August Change

Time to roll change again. A good, soothing way to meditate before I head back with the kids on Tuesday.

I rolled $125 this time. Paying with cash garnered a lot of change.

1 roll of toonies $50
2 rolls of loonies $50
2 rolls of quarters $20
1 roll of dimes $5

This money will go as a snowflake towards my EF/TFSA goal of $1000 this year. I am getting closer.

Got my car back

Ahhhhh it's nice to be driving her again. I went after work today and dropped off my rental, caught a ride with DS to get my vehicle and it all feels normal again.

Total cost for repairs? just over $5200. The estimate had been just under 4. Glad insurance was covering in and not me.

Very glad the rental was under the insurance of the other woman as well.

That could have been very costly if I had had to pay it all outright from my pocket.

Feels good to drive my own again.

Back to Work

Well today was my first day back at work. It felt like summer went so very fast. It always does.

Summers start off full of promise and time and whoosh, before you know it, they are gone.

We have a week of meetings and Professional Development, which is new for us. Usually the kids in our area start before the long weekend. It was kind of nice as you had a chance to get them back, get your numbers of students, get them settled and unpacked and then we had the long weekend to relax.

This year all of SK's students start back after the long weekend as per the government's ruling. That should be interesting for years where the Sept long weekend is later (because of how the Mondays fall)

I dropped my vehicle off at the bodyshop at 8 AM and they drove me over to get my rental. For the week, or however long it takes, I am driving a Hyundai Santa Fe.  The first thing I noticed is that the seats are much higher than in my SUV. So much so that when I swung myself in to the driver's seat, I cracked my head  on the vehicle.  Lovely way to start back to work...with a headache.

Apparently this model does not have seats that raise or lower.  Forward or back to my heart's content. I can tilt til the cows come home. But no up and down.

Based on that alone I would not buy this particular model and vehicle. Not worth the weird angles trying to get in the drivers seat or the mild concussions :-)

I am tired today. It is going to take a bit to get back into work mode.

Vehicle Inspection and planning

So that was interesting taking my vehicle in.

First he started off by taking pictures from all different angles. I had already done the same for my own records so it was fun for me to see if I took all the same angles needed by the expert. I got most of them.

After uploading the pics to my file he then brought out his ipad and started inspecting and tap tap tapping. The drop down options make it quite efficient. It must have taken them forever back when you had to write it all down then go and look it all up.

The whole process took about 20 minutes. He printed off a copy for me so I could take it to a bodyshop and get the repair process started.

Total estimated damage $3800. Because it was all the other person's fault. I am told I do not have to pay anything, even the deductible. Great news.

Off I went to the bodyshop. This is one I hadn't tried before. Our usual one is always overbooked and he works..........slowly. I would like to get this wrapped up as fast as possible.  The one I tried is close to the dealership where I bought my vehicle.

The owner came out to have a look at the damage and my sheet. We discussed when he could get me in and about how long it would take. I felt very comfortable talking with him and didn't get that slimy oozy feeling I sometimes get when talking car stuff with folks who talk down to females.  (This isn't a male bashing comment....I just have had more than a few "ohh you couldn't possibly understand 'x' because you're a woman. would your husband/father like to come in and talk to us?" 

The parts are being ordered and it is booked to go in this coming Monday, so I need to get a rental booked as well.  A first for me.

CRASH!!

There I was....innocently shopping with DS1 as he needed new elbow pads. We were coming out of the store and a woman was coming in, swearing up a blue streak. DS and I looked at each other with that 'glad she's not mad at me' look.

 As we continued out towards the vehicle, something looked wrong. I took a few more steps and thought "hmmm did I park on an angle???"  Then I put 2 and 2 together and realized I had been hit.

The woman had been heading into the store to find the owner and I think she heard my shout of anguish and turned around and came back out.  DS said I did fairly well. A couple of expletives (in general) at the start and then we proceeded to take pictures, exchange information and call the RCMP.  They just said to go to the insurance since both vehicles were driveable. I was surprised to find that my hands were shaking as I was writing things down. Surprising, considering I didn't cause the accident and wasn't even in the vehicle when it happened.

It was distracted driving. She was pulling in too fast turning to the right but looking back over her shoulder at something parked the other way.

Mine was hit across the rear driver tire and all the way across the back. Hers was on the front drivers side above her wheel well.

I snapped a pic of her drivers licence and then wrote down the number. It was a good thing I did that as the snapped pic had a glare and I couldn't see the number

When I went to go file the claim, I was pleased to see that the other woman filed before me and the process was started. Since she was at fault, even if I filed...and she hadn't...the process would have taken soooo much longer.

In the big picture, it has gone as well as possible when a person is hit.

I take my vehicle in tomorrow to get the damage appraised and we can start the repairing process.

Given how I have been less perky and positive the past few months, I am quite pleased to see that I handled this fairly positively. I hope that is a sign of things to come.

This piece is pulled away about 6 inches from where it's supposed to be on the back left wheel well.