Oh yes I did.............

I went to the garage the other day to get my winter tires removed from the car and my warmer weather tires put on.  Now granted despite the calendar saying it is Spring, the weather has not been the best.  However I am thumbing my nose at Mother Nature and saying I have had enough of Winter, I am ready for the better weather.

I go to the garage where I bought the car from and along with getting my tires changed, I needed my oil changed, new wiper blades and and a general once over with the car.  So I knew I would be there at least 90 minutes.

The truck below is dh's dream truck...........

 It's a Lincoln Ford garage and I saw this Lincoln brand car and thought it looked good.

 They have the best waiting area.  Multiple beverage choices and lots of treats to choose from.

 There is even a business area, where I settled down with the newspaper and a coffee.  I then sat and read a good book for the rest of the time there.

Will say it was a $400 visit to the garage, but everything they did was something that needed done to keep my car running in tip-top shape.  As I know nothing about cars, it's something I am willing to spend money on.

Why?

If you look on the middle left hand side of this photo you will see a house and a garage door partially open?  Can you see it?  To the left of the arch, just below our blinds?

I am confused a couple of our neighbours constantly leave their garage doors open a couple of feet during the day; why?  Is it too air them out?  Is there a benefit to doing this?  Granted they only do it when its not raining or snowing; but I am still confused as to why.  If you have a garage do you do this?  Should I be doing this?  Lots of questions.........

I didn't want to post a closer photo as they do have a car parked on the left hand side of the garage, it is a double garage.

I answered in the comments, but am putting it here.  no animals, that particular neighbour is not an animal lover, and no laundry, no one does that.

Some things I am whining about.......

Had a run in with the garbage man, as he wouldn't take my green bin as it contained yard waste as well as food waste.  I thought if the green bin wasn't full you could top it up with yard waste.  Have done this time and time again and had no problem.  Things have changed so he said and no yard waste is allowed???  He then said in loud slow words; "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

I thought to myself, I speak English and I am not deaf......should have said it out loud, but couldn't be bothered to argue with him anymore, so walked off.

Went through the MacDonald's drive through and ordered a couple of coffee's, a couple of muffins and asked for butter.  There is one woman who works there that has a problem with my accent.  By the time I had gone through the order numerous times and two other cars had gone through the other lane with their orders, we got it right.  By this time I was ready to bang my head against the dashboard.

By the way, the way I pronounce "butter" was the major stumbling block in all of this.  Canadians pronounce it "BUDDER."

At the beginning of the month I sent a 11 1/2 " by 15 " envelope to New Zealand.  I sent the same envelope with the same stuff in it to Prince Edward Island in Canada on Friday.  Not only did it cost more to send to PEI, it will take bloody longer also!!!  Not sure what to say other than Canada Post sucks..........

Finally I own a delightful Ford Fiesta.  Great little car, other than the bloody transmission.  There is a known problem with the transmission and I have had mine replaced.  I have also had it reprogrammed twice and I feel there is still a problem.  They have told me I have to live with it, but after "juttering" around town yesterday I had, had enough.  So I marched into the dealership and told them they HAVE to do something.  I take it next Wednesday for them to test drive it with the computer?  What that will do who knows, but at least they are doing something.

I think they probably knew by my demeanor I wasn't in the mood to be fobbed off again!

Now a bit of good news after all that moaning.  I "think" we have a guy lined up to do the drywall in the basement.  Dh has to go over the fine details with him, but it should be a go; I am hoping by the end of May.  The guy seemed alright and his price was not the cheapest, but not the dearest.  So fingers crossed it all works out.

And the first clue was?

I had a few things planned on Friday so had to get organized and get going first thing.  So I printed and sorted out what coupons I needed then got in the car to drive where I was going.

As I was driving along the car was making a funny sound as though one of the windows were open.  So I checked all windows and then pulled over in case it was the truck.........I know I have a sensor that indicates if the truck is open.  Set off again, there was a clatter up and it was as though a stone was flying around the wheel hub area.  All of a sudden there was a noise and the next thing I know the sensor for low pressure in my tire came on.  I pulled over and sure enough I had a flat tire.  I have NEVER EVER changed a tire in my life......

After calling road side assistance and being told that it doesn't cover changing a flat tire and being told that the charge was $50 I called our local towing company and asked them to come out.  I decided to at least take the spare tire out of the car in preparation for them coming.  I was actually proud of myself actually doing that. 

