I woke up this morning. It's going to be a good day.
Yesterday, well, it wasn't such a good day. I've been upset with how things have been going at work. The last couple of weeks have been very stressful, challenging, to say the least. I usually can put stuff like that aside and keep on going, but for some reason, it's not working. I left work last night very upset, my mind racing and full of stuff turning over and over in my head. I was distracted to say the least. Not good to jump into your car when you are in that state, but I wanted to get home. Put that night behind me. I should have taken a moment and assessed things, taken a deep breath, and let it go. I didn't. Instead, I got the hell out of there.
As I travelled down Highway 10, I was happy to be heading to home. I was between Ramsey and Elk River, when I heard my inner voice say, "You need to get gas." Just then, I looked down and my gas gauge was reading "E".
Crap!! I thought, "The next gas station is right up here, I'll pull in and get gas there."
**Cough, cough, sputter, sputter**
Crap!!!
I had to pull over to the side of the highway. Stupid, stupid, stupid!! I put gas in the other day, and I only have been going to work (gas prices have gone up, so I didn't have as much in my tank as I thought), ... Crap!!
I got out my cell phone and called AAA. They would send someone out right away to put gas in my tank. Then I looked out and it was starting to snow. Great. Fabulous. I was getting cold and I was hoping someone would come soon.
About 20 minutes later, a police car pulled behind me with his lights on. It was an officer from the Elk River Police Department. I handed him my license and showed him my AAA card and let him know I was just out of gas and waiting for the tow driver from Collins Brothers. He said he would wait behind me until the tow showed up. "I just passed a Collins Brothers tow driver on 169, so he's probably on his way." I thanked him, and waited. I was ready to cry, but I didn't.
The tow arrived about 15 minutes later. He took my AAA card, then put gas in my tank. He was a nice young man, I didn't see his name on his jacket, but I told him how much I appreciated him getting to me as quick as he could. He gave me my card back, and then he got into his truck after I started my car and left. I signaled and got back on Highway 10 and made it to the gas station. I looked and the police officer was behind me and once I got into the turn lane for the gas station, he passed by me.
Thank God for AAA, and for Officer Morgan of the Elk River Police Department and for Collins Brothers Towing in Elk River. But Thanks to God I woke up this morning in my nice, warm bed, and have the opportunity to turn the last two weeks around.
Lessons learned: Make sure you have a full tank of gas at all times. Especially in the winter.
Also, don't get behind the wheel of a car when you are upset or distracted. Turn off the damn cell phones and drive!
Don't forget your AAA card, and if you don't have one, get one.
And most importantly, let go whatever has your head in a spin. Just take a deep breath, and let it go.
If you can't change it or control it, let it go. It's not worth sitting out in the cold by the side of the highway in the snow. It's not worth your life.
Showing posts with label AAA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AAA. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Getting your house in order
Today was not a glamorous day, by any means. We awoke early to get my son, Alex, off to the airport. We awoke at 5:00 am and had to make to the airport 2 hours early so he could get checked in before his flight. By some miracle, there was NO LINE!!! He got checked in and he gave me one of those quick, one-armed hugs and a kiss on the cheek, and he was off to spend a week at the home of my brother, Andy and his wife, Lisa, in Oklahoma City. We left the airport and we were home around 8:30 am. I resisted the urge to go back to bed and catch a few more hours of sleep, and instead, began working on cleaning the closet, my bookcase and the ...GARAGE!!
I am a master (or mistress?) at procrastination, and I have put this off so long that it was actually making me physically ill! I couldn't take it anymore, it was driving me crazy! I couldn't write, because I kept thinking about all of the crap I needed to sort through and organize and I know that is why there was nothing but crap coming into my life. I had NO ROOM for anything good to come through! Time to silence my inner packrat who has had full reign for too long!
I was ruthless. I tackled my closet. Yuck! The first thing I went through was my clothes. Anything that was ripped, torn, or beyond repair, went into the rag pile. Next were the clothes I wear all the time. Those were sorted into piles. One for the clothes I have NOT worn in a year or more. Gone. Either going to Goodwill or Salvation Army. The rest was separated into work and dress up. Not much on either side, but that's ok, I have hangers now! Yippee!
Next was the bookcase. It had morphed into a giant sponge, sucking up energy and life because it was collecting crap all over it. It's the "catch-all" of the house. But the kitchen table is usually worse. I pulled everything off the shelves and dusted them (or plowed, if you prefer), and once they were all polished, I set about sorting the books and stuff that had accumulated there. Books I wanted to keep, I put back on the shelf. The rest went into a box for me to take to the bookstore to cash in for money. Felt like I lost 5 pounds just doing that!
The Garage. Did I mention it was almost 90 degrees today? By the time I was out there starting to sort through stuff around the door and the shelves, it was around 1:00 pm. Hot is not the word for it. I was practically melting, but I was driven to get 'er done! I was on a roll and the heat actually helped me do it a lot faster than I would have, because I didn't stand there looking at all my magazines, books, and junk and think, "Oh, I'll just keep that around, I might need it." Nope. I silenced that pack rat right away by saying the same thing in the closet. "If I haven't touched it in a year or more, out it goes!"
Unfortunately, I did lose a lot of books that would have been good to sell at the bookstore to mold and mildew. They got wet somehow and the box and everything in it had to go. I was sad for a second, but then realized that if I had done this sooner, I could have saved them. I didn't want to stand there and keep kicking myself in the pants for my procrastination. It doesn't do any good.
After I sorted what was going to Goodwill or Salvation Army and what was trash and going in the dumpster, the rest was easy to sort through. It was the giveaway pile to family and friends I know who can benefit from some of my junk. Then the smallest pile of all was the pile of what I really wanted to keep. Not a whole lot, which is good, because I don't want to do this any time soon, but I do want to schedule and organize things to the point that once a month, at least, I am sorting, donating or throwing out the junk I don't need. I have too much to do. I have writing to do, a writing business to run, and most importantly, a family to take care of, and now that I have this off my mind, I feel like a huge load has been lifted and the energy can flow in, with all the good we can stand!
So, if you think the world has it out for you, or you are so frustrated at how things are going, take a good, hard, honest look around and "clean out the corners." You will feel so much better!
Just for the record, this was brought on by my friend and fellow writer, Jen Nipps who is in the process of moving and posted to our online writing group that she is cleaning out all the clutter from her life right now. Thanks, Jen! :)
I am a master (or mistress?) at procrastination, and I have put this off so long that it was actually making me physically ill! I couldn't take it anymore, it was driving me crazy! I couldn't write, because I kept thinking about all of the crap I needed to sort through and organize and I know that is why there was nothing but crap coming into my life. I had NO ROOM for anything good to come through! Time to silence my inner packrat who has had full reign for too long!
I was ruthless. I tackled my closet. Yuck! The first thing I went through was my clothes. Anything that was ripped, torn, or beyond repair, went into the rag pile. Next were the clothes I wear all the time. Those were sorted into piles. One for the clothes I have NOT worn in a year or more. Gone. Either going to Goodwill or Salvation Army. The rest was separated into work and dress up. Not much on either side, but that's ok, I have hangers now! Yippee!
Next was the bookcase. It had morphed into a giant sponge, sucking up energy and life because it was collecting crap all over it. It's the "catch-all" of the house. But the kitchen table is usually worse. I pulled everything off the shelves and dusted them (or plowed, if you prefer), and once they were all polished, I set about sorting the books and stuff that had accumulated there. Books I wanted to keep, I put back on the shelf. The rest went into a box for me to take to the bookstore to cash in for money. Felt like I lost 5 pounds just doing that!
The Garage. Did I mention it was almost 90 degrees today? By the time I was out there starting to sort through stuff around the door and the shelves, it was around 1:00 pm. Hot is not the word for it. I was practically melting, but I was driven to get 'er done! I was on a roll and the heat actually helped me do it a lot faster than I would have, because I didn't stand there looking at all my magazines, books, and junk and think, "Oh, I'll just keep that around, I might need it." Nope. I silenced that pack rat right away by saying the same thing in the closet. "If I haven't touched it in a year or more, out it goes!"
