I'm a GRAND PRIZE Winner!

I had a really lucky weekend!

So much so, that 'oh superstitious one' that I am, I bought a lottery ticket.

I wasn't that lucky ;-)

But I still think I was lucky. Or as the ex said, 'definitely had a horseshoe up my ass' :-)

On Wednesday afternoon break, I was sitting in my vehicle having a smoke, listening to the radio. Normally, I sit outside to do this, so I don't usually listen to daytime radio, unless it's the drive in and home from work.

The DJ was talking about Doc Walker coming to town. I was people watching, sorta-kinda reading my book, half listening. The next thing I heard him say was 'Caller # 9'.

I thought 'Doc Walker tickets! I want Doc Walker tickets!', and dug out my cell phone.

I was caller # 9 :-)

It wasn't Doc Walker tickets. Had I been paying attention, I would have heard they were for the 'Pacafiesta' being held this weekend.

" ... celebrating our unique industry with superb alpacas for sale, a natural-fibre marketplace, spinners and weavers demonstrating their crafts, a fashion show, competitions, and gourmet food and wine in a very upbeat, fiesta atmosphere."

The only reason I even knew what an alpaca was, is because my kids watch Zoey 101. But, I won. And that was cool. I never win :-) Although getting excited about alpacas ... that was a bit harder than getting psyched for Doc Walker. I really like Doc Walker.

Alpacas? Not so much.

A co-worker & his fiance made use of the tickets.

Friday, Cass and I went out for a night of Karaoke. Country karaoke of course! ;-p

Now let me get one thing straight. I don't consider myself a 'singer'. More so a chick who likes to go out with her best friend now and then, to belt some tunes, and who doesn't completely suck at it lol.

So at the club, I bought a 50/50 ticket. $5.00 worth. I won the $117 pot that night :-)

WooHoo!

On Sunday, I noticed the message light flashing on the phone.

One call was from a man letting me know my name had been drawn the day before as the Grand Prize Winner at Pacafiesta! And could I come down before 4pm to claim my prize.

WooHoo! I've never been a Grand Prize Winner!

I just hoped it wasn't an alpaca! I don't think my backyard is zoned for those!

Turns out it was close to $400 worth of 'stuff'.

Two alpaca pillows. Apparently worth $100 each. Two $50 gift certificates to a shop carrying 'Yarn, Gifts and Gourmet Treats'. Three sets of knitted hats & scarfs. The boys claimed those right away. And a magazine subscription. I'm not sure to what...

Once again, I wasn't really paying attention.

I was instead filling out my address for delivery, while trying to keep an eye on how close the boys were getting to the alpacas over in the next booth.

For all I know, it could be something like "How to raise your Alpaca', or "Alpaca Monthly' ... who knows ...

I did try my new pillow last night though.

Heavenly!

So thank you to the dude who sold me the winning ticket on karaoke night, FX101.9 and Pacafiesta for making me a Grand Prize Winner twice in one weekend :-D

And yes, I'm kicking myself for not getting that lottery ticket earlier in the weekend!

K

I Smell!

I've always been told I smell nice.

I've worn the same perfume since I was about 16. Some may think it boring to stay with the same scent for so many years, but it mixes well with my body chemistry, so I look at it as sticking with what works.

I've had complete strangers say to me "My goodness, you smell good!" LOL

Don't get me wrong ... I don't reek But if someone gets within hugging distance, which is how it can sometimes be in crowded public places, chances are you'll smell me :-)

At work, I won't wear perfume. We have a 'no scent' policy and there is one lady in particular on our team, who is extremely scent sensitive. For her, she just has to catch a whiff of spritz leftovers on my clothes, and I reek :-)

But I admit, if I'm on my own time, I like to smell nice. I just sometimes forget that other people notice too.

Last month, the boys spent a week with their father. One day, Adam asked me to drop off his bike.

I got there, knocked, walked in with a 'Heellllooooo!!!!!' and got no answer.

I walked through the kitchen, down the hall, past the boys bedroom and into the living room where the ex was sitting at the computer.

