What a Weekend

I still haven't quite recovered from Friday night.

We were on our way to the Temple-Round Rock game when my car started making a knocking sound. When it didn't stop after 10 miles, I pulled off to a gas station, just north of Georgetown. Hearing my grandfather's voice in my head, I checked the oil. (that was always his advice: "Paw-Paw, I have a flat tire." "Check the oil.") Well, to my alarm, the dipstick was dry. Not low - DRY. We put three quarts in but to no avail.

Afraid to drive it back to Belton, I had it towed back to Belton. Everyday Joe was kind enough to meet us at the shop and take us home. Oh, I have to mention that little twist in our story.

Apparently, stand up guy that Joe is, he got to the shop before we did and was just waiting on our arrival. Being 9 o'clock on a Friday night, though, somebody thought that was suspicious and called the police. Just as we pulled up with the car, four police cars and a Sheriff arrived. *laugh* It all worked out, of course, but they thought Joe might be planning on breaking into that shop.

So, we leave the car and go home. I walk in the house and realize that the kitchen door is standing open. Looking into my office, I see that my laptop is gone. My house has been burglarized. Thinking of a few other things I have in the house, I went back to my bedroom and, sure enough, they'd come through my bedroom window. The problem was that it was unlocked.

Now, folks, I NEVER unlock those windows. First of all, they don't have screens and I'm worried about the cats jumping out, bugs flying in, etc. Second, I'm never home so I'm not going to leave a window unlocked; just waiting for somebody to help themselves. But most importantly, those windows are about five feet off the ground - I'm terrified Munchkin would open them and fall out and break her neck. Long story short, I never unlock those windows. I can't remember the last time I had that window open.

The laptop was the only thing stolen which leads police to believe that somebody had been in the house to unlock the windows (turns out all of the windows in my bedroom were unlocked) - maybe while the roofers were working on my house. They had the opportunity to come in, scope things out, unlock the windows and then they just had to wait until everybody was gone. That turned out to be Friday night.

USAA is the greatest insurance company. I called them Saturday morning, opened the claim for my stolen laptop and yesterday they told me they were depositing almost $1000 in my bank to replace it.

The car is not such good news. I got the call yesterday that there had been a slow leak that ended up burning up my motor when it ran out of oil without me knowing it. There was no indication of a leak (like oil on the ground) because it probably sprayed back, rather than dripping to the ground. See, the last time I got my oil changed, they turned the cap too tight and cracked it. I never even knew it.

So, rather than spend $1500-$2000 to replace the motor, I'm going to get a new car. Because I know there is a major problem with it, I'm not going to try and trade it in but keep it and pay it off then sell it to a junk yard. *sigh* I know that's probably the hard way of doing things but I can't see another way besides trying to pass it off in trade which would eat a hole in me; not to mention that it's ILLEGAL.

I am NOT looking forward to car shopping. I stopped enjoying car shopping a long time ago. Now it's just a tedious process that causes a lot of anxiety. I hate it.

Well, wish me luck. I'm off.