BUYER'S REMORSE PART 2

It has been three days since my purchase of a black, 2006 Chevy HHR 2LT and the remorse is gone.

Since the car is loaded (and I’m not), and it looks something like a small hearse, I’ve been thinking about some interior accessories. How do these grab ya?

Maybe I could even go Goth myself with a red spiked do and a R.I.P. t-shirt or bumper sticker while I’m at it? Wouldn’t that be fun especially with Halloween coming up?

But wait, what would sonny boy think about all this? He’ll be driving it more than me and he’d never get the do or the t-shirt.

Well crap, I just rained on my own parade!

BUYER'S REMORSE

There is a downside to having good credit:

The truck was just worked on again yesterday and ran great for twelve wonderful hours. Then it started its old cold start stuttering again and I threw a fit and took it to the Ford dealership this afternoon.

I marched in their front door to keep my appointment with the gentleman who had sold me the truck 8 years ago and after shaking his hand, I told him I was ready to trade her in for another (hopefully newer) previously owned vehicle. A brand-new vehicle for us was totally out of the question (too damned much money for our beer pocketbooks).

After looking at the few choices within our budget (they didn’t have any horses and buggies), I narrowed it down to two. One was a white 2009 Ranger and the other was a black 2006 Chevy HHR LT.

Since I had gone the Ranger route, during my fit I swore I’d never own another Ford (the Ranger had been my fifth Ford). I had been raised on Chevys (four problem-free cars as I remember), so I decided on the HHR even though it had more mileage but would be cheaper and get better mpg. Imagine that. Going to a Ford dealership to buy a Chevy!

After some number crunching and a little dickering, the deal was done and I’m now the owner of a car filled with bells, whistles and a sun roof.  I drove it off the lot one and one half hours after arriving there.

Now, I’m sitting here at 55 minutes after midnight saying to myself “My God, what have I done?”. Good old buyers remorse which will have passed by the time my period of staring off into space has been replaced by some sleep (which right now, is out of the question).

People with crappy credit should count their blessings. At least they’re already as far into debt as they can go. As for me, I’m well on my way to that crappy credit brick wall.

Oh well, you can’t take it with you (as if I had any).

MONDAY'S MUNDANE TIPS

1. What do you do when you’ve fixed tacos for sonny boy’s lunch and you have a few shells left over and nachos sound good to you to have for your own lunch since he ate all of the taco filling? Just break up those leftover shells on a plate, sprinkle the Mexican blend cheese over the top and stick the plate-full in the micky. You’ll end up with the toughest, most tasteless mess you ever ate. So, don’t bother.

2. What do you do when you’re faced with life’s problems that have piled sky-high and you’ve cried your last tear over something trivial such as a stumped toe? Try screaming as loud as you can. You’ll relieve the tension but you’ll most likely temporarily ruin your throat and may run the chance of the neighbors complaining or calling the law. Dumb me; I did neither (cry or scream). Just take a Xanax.

3. What do you do when you’ve had a pick-up truck that you bought previously owned 8 years ago but had low mileage and you have put over 100,000 miles on it yourself and it doesn’t still run like it did 100,000 miles ago even with suggested maintenance? Well, it frequently won’t, will need many repairs along the line and nickel and dime you to death, so please refer to tip number 2.

4. What do you do when you’ve temporarily run out of money, tears, patience and more Monday’s Mundane Tips? You shut up and refer to tip number 2.

IT'S TIME TO GO

It’s that time of year to say goodbye to my little buddies, the hummingbirds.

I’ve not seen too many males of late since they leave first for their winter homes down south. The females have been breathing sighs of relief for the few days they have left without being bothered by their hot-blooded pursuers. The young uns’ are learning to protect the feeders but mamma is still too big for them to boss around. Soon, they along with their moms will be headed south as well.

Gonna miss them!

But on the brighter side, it’s time for football, marching bands and orchestra concerts! They're just about the only things in wintertime that I love!

TOUCHED

Those of you who read this blog on a fairly regular basis know that I believe in the paranormal. Things that go bump in the night. A flutter of the tips of a wing across my ear; movement seen out of the corner of my eye. Someone calling my name, in the dead of night with only Peaches (who cannot talk) for company.

I love the luxury of waking up slowly in the morning and doing some stretching to limber up while still horizontal in my bed. I had just awakened the other morning and getting ready to stretch and had my left hand palm up just barely lifted off the mattress. My middle two fingers of that hand were tapped hard enough to slap my hand down to the sheet.

Thinking that Peaches had batted my hand to wake me up because she needed to go to her potty box, I half sat up saying, “O.k., I’m awake. Do you need to go outside?” She was nowhere to be seen. I got up, went into the living room and found her fast asleep on the ottoman. Strange!

Richard usually sticks his head into my room when he gets home from work in the mornings just to say he’s home and to make sure I’m still breathing. This morning was no exception and after he left to get some wind-down time on the computer, I decided to get a few more winks of sleep and turned over in time to see a shadow walk from my dressing area and proceed by my bed and appear to disappear at my bedroom door.

I yelled for Richard and asked him if he had just that minute been in my room. He assured me that he had not (outside of his one and only sticking-in-of-head earlier). Strange!

You can take the above instances as fact or chalk them up to the imagination of an Old Goat. It’s up to you. As for me; I believe!

LOST: ONE WHOLE YEAR

Somewhere between my distant past (which, the older I get, I can remember very well even into my early childhood), and the present (I am lucky to remember what I did yesterday), I have lost a year. Yep, 365 whole days; pffffft!

I was shocked yesterday to be reminded that we have not only lived in this condo eight years but we’re now going into our tenth year here! What?? We moved in here in 2003 when the building was just finished. Look it up on the internet! THIS BUILDING WAS BUILT IN 2003!! Better than that, just go outside and look at the date written in the sidewalk, the date the last of the concrete was poured including our driveway! The answer after a trip outside to check above-mentioned date: March, 2002. I was dumbfounded! What happened?

I have heard of people losing hours of time but not 365 consecutive cottin’ pickin’ days! I have not been in a coma nor was abducted by ET and his alien buddies (to my knowledge) or any such physical or mental misfortune. Even the blackouts I have had in my past only amounted to a few hours at most. Is it possible to go completely blotto for one whole year and not even realize it? Seems so!

Anyway, I have been trying to put the missing pieces together and I think I’m convinced that in my elder age, I have just become confused at times. I can hear you saying: “AT TIMES? Good Lord, woman! You are confused ALL THE TIME!”

I just hope that in the year I’m missing, I didn’t miss anything exciting. But how would I know since I don’t know which year is missing? See what I mean? I’m so confused! (“We know!”)