We immediately went back out to the kitchen.

A couple of seconds later, Adam came out of his room with this strange look on his face.

I said "Hi Babe, you heard me out here did ya?"

"No." he said "I SMELLED you!" He was serious.

I've always said they have some internal mechanism that let's them know the second I'm 'around' (and I get the "MOM!").

I always thought it was some special mother/child bond.

Now I know different. I smell!

That's it! The perfume goes in the garbage. I'm goin' Stinky from here on in!

The person who thought up this No Scents is Good Sense! thing may be onto something ... bet they had kids too!

K

The Concert that ROCKED and SUCKED! - The Final Chapter

Alright, let's finish this puppy off!

For those of you just joining us, this is a continuation of the post So What Are You Gonna Do Now? - The Concert That ROCKED and SUCKED Part IV and the final entry in the series of events that started in The Concert That ROCKED and SUCKED!.

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"What am I going to do now? I'm getting us to the damn concert! That's what I'm gonna do!"

I walked back into the Canadian Tire, looked at the manager who had helped us for the past couple of hours and said "Let's do it, call the tow truck please."

We had to wait another 20 minutes but finally the tow arrived. Within minutes we were hooked up and cruising down the highway at 120km in the cab with the tow truck driver :-)

It was just after 11am. There was no way we were going to make it for the start of the show, but we were definitely going to make it!

I have to take a minute to mention one more thing about the manager at the Canadian Tire. He had the guys look at my truck, called around to see if there was any way to get around the AC, called around for tow truck rates, put up with my .... attitude ... and you know what? I walked out of there almost 3 hours later and he didn't charge me a CENT!

I have to say, that was very nice of him.

I can't even chalk it up to the fact he had two smokin' desperate chicks in need of assistance, cause I was lookin' like something that had been chewed and slobbered on at that moment, remember?

I think he felt sorry for us LOL.

Whatever his reasons, I thought it was pretty cool of him to help us and refuse to take any payment I offered. Pretty cool.

We made it to my mechanic just before noon. Thankfully he was working that day!

I explained my ordeal and he said (with a chuckle and 'only YOU Kim!' shake of his head) to leave it with him and he'd see what he could do.

Next I called the ex and asked him to pick us up.

We sat in the truck. Waited. Listened as Mark Cameron took the stage. GO MARK!

The ex arrived about 20 min later, drove us to my house where I FINALLY got to jump in the shower and wash the last 24hours + of angst off of me!

When we were finally concert-ready, the ex and his friend were nice enough to drive us over to the site - Thanks Guys!. Of course there was some serious ass kissing involved prior to getting this ride ... but ... WE MADE IT!

Along with approx 30,000 others ... who got there before we did.

So our seats weren't the greatest, but Jimmy Rankin, Johnny Reid, Great Big Sea, Gretchen Wilson and Keith Urban definitely WERE!

VIEW ALL CONCERT PICS HERE!

After it was over, we left the grounds and headed for my office downtown.

That was the plan. We'd walk to my work, change, and store our 'stuff' at my desk. Then we'd take a bus across the bridge, then a cab to the club for the after party.

What we didn't figure on, was a bus that runs every 10 minutes during NORMAL daytime hours, only ran every half hour or so at 11:00 on a friday night.

What we also didn't count on, was the fact that cabs in Dartmouth, especially those from BOB'S TAXI, will NOT stop for two women on the side of the road trying to flag one down.

I'm not just talking a couple of cabs here. I could understand that with only a couple. they already had, or were on their way to pick up a fare.

But I counted over 10 cabs that night. Surely to god ONE of them could have picked us up!

We didn't look like vagrants. We didn't look like hookers. We looked like two chicks who needed a ride.

At one point, we even saw three cabs in the Tim's drive-thru and approached them. Not ONE would give us a ride.

Including one who LIED to us, saying he couldn't radio into dispatch and call us a cab, because everything was computerized.

Hello? Doh-Hole! That should make it easier!!!!

