Look who is finally home.........

I picked her up on Thursday night.  They have put a new fuel pump in her.  Took her out on Friday and she worked fine.  Fingers crossed she doesn't break down again.

When we were at the garage dh was talking to another guy sitting there and what we had wrong with our car was nothing compared to this poor guys.

He had a 2011 Lincoln MKS (I think that was the model) that he had paid $65,000 for.  Since he bought it, it has been in the garage a total of 17 weeks.  He normally buys Honda's but when he retired he thought he would treat himself to a luxury car.  He told Ford's head office he wanted his money back, but all they offered him was $3,000 off a new car.  Suffice to say this poor man is not a happy camper.

I'm just glad to have Betsy home.

Interesting to say the least............

On Sunday I went out to cut the grass.  Within half an hour I was rushing into the house, stripping of my clothes in the kitchen, shouting and carrying on.  Dh was on the phone with dd and was looking at me in complete amazement at what I was doing.

As he said to dd, "your mother has just ran into the house and stripped off her clothes."

I ran upstairs and got into the shower.  I had scratched myself red raw in some places and no I hadn't been bitten but it turns out I am allergic to the bloody grass.  I went off my allergy pills a week or so ago and I had barely been outside since that time.  However cutting the grass in the field which was long and flying around was "the straw that broke the camels back" as they say.

Suffice to say a trip into town to get allergy pills was in order and no more grass cutting for the day.  I was out yesterday cutting grass with no problem, other than I ran out of gas!  I can cut the grass in a fraction of the time with the new mower, so that's a good thing.

The newspaper on the window is working at keeping the red cardinal away, however it still attacks the patio door every now and then (no newspaper on there); will keep the newspaper up for a few more days.  Also had no birds fly into the picture window yet either which is good, but that doesn't happen every day normally though.

Do I dare hope that I may get my car back this week?  Stay tuned for news on that front!

Have a good day everyone!

Garage called yesterday and home of the week..

The car had stopped starting AGAIN.  So they have now ordered a "fuel pump pig tail," as that MIGHT be the problem.  Dh still as mad as hell, me totally clueless............so I am guessing I won't be seeing my car until after the long weekend.

Funny thing is with this heat I have been hibernating, so other than bringing the rental car home from the garage and calling into the grocery store, the rental car hasn't moved since last Saturday.  Feel a bit guilty about having it at home, but it's better than not having a car at all.

This week's "Home of the Week," is not awful, but just too modern for me.  My dh would die to have a garage like that, even I would LOVE a garage like that and the back yard is nice and private, but is it worth $5.5 million?  Again its all to do with location.  The interior just doesn't feel warm to me; what do you think?

The "Cottage of the Week," is MINE!!!!!  At just under $330,000 it is finally something we could afford; if we sold this house.  It would make a lovely retirement home and the grand kids would love the Bunkie.  It is also really a cottage, not one of these monster mansions advertising itself as a cottage.  Just love it.

Although I couldn't afford the $2.3 million price tag or the $1,700 + per month maintenance fees, this week's "Condo of the Week," isn't too bad.  Pretty neutral and a workable floor plan.  Always wanted one of this recliner leather chairs in the living room with the footstool, but they a very pricey.  The views from the property are no too bad, other than that red building opposite.  I would even ask the folk to leave the furniture if I bought it.

Quite impressed with this week's choices as I don't actually hate any of them.........which makes a change!!

Update on car....AGAIN!

The car is still at the garage as of Wednesday morning.  I spoke to them on Tuesday and they had got it going, but were not 100% sure if they have fixed it?  They have reprogrammed the Gem Mobile, what ever that is?  They have performed a recalibration, what ever that is?  They had also reprogrammed the computer last week.

I am none the wiser with any of this and dh is far from happy about it all.  I did offer to go in and try the car, as it seems I have the magic fingers for not making it work, but they said they'll let me know.  So that is where we stand.

Weather a little cooler this morning so have had the windows open to let in some fresh air.  It get so stuffy in the house when it closed up all the time doesn't it?  May even attempt to cut some grass as it doesn't feel as humid.  Otherwise it is going to be another quiet day around here.

By the way is anyone a member of KLOUT?  I'll be honest with you although I have joined I really don't understand it all.  I did however get a free product coupon the other day thanks to them.  Here is a link to what it's about.  If anyone is more of an expert on this, please share what you know?

{{{SIGH}}} {{{SIGH}}} {{{SIGH}}}

Friday I cancelled the Toronto Star newspaper.  I am fed up to the back teeth of fighting on with them every three months having to negotiate a discount with them.  Why not give me the best price from the beginning.  Last three months I got a 30% discount, next three months it will be a 20% discount and the following three months it would only be a 10% discount.  I am not that desperate to read the paper, and figured that by the Fall they will be on the phone offering me a big discount after three months of not having the paper.

Bell Canada is no better but I have very few alternatives with those services, due to where we live, so have to put up with it, and luckily I only have to "negotiate" with them once a year, and then spend the next three months sorting out the mess they made!!!  LOL

Then there is my car.  Called them on Friday lunch time and they said they had reprogrammed the computer and it was fine.  Told them I would pick it up around 4pm.  Got a call at 3pm and when they tried to start it it wouldn't start {{{SIGH}}}

Told them I need a loaner car as this is crazy, so picking one up on Saturday.  Went in to talk to them about this, as we are really frightened that once the warranty is over and we still have problems what then?  Also with a normal car repair it's black and white; you take your car in the garage repairs it, and you take it home.

In my case, it's proving to be a problem repairing my car.  How long do we fight on with this before something is done?  Will say I have Googled Ford Fiesta and the transmission seems to be a HUGE problem with them, which is also frightening me.

On a more positive note, the new lawn tractor works like a charm.  Loving the power steering, makes life so much easier and the bigger cutting deck makes cutting the grass faster.

Saga of the car continues........

As of Thursday night the car is still at the garage.  I called a couple of times to see how things are going.  It's not starting now for them so that is good news.  However they can't figure out what is wrong with it.  The garage is in contact with Ford Canada to see what they say/suggest.  However the gist of the situation is we are no further forward than we were on Monday.

As I said to them at some point I do have to have my car back.  As it was dh had to take Thursday afternoon off of work to take me to an appointment.  Also it's not like we live in town, I do need a car to go anywhere.  So we'll see what today brings.  If we're not getting anywhere I am going to see about them giving me a car to use.

On Thursday morning we took delivery of our new lawn tractor.  No we haven't come into money, we have had to finance this, but when we have paid off the mortgage we will get this paid off.  This is not what we had planned, but there's not a lot we can do about it. The grass won't stop growing just because our lawn tractor broke down.

Are we fed up in this household, heck yes, but we have to keep going.........

Update on the car............

The garage has had the car since late Monday afternoon.  Every time they try it, it starts right away.  So I tell them I am going to pick it up on Wednesday afternoon as no one can find anything wrong with it.

Dh takes me there and I go to start it and of course it won't start for me.  So get the mechanic there and a service guy and to cut a long story short, left it at the bloody garage.  Do I have the magic touch that makes my car not want to start?  How many ways can you start a car?  One as far as I know.

Meanwhile dh is having to take this afternoon off work to take me to Brampton for a hospital appointment, as even if we had got the car back he doesn't want me driving any distance in case the car breaks down.  This is becoming very annoying.

I even suggested what Maa had said to them and reboot the bloody computer in the car.  They have never seen this before. (SIGH)

Glad to get yesterday over with, mind you the nightmare continues...........

Yes it was our 30th wedding anniversary yesterday, and thank you for all your good wishes but what a rotten day it was.

Betsy has been giving me problems over the past week.  Betsy is my car and you can see a photo of her here  As you can see Betsy is just over a year old, so Betsy shouldn't be giving me any problems at all, but she is.

It all started last Thursday.  I had to go to my monthly quilt club meeting, got in the car, went to start it, the car kept turning over but wouldn't start.  So called the garage, who called the tow truck.  When the tow truck driver came he tried the car and it started first time (rolling eyes).  So it was decided I wouldn't take it to the garage but just monitor the situation.  Drove the car Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.  Saturday night dh and I decided we would have a Subway sandwich, drove to Subway in my car, got the sandwich, came back to the car and turned it on and it did the same thing.  Luckily this time dh was with me, so he was a witness to it. Managed to get it going and brought it home.

Called the garage on Monday and they told me to bring it in on Tuesday.  We decided to drop it off on Monday afternoon to save me from having to wait for a ride.  Got in the car and yet again it wouldn't start.  We went to the garage as I wanted dh to explain things to them and arrange for them to have the car towed in.  Came back home and of course it started, so cancelled the tow truck and drove it to the garage.

Called them a couple of times on Tuesday and the car starts no problem and when put on the computer no faults have shown???  Told them to keep it today to see what happens, because unless it won't start they have no idea what to do.  Meanwhile I now own a car which is iffy to say the least.  I hate to say this but fingers crossed the bloody thing doesn't start so they can at least do something about it.

As it was a nice day on Tuesday I decided to tackle our "hay field."  It's growing so long and thick with all the rain we have been having that it took me forever to get it done.  I still had a bit to do when the tractor wouldn't go either forwards or backwards when I put my foot on the pedal.  It turns out I have done something that requires a new chassis in it, along with maybe a new gear box.  Which means I need a new tractor..................I could cry at this point.

The poor tractor wasn't made to cut five acres, and so we have been lucky it has lasted as long as it has.  That being said a new lawn tractor will cost between $8 to $10 THOUSAND.   There is little to no point in us buying a cheaper one, as it won't last any time.  As it is I have just spent $124 on the old one as it broke down a week or so ago.  We have a regular gas push lawn mower so I guess I will be using that to cut around the house, the rest will have to wait until we figure out what we are going to do.

We are reluctant to go second hand as we don't want to inherit someone else's problems and trying to find one at a good price and getting it home is also an issue.

Then the UV light alarm was going off last week, the bulb had gone for some reason; never happened before.  We have turned it off and ordered a bulb from Amazon.  Luckily I had enough gift cards saved up to pay for that.  It's sitting at the post office waiting to be picked up.  Meanwhile we don't have the well water going through the UV light system and that make me nervous.  As our fridge water filter needs to be replaced as well and just haven't had the chance to go and get one in Barrie.

When the tractor broke down, it of course broke down at the far end of the field.  So to cut a long story short dh had to take his truck down there and we had to tow it back to the house.  By the time we had fiddled on with that and talking to the garage about the car, I was in no mood to go out to dinner for our anniversary, however dh insisted we go.

For some reason I decided to call the restaurant we planned on going just to make sure we didn't have to make a reservation.  Turns out they are closed until July for renovations (SIGH)   So in the end we went for fish and chips as we were both fed up with everything.  Will say the fish and chips were good; they always are, but it wasn't exactly the romantic anniversary meal we had planned, or hoped for.

I sat and did the Sudoku in the Toronto Sun newspaper and dh sat and read the John Deere lawn tractor brochure while we waited for our meal. 

These things can only make us stronger, right?

It's surprising what I can fit in my car.....

Here is the chair out of the car:

Paid $48 (around 30 British Pounds) for it at the charity shop I go to in Stayner.  I had the second winning bid on some Cornflower glass pieces, so went to pick them up.  However when I saw the pieces I decided to pass, they were not as old as I thought.  I had seen this chair the other week I was in and it had been over $80 and each week they reduce the price.  So I figured for $48 I couldn't go wrong.  It needs a good clean, but overall it's in good condition.

I love the town of Stayner everyone is so friendly and very willing to help you.  It has a small town feel about it which I love.  I could see ourselves living there; the weather sucks there in the winter though.

This week's "Home of the Week," is nice, don't love it, but don't hate it.  It's missing something, not sure what?  Does anyone else feel that way?  I do like the art work above the fireplace in the living room and master bedroom, so if I did love it and have the $1 million to buy it I would ask for that artwork with the house!!!

The "Condo of the Week," is very nice if you like living 38 floors up in the sky, and have $1.3 million spare to pay for it, and can afford the nearly $3,000 a month maintenance fees!  You will need buy a pair of fluffy slippers as there are only tile and wood floors in the place, so it will be cold in winter, unless they have under floor heating throughout the place?  The views from the windows must be great, just a shame I am afraid of heights!

I am posting a link to an old post, as I made Dulche de Leche overnight in the crockpot.

Say hello to Betsy.......

Why Betsy, well her license plate starts with a "B" so that seemed like a good name.


Glad I took a photo of her now, as she will never look this clean ever again........I am hopeless at washing cars and it's very low on the list of my priorities.


I spoke to both garages regarding refunds on my repairs and both have to get back to me.  At this point anything will be better than nothing as far as I am concerned..


I don't have snow tires for the new car, so I will have to sell my snow tires from the old car in October and hopefully that will pay for at least half of the new ones.


All in all I am pretty happy with it so far.......