Friday, December 31, 2010

Out of the blue

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

All I will say about mine is that good comes from bad.


At work, we had a Christmas party a couple of weekends ago. It was great fun and a catered meal with ham, corn on the cob, and real Indian oven bread! Monday night, I was intensely ill, diarrhea and throwing up (at least 5x). That's one way to get a flat abdomen but I wouldn't recommend it. I dragged in to work for a meeting only to find out that three other coworkers had been sick the night before. Out of 14 party attendees, 7 of us got sick, very sick. We figured out it was a viral thing and not food poisoning only because one person had come to the party while recovering from the same illness. My son got sick the next day, from me.

My daughter got very sick too. She was hospitalized for several days over Christmas. I completely missed all church services over Christmas because of the limited hospital visitations but seeing her better makes it all worthwhile. She is in good spirits, although depressed for missing Christmas.



I got in a wreck with my Infiniti FX45 while I was out doing some last minute Christmas shopping. It was evening and busy traffic around the mall. I was turning left and the car in the left lane stopped and waited for me to go. I waited and when I thought it was clear, I proceeded to go across. A big whack and I realized it wasn't so clear. I got nailed on the front end. All kinds of fluids dripped out and the car had to be towed. The other car was a little Mazda truck and it mostly tore off the front bumper. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

They've been debating about totaling it or fixing it. That is the only car I currently own that I carry full insurance coverage on. All my other cars carry liability only so it would have been a complete loss if it had been any other car. This week, I found out they are totaling it. There was $17,000 worth of damages!!!! I guess it got structural damages in the frame. Gosh, there are a lot of good parts still on that car though.

I'm sad over losing my CUV, my Lola, my beautiful "muscle" car.
 We drove to San Francisco in her
and through a tree. ;)

 We drove to New York and Canada to see Niagara Falls in that car. 
It was the smartest car I've ever had. It had SmartCruise and would apply brakes automatically when in the cruise control mode. It had navigation, a back up camera and a Bose 6-cd player, anything you could want, including heated seats and reclining rear seats.

It is the end of an era. I always wanted to own one since I first saw them back in 2003 but I could only afford to buy a 4 year old used one in 2007.

But, on the bright side, maybe they are doing me a favor. It's such a high end car that maintenance and repairs on it are incredibly expensive. Now I don't have to worry about the future costs. It had 117,000 miles on it and I expected it to run for another 100,000 and more but still...

Now I get to go car shopping... If I work it right, I can fix my big truck too. It's been out of commission for a few months now with some major repairs due.


Out of the blue - song: Ashes to Ashes, artist: David Bowie, album: Scary Monsters

9 comments:

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

I'm sorry for your loss of Lola. She was a pretty car and I can see why you loved her so much. I'm hearing more and more about this winter's virus. A lot of people have been hit with it. I think my husband and I have a less intense version of it.

Rising Rainbow said...

That does sound like a lot of stuff for Christmas and most of it very stressful. Sorry to hear that was your holiday.

Wow, that's a lot of damage. It's a good think it's totalled or it would be in the shop for months. I have personal experience with that and it really sucks.

Have fun shopping for another vehicle.

Wishing you a Happy New Year, my friend!

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Sorry to read about all the ilness and srtruggles over Christmas, but glad everyone is well and on the mend

Grey Horse Matters said...

Sounds like you've had some miserable luck. But you are all feeling well now and there's a new car in your future so maybe things are looking up.

Wishing you and yours a healthy Happy New Year!

Fantastyk Voyager said...

Thanks, everyone, for your well wishes. I'm so glad we're all feeling better now.
Yeah, car shopping can be fun, but mostly it's a big drag, especially when you see the prices they're asking. I can't afford a car payment right now either. Good thing it was insured!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Bummer about Lola. I know she was special to you.
Car shopping is stressful. I don't envy you at all. I hope you find a new car that makes you as happy as Lola did.

Happy 2011!

~Lisa

CTG Ponies said...

Sorry to hear about the tough times but it sounds like there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

The Wades said...

That stuff is going around BIG time! My daughter had it. By some miracle, the rest of us avoided catching it from her. I realize we probably have plenty of chances to still get it, but happy we didn't 'from Brooke.

Love the pictures of driving through the tree. Who knew that was possible? Really cool.

Sorry about your car. Big bummer.

Achieve1dream said...

Wow I'm sorry everything was so horrible over Christmas, but I'm glad everyone is okay. Getting ill like that (vomiting & hospitalization) is like one of my biggest fears! That's why I wash my hands so much and refuse to be around people who are sick. Ugh. I'm glad your daughter is okay. That must have been so awful. Hopefully all of the bad stuff is out of the way now and you can have a really fantastic 2011.