When it rains, it pours, sometimes. The weather has definitely been down pouring the last few days, but I am referring to the mishaps of life. Breathing is something I have had to be conscious of over the past few days. Learning how to make myself just breathe without hyperventilating has been challenging. Just a bit much all at once.
The rental car goes back this morning. This little Ford Fiesta has been fun to drive and I am grateful I was capable of renting a car (with some help from a friend) to bridge the gap. People still beat the crap out of rentals, though. The Fiesta is a 2014 and there is something definitely amiss with its transmission.
I have a new (to me) vehicle. It’s a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo with 178,000 well-maintained miles, a V8 5.2l engine, 4×4, and has a hitch. I’m not sure why but I am excited about the hitch.
I bought the vehicle from the original owner, and it came with absolutely all of its service records. This guy even had the original sales sticker! He spent about 10 minutes before I test drove the Jeep walking me around it to tell me this or that about its history. I got the feeling that part of him really didn’t want to sell the vehicle.
I’ve been driving minivans for so long, the Jeep feels a bit weird to drive. The handling is definitely different. I sit a little bit higher up in the Jeep than the minivans I have been driving, but I am finding that works out better for me than trying to get used to the lower level of a car, again. I’ve definitely felt like a mouse navigating through a herd of stampeding elephants while driving the Fiesta.
A friend of mine asked me yesterday if I love the Jeep. I told her I want to but am a little afraid to, yet. I haven’t had the best of luck with vehicles over the past year so I’m a little nervous to get attached to the Jeep. I also told her that I would probably love the Jeep endlessly in about a week. I just need to get more secure in its reliability.
So, the stress of having to find a vehicle is over. One stress-er down. Whew!
At the end of my clean, yesterday, I had a toilet overflow for some unknown reason. It flooded the bathroom and the laundry room right outside of it. It took every last rag I had to block the water from reaching the carpet just outside of the laundry room, and repeated wringing out of them to get all of the water mopped up. Extremely frustrating, no matter when it happens, but more so when you are about 10 minutes from being done with the clean. This added about 40 minutes to the clean. Ugh. But that’s done and nothing was damaged that I could tell, thank goodness.
When I got done with the clean, I headed to Best Buy with my laptop. The other day, it stopped being able to go anywhere on the internet. This was extremely frustrating, to say the least, because that was what I was using to search Craigslist for vehicles. It’s so much easier that way than on my phone.
I purchased a service package when I bought the laptop. It was the cheapest plan they had but I figured it would at least cover me should anything go wrong. They dinked around with the laptop, then told me that they would have to send it out to see if it could be fixed. I know it shouldn’t be that big of a deal but it is to me.
I love my blog for many reasons. It gives me a place to write and pushes me to write, mostly everyday. The very thought of not being able to do that really upset me. Enter the conscious breathing.
The poor guy at the customer service desk saw I was having a hard time with this. I really was trying to not just jump him for the news he gave me. I know he is just doing his job, I was just at a place that made it hard for me to handle the news smoothly.
I explain that it had been a really stressful few days, and I was trying really hard not to be upset with him for doing his job. He gave me a moment, then sent me to the Geek Squad to have them see if they could remedy the situation with the laptop before opting for the 2-5 week send out.
The guy at the Geek Squad desk messed around with the laptop for a bit. Then we opted for a refresh, which resets the computer without losing any of my data or files. That took about 40 minutes, and, unfortunately, didn’t solve the problem.
He gave me the option of the Geek Squad doing a hardware check, which takes about 24 hours. I agreed. He said the laptop was acting in such a way that made him believe the hard drive is failing. Yay! (please hear the sarcasm in that yay). Should they find that there is a hardware issue, then the laptop gets sent out. I should know later on today if I will be laptop deficient for the next 2-5 weeks.
Thankfully, my daughter has allowed me to borrow her laptop in the mornings so I can blog. She actually told me I can use it whenever I need it. I love that kid. So, that is how I’m writing this morning.
I tried to write yesterday morning, but the tablet wanted to be in charge of the words I was writing, insisting on what it thought I was trying to type and ignoring the actual letters being pressed on the keyboard. When I started thinking it would make a good Frisbee for the dogs, I shut it down and moved onto my phone.
My phone…well, lets just say that its been giving me some typing issues, as well. I’ve been just dealing with them for texting and stuff, but to try to blog with it…no. I gave up, then. I was just going to have to be good with not being able to share the good news about the Jeep. It was a bit challenging to swallow since I was so excited about sharing the Jeep, but I moved on to the day at that point.
All of these things happening at once leave me feeling like I am in some sort of curse. Well, sort of. Part of me feels this is the universe saying I’m not doing what I should. Yet another part looks at it all and says “Suck it up, honey. That’s just life sometimes.” I really thought I had mastered the whole left foot, right foot, repeat shuffle, but apparently, I have needed a refresher. It all goes up from here, right? Please?
*I’ll be uploading a photo of the Jeep later. I am apparently still experiencing electronic…fun.
Dragonfly Gypsy USA 