Cars, Soup, and Spines

The air conditioner on my car started dying in the middle of summer, 2oo6. We suffered with it until this past July when we took it in for a checkup. The mechanic recharged it and put some dye in the coolant. At that time, I asked him to look at my brakes which kept leaking. He found the leak, said it was not big deal.

This story now gets kind'uv involved.

In the middle of summer, 2006, I took my car to another mechanic to get the brakes done. They had over 150,000 miles on them and were starting to complain from age. The mechanic completely overhauled all four. Whoever worked on my car broke one of the hubcaps and didn't bother to 'fess up. Jerk.

Then the timing chain started complaining. I took that in. In the process of changing the timing chain, they broke off the corner of the..... manifold, maybe? Don't do engines so I'm not sure. Nothing that would compromise engine function, but broken nonetheless. No one admitted to the damage.

Six months later, the brake light started flashing. I took it back in to the same place because it was leaking. They supposedly fixed the leak and charged me for it.

A few months later, the brake light started flashing again. WTH? I'm now fed up with this one creep who breaks more than he fixes. I went somewhere new.

That brings us to today. I took my little old car in early this morning to have the AC fixed, and they were going to call with an estimate on fixing the brake fluid leak. Guess what? The rear brakes are completely hosed. The brakes have been grabbing and the ALB has been kicking in on regular braking ever since the first brake job. Now we know why. I'm getting completely new drums, rotors, pads, the works.

I only wish there was a way to let people know that the little auto repair shop in downtown Okmulgee is a waste of time and money. I thought about filing a complaint with the BBB, but who ever checks with them? Oh, well.

Sissy Kitty goes to her new home tomorrow. It's like a countdown.... we have too many cats, but I will miss her dearly.

All the kitties and the Porkie Yorkie got their ears sprayed for ear mites this evening. They are all mad and hiding. It's very peaceful right now - no thundering paws racing through the house and up the drapes.

Fortunately, Hubby hasn't seen them actually climb the drapes. This is a good thing. I think we would be short some cats if he ever caught them in that act!

Hubby and I have been discussing our expanding midriff situation. We are seriously considering NutriSystem. While it's the only thing I've ever done to successfully lose weight, it's really $$$. The question is how to do it for both of us, feed Alatariel, and stay within our current grocery budget.

Ha!

I believe if my belly were not exerting so much force on my back, the back problem would substantially decrease. I had my follow-up with the ortho doctor, and I have narrowing of that little space where the spinal cord runs down the spine, somewhere around L3 or 4. I have bulging on the other side, and spurs developing, I guess causing the narrowing. I got to see the MRI results. Pretty cool. It looked like they sliced me into pieces and took pictures of each vertebra looking down on each one.

At any rate, the doc wants to do an epidural steroid injection to "fix" me. Scary.

Damn. Why did I let myself get in this predicament?

On a lighter note, for lunch today I scrounged up enough ingredients to make a pot of soup.

1# ground turkey
A couple of ribs of celery, chopped
Onion, chopped
Sauted these together with salt and pepper
Then added:
2 large potatos, cubed
A generous addition of baby carrots, cut into halves or thirds
Let those saute a bit.
Poured in a box of beef broth (Health Valley, I think)
A sprinkling of green herbs:
rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley
Seasoned salt
More salt
A little more salt
(Health Valley broth is pretty bland)
Simmered until veggies were crisp tender
Added 1 small can of corn, drained
Simmered until veggies were done

There was none left. Even Alatariel liked it, and she's not a soup-eater.