That was B-O-B-'S T-A-X-I

We actually ended up walking the whole way to the cab stop. Thankfully there was one within reasonable walking distance of where we got off the bus.

But if those cab drivers hadn't been such assholes, who were more interested in getting their freakin coffee than doing business ... we wouldn't have had to walk AT ALL!!!

And we wouldn't have been late for the after party dammit!

But we eventually made it to that too! And even managed to see Mark play! WOOHOO! Bonus!

We danced, we laughed, and since I didn't have to drive our butts home for once ... we DRANK Baby!!!!

At 2:30am I called my ex to pick us up again. At least I think that's what I asked him ... considering how many strawberry daiquiri's I had before closing ... I might have asked him something else that got him there within half an hour ... and had him muttering something about back seat stripping .... ? ;-)

They met us across the street from the bar, at the Tim's (anyone getting the picture I'm a coffee junkie yet?) and took our tired, partied out, semi-drunken butts home, and deposited us on my doorstep.

It had been a rough couple of nights. But I've said it before, and I'll say it again ...

"Going to the country concert of the summer, celebrating with strawberry daiquiri's & dancing at the after-party and the whole adventure we experienced to get there ... with my best friend at my side ... freakin' PRICELESS!!!!! ;-D"

And we'll do it all again NEXT YEAR!!! YE-HAW!

(hopefully minus the breaking down part!)

K

P.S. And my vehicle? My mechanic had it from Sat until the following Friday. He figured out how to get past the AC to get the other 'parts' working.

He charged me $50 for the fan belt ... and $22 labour. A total of $72. Nowhere near the "$1300-$1500" that satan had quoted me!

Yeah. Did I mention I LOVE my mechanic? ;-)

So What Are You Gonna Do Now? - The Concert That ROCKED and SUCKED Part IV

For those of you just joining us, this is a continuation of the post "You're Not Going Anywhere Without THAT! - The Concert That ROCKED and SUCKED Part III"

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It's 11:25pm on Friday night. The fan belt is fried, we're stranded at the Irving and the concert starts in just over 12 hours. Clock is ticking people and I need a fan belt NOW!!!

"Well," said the friendly mechanic-on-the-spot, "You might be able to pick one up at the Irving at the other exit. They may carry them there ..."

At this point, I was ready to give it a shot! Long one or not!

We put the hood down, threw the jugs of water in the back and got back into the truck.

Was it going to start? And if it started, was it going to go? And if it went, how FAR was it going to go before it just died altogether, and would go no more?

One way to find out!

It started. It went about 15 seconds... then it shot into the red YOU'RE OVERHEATING DUMBASS! area again and we had to pull over.

We let it cool down. Then tried again.

A short drive that should have taken us no more than two minutes, took us about 30 to get to our destination!

But we made it!

Not that it did us any good. Apparently Service Stations don't carry fan belts. Lots of other car 'stuff', but no fan belts. Go figure!

As Cass told the attendant behind the counter "Well, I don't think you can call yourself a 'convenience' store now can you ... cause it's pretty damn inconvenient that you don't carry fan belts!!!!!"

At least he smiled as opposed to throwing us out ;-)

I finally resigned myself to the fact I wasn't getting home that night. I wasn't even sure how we were going to get ourselves to the concert now ... or how we'd get around AFTER the concert ... but I'd worry about that later. Right now, I just had to figure out how we were going to get HOME in the next 12 hours!

It was now almost 12:30am, so we did the only thing we COULD do ... Drove the smoking beast a block down the road and dumped it in the Canadian Tire parking lot.

Yeah yeah yeah ... I know ... NOBODY brings their vehicle to be serviced at Canadian Tire. But we're talking limited options here. It was close, and I knew at least that if I left it there, I could get the fan belt in the morning when they opened.

Now, how to get back to Cass's.

Thankfully, one of her friends, (Thanks Charlie!), was willing to answer the late night call from the distressed damsels. He not only picked our stranded butts up, but also brought us back to the Canadian Tire the next morning when they opened at 8am.

I can't imagine what went through that poor Service Manager's head when the two of us walked in there at 8am.

I'd had 3hrs sleep, I was wearing the same clothes from the day before, I was anxious about what the mechanic might say, and I was crankier than a hungry newborn whose Mom popped the boob from his mouth too soon!

I was NOT a happy camper!

The Service Manager listened patiently to our 'late night adventure' tale, and had one of 'the guys' check out the truck.

Prognosis wasn't good.

"It's your AC compressor," he said. "The valves are just bouncing around. That vehicle isn't going anywhere. Sorry."

Apparently in a 2002 Honda CRV, there are MANY things that 'connect' in some way to this part. Or so I understand. From what I was told.

Damn! NOT what I wanted to hear two hours and 45 minutes before the concert!

"OK," I said. "What's the bottom line on getting it back on the road, safely."

I'm just a bottom line kinda gal. Don't give me the nitty gritty details, I don't care. Tell me what I need and how much it's going to cost me. That's ALL I need to know.

"Well, I've called around, and there doesn't seem to be any way to get AROUND the AC compressor and just put on another belt. You'll only go a little ways and the new one will fry too. You need a new AC unit first." said the manager, who had suddenly sprouted two little horn nubs on the top of his head.

"And how much is that?" I asked.

"I can get you a refurbished one next week for around $700. Brand new will be over $1000. Then I'll have to bring in a specialist for the labour. One who has experience working with the 'stuff' (my word, not his) that's associated with the AC," he said, as a pointed red tail tore through the back of his pants.

"So you're looking at between $1300 and $1500. Sorry." said Satan.

Have I ever mentioned that car repairs are one of my top three pet peeves!

Damn! Damn! Damn!

I looked at the clock. I looked at Cass. I quickly calculated how much I had taken out of the bank machine the night before, how much I'd need for the next week until payday, and how much was left after that and asked ...

"So, what would it cost for a tow truck from here to Halifax?"

"I'm not sure, but I can call a couple of places for you and find out." he offered.

I took him up on that offer. I have my own mechanic. He's taken care of my vehicles for the past 6yrs. He's awesome. I wanted HIM to look at my truck.

While Buddy made the calls, Cass and I went into the little waiting room to discuss the options.

Option A
Leave it where it was, get the AC & fan belt (and whatever else fell apart along the way the night before) replaced, get it back next week. That would mean finding a ride back to Halifax in the next three hours, and then back again next week to pick up the truck.

Or,

Option B
Tow it to my mechanic. Get a ride home with the tow truck driver, and get the ex husband to pick us up there and bring us to my house. I had called him from the Canadian Tire and filled him in.

We'd figure out how we were going to get to the concert later.

I looked up and saw he was off the phone. Time to hear the damage and decide.

The damage was a $225 flat rate to Halifax. Ouch.

"OK, thanks, let me think about it for a minute."

We went out and sat in the truck. Had a smoke. Drank our coffee. Chilled for a few minutes.

We decided to see if we could make a few calls and find a better rate. Not that I didn't trust him, but at two hundred bucks, I was willing to have Cass make a few calls to see if anyone knew anyone in the towing business first LOL.

She did. And we COULD have gotten a better rate. But we had to wait until noon for the tow truck. At least.

Damn!

It was now almost 9:30am. Two and a half hours until Mark was to take the stage. Which I was feeling really bad about, because the last couple of times we were supposed to go out and see him play, I had told him we'd be there, and then there's always some divine intervention and we miss him.

Also, it would take us an hour to get to our destination. And another half hour to the concert after that. But we'd have to go to my house first, because there was no way in hell I was going to the concert and party shower-less and in two day old clothes!

I looked and felt like one of the kid's Webkinz that the dog had scooped, chewed and slobbered on for the past couple of hours before being caught.

Wasn't gonna happen!

Sigh. Leave it where it was and fix it, tow it now or tow it later and pay less.

As the radio announcer finished her 'on location from the concert' remote, describing the excitement in the air, the anticipation of the crowd, Cass handed me my phone, picked up her coffee, looked at me over the rim and asked,

"So .... What are you gonna do now?"

K

You're Not Going Anywhere without THAT! - The Concert that ROCKED and SUCKED! Part III

For those of you just joining us, this is a continuation of DON'T STOP! - The Concert That Rocked and Sucked! Part II.

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"Hang on! I'm not sure if I can turn it!"

The power steering was gone. At this point, I'm sure any sane person would have pulled right back into the driveway and called it a night.

And a tow truck. Period! End of story.

But Ohhhhh Nooooo ... not US!

I soon realized that if I pulled REALLY hard, I COULD turn the wheel. It took alot more effort, sort of like driving a standard (so I'm told), but it turned, and there were few turns between here and home ... and I REALLY wanted to get home.

I understood there was something 'wrong' ... seriously wrong! But I also knew that regardless what was wrong with it, I would still have to get it home sooner or later, and if we DID have to get a tow, I'd rather be closer to home, which would then hopefully cost me less ... so we looked at each other, and said "Let's do it!"

We'd go in stages. First, just as far as the Tim Hortons. I NEEDED that coffee now lol. If it seemed to be ok, we'd go further. If not, there was an Irving gas/convenience store only a couple of minutes from the Tims, and we hoped that might work in our favour.

You see, the Irving Gas Attendant Fairies were going to sprinkle their pixie dust over my CRV, and it was going to fly us home like the chariot on wings it was.

Yeah. Not so much.

We did make it to Tim's without incident.

When I turned it off in the parking lot, Cass said "What's that?"

"What?"

Pause. "Nothing. I thought I saw something ... guess I didn't."

I made the coffee run, we pulled out of the parking lot, and the 'YOU'RE OVERHEATING' needle shot right to the H.

We might have gone 15 seconds before I heard myself say "Crap, that would be smoke. That would be smoke coming out from under my hood."

"Yeah," replied Cass, "that's what I thought I saw earlier, but then it was gone, so I wasn't sure it had even been there."

Guess it was.

That decided it. We were going straight to the Irving.

Before we even got there, we were chugging. Yes, chugging. Loudly.

It wasn't pretty.

We pulled into a spot, and this time when I shut it down, it died with MANY thunks :-( So did my hopes of getting home that night :-(

OK, now the plan was to look under the hood.

No, I wouldn't have a clue what I was looking for, but Cass had a couple of ideas, and *some* experience. At least she could name the majority of the parts under the hood lol.

Also, with a parking lot full of 18 wheelers, there was also the hope that two chicks staring under a smoking hood, would elicit the help of one of their drivers, who might actually be able to FIX what was wrong on the spot.

Yeah yeah yeah ... more wishful thinking! Call me a glutton for punishment.

I opened my door, and it hit me right away! "You smell that?"

"What?"

"Ewww THAT! Like something's burning. Or burnt!"

Up came the hood, out came the smoke. We decided to give it a few minutes to cool off before sticking our hands in there.

Instead, we discussed 'Plan B'.

"We COULD loosen the radiator cap, and see how far we make it before overheating ..." said Cass. "But we'd need water to refill it once it ran out."

We had no idea how far we'd actually get, but we were going to give it a shot.

Into the Irving I went and came out with two huge jugs of water. Enough to get us to the next gas station at least lol.

I had just gotten back to Cass, who was starting to poke under the hood, when a gentleman came over. We explained what happened, he looked inside and hauled out the fried fan belt.

"There's your problem. You're not goin' anywhere without THAT!"

I looked from Cass, to the friendly mechanic-on-the-spot, then back to Cass.

"Well Damn! Where am I going to get a fan belt at 11:25pm on a Friday night?"

K

DON'T STOP!!! - The Concert That ROCKED and SUCKED! Part II

For those of you just joining us, this is a continuation of the post The Concert That ROCKED and SUCKED!!!. You may want to read that first, to see how we got here.

