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.

Home from camping

Another successful family camping trip is under our belts. Our family is growing in size and spreading apart and we all love our August holiday to get together and just hang out. With new girlfriends or boyfriends,  and new babies, the numbers keep growing. All together there are 33 of us. 31 were able to make it (not my niece or her premature baby)

We didn't all make it there for the whole time. There was a lot of shifts of coming and going to accommodate work schedules and such.  Four of the five grandbabies were there. Its hard to believe that the 'kids' now have kids.

Some have fifth wheels, some have trailers, some tent, and this year DH and I rented a wee 2 bedroom cabin on the water (out of my summer $). There wasn't another camping spot or place for  a tent left. One of the nights we shared the cabin with my oldest sister (with MS) as she came for a day and a night and didn't want to move her trailer which was at a different lake.


Here is a shot of our cabin. We are the downstairs unit. It was really quite roomy with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen/dining/sitting are and the bathroom. Patio doors led to a sitting area where you could watch the lake.

One of my nieces set up a menu again this year so we all knew what we were having each day for the meals. We all brought our own meat and then we were responsible for specific items to fill out the meals and snacks. She did a great job of it. We had ribs and chicken one night, we had steak another night. One great night my brother in law brought his fryer and we had 'popcorn' fish  made from the fresh catch for the day. yum! another nephew in law brought a fresh salmon from BC.

The days were spent out on the water for most everyone, babies and all. A parade of boats pulling tubes, seadoos and my sister's new pontoon boat headed out to the far side of the lake where there is a little island.  That was basecamp for the day while folks enjoyed their time on the water.

In the morning, there is nothing better than the freshness of the air, a coffee with baileys and looking out over the water at this....

 

As we grow, it gets harder and harder to get us all together for moments like this.  I am so glad it happened again this year. Family is so important.

Free to a good home

No no, I didn't put my kids or my husband out on the curb, although some days..... :-) (I'm sure they want to do that with me as well)


With 2 new chairs in the house I was adamant that I would not ADD to the used up space in my house.  DH said 'When I have a chance I will pack them up and haul them to the dump. That often takes months to happen and I wanted to get rid of them fast. Plus, it costs $$$ to add things like that to the landfill

I promptly hauled the two broken down chairs from my computer room out to the end of my driveway and wrote out 'Free to a good home' on a paper and stuck it to them. I had done this last year with a shelf and a couple 2 drawer filing cabinets and had success.

I resisted the urge to peek out between my blinds to see if they were gone like a reverse peeping Tom.

As I puttered about cleaning, I realized that I had another chair in the garage. It was one from my classroom I had bought several years ago. The hydrolic was gone on it. I am told you can replace those but I never could seem to find the right one to fit. With joyful glee I wheