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When life gives you lemons...

June 2nd, 2010 at 02:40 am

... just make lemonade (did you really expect something different to finish that statement???)

Anywho... I was planning on visiting the relatives for Memorial Day weekend, leaving Friday morning to make a very long weekend. Last thing I do Thursday night is make a quickie stop to Aldis for a few items for the trip. Almost home, I go to shift, and the clutch falls to the floor and stays there. I'm outta gear, but rolling. I avoid stopping at two stop signs and make it all but the last 100 yards to my house. Unfortunately it was hot and sticky so pushing the car even that little bit was awful. So towed to a local repair shop, I find out the next day my whole clutch assembly needs replacing. Well, the car is really old ('98) and has had no repairs for over a year, so I'm not complaining. But it really screwed me up. Now I can't leave, or do much of anything on a day off. So when I find out Friday afternoon it won't be ready until sometime Saturday, I go into overdrive and prepare to have a yard sale.

I've meant to do this all year, but I hate to not go about looking for treasures (and rarely finding any! Frown ). So I decided to make the best of the situation and get my things ready Friday. Saturday came and I sold alot (and I mean alot) of my CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens stockpiles (along with some other junk I wanted to see gone as well!). Probably 2/3 of the sales were the stockpiles, but I really wanted those gone too. Turned out my take for Saturday was about 40% of the repair bill, soooo... be happy for small favors I guess.

On other items....

Physical Therapy is almost over. Its made a major impact, I'm probably 90% back to what it was before the problems. Now its much more exercise and less stretching and twisting the shoulder. The therapist loves how I put more effort into it than just about anyone she's ever worked with. I work so hard I have to change shirts part way through as the first one is soaked. Two more weeks, and then a doctor's eval, which will probably be the end of it. With only paying co-pays, this has definitely been worth it.

The semi-long distance trip this weekend showed what I can do when I don't push the car. I tried to keep it at 55 (most of the time!) Instead of my usual 38-39 MPG, this time at my fill up, the MPG came in at 42.3. Not bad for a 12 year old, 190K mile car. Nothing special, just a plain hatchback.

My experiement with using almond milk is still going well. The stuff lasts a long time, so I don't have to freeze the milk to make it last, and with coupons the price is about the same as buying 1/2 gallons of regular milk. And it actually blends better with the 100% whey protein mix I have been drinking to help with my after workout recovery. So I am giving it a thumbs up.

I think I got my lowest electric bill ever this past month. While this time of year I usually have a very low bill (it would have been $22+) my utility had a rate case and had to rebate some money based on usage for the past 6 months. So my bill when I opened it was.... $5.00. Exactly. At first I thought this was some type of request for a supplemental payment, but nope, its this month's bill. I know this summer the bills will approach $100, but still its nice for one month.

That's all for today - stay cool.

4 Responses to “When life gives you lemons...”

  1. whitestripe Says:
    1275446733

    your statement: 'the car is really old ('98)' made me LOL. (my car is also a 98 model but I wouldn't call it really old!)

  2. Single Guy Says:
    1275447473

    I certainly don't want to look like I am/was used to having new cars (I'm not!). My prior car finally died at 17 years old, so this one has 5 more years to make that milestone. I hope to replace this one in 2 more years.

  3. HouseHopeful Says:
    1275491650

    Wow - great job with that electric bill!

  4. dmontngrey Says:
    1275497406

    Oh yuck!! I had that happen on my (now gone) 98 Jetta - in Boston area rush hour traffic!!! Stop and go, active breakdown lane. I shifted, something didn't feel right, went to shift again and the clutch pedal hit the floor. Even though I was in the breakdown lane, people were driving around me on both sides blaring their horns! Yeah, that helps. The clutch cable had snapped! Well, at least I can now say I survived my worst nightmare - breaking down in 128 rush hour traffic. Smile

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