers. Then we watched Foyle's war on PBS and had a little popcorn.

And now the day is over and I need sleep.  We are going to a summer solstice celebration  tomorrow afternoon and other wise take it easy. We cooled down a little today, but tomorrow and Sunday it's supposed to be really hot again.

  On a garden note, I will be picking green beans any day now.  WooHoo!!!

  On an Annie note--goodnight. It is time to put these old bones to bed!



Namaste.

9 comments:

Beth said...

I am sorry you burned up your truck key. Made me anxious just reading about it so I can imagine how frantic you must have been.

No rain here either and the farmers are running scared.

today will be a better one Annie.

DJan said...

I am SO SORRY to hear of your key mishap. That is really awful, but it all turned out in the end, other than the fact that it was so expensive. I wonder what happened to that $400? Maybe it's really there somewhere?

Mariodacatsmom said...

Yikes - talk about a bad day. You really had one. So sorry that had to happen. I think we've all done stupid tricks like that - I know I have. This next week has to be better.

Andrew said...

I also freak out once in a while when I can't remember where I put my wallet, keys or whatever. Mostly so far though I have tracked them down, but there are 2 shaver cords and one pair of prescription sunglasses still in the ether somewhere.

Rubye Jack said...

Oh gawd what a bummer Annie! I'm glad it is a thing of the past now but I know that feeling when it involves money. For me it's like a sinking ship. All sounds good now though and I'm glad it worked out for you.

Rita said...

I was freaking out just reading about burning up the truck key and then you lost $400? Talk about stress! I'm glad it all finally got taken care of for less than the first place quoted you--and I hope you find out where the money went.

Sounds like things got back to normal--good food, getting things done. Hope you slept well and soundly and have a super weekend! :)

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

Oh my goodness! So sorry to hear of your truck adventure but glad it turned out okay even if you are broke! I can't believe how much you get done in a day!! Do you have thornless blackberries? I have a question if you do. I have lots of berries to ripen towards the middle or bottom of mine but the branches sprawling out from the top don't have any. Can I cut those back some??? Thanks. Nancy

Annette said...

Oh Annie, I HATE those ridiculous keys they give us for newer cars now.I told my hubs I want my next car to be a simple car with a regular key, roll up with a crank handle windows, push the button down to lock the doors...he said I will have to have a vintage vw bug to accomplish that. LOL
I am so sorry! I could feel your stress!! And I don't blame you!

the wild magnolia said...

Whew. You did have a tail spinner. You were exhausted, I know.

Let us pray this will be a better week.

take care of you.