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This had never happened to me before. Here I was alone, at night, stalled on the off-ramp, right in the middle of the freakin' lane, in a vehicle that refused to answer my pleas of "No No NOOOOO! Please don't do this to me! Not now! Not Here! Not tonight! Pleeeeaaaassseeee".

OK. What I wasn't going to do was panic. I had my cell phone. I could call Cass, try and figure out a plan while waiting for the cavalry, and hope nobody rammed into the back of me before they got there.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes - cause you know that always helps!- and gave it one more try. The engine turned over!

It wasn't really sure it wanted to go anywhere, but I thanked the fates that there was nothing coming and I gunned it, making a left off the ramp and onto the overpass.

I drove just fast enough to keep it going. 'Just make it to Cass's and figure it out from there' became my mantra.

Coffee? Forget it! I was worried that if I got into the drive-thru lane, I'd stall again. And there aren't many things scarier than a Tim Hortons drinker who can't get their fix!

I pulled off into the business park, and picked the first spot that I could simply turn in, around and out again, to get myself back onto the ramp and highway.

That part went smoothly, now, there was only one problem.

There was a stop sign ahead ...

I was only 10 min away from Cass's house. I had a concert I had waited almost a YEAR for, starting in just over 15hrs, dammit! I WASN'T breaking down here!

I reached the stop sign, checked to make sure there was nothing coming ... and coasted through it.

The minute I let off the gas, I could feel the truck start to lurch again.

I may not be a mechanic, but I knew that lurching meant stopping!

No Way! As long as it wasn't smoking anymore, I was taking it as far as I could! The gauge was showing still under halfway on the overheating mark, so I was 'going by the gauge' ...and the 'please please please prayer' lol.

I got back on the highway and a couple of minutes later, approached her exit.

And another stop sign.

Thankfully, there wasn't alot of traffic this time of night, and I coasted through that one too.

Perfect! Now I only had to get through two sets of lights, seven stop signs and make it past a Tim Hortons WITHOUT going in, before I safely reached her driveway.

Nooooo problem! Did I mention at the last stop sign, you turn up a huge hill? HUGE! Yeah. Come on Baby! You can do this!!!

And I did. I made it!

I only met oncoming traffic. Nobody who needed to turn at a stop sign, and no pedestrians who had to cross.

I DID however get some strange looks from the oncoming cars, who realized I wasn't coming to a complete stop.

I wasn't driving dangerously, I made sure there was nothing coming in the crossing directions, and if there had been, I definitely would have stopped.

No truck or concert is worth somebody else's life.

But, for whatever reason, the streets were fairly empty. That worked in my favour.

I pulled into her driveway, put it in park, turned the key and heaved a huge sigh.

It died with a THUNK!

I didn't care. Whatever happened now, I wasn't left alone to deal with it on the side of the highway!

I went in and once we got past the fact I arrived WITHOUT coffee, I told her of my adventure to get there.

We waited about an hour or so, thinking that had been enough time for whatever was wrong with the truck to now be out of it's system, (yeah right! lol) and then decided to see if we were going to make it home.

I turned the key with a 'here we go!'. It started on the first try!!! And hey! The noise was completely gone!

Alriiiiiight! We were makin' it home, and in LOTS of time for the concert as planned.

Hmmmm.... but what was that?

"The battery light is on" I said to Cass. "It wasn't on earlier."

I put it in reverse, and started out of the driveway. When the back tires hit the street, and it came time to turn the wheel, it wouldn't turn!

The power steering was GONE!

"Uh oh ... I can't turn the wheel ... CRAP! This isn't going to be GOOD .....!!!!!"

K

The Concert That ROCKED! And SUCKED!

Last weekend, we had a huge Country Concert here in Halifax. This is the full story behind the post Who Ever Said Concerts Were CHEAP?!?!

Country Rocks! 2008

Approx 30,000 people attended

I'd had my ticket since the day they went on sale in December. I LUVS my country music! ;-)

The past two years, my best friend Cass and I have attended this same type of Country Rocks! concert held in a neighbouring province.

