I was on my way to my acupuncture appointment, and as I pulled out at a light, my poor little 1996 Escort, christened Angus, made an odd straining sensation and sound, shuddered a little, and acted like it wasn't going to make it across -- and then it got zippier and picked up. But then my "Check Engine" light began flashing, much to my dismay. It finally stayed on, a little glaring orange light that can mean any bazillion number of things from something small to major drums of doom.
I drove cautiously down the street, paying attention to how it felt and sounded -- but nothing began making any kind of noise or feeling that gave concern, so I continued on, with the intent to go and simply drop Angus off for a check up the following morning at the shop around the corner from where I work.
However, when I turned my car on after my appointment, I was greeted with a horrible dry, grinding, hacking, clattering sound coming from my engine. I knew, with a great sinking feeling, the "Check Engine" light had, indeed, heralded in the "drums of doom."
I called my dad, and he suggested checking the oil; it looked a touch low, so a nice man offered a quart of oil that he had. I put it in, let the engine run for a bit, and the sound stopped. It sounded like I'd at least be able to get home.
But no more than a block and a half away, the sound came back, and I managed to limp poor Angus back to the building and park in a spot where the tow truck could easily get to him (it!).
As Angus got shepherded away to the mechanic's, my dad came and got me in his Ford Escape, which he's kindly lent to me while Angus is in the shop.
The diagnosis I received was that "Angus is really sick." Apparently what happened was that my timing belt went (what I felt with the straining feeling as I crossed the intersection), a piston then bumped a valve and the valve shattered, dropping its parts into the engine, thus chewing it up. To my knowledge I've never had the timing belt replaced (it should be done every 50K miles for my car), and so it went kaput, having worked itself into collapse after being used for slightly more than 100K miles.
After about 842.37 calls between my father, the mechanic and me, the decision came to put in a Ford factory refurbished engine, which will come with a 3-year 100K mile warranty, as good as a spanking new one. The whole total's going to come to at least $3500, and while that sounds like a lot, I'm essentially getting a brand new car inside my 1996 chassis. I can't argue with that, as anything I'd purchase for approximately that amount would come with parts and an engine as old as the car. And it's way cheaper than a new car, which I can't afford.
My dad and grandmother graciously offered to help pay for the repairs, for which I am deeply grateful.
So I'm looking forward to having Angus all healthy and bettered again. I may even manage to squeeze a gallon or two per mile from him; right now I'm averaging around 24-25 MPG, which is nearly as good as many of the new cars I hear being eagerly touted on TV.
When I get him back, I'm going to make sure he gets a good scrubbing, polish and shine. I owe him that much.
In the midst of all of that, I decided I needed to scale back in other ways; I've been living in a really nice 2-bed, 2-bath apartment. I was told in early Spring, that the company that owns the apartments wants to refurbish all the units, and to stay in the one I have, I'd have to move out, let them fix it up, then move back in.
But the whole car thing got me thinking, especially as I was considering the possibility of perhaps having to make car payments as well as then have higher insurance, too. I suddenly realized I no longer wanted a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. It's been nice to have -- the second bathroom was for visitors, leaving me free to have mine in as much of a state of chaos or cleanliness as I wanted, and the second bedroom I used for an office and a meditation area.
As I began to realize, nice is nice, but it's not always necessary.
So yesterday I called the front office and asked how much I'd save if I moved into a 1 bed, 1 bath unit; she told me that it would be $700 a month for a fully refurbished unit. I'm paying $735 right now for an older unit, and with the refurb rent will, for my unit, go up $150. No thanks.
I asked if there was a unit I could see at lunch when I came home, and she said there was. Within three minutes of walking around I was sold. It's in the building across from mine and will face south; I went back today to take pictures (I'll stick in a link at the end of this entry), and ran into the woman whose unit I was shown yesterday (she chose to move out temporarily while hers was redone; it was nice, because her plants and patio furniture got left, so I got a nice visual for what mine will look like), and she said it's also very bright in the Winter. My unit is darkish anyway, even when it's sunny out, as it faces a shady yard. In the Winter it's even worse.
I can't wait. The refurb is absolutely wonderful! They put in:
- Granite countertops
- Stainless steel appliances
- Really nice, new linoleum flooring that looks like stone
- Brand new Berber-like carpet
- Brand new paint
- Totally new recessed lighting in the kitchen (before it was flourescent with plastic sheeting...)
- Brand new low-flow toilet
- Brand new tub
- Brand new sliding glass doors
- Brand new everything possible that could be removed and replaced
- Brand new heating (it used to be electric baseboard coil units; it's still electric, but now they're units with fans)
It's absolutely beautiful.
And here's what I'm most excited about: my bedroom has a sliding glass door that opens onto the terrace! It feels so...so...elegant.
I'll have to do some scaling back, of course, and I'm on the waiting list for a storage space in the apartments (I was told there was none a long time ago. Actually, what that manager said to me was, "Not really."), and I may have to rent a space someplace as my Dad's attic is stuffed more fully than a Thanksgiving Tofurky.
There's actually a decent amount of storage space, and my bedroom has a closet that's about the size of one and half of the ones I already have, plus it has another smaller one with shelving. "You can put your sweaters or other knitwear in here," Susan said.
"Oh," I said. "No -- shoes. Not sweaters -- shoes. Every woman needs a shoe closet!"
She laughed and said, "Yes! Absolutely!"
Honestly, it feels good to be moving into someplace smaller. I was thinking today that, while it doesn't take a lot of time to clean my place now, it can sometimes get tedious.
I may turn my dining area into a little office, and use my meditation corner screen to close it off. Evenutally, I may just shift over completely to a really nice laptop so I can have a dining area. I've inherited hosting Christmas Eve dinner, and I do enjoy doing that; I suppose we could always sit around two card tables in the livingroom or use our laps....
Anyway. Now I'm thinking out loud...er...in cyberspace. Whatever. I'm babbling.
All this transpired in 24 hours, the car and the apartment.
Here are pictures of a unit like what I'll have; this isn't going to be the one I get, but it's enough to show you all what I'll have:
Heather's New Abode
Later, all!
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