Thursday, October 29, 2009

Where have I been?

The run down since the last post, in more or less chronological order of events that have taken place in the last 10 days.

I'm driving to work. My husband has left 30 mins before me for work. As I'm driving, I see him walking on the side of the road.

Strange.

I pull over.

His rental car, the one he had since his other car was getting repaired from hail damage ($500 deductible) is crunched in the front.

Yes, he has rearended someone, who rearended someone.

And forgotten his wallet and phone at home.

Cop runs his license.

My husband's license is cancelled.

Not suspended.

Cancelled.

Because he paid a ticket late 2 years ago.

It was cancelled for 2 years, even though he was rear-ended 8 months ago. And pulled over and given a warning for failure to stop completely 1 year ago. Is no one running his license?

Then again, he disclaimed all knowledge of his failure to pay that original ticket timely (and all memory of receiving the original ticket).

Which I doubt.

It was a . . . . . tense week in our household.

Because I wanted to murder him.

We were then down to 1 car, because of course, the police impound and tow the rental car ($200) and we pay another deductible ($500).

And then he had no license so we had to pay ($95) to have him take a written and driving test.

See what I mean about tense?

He passed the written test, but the next available driving test was 3 weeks away.

And I was scheduled to go out of town twice for work within that time period, that same time period my husband had to work, drop Brody off to and from daycare.

That same time period during which my husband had as much legal right to drive a car by himself as my 3 year old did.

Like I said, tense.

Finally, he listens to me and we hire a private driving school that will give him the ($50) test. He passes.

We go back to the DMV to have his picture taken ($24).

We still have one car, because the hail damage repair place has not called us.

This is the same month we paid our deductible ($500) to install a new roof on our house.

Then the one car we did have decided to be difficult, and flashed a light that said:

check engine

check engine

And, $832.40 later, the check engine light is off.

In the meantime, Brody has missed 4 days of preschool because with one car, and our current ridiculous level of busy-ness at our respective jobs, we can neither wait until 8:15am in the morning to drop him off nor pick him up at 11:15am to transfer him to daycare.

Now we are looking at switching daycares from one that will not transport him to and from preschool to one that does. The problem? I love the daycare we have. I love them. Brody struts with confidence into and out of that place, and gives hugs to the teachers. He talks about his teachers with us and is always smiling and squealing while there.

Then my car's rear brake light stopped working on one side.

Which I discovered the day before I find out that I am being furloughed (no pay) for 3 days before the end of this calendar year.

Which is better than being laid off.

Which I know intellectually.

But then another friend of mine who works for the same employer, more or less, says she heard in addition to that, They are contemplating 8 more furlough days starting in January 2010, along with a permanent 2% reduction in pay.

Again. We are better off than many many people.

But if I have to lose any more money to stupidity, bad luck, or this economy,

I will cry.

By the way, we got over a foot of snow yesterday and today in our yard.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I am so sorry. When it rains, it pours. Shall I send wine?

Lolita Breckenridge said...

No, thank you. I just joined a Wine of the Month club. I decided I needed to drink much more frequently.

pattinase (abbott) said...

It's been one of those kind of months here too. We also rear-ended a truck, had electricity problems, a guy redoing our kitchen forgot to add $2000 for the counter onto the bill, flu, and so on. I hate Octobers.

Hef said...

Dude. Seriously?

In the 5.4 seconds that have passed since readng this, I'm feeling a helluva lot better.

hugs.

Unknown said...

LOL, you are way ahead of me! Enjoy that vino.

SaRaH said...

what the DEUCE, man? enough. I mean it, universe. That is ENOUGH. Don't make me repeat myself.

enjoy your wine, girl.

Lolita Breckenridge said...

Update: J had a fever Friday, and me a sore throat. What the DEUCE, indeed. I'm so tired today I could sleep standing up. Or just collapse. But noooo, I'm at work. Thinking of taking a day this week though.

Thanks for all the love. :-)

Jacque said...

Whew. Hope things improve. Greatly. ((HUGS))