Grumble-bunny

Ten things I want to complain about in a light-hearted manner, realizing that many people have it worse than I do.
1. Fake child came at 6 a.m. today. Didn't sleep well, so getting up this early is a bummer.
2. Jimmy skipped seminary today and then MISSED THE BUS.
3. Had to load up fake child in her parka, hat, and mittens and demand that Jimmy wear a coat.
4. Had to fight student traffic at the school.
5. Eyebrows stuck in angry-eyes mode, either that or the cold froze them that way.
6. I have nothing to blog about.
7. Brain is still fuzzy.
8. Can't believe I drove with a fuzzy brain.
9. I have a cold.
10. Angry-eyes unfroze finally, leaving me with Drippy-eyes cuz I'm still TIRED.

Thankfulability (yes, even though I grumbled my way through a post, I'm still able to find something to be happy about): Today I am thankful for my vehicle. I haven't always had a vehicle for my own use before. As a teenager, I always had to share a car with my sister. Not that I minded, it was just sort of inconvenient when I got off work at 9 and she got off at 10 and I had to wait for her. We seemed to work it out most of the time, and the song "Money for Nothing" will always remind me of driving home from KMart, where she worked. We'd crank it up really loud and sing along, every time it came on the radio. Yes, we had only a radio to listen to. I don't remember a tape deck in the car and forget a CD player. CDs were really really new then. I didn't have a CD player in my car until JUST A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. And then I got married. I married into a car, and not a very good one. But I wasn't about to complain because it was one car more than I had when I wasn't married. That little Volkswagon Scirrocco got me to the hospital when Katie was born. Sadly, it didn't get Jim home from the hospital; it conked out. And it made me miss Katie's first checkup with the dr. It was an unreliable car. But when you are poor, you make do. Like by sticking a box behind the driver's seat because the seat wouldn't stay up on its own and we didn't want to drive in a reclined position, unlike many ridiculous people these days. Anyway, I'll not get into a long detailed list of the cars I have driven, but I am glad for my ice-blue van with no name. The turn signals do not turn off automatically and the windshield wipers do not work either and it would cost $800 to fix them. The back trunk does not open with the remote button anymore and my garage door opener holder is also broken. These little annoyances give my van character. I am glad I have the van so I can drive Jimmy to school and lecture him the whole way.

Comments

Karie said…
Amen on the car thankfulness! I had to share with my dad as a teenager (guess who got the lion's share of that deal?), but married into a Honda Accord that worked fairly reliably for three years. Then the family dealership gave us a trade-up: a pickup for the commuting husband and a minivan for the expectant mother of a toddler.

I'm also thankful that I've never really had to go to a dealership to buy a car (knock on wood).

Great post, Sara!
November 17, 2008 at 9:38 AM
Mike said…
Since there are hundreds of silver Honda Oddeseys on the road these days it can be difficult to discern between ours and others when I perchance see Jenny out and about. The luggage rack bars on top and the matching bilateral dents on the rear bumper are what tells me its the "Vanimal" and not some mundane other minivan. I had a car (1986 nissan sentra wagon) that I drove for an entire winter without reverse. Only got rid of it because the rear driver shock mount rusted through the frame on the way home from Normandale one afternoon. Fortunately, that evening I already had plans to step up in the world of car ownership and buy a 1981 Dodge ramcharger (whose transmission exploded all over 35W on mothers day). If all my cars were people, I would have quite a collection of interesting friends with their various ailments, we have even shared a vehicle with some character...
Concerned Citizen
November 17, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Shoebox Princess said…
Yes, I did so love that boat of a car, with the gas tank that you could fill only half full because it leaked if you filled it beyond that. And one time I did, without knowing it and parked at Target. Then I heard over the intercom a call for the owner of a blue Impala to come to the service desk. They had spotted gasoline leaking from my car and had called the fire department. I was horrendously pregnant, trailing 3 or 4 children behind me and tired, so this was just a nail in my coffin that day. That was quite an adventure.
November 17, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Jenni said…
I remember how we used to talke of "barreling" down the highway 7 in the red station wagon. That car "barreled" if every a car "barreled."
November 18, 2008 at 4:35 AM
Jen said…
My van has brought much convenience to my life, so I am grateful for that. I was with Mike when his Dodge Ram died on Mother's Day. My parents had to come pick us up, and he just left that thing for the city to deal with it. I didn't get to meet the reverseless car though I only heard goo things about it. Mike and I had our fair share of car troubles in the early days of our marriage. We had a VW rabbit that a couple 100 thousand miles on it, but it worked most of the time. Mike sold it for $600. The buyer later called us from the impound lot needing Mike to verify that it wasn't stolen. Then the Civic that I'd had since my senior year in college had its little annoyances, but it actually was a great car to have. We also sold it for way more than it was worth. Score!
November 18, 2008 at 12:10 PM
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