Lyric (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lyriclemon) wrote,@ 2009-05-25 21:05:00 |
|
Catching Up (I lost my text while trying to post this earlier, & had to start over)
It's been a rough month, car-wise. On April 20 the transmission in my college-age daughter's car died, as she was on her way to her boyfriend's place in Kansas City to celebrate her birthday. The car had to be towed back to Lawrence to our mechanic's lot, so she didn't exactly have the happy birthday that she'd planned. On April 23, the head gasket blew in MY car and it, too, landed in our mechanic's lot. Thank God for AAA. (The mechanic joked that it was the first time that he'd ever had two "dead" cars from the same family sitting side-by-side in his lot.) Basically, the mechanic signed the death warrant for both cars, saying that it would cost much more to repair them than either car was worth.
Daughter meanwhile drove her dad's car back and forth to school, preparing for Finals Week at KU. On April 24, while driving her dad's car, she was hit from behind (not her fault), and ended up in the emergency room due to severe whiplash. (You'd think that out of THREE cars in a household, at least one would be driveable!)
I went three long weeks without transportation, and then started looking for a "new" (well, new to me) car in earnest. Because I'm a struggling writer and needed to find something "affordable" (translation: "dirt cheap"), my search took me to a Used Car Lot at the farthest Outer Hinterlands of the Earth (well, a very rustic, rural part of Missouri). The cars on the lot not only were dirt-cheap, but the lot itself looked like a pig farm.
I found, however, the car of my dreams: a 1997 PURPLE Ford Escort with about 150,000 miles on it.
Now I have always had a love affair with the color purple. As a kid, I made a poster (using purple corduroy fabric from a pair of pants) that said "PURPLE IS A STATE OF MIND."
So, of course, I bought the car "AS IS." More than $500 worth of repairs later, I'm able to drive it around town. (And it will be another $500 worth of repairs before I can actually drive it out of town.)
The first thing I did, was affix three big KU stickers to the bumper of the purple car, so that Jayhawk fans wouldn't shoot out the tires. (K-State, a bitter rival of KU, uses the color purple.)
The next thing I did, was place a Princess Diana purple Beanie Baby Bear in the rear window. (Diana used to drive a Ford Escort Ghia around South Kensington. No, it wasn't purple.)
I love my car! Now I need to name her. (Yes, I've decided the car is a female. I've only ever had male cars before, so this is going to be a new experience for me.) Anyone have suggestions?
To earn money for all the car repairs on my "dirt-cheap" car, I've been writing more feverishly than ever. My latest stories are about Myrtle Beach, the art of the home office, and family travel on the Paradise Coast.
It's been a rough month, car-wise. On April 20 the transmission in my college-age daughter's car died, as she was on her way to her boyfriend's place in Kansas City to celebrate her birthday. The car had to be towed back to Lawrence to our mechanic's lot, so she didn't exactly have the happy birthday that she'd planned. On April 23, the head gasket blew in MY car and it, too, landed in our mechanic's lot. Thank God for AAA. (The mechanic joked that it was the first time that he'd ever had two "dead" cars from the same family sitting side-by-side in his lot.) Basically, the mechanic signed the death warrant for both cars, saying that it would cost much more to repair them than either car was worth.
Daughter meanwhile drove her dad's car back and forth to school, preparing for Finals Week at KU. On April 24, while driving her dad's car, she was hit from behind (not her fault), and ended up in the emergency room due to severe whiplash. (You'd think that out of THREE cars in a household, at least one would be driveable!)
I went three long weeks without transportation, and then started looking for a "new" (well, new to me) car in earnest. Because I'm a struggling writer and needed to find something "affordable" (translation: "dirt cheap"), my search took me to a Used Car Lot at the farthest Outer Hinterlands of the Earth (well, a very rustic, rural part of Missouri). The cars on the lot not only were dirt-cheap, but the lot itself looked like a pig farm.
I found, however, the car of my dreams: a 1997 PURPLE Ford Escort with about 150,000 miles on it.
Now I have always had a love affair with the color purple. As a kid, I made a poster (using purple corduroy fabric from a pair of pants) that said "PURPLE IS A STATE OF MIND."
So, of course, I bought the car "AS IS." More than $500 worth of repairs later, I'm able to drive it around town. (And it will be another $500 worth of repairs before I can actually drive it out of town.)
The first thing I did, was affix three big KU stickers to the bumper of the purple car, so that Jayhawk fans wouldn't shoot out the tires. (K-State, a bitter rival of KU, uses the color purple.)
The next thing I did, was place a Princess Diana purple Beanie Baby Bear in the rear window. (Diana used to drive a Ford Escort Ghia around South Kensington. No, it wasn't purple.)
I love my car! Now I need to name her. (Yes, I've decided the car is a female. I've only ever had male cars before, so this is going to be a new experience for me.) Anyone have suggestions?
To earn money for all the car repairs on my "dirt-cheap" car, I've been writing more feverishly than ever. My latest stories are about Myrtle Beach, the art of the home office, and family travel on the Paradise Coast.