We've had a blast both years. Of course both events weren't without their mishaps, but overall, they ROCKED!

This year, it was in our own back yard! Would we be there? HELL YEAH!

At the previous two events, we've seen:

Jimmy Rankin
The Divorcees
Leahy
George Canyon
Johnny Reid
Sugarland
Brooks & Dunn
Alan Jackson
Tim McGraw
Faith Hill

If you're a country fan, you know seeing all these greats was phenomenal! The first year, we stood for 4hrs in 11th row of 40,000 for Sugarland. Once they were done, we moved back farther in the crowd so we could finally SIT!

This year, the lineup was:

Our own Mark Cameron! WooHoo!!!
Aaron Pritchett
Charlie Major
Jimmy Rankin

Johnny Reid

Great Big Sea

Gretchen Wilson

and ......

KEITH URBAN!!!!

This year's was going to ROCK beyond ROCK!!!

The gates were to open at 11:30, and Mark was starting the show at noon, and Keith would be closing it from 8-10:15. We also had tickets for the after-party at the Rodeo, where one or more of the performers were expected to attend, and perhaps provide an impromptu show.

Yeah. It was going to be a good night!

We agreed it would be easier if Cass got here the night before, as opposed to attempting the 45-55 min drive there and back the morning of the concert.

We knew better.


As I said, each event hasn't been without it's mishaps.

Last year, I arrived to pick her up for the concert, and got a flat in her driveway.

Oh but it wasn't just as simple as change the tire and go. No, because of the make of the vehicle, and make of the (wrong) jack I had, they first had to dig a trench in the driveway, in order to get the vehicle high enough to get the tire off!

Yeah. What we thought would be a 1/2 hour delay, turned into us missing the first few of acts of the show :-( But it was STILL fantastic. The earlier stress and angst forgotten once our feet hit that soggy field and heard the music.

Nothing mattered once we were there.

So, last Friday night, shortly after 7pm, I left to pick up Cass. But first, I stopped at the ex's so he could identify a 'ticking noise' that was coming from the truck.

He put some oil in it for me, I stopped at a garage for more oil and the attendant said it (oil) was fine, that he couldn't identify the ticking - but it didn't sound good - and then I was on my way. I noticed once I hit the highway, the noise wasn't as noticeable.

Knowledge of vehicle noises, their causes and the result of what happens to OTHER parts when one part decides it no longer wants to be associated with the engine, and would rather find a nice junkyard to crawl away and die in, is NOT part of my mental databank.

I know it should be. But it isn't. Or wasn't.

The whole way there, I watched the needles. The temp gauge remained solidly just under the halfway mark.

I knew it still didn't seem to be running 'right', but I never expected the series of events that would soon take place.

About two minutes from Cass's exit, I decided to get off the highway and pick up coffee for us.

I took the off-ramp, slowing as I approached the stop sign.

As the vehicle came to a stop, it started to lurch ... and smoke ... then stop.

OMIGOD!!! I had just stalled on the off-ramp.

I turned it off, checked the rear-view, and tried to start it again.

Nothing.

Car approaching, shit, can they see me?

Crap! I don't have my hazards on!!

Turn it off again. Hazards on. Two cars pull up behind me ... and proceed to go around me.

I try the engine again.

Nothing.

Crap!

I looked through my windshield, past the wisps of smoke, into the dark night.

What am I going to do now?

K.

Who Ever Said Concerts Were CHEAP?!?!?

Last weekend, our city held a huge Country concert. And those of you who know me, know I LUVS my country music!!!!

Now, you also know there's going to be about a 10 part blog post about this whole thing LOL, but I thought as a start, I'd share my mini concert breakdown with you ...

• Concert tickets - $89

• After-party tickets - $25

• 8 Months - wait anxiously for concert

• Gas for vehicle to pick up best friend the night before concert - $25

• 60 Minutes - How long it takes to best friend's house.

• Two giant bottles of water to feed the radiator on the way home ... this was when we thought we were 'just' broken down, and may still chance it home that night. - $5.50

• 20 Minutes - How long it took for us to get from one gas station to another looking for help, which is a two minute drive ... at most.