I then decided to get out the manual to see if there were instructions on how to change a tire and was surprised to find there were instructions:

So I stood by the car reading the manual and a young girl pulled up and asked me if I needed help.  I asked her what was her first clue that I had no idea what I was doing and she pointed to the manual!!!  I told her I about the tow truck and she left.  Not long after a gentleman stopped and he told me to cancel the tow truck and save myself some money and he would change the tire.  So I cancelled the tow truck and he changed my tire and wouldn't take any money or even let me buy him a Tim Hortons coffee.  What a lovely man he was.

I then drove to the Ford garage in Alliston and they looked at it and had to order me a tire.  To cut a long story short the tire arrived Friday afternoon and I got the new tire installed.  I have insurance on my tires.........turns out I bought it when I bought the car?  It covers replacement tires, so it cost me nothing.

I honestly think after watching the guy put my spare tire on, I think I would be able to do it along with reading the instructions on the manual.

Now the bummer in all of this was I was only allowed to drive 80 kmph/50 mph when I had the spare tire on.  Do you know very few people drive that slow, including me.  

I called into a new to me store in Alliston called A Novel Idea I am going to take some books there and get a store credit for baby books for our home library.

There are some good deals on at Sobey's this week.  Buy Lou's  Sliced Pork Loin (same as peameal bacon) you get a free package of breakfast sausage and a free package of hash browns.  The pork loin is $5.99.  The Europes Best fruit is on sale for $2.99, I had $1 off coupons so got five packages.  Also the Natrel Fine Filtered Milk is $3.97 is on sale for the 4 litre bag.

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.

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.........

One Major Job Done on Wednesday.......

One job that needed done around here was replacing the shingles on the garage roof.  I had got three quotes last year and they all came in at $2,500.  For one reason or another we never followed through with the job last year, but we were determined to do it this year when the weather was a bit better.  The sales guy from AM Roofing called in February to see if we still wanted it done and if we got it done by the end of March we    would save the taxes.  So we booked it for the end of March, but due to weather issues, they finally got it done on Wednesday.

The company covers a wide area of Southern Ontario.  Will say we are very happy with the guys that came to the house.  Very pleasant and did a good clean up outside the garage.

There were two layers of black shingles on the roof. 

We went with Owens Corning Duration Shingles in Brownwood.  It is wind resistant up to 110 MPH.

We were quite surprised at how good the plywood sheathing was and only one small piece needed to be replaced.

We have quite a bit of work to do though on the outside and inside of the garage to replace some rotten wood and the whole garage needs to be painted.

It took the four guys around three hours to replace the roof.

Still got this flipping cold hanging around.  Did get some twigs picked up , but it was a case of work for half an hour and then sit down for an hour.  Also it was supposed to be a nice day, but it was still flipping cold in that wind.  Got my laundry hung outside and dried so that is a bonus.

Sorry to hear about the death of Rita MacNeil:

Very different.....

I had a few jobs to do on Tuesday and one of those was to advertise the snow tires with rims from my old car.  They are almost new and don't fit my new car.  I advertised them on kijiji as it's free, so fingers crossed I sell them, as it's close to $1,000 for ones for my new car.  

I took the car to get the oil changed, which was free as the sales guy gave us a coupon for a free oil change when we bought the car.  Otherwise it would have cost over $42.  Is that expensive, how much do you pay for an oil change?

Another job I had to do was fill in all the nail holes on the window and door frames in the basement.  I am going to sand them today.  It is a job I absolutely hate doing, but I am determined to get that basement finished!!

I finished machine stitching the baby quilt, so all I had to do is hand stitch the binding on.

I am determined to get all my jobs done on my list regardless this week!!!!


Fab Find has a a little article called Fab Spot every day and this was what it was about on Tuesday:

Adding salt and pepper to your favourite dish is nothing new, but doing it with some magic certainly is. Putting on a sprinkle, a dash, or a pinch just became a lot more interesting with these wand-like shakers. You’ll have your food under a spell in no time. Plus you won’t have those awkward grinders or ugly holders at your table. Your favourite spices will be more charming than that four-eyed fictional wonder boy. Just don’t forget to say abracadabra whenever you shake them. Otherwise all that time spent studying at Hogwarts will just be thrown out the window.

Very cute don't you think?

$700 and Home of the week

So it cost $700 to fix and service my car this week {SIGH} For that $700 I got a Spring Service Package that includes oil and filter service, inspecting various things on the car and switching my snow tires for my regular tires, that costs $89.85


They also replaced spark plugs and wires, replaced fuel filter, throttle body service and replaced serpentine belt. The above service and labour for the spark plugs etc cost $395.79.  All the parts cost $222.39 and taxes were $80.36. (Just so you know I know NOTHING about cars, so don't ask any technical/mechanical questions as I WILL NOT know the answer!!)  I had to look at the bill to get all the info of what they did, as I was clueless.  I make the garage talk to dh as he knows more about cars than I do.


We cannot afford to replace this car until the Fall of 2013, so fingers, toes and everything else crossed it will last until then.  It has done us well as it is 10 years old but has low mileage.


With living in a rural area I do need a car as there is no bus service.  Our nearest town is 10 kilometres away and I am not fit enough to bike there.  Our doctor is in Brampton, and we can't get a doctor close to where we live.  So all in all it's not practical for me to be without a car.  


I love this week's Home of the Week, I mean it is gorgeous, I wouldn't change anything.  I guess there is one little problem though the price.......I wonder if they would drop it to $250,000 or even better give it too me?  You know dd did have her wedding at St. George's Golf and Country Club last year so that should count for something, right????  I can dream I guess, though unless I won the lottery, I couldn't afford to heat or maintain the place as it's huge. 


Is anyone out there participating in the "March Swagness" promotion?  Must say I will be glad to see the back of it.  Having to get over 100 Swagbucks every day is proving trying.  I have managed to achieve my goals up to and including Thursday.  So fingers crossed I reach today's and tomorrow's goal.  Someone said that you got double your total of bonus Swagbucks if you achieve every daily goal during this event?  Must say I am a big fan of Swagbucks, but you all know that....

Flipping Heck and Mother Earth News........

My car is not well {SIGH}.  It stalled on me a couple of times on Friday and when I turned the key in the ignition on Saturday nothing happened, tried again nothing happened, tried again and it ran.  Dh of course doesn't want me going out in it in case I break down.  So I need to make an appointment to take it into the garage this week {{SIGH}}  Fingers, toes and everything crossed that I don't have to take out a second mortgage to pay for the repairs {{{SIGH}}}

I just received the April/May 2012 issue of the Mother Earth News and there were some interesting articles and links in there. Including a competition to win a Heifer and Chicken Coop amongst the package, unfortunately it's for only people in the States.


Eden Foods, not only sell a variety of products but they have a whole section of recipes, which include Gluten Free, Vegetarian and Vegan.


Barn Light Electric sells the neatest lights and ones that are functional without being too crazy looking.  I love this milk glass pendant.


There was an article that featured "The Happy Homesteader," blog that is really well worth checking out.  This couple live in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Colorado on 11 acres and they have four German Shepherd dogs.


Looking for a different type of house to live in?  Well maybe this is for you.  Not sure how much they cost and how feasible it would be to live in one, but I guess it would get the neighbours talking.

No more snow until December 2011.....

How do I know that.....well I changed the tires on the car, from my Winter tires to my Summer tires.  So it can't snow until I get the Winter tires back on in December.

Now I must admit, I do find going to the garage quite stressful, as it's not knowing what else could be wrong with the car, and if they do find something wrong with it, how much is it going to cost.

Tuesday I took it for a Spring tune up which includes changing the oil and changing my tires.  I sure it includes other things, but I have no idea what.  I know pretty sad, but I totally trust them, which is a good thing.

Anyhow, they came back with me needing to have my ball joints changed.  They may as well have told me I needed to fly to the moon, for what that meant.  Anyhow after much explaining they are like the hip joints for a car, so I need to have that seen too but it will have to wait until next month, as it's over $500 to have them fixed.

I also need some more things to be done, but again that will have to wait for a couple more months.  All these things are due to the age of the car, as it is nearly nine years old, but as it only has just over 117,000 km's on the clock I have no desire to change it.

Do you know a lot about your car?  Are you mechanically adept?

It was bitter cold on Tuesday.  When I hung out the laundry on the line it immediately froze.  However I did manage to get the laundry dry outside and just hung it on the clothes horse to air in front of the fire.

I haven't been able to get upstairs in the attic this week yet, so am hoping that today will be the day to get some jobs done in there.  Namely sanding the nail holes I filled with putty, and then hopefully painting a primer on all of it.  Dh is busy building a window seat in the attic, so we will have storage under it.