First Week of 2014 - Sick, Frozen Toilet, Broken Heater & Stranded at Goodwill!! -

The year 2013 was not a good year for me, so I have been determined that 2014 was going to be a much better year.  So, it has started out with a BANG!  Not sure, about the better part, but with a BANG!  Unfortunately, I have more than my share of days this week, where I just wanted to crawl back in bed and pull the covers over my head!!   It started off with me taking my mother to the eye doctor. She had cataract surgery back in December.  He said, that her eyes were "ok" to drive, but she needed to go to medical doctor to get clearance to drive again.  Needless to say, she wasn't happy about it, when she's not happy that means only one thing-Drama. I will spare you the drama details!!  Then, we proceeded to Martins to get groceries- lots of groceries 20 lbs. of potatoes, 9 lbs of apples, etc. (She & my brother are vegetarians and he wrote the list,  so you get the picture!)    By the time we finished, loading all the groceries in the car, I was exhausted, and felt a  headache starting.  I wasn't feeling well at all  by the time I got home. I had just  had a closet painted in my sewing room on Saturday, and she was supposed to come back & touch it up that afternoon. A couple hours later, she came back and actually put another coat on it with her roller.  After I took her home,  I had piano lessons with my 7 year old  student and also started teaching his younger 5 year old brother.  I'm not sure about trying to teach a 5 year old boy piano lessons.  He was so excited and I couldn't get him to focus.  We will see as time goes on.  After piano lessons, I started feeling nauseated & then realized that the  paint smell wasn't helping matters! I ended up sick Monday night, the coldest night of the year, and went to bed by 6 pm. Of course with the wind, my power kept  going out, it did several times, but came back on.  Every time it went out, I had to get out of bed and turn my infrared heaters back on.  Ugh!  I was not a happy camper.
 The next morning,  when I got up, my toilet wouldn't flush-  Really?? That's all I needed, sick and toilet won't flush!    Then I realized my baseboard heat was not working at all in the bathroom, which apparently  was part of the problem.  My toilet pipes were FROZEN!   So, I put hot water in the toilet tank, and brought my infrared heater in the bathroom for heat.  That day I still was feeling yucky so I did absolutely nothing.  Wednesday, I didn't do much more, but called my electrician, and get my heat fixed- and he replaced the thermostat and it was good as new.  Thursday, we finished up my sewing room, and got my shelves in the closet that had been painted,  and took recycling stuff from my basement that had been a month over due!!
Friday:    This morning, my toilet actually flushed and filled up for the first time in 3 days!! Who Hoo!!  Then, I wasn't sure about the weather, because  it had been sleeting this morning.  I had to take my  Mom to doctor.  The roads were mostly ok, but I did go sliding sideways when I had to stop going down a slight hill! We waited 45 minutes at the doctor's office,  only to find out she couldn't see the doctor she wanted to see, because she was waiting on a tow truck to pick up her car.  Mom refused to see the replacement, who is actually her regular doctor.  So we left without seeing the doctor and had to reschedule for next week!!  Then, we needed to go get  her prescription filled for new glasses. I have had trouble catching up with  with the optician that we usually go to because they are in the process of moving and have not been there the last 2 weeks.  So we went to Alleghany Optical for the first time, and then of course, she  didn't have her Insurance cards!!   We looked and looked at glasses, she changed her mind a half dozen times, but we finally found some.  Now we just have to find those cards so insurance will pay for them.   This afternoon,   I went to Hagerstown to  Jo Anne Fabrics  just before my dentist appointment and of course, as usual, they didn't  have but 1 person cutting fabric, which caused me to be late for my dentist appointment.  My dentist appointment went very well, and after my appointment,  for some reason, I decided to drive through town to go see my Dad, ( my Dad lives in an assisted living home on the other side of Hagerstown)  rather that take the  interstate.  I stopped by the Rescue Mission Thrift Store, and then Goodwill..  When I got ready to leave Goodwill , my car wouldn't start.  Really?? Another Stressor???  That's all I need!!  So, I got out and opened the hood, hoping someone would offer to help.   I couldn't think of who to call, everyone I thought of was working, or doesn't drive or drive that far!!  I looked to my right and there was a man sitting in his car.  Fortunately, he was ignoring me because he was a little scary- his beard was twice as long as the Duck Dynasty guys and looked as though he " lived" in his car!  Then, the  man and his wife parked  on my left finally came out and he started talking to me... telling me my battery was gone and where to go to Auto Zone, . . . "IF"  I got someone to jump my car-- He also had a Taurus, and said it would mess up the alternator if he jumped it..  so he couldn't do it.   Hmmmmm???   Never heard that one before, but what do I know about cars??  I think he just was in a hurry, and didn't want to take the trouble to help me.  So, I thought he was leaving, but the next thing I know, I looked  up and he is pulling up close to my car.  I said, " I thought you couldn't jump me, and he said, well, I didn't want to see you just sitting here.. so I will try...He told me I wasn't in a very safe part of town, so apparently was concerned about me being stranded there.   He hooked up the jumper cables, I tried . . . .  nothing,  I tried several more times,  and nothing.. So as he was leaving, he asked another young man pulling up beside me if he could try and jump me.  The young man was very nice.   I tried to start it , but nothing, it did beep a couple times, , so then he tried using his jumper cables, nothing.  So, he said, what you you going to to do?/ I said, not sure, been trying to figure out who to call, but everyone is working, my parents don't drive . I live in Martinsburg.  He then said,  I can  just take you home, I live in Falling Waters.  He wanted to go in Good will, so I told him to  go ahead and take his time. Wow, my Good Samaritan has come to rescue me.  When he went into Goodwill,  I called 5 people and  NO  ONE answered!!  Finally, I called one of the people back on her cell phone and got her.  She said she could meet me somewhere in Falling Waters.  When he came out of Goodwill, he said, I can take you to Goodwill in Martinsburg. ( I think he wanted an excuse to go to Goodwill in Martinsburg anyway .)   As I talked more with him I found out he is a mechanic, and he took the battery out of the car, so I could take it back to where I got it and have it tested.  I got the battery just back in late summer, and it has a 5 year warranty!

Saturday:   My friend Kathy who met me at Goodwill last night picked me up this morning & we took the battery back to the garage where I got it, and they gave me a new one.  Kathy and I were planning to put it in ourselves, but we couldn't even lift it out of her car, so  I called a man from  church  help us and we went an picked him up.  Today was a cold foggy dreary  day, and of course as soon as he pulled the battery out of the car it started raining hard!  When he got it hooked up, I got in to start it, and . . .  NOTHING! Oh NO, I need my car!!    I tried again a few more times, nothing but a few clicks.  He said it sounded like maybe the starter had gone  bad too. Ok, so what do I do now??  So we got back in Kathy's car, & I called my insurance for towing.  That all took a while, because there was a " high volume of calls" - haven't we all heard that before??   After I finally got the right representative on the phone, he said he would text me as to time of arrival.  EST- was 1 hour!!   So we sat in the car for almost an entire hour waiting for the tow truck. Of course my car was in a very awkward place to be put up on a tow truck, so James said I had to back down a hill and  turn around several parked cars while he pushed!  Of course as soon as I started James yelled "Stop" because several other people decided to back out to leave at the same time!!  Then when I started up again, the tow truck driver said, "  stop.  Put in park,  I'll do it!!"  I was so thankful, because he knew  that steering wheel was almost impossible to turn!  He had the car up on the tow truck in no time!  Of course, now I have no vehicle, and my Mom has already called me twice asking me to take her to the grocery store. I hope my second week of 2014 is a little less stressful!!