If I ever needed a pause button for life, it has been this past month. There has been far too much of everything happening all at once. Today I’m going attempt to catch up.
Hubs was home during the first part of the month. Whenever he is home, we always seem to be busy doing something. We did go out for breakfast for his birthday and went for a drive. Then there was trying to find some boots for him. We are so limited for stores, and none of the authorized Red Wing stores had his size. He plans on trying to get a pair when he is on the road.
While Hubs was home, I dealt with kidney stones and a UTI. Almost 24 hours of excruciating pain and endless vomiting. I don’t recommend it. Not fun!
On my way home from dropping Hubs off at the airport, the check engine light, along with a few others, came on in my car. Given that I planned to drive downstate to see my dad, I’m glad it happened before I got on the road. On Monday, I was able to get the car into the dealership. The news was not good. To repair everything, we are looking at around $4,800. On a 2009 vehicle with 130,000 miles, um, nope. This car has been a money pit, and that is putting it mildly. So what to do~especially with Hubs away?
For now, I have a rental. I don’t even want to talk about the cost. Hubs is coming home next week, and together, we will buy something else. What that “something else” ends up being, is yet to be determined. As much as I hate the thought of going back into debt, we will likely have a car payment. We will be buying used, a year or two old. We will be trading in our “problem car” and are even considering doing the same with our truck, which we know also needs work. Right now, we are on the fence with our summer vehicle. I’d drive that, but it wouldn’t even make it up our driveway, let alone our road.
The trip downstate was jam-packed. I was gone for three nights and spent each night at a different house. I visited with my dad on two of the days. Except for a couple of words, he is pretty much non-verbal. His eyes were almost like fading lights. I do think he recognized me as someone he knew. Whether or not his mind processed who I was to him, is hard to say. My brother and I also stopped by the funeral home to review what dad put in place some ten years ago. We now both feel better prepared, so I’m glad we did this.
I met my newest grandson! He looks so much like his older brother, who recently turned two. My son had the flu, so I opted out of visiting with him. Getting sick was the last thing I wanted to do.
The last night downstate, I spent at my daughter’s house. It was more out of convenience since the very next day she and her family were coming to my house! Had it not been that I wanted to stop at the outlet mall, I might have brought a couple of the grandkids home with me. I didn’t end up going into many stores and only spent money at Christopher & Banks. I bought eight tops (mix of winter and summer) and spent a total of $65.67.
Road conditions during my drive home deteriorated fast. At one point, I briefly considered getting a hotel, but then decided to keep going. I had a lot yet to do to get prepared for the extra seven people headed my way, so I needed to get home! I pulled into our driveway right after midnight.
The visit with my daughter and her family was honestly, plain tiring! Since I had taken time off the week before, I worked three of the days they were at my house. I don’t blame any of them. It was more the timing of the visit, along with everything else that was going on. They all had fun playing in the snow, so that was the important thing.
Another thing I had to do this week was to see my doctor about my RLS meds. The Neurontin prescribed last October left me feeling like I was in a fog. Now, in addition to being weaned off a med I’ve taken for 14 years, I am trying Lyrica. RLS is an “off-label” use for this drug. I about got sticker shock when I saw the price of $174. Thankfully, I had a discount prescription card to use along with my insurance, which brought the cost down to $28. The retail price without insurance was $728. Ouch. A good reason to always look for a discount, especially with a new med.
We did have some good news since my last blog post. We got the BPO (broker’s price opinion) back on our house and now no longer have to pay PMI. That saves us $137.55 each month! Given what we are facing with our vehicle situation, I’ll take it!
Good grief – you need to just take a couple of days and CHILL OUT!!!! It seems like life is like that – things are going fine and then everything hits you at once!!! You did seem to get a lot done on your trip which is good and I’m so glad you got to see your dad. Hang in there – and try to get some time to just sit down, drink a glass of whatever is your favorite (Diet Coke for me), and read a book!!!!
Sure seems like this is the way life goes. Everything wants to hit all at once. Adding more fun this week, I got hit with the flu. Spring can’t get here soon enough.
That is too much going on at once! At least the extra money from the PMI can go towards a car payment.
Sure has been. The extra money from the PMI will come in handy. We also just got our escrow review and our payment went down even more!
First, so glad that you got the medicine you need and the help for the UTI and kidney stones-so painful, and that thankfully you did not have a break down on the road with your car. I know cars are money pits and the thought of another payment is sickening, but if you are still working and need a vehicle it is just part of life, and you should not feel bad for needing to do so. Check out older, but brand new cars that might still be sitting on lots. Often they end up being better financed than used, plus come with all the warranties that a used might not. Worth calling around and asking about.
Thanks for your encouragement. I am so against going back into more debt, but a dependable car is important. There comes a point when you need to stop dumping more money into older vehicles. Looking back, we should have dumped this car long ago. We have narrowed our vehicle search. We will likely be going with a “test” model. There are three that we are interested in, each having about 5,000 miles.