Unfortunately, I did lose a lot of books that would have been good to sell at the bookstore to mold and mildew. They got wet somehow and the box and everything in it had to go. I was sad for a second, but then realized that if I had done this sooner, I could have saved them. I didn't want to stand there and keep kicking myself in the pants for my procrastination. It doesn't do any good.
After I sorted what was going to Goodwill or Salvation Army and what was trash and going in the dumpster, the rest was easy to sort through. It was the giveaway pile to family and friends I know who can benefit from some of my junk. Then the smallest pile of all was the pile of what I really wanted to keep. Not a whole lot, which is good, because I don't want to do this any time soon, but I do want to schedule and organize things to the point that once a month, at least, I am sorting, donating or throwing out the junk I don't need. I have too much to do. I have writing to do, a writing business to run, and most importantly, a family to take care of, and now that I have this off my mind, I feel like a huge load has been lifted and the energy can flow in, with all the good we can stand!
So, if you think the world has it out for you, or you are so frustrated at how things are going, take a good, hard, honest look around and "clean out the corners." You will feel so much better!
Just for the record, this was brought on by my friend and fellow writer, Jen Nipps who is in the process of moving and posted to our online writing group that she is cleaning out all the clutter from her life right now. Thanks, Jen! :)
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Some days you just don't want to get out of bed!
"If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all..." I used to watch Hee Haw! That has been my theme song the last few weeks.
The last couple of weeks have been hell. Nobody has gotten terminally ill, or died, but it has been the little things, one after another after another that have hit me and my family in a series of disasters that it has almost become humorous. Let me share.
First, "Q", my soulmate and partner, went to pick up his son from the train station. His son was visiting from Montana because a high school friend was getting married. When they were on their way home, his truck died, right there in the middle of the street. Fuel pump went out. Thank God it was the company truck, but he still had to call AAA to have them tow him to the mechanics and he was forced to drive the car for a few days. But nobody got hurt, that's the main thing. Speaking of cars...
That same week, the starter went out on my son's car and that needed to be fixed. No big deal. He did his brakes at the same time, and then discovered that he had the wrong brake pads for his car. But the best was yet to come. His "CV" joints are bad. UHH!!! But wait, it gets BETTER!
This past weekend, me and "Q" decide to take his boat out for a spin on the lake. We took it out to Blue Lake, close to home, and the wind was blowing so hard that we couldn't anchor off to fish. I just purchased my fishing license for the year that very day (Saturday), and it was tucked safely in a small plastic ziplock bag in the pocket of my shorts, along with my digital camera and my cell phone. He gets frustrated because it's too windy to do anything and we decide to just pack it in. We reel up our lines, and off we go. He kicks it down and then we hear a strange sound, like a "crack, pop, ...PLOP!". He turns around just in time to see his trolling motor fly up in the air and come back down in about forty (40) feet of water in the middle of the lake. Nice. But wait, there's more...
As we approach the dock, I get ready to jump ship, (Captain Jack Sparrow has nothing on me!) and when I think we are close enough, I make my move. I land between the dock and the boat, right in the lake! I was not dressed for swimming. I didn't have my lifejacket on or my water wings or my floatie with the duck on the front (ala Country Acres). The temperature of the water was... well...frigid to say the least and then to come out and be hit by wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph, it can take your breath away!
When I got up to shore, I pulled the contents out of my pocket. My digital camera, in the case, wet. My cell phone, no case, wet. My keys, wet. My brand new fishing license, nice and dry in the little plastic ziplock bag! We loaded up the boat, and while on the landing, I could hear the people on the shore behind me laughing. 'Fat lady fell in the lake!' then to make my day even more special, a six year old by comes on the dock and looks at me and says, "You should have been wearing your life jacket!" Thanks, kid! I almost started crying right there, but I held it together until I got home and in the shower.
After a few days of drying them out, the camera still works and takes pictures and the phone works, but now I lost my SIM card and had to order a new one, so I still don't have a cell phone, but I hopefully will once I put it in there. (Murphy's Law: Once you order and receive a replacement for the item you lost, it will turn up.) So, it looks like "Q" will be getting a trolling motor for Father's Day. (Shhh! Don't tell him!) But first, I have to have a chat with my bank...
Today, I got a huge overdraft in the mail. Nice again! I almost didn't get out of bed today. But tomorrow will be better after I yell at my bank and ask them why they feel it necessary to bounce my checks when I had more than enough money in there to cover the bills and the checks I wrote. My mistake or theirs? Does it matter? I just hope that this is the end of this series of disasters so I can actually look forward to getting out of bed. At this point, I'm grateful I still can!
I hope the blue moon tomorrow night will bring a shift in my luck, and everyone around me. Now, where did I put my lottery tickets?
The last couple of weeks have been hell. Nobody has gotten terminally ill, or died, but it has been the little things, one after another after another that have hit me and my family in a series of disasters that it has almost become humorous. Let me share.
First, "Q", my soulmate and partner, went to pick up his son from the train station. His son was visiting from Montana because a high school friend was getting married. When they were on their way home, his truck died, right there in the middle of the street. Fuel pump went out. Thank God it was the company truck, but he still had to call AAA to have them tow him to the mechanics and he was forced to drive the car for a few days. But nobody got hurt, that's the main thing. Speaking of cars...
That same week, the starter went out on my son's car and that needed to be fixed. No big deal. He did his brakes at the same time, and then discovered that he had the wrong brake pads for his car. But the best was yet to come. His "CV" joints are bad. UHH!!! But wait, it gets BETTER!
This past weekend, me and "Q" decide to take his boat out for a spin on the lake. We took it out to Blue Lake, close to home, and the wind was blowing so hard that we couldn't anchor off to fish. I just purchased my fishing license for the year that very day (Saturday), and it was tucked safely in a small plastic ziplock bag in the pocket of my shorts, along with my digital camera and my cell phone. He gets frustrated because it's too windy to do anything and we decide to just pack it in. We reel up our lines, and off we go. He kicks it down and then we hear a strange sound, like a "crack, pop, ...PLOP!". He turns around just in time to see his trolling motor fly up in the air and come back down in about forty (40) feet of water in the middle of the lake. Nice. But wait, there's more...
As we approach the dock, I get ready to jump ship, (Captain Jack Sparrow has nothing on me!) and when I think we are close enough, I make my move. I land between the dock and the boat, right in the lake! I was not dressed for swimming. I didn't have my lifejacket on or my water wings or my floatie with the duck on the front (ala Country Acres). The temperature of the water was... well...frigid to say the least and then to come out and be hit by wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph, it can take your breath away!
When I got up to shore, I pulled the contents out of my pocket. My digital camera, in the case, wet. My cell phone, no case, wet. My keys, wet. My brand new fishing license, nice and dry in the little plastic ziplock bag! We loaded up the boat, and while on the landing, I could hear the people on the shore behind me laughing. 'Fat lady fell in the lake!' then to make my day even more special, a six year old by comes on the dock and looks at me and says, "You should have been wearing your life jacket!" Thanks, kid! I almost started crying right there, but I held it together until I got home and in the shower.
After a few days of drying them out, the camera still works and takes pictures and the phone works, but now I lost my SIM card and had to order a new one, so I still don't have a cell phone, but I hopefully will once I put it in there. (Murphy's Law: Once you order and receive a replacement for the item you lost, it will turn up.) So, it looks like "Q" will be getting a trolling motor for Father's Day. (Shhh! Don't tell him!) But first, I have to have a chat with my bank...
Today, I got a huge overdraft in the mail. Nice again! I almost didn't get out of bed today. But tomorrow will be better after I yell at my bank and ask them why they feel it necessary to bounce my checks when I had more than enough money in there to cover the bills and the checks I wrote. My mistake or theirs? Does it matter? I just hope that this is the end of this series of disasters so I can actually look forward to getting out of bed. At this point, I'm grateful I still can!
I hope the blue moon tomorrow night will bring a shift in my luck, and everyone around me. Now, where did I put my lottery tickets?
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