• 3.5 Hours - Amount of sleep I got after lying there wondering how we were going to get back home ... and in time for the concert and how much it was going to cost me to do so.

• Tow truck back home the next morning - $225

• Ride home and conversation with the tow truck driver - FREE! ;-)

• Four Hours - How long it took from when we arrived at the garage at 8am (where we had dumped the vehicle at 12:30am), until we reached the garage here at home.

• New fan belt to replace the one that fried - $60

• New AC Compressor (and installation) to replace the one that fried on the way to best friend's house, which in turn fried the belt - $1000+ (haven't gotten the final estimate yet). THIS is why it was towed home!

• 6.5 hours - Amount of time we caught of the concert and rocked our freakin' butts off!

• Bus and cab fare to after-party from concert - $14.00

• 2 hours - Amount of time it took for us to walk from the concert to my office building, change, dump our chairs and stuff at my desk - changing and 'stuff dumping' only took half an hour - walk to the bus stop and wait ... and wait ... and wait. Then ... trying to find a cab! Impossible!

• Booze at after-party ... oh yeah ... there was booze! Especially after the last 24hrs! - $20

• 2 Hours - How much of the after-party we were able to catch.

• LOTS - of ass I had to kiss to get my ex husband to pick our stranded butts up when we got home, drive us to the concert, and pick us up at 2:30am from the party ;-) Thanks Paul & Mark!!!!

Going to the country concert of the summer, celebrating with strawberry daiquiri's & dancing at the after-party and the whole adventure we experienced to get there ... with my best friend at my side ... freakin' PRICELESS!!!!! ;-D

K

ANOTHER Random Act of Kindness?

Last week, I opened an envelope that was addressed to me. The cover letter was addressed to me, and meant for me, however, the accompanying documentation that was with it, belonged to SOMEBODY ELSE!!!

Sure, mail screw-ups happen all the time, but this screw-up provided me with personal information about this other person that, had I been a dishonest person, I could have done some SERIOUS damage with.

This was a SERIOUS mail screw up, and I'm guessing someone in a particular organization is going to be in some SERIOUS sh*t when when they were told of my phone call last week.

I try to be an honest person. I try to do the right thing. And I believe in fate.

The day after I got the package, I called the Organization to let them know of their error. We're talking the type of error that the media would have a field day with. Had I decided to go that route. Oh and believe me, the thought definitely crossed my mind because this was NEWS!!!

I did instead what I thought was the right thing. I called, told them of their error, and I will now mail the information back to them.

The fates decided to repay me later that morning for doing the right thing :-)

When I first got to the office that day, I put money in the parking meter.

When I went out for my morning 'fresh air break', I again put money in the meter. I had six minutes left at the time, so it popped up with "1:26". Good, an hour and a half until lunchtime, then I'd go down and put more $ in it.

I got to my vehicle at lunch and thought I must be standing in front of the wrong meter ... it was STILL showing "1:26".

HUH? Cool! My meter's broken! Free parking today!!!

I sat outside for a few minutes, enjoying the sunshine and new book I'd started.

Before going back up to the office, I thought I'd better check that meter, just in case it had started working again in the last 10 minutes.

I got to the vehicle, and it was showing "1:16".

HUH? Ok, it's not broken.

That means .... some very nice person decided to feed my meter for me after it had run out! I must have just missed them by minutes.

WOW! That's pretty cool!

I did my good deed by returning the documents, and the fates in turn had someone feed my run-out meter for me.

My co-worker disagrees. He thinks someone just put money in the wrong meter. Mine instead of theirs. I told him to 'get off my cloud' and let me enjoy the idea that someone did a random act of kindness!!! :-)

I still think what goes around comes around my friends ... let that be a lesson for those of you who have ever been mean or nasty to me! Ha! Ha! The fates will be coming back to bite you in the ass over that ... when you least expect it!

HA!

Be nice to people ... the fates are watching! ;-)

K