i'm not sure why, but i have been overwhelmed lately. there never seems enough time to do the
stuff i want to do, nevermind the things i have to do.
two weeks ago today my car decided it had had enough. she died. now to give credit where credit is due, she did get me home from my morning errands before she choked.
i had decided to go for a little drive to do some shopping. there is a store just out past our University, and they were having a sale. so i loaded my grand daughter and my youngest daughter (she's 23) into the car and off we went. everything normal.
after our shopping spree (lots of good summer stuff on sale) we decided that since the Chip Truck is now open for business, a lunch of yummy fresh cut french fries sounded good.
we opted to take the fries home as there was only 2 picnic tables and both were occupied.
pulling in the driveway i turned off the ignition and pulled out the key. to my surprise the car was still running! i put the key back in the ignition, turned it as if to start it and then turned the key off again. the car shut off. realizing the windows were open and there was a possibility of rain i once again turned the key in order to roll up the windows. i pushed the button and nothing happened. hmmm.... that's weird.
i tried to start the car and nothing happened. nothing. not a sound. no dinging, no radio, no nothing.
uh oh.
now i will admit that i had been fantasizing about buying a new car. but i honestly don't think i ever mentioned this in front of ol' betsy. perhaps i did. either way, now a decision needed to be made.
my car is a 13yr old mercury cougar. she has been a very good car. good on gas and really pretty dependable. over the years i have had to do some repairs (battery, tires, alternator, window motor, brakes and some exhaust work) but the overall cost of said repairs was not great. and tires and brakes are to be expected i guess at some point in the life of a used car.
so i got out some garbage bags and tape and taped up the windows. thinking at this point that it was likely going to be fixed, i didn't want it soaking wet inside if it did rain. poor betsy =(
the fun was just about to begin though. my husband thought that the motor had seized. i thought it was the ignition. a friend of ours thought it was the clutch switch. someone else was convinced it was just a fuse.
for the next two weeks we tried everything to get her going. we tried to jump start her. we tried all the fuses. i bought a new clutch switch and returned it the next. we did, however get the windows up just by spraying WD40 in the ignition switch. it was driving our friend crazy!! he said it was like a puzzle and he needed to solve it.
the garage that has done all the repairs told me to tow it in and they would take a look. at $80 an hour, i began to think that was an unlikely option. $75 for the tow and $80/hr plus the cost of fixing whatever it
was, was beginning to sound like throwing good money after bad.
unfortunately off to the wreckers she goes. so after 7 years of mostly faithful service, she gives me $300 for her metal, and $70 back on her plates.
arrivederci betsy.
i have decided to purchase a brand new car. my very 1st brand new car!! i did a lot of research into a couple of different cars. i had a list of things i needed to have. 4 doors was #1 on the list. air conditioning and cruise control were #'s 2 & 3. safety features like side curtain airbags was important as i would be carrying my precious cargo(grandkids!) with me.
price and affordability were also important considerations.
she has all the things i needed and plenty of things i wanted. heated seats and side mirrors, am/fm/cd player(my old car had a cassette player!!), air conditioning and cruise control.
i'm thinking about going to bed now (its 12:30pm) so morning will come faster!!!
