Get Out of My Dreams and Into My Car

Beautiful, perfect, sleek, beloved. I'm speaking of the Siberian husky, Togo. The car? Well, two weeks of having it home after being repaired three times, and each service period was over a month, it's back in the shop again. Yes, faithful readers, here we go again. I am beside myself. My husband is done with the whole thing. We are now searching for an attorney to take care of our issue. 

I really believed it was fixed. She made it past the typical three day mark of showing promise after each repair visit. Two weeks was a good sign. No, a great indication that the car was fixed. But no such luck. We fell into the same old routine of calling Kia Roadside Assistance and asking for a tow to Eugene. Then comes the begging for a loaner. 

Ugh. Another loaner to keep our lives going until the car comes home once more. Only this time, I emptied the car completely out with Mallory's help. We knew it was probably the last time I would see this car. We gutted her. Every cup holder, paperwork, hair ties, even the reusable shopping bags were pulled out of the vehicle. It's time to say goodbye. 

Kia informed me they did not have a car free to give us for the duration. They promised us we could get a car from Enterprise in Roseburg so we would not have to deal with driving anywhere. Sounded good, at least until the car rental place called me. 

He said Kia would pay for everything up to $40 per day, which left me with some tiny cars. Anything beyond that was something Terry and I would have to deal with. This thought did not sit well with me or Terry. I informed him I would be insisting that Kia give us a car through their dealership instead of us having to pay one dime toward a loaner. This entire situation is no fault of our own, so why should we pay a penny? They not only owe us a loaner for the time our issue is being resolved, but they owe us a refund of all the money we have paid over two years, or they owe us a new car. 

The car has 14,000 miles on it. It's only two years old. We drove it for about a year and a half, and then the breakdowns began. Last time it was in the shop, we got a report that they had found an oil leak around the oil pressure switch and that threw the car into safety mode. Safety mode meant the car would not accelerate over 28 miles per hour at the highest speed. They replaced the switch, put in more oil, and called it a day. Apparently that was not the issue. But that makes me wonder as well, since we had an oil pressure switch blow at only 14,000 miles? What next? This left the car three quarts low of oil without an indication it was low. 

Mallory gave me a ride to the dealership a couple of days later, after they called with an offer of another loaner car. Off we went. Driving the hour and 20 minutes, we finally arrived. One of the men helped me get settled into a car. Another Sportage but not a hybrid like ours. This car is actually a beautiful color and made me happy, at least until I got in, turned over the engine, and looked at the lights on the dash. I had three tires without the proper air pressure in them. Um, no. 

My new loaner. I do like this car. Wish they would just trade us cars. I'm done with getting used to so many. 

After informing them of the situation, they took it into the shop and filled the tires. They had the night before and most of the day today to ensure the car was 100% ready to roll. Today (Saturday), I had to use a squirt of windshield fluid to clean dirt off the windshield. Now it says it's low. Lovely. Great job, boys. Hats off to the service you provide. This car only has a little over 4,000 miles on it. We are both truly over it all. It is a shame as I do love the car but not to the extreme of dealing with all of this. 

***

The friend I mentioned in the last post who was passing away did cross over a couple of days later. I was over the anger I had upon hearing she was leaving this world that soon. Surprised, but not surprised to hear of the horrible news that she left us. What a big hole in life she has left. I miss her great sense of humor the most. I loved reading her posts every day. We all wore pink that last Friday in memory of our friend. She wore pink, loved pink, and even dyed her hair pink. She was a fun, beautiful woman. So pink it was. Her friends and family filled her Facebook page with pictures of us smiling and wearing pink for our dear friend. Bless her beautiful soul and pink light on this earth. She will be missed dearly. Until we meet again ...

***

Blooms are everywhere! I love spring. It's so pretty and wow, the colors! As an indicator of summer coming soon, it's a beautiful thing. Although trees, shrubs, and flowers are blooming, it's cold today (Sunday). I'm freezing. Took the dogs out for their walk and stopped to feed my two new outdoor kitties. Not outdoor on purpose either. We seem to have collected another beautiful homeless baby to take care of until we can find a loving indoor home for her. 

She is another cutie. I'm working with her. She is coming up to me now and rubbing against me. Sasha is still hanging on us and loves us dearly. The new baby is very shaggy, with a large chunk of fur missing from her side. Her fur is ragged. I wish I could clean her up but I'm certain she would have me missing some skin. Tiny kitty, but black and gray tabby with yellow eyes. I don't know where she came from or what she's been through but it's been a lot. Poor babies. 

I know the new baby is a diamond in the rough. That beautiful cat is showing through the mangled hair look. She's been through hell but like a phoenix, she has come to the surface, ready to go again. 

***

Terry and I chose to go out to eat on Thursday evening. Denny's was the choice simply because they have so many options. I chose a breakfast dish for dinner, complete with scrambled eggs, bacon, and a nice country fried steak. Terry ordered a breakfast option as well, including pancakes. He ate his eggs and other entrees, but left the pancakes for last. He grabbed the bottle of syrup and turned it upside down over the stack of lovely pancakes. He was ready to roll. I watched with anticipation along with him as the syrup took its sweet time rolling down the glass and to the spout ...

Terry waits patiently for the syrup to begin to flow. 

Eventually we saw a tiny stream coming from the bottle. The anticipation was difficult to endure.

After two minutes or so, the syrup finally began to drip onto the cakes. Terry's arm began to tire from holding the bottle in place while we waited. Meanwhile, I knitted a blanket and Terry wrote another book. It's being published as I write this. 

Joking aside, this POS bottle was getting quite frustrating. We waited for it to complete the mission of covering Terry's cakes, but it literally took about two to three minutes before he could actually call it done. After completion, he bit into the lovely, fluffy cakes and enjoyed each and every syrup covered bite. 

Syrup trickled onto the pancakes, taking what seemed like forever.

***

We are all lazing around this weekend.

Our time this weekend was spent being lazy around the house. I scrubbed counters and the stove in the kitchen, but still need to work on the floors. Tomorrow means work begins again and so life goes. Today I thought about making some sourdough sandwich bread, just to see if I can. We'll see how that all turns out. I have to find something to do. 

Terry has been ill for a week and a half to two weeks already. Nasty cold-type illness that has him hacking up a lung each time it hits and it has turned him into a mouth breather due to lack of nostril use. It's the same cold I had, so he can't ever say I did not give him something. I have to say, out of all the times I have been sick, this is the first time I've seen him with any type of sickness. Lucky man. 

I tell him he needs to go in to see his doctor, but he tends to be reluctant. You know, it's the same old thing we hear from a lot of people, "I'm okay." After these words are spoken, many times they go in and find out they are ill, and it could have been taken care of faster if they had just gone in the first time. But hey, I'm not a doctor. You do you. 

***

Seymour the sourdough starter, right after the overnight rise, is waiting for a feeding.

I pour 1/3 cup of flour and water and 1/3 cup of Seymour into a bowl every day to feed him. 

Those beautiful bubbles!

I scrub Seymour's home, replace the newly fed starter, and wait for the rise. In the morning, I can put some starter in the sourdough bread mix and create a loaf or two. Sourdough is a good bread for you and especially for diabetics who love bread. Fermenting the dough means it does not spike blood sugar quickly, but digests well, and blood sugar does go up as when we eat anything, but not in such a quick fashion. Healthier overall. 

***

This is where we are going to leave this post for this weekend. I'm hoping next weekend Terry will feel better and maybe we will venture out into the wild again. We would like to thank all of you for reading the blog. We do appreciate all of you. 

Until our next post, shine that light! Our world could use some brightness. Hugs to everyone. Take care of yourselves.