I've Been Tagged!

Stranded on a desert island
I've been tagged by Kirsten for this meme.

First off, the rules:

You are stranded on a desert island for an indefinite amount of time. You can bring along five food items and are allowed one sentence to justify your decision. It is an island so assume plentiful fish, coconuts, and sea salt. Storage is not an issue, as you also have a large solar powered refrigerator. Play along, tag who you want, and link back!

Part of the difficulty here is, of course, limiting myself to five items. But it’s also that I can’t decide how practical to be. Ok, ok — it’s just a hypothetical, there’s no reason for me to go all logical, especially with the addition of the solar-powered fridge. I just can’t help it.

Also, in addition to the stated fish, coconuts, and salt, it’s probably a given that seaweed would be available. That’s good stuff, and good for you! But while most folks who play this game seem to want to take along an animal of some sort, I think I’ll stick with the ocean for my protein. There’s a lot of variety there, and finding forage for an animal might be difficult. (See, there I go with the practical.)

1. Watermelon. And not one of those "seedless" ones. I want one with the seeds so I can grow more.

2. Tomatoes. Also need to be the kind that will let me grow more.

3. Zucchini. See a theme here? Doesn't take much to grow this either.

4. Graham crackers. To use with the coconuts and the final item...

5. Chocolate. Enough to eat straight, or with the coconut and graham crackers!

Tagging: Erudite Redneck, Dr. Lobojo, Tech!

My car is home!

It still smells of fresh paint, which is just like the smell of wet fingernail polish. My 13 1/2-year-old car looks almost new! It should. The driver's side was repaired and repainted in April after the February wreck. The passenger's side has just been repaired and repainted after the early October wreck. While it was already in the shop, I asked them to paint the front part of the roof, which has just recently been showing its age with damage to the paint. I attribute that to living in the shadow of both a refinery and a carbon black plant. There's a lot of corrosive materials in the air here. If it is doing that to the roof of my car, I hate to think what it's doing to my lungs.

Little damaged rent car has gone home to Enterprise tonight. They think they can have it repaired through a paintless dent removal process and then buff off the paint transfer from the late October wreck (yesterday). Everyone I've had to deal with, from the police officer to the municipal court clerk to the insurance companies to Enterprise have done everything they can to put me at ease and make me feel better.

It's just a little accident, they tell me. It's not an on-purpose. It happens. No one was hurt. The damage is minor.

All of this is true. It's just metal, in all cases. No one injured, Thank you God.

Of course I've gotten a load of grief from my co-workers, who have delighted in calling me "Crash" and recommending forms of protection from oversized training wheels to toilet-paper roll protective bumpers surrounding the car.

I'm kind of thinking about a novel costume for Halloween -- a bike helmet and an inflated inner tube that would deflect any incoming hazards.

If the adage about things coming in threes has any merit, I should be fine for another good long time.

Oh-- even though I pleaded no contest on my ticket for unsafe lane change, I am going to go to municipal court for two reasons: One, I can get a payment plan to split up my fine into three equal amounts; Two, I'll keep the ticket off my driving record, which means a LOT to me.

Things will be OK, but I do still have some tender feelings, despite all the good efforts to boost my spirits. This too shall pass, given enough time without any repeat performances.

On another positive note, gasoline here has dropped below $2 a gallon, so I can now afford to fill up my car. When it went to the shop, it was considerably higher!

This is unbelievable

OK, so you know about my last wreck. Oh wait, NO YOU DON'T. It was today. In the rental car which I am still driving because MY car is STILL at the body shop.

Yep.

I stayed home today because my blood sugar was too high. So I spent the morning drinking a lot of water and peeing and then retested until it came down to a somewhat safer level. Then I decided to make a run to the grocery store for some food. I never made it. I got to the end of my street three blocks away, where it ends in one of the main collector streets. I'm just a block west of the main north-south highway, which is the main business road.

Anyway, as I was leaving my residential street and turning right, then trying to make the quick left to get in the left turn lane to the highway, IT HAPPENED. Crunch. There is a difference of opinion about who is at fault, but I got the ticket and the police officer spent sufficient time explaining it to me when he gave me the ticket for "improper lane change."

I swear to you I have gone through my whole life with no wrecks until I moved back here, and this now makes No. 3 since February. And it HAD to be in a rental car. I'm sickened.

The good news is, there were no injuries and the damage to the vehicles is very minor. The rental car has one dent which looks like it will easily pop out, and there is some minor paint transfer. I am hoping it can be buffed out. The other car has minor scratches and one small dent on the passenger side front fender.

Well, I guess having to take the blame for one of the three accidents may not be the worst thing in the world. It sure is better than having half the car demolished. I can certainly speak to that times two.

So, I never did make it to the grocery store. I am thinking about giving it another try now, because I am hungry. Should I chance it?

Yipee!

They are going to fix my car. It should be ready next week. It's a little hard getting used to a different car, especially one I will have the use of only for a little while. I've got a Ford Focus as a rental, and as nice as it is, it is a Ford and I am a Honda girl.

I've had only two cars since 1987 -- that's 21 years. Both have been Honda Civics. For a while I had another car, my mom's Honda Accord. I sold it to a former co-worker, though, because I couldn't justify keeping two cars and I preferred my own.

Anyway, it's been a busy day at work and I'm a little drained so I'm going to be a little early.

Come back tomorrow -- I'll have some news to share about a project going on here. If I'm lucky there will be photos as well! And I'm not talking about the tap-dancing senior citizens who are visiting our senior center from Yukon! Though there MAY be photos of them as well.

For now, sweet dreams!

Heartburn

Greetings! I'm stealing an extra few minutes on my lunch hour to post from home. I came home for lunch (actually, to get a break from the office. Too much stress there.) I haven't eaten, but that's OK because I still have a raging case of heartburn.

Instead, I kind of got lost in a spur-of-the-moment attack on my office space. It's a nice little room, or it could be if it hadn't been loaded to the gills with stuff for the past year-plus. I dragged a lot of stuff out of there in the past half-hour-ish. Now it has the potential to be a great room.

I've identified some key problem areas for myself -- these are the categories of things which overwhelm my life. Now, I have a theory that once identified, I can deal with these problem areas, one at a time.

Here they are:

1. Books. They are taking over my life. Subcategory: Magazines.
2. Fabric. I could sew all my fabric together and cover the planet twice.
3. Yarn. Yeah. I could knit a sweater for the moon and still have more than a human can use.
4. Kitchen items, specifically dishes. Have I confessed here before? I have 12 sets of dishes. Right now I'm using my least favorite because I haven't gotten through all the boxes on the back porch to find my favorites.

When I get home from work this evening I'll return to my office space and work on creating a haven there for myself. I will also schedule a time to have some extra phone jacks installed so that I can get my laptop off the kitchen table.

Part of why I hate living here is that I have nothing that functions as it should. This is a giant step. I will work on conquering the four areas of excess and establishing an office that is good for me. The rest of the place will take care of itself after this is done.

Stay tuned to this station for the latest in updates. And no, I'm not just doing this because my car is in the shop and I'm waiting to hear if it lives or dies. Well, maybe.

The car

Now my widdle car won't start. I had to walk to work today. Thunderstorms are moving in -- I have to cover a city commissioners' meeting at city hall tonight so I'll be walking home after dark, hoping there isn't lightning to go with the rain.

I've talked with the insurance company representing the woman who hit me. I have little to no confidence in their claims adjustor in Oklahoma City, who didn't even know where my town is. "Are you near Tulsa? Can you take your car there for an adjustor to see?" Der, no. I'm 100 miles from anywhere, and my car will not start now because your client hit it and tore it up.

"Oh. Well. That's too far away for us to send an adjustor to. You'll probably have to get some estimates. And then when I complete my investigation, if we decide our insured was at fault, we'll pay $23 a day for a rental car while it's repaired."

So... I have to wait until you get around to it before I can get a rental car, even though I'm having to walk to work in thunderstorms?

"Yes ma'am. We'll contact you when I complete my investigation."

You, who doesn't even know where my town is, you are doing the investigation?

I talked to the local agent after talking to this cheesehead. She said "That's crazy. We have an adjustor up here every Tuesday!"

Well, the local adjustor just called me back and told me to go ahead and get my car in to the repair shop. I can use the one close to my house and they'll include the towing as part of the claim. I still don't have authorization for a rental car, though. Peachy.

If It's Not One Thing, *SMACK!*

Greetings, from your blog hostess.
I want to tell you something. I'm 53 years old, and until February of this year I had never had a car wreck. That changed one fateful night as I was driving home from a board meeting in Stillwater, OK, and hit ice on a bridge over the Salt Fork River south of Ponca City. You may recall my blog about that roller-coaster ride, wherein I slid around, spun, hit the side of the bridge head-on, feared being flung over the side, slid the front of my car down the length of the bridge for a while before spinning some more, then was T-boned from another backwards vehicle which also spun out behind me. It was an adventure, I tell you! A true E-ticket ride!

Well, my friends, today I was driving to work and playing my usual morning game of counting the number of cars that I had to wait for at intersections on my 10-block commute. I was a block away from the office with a perfect Zero score (number of cars I had to wait to clear my path). Until.

*SMACK!* In front of the cable TV office a woman in a much larger car pulled out like I wasn't there and hit my car. Not just a tap, no. It wasn't a creep-out backing situation. She flat did not see me, pulled out as though her path were entirely clear, hit me at my passenger side headlight and continued to tear up my car all the way back to the tail light. Every inch of the passenger side of my car is damaged.

The car most certainly will be totaled this time. We were barely under the limit in February when it was the two doors on my driver's side. This time the damage is much more extensive and eight months later my car wouldn't be worth as much.

This time I am a little stiff -- my neck would do well with a heating pad and a beer. And a nice nap.

I'm taking this personally. I believe it's a sign from above that I need to flee this town.
"GET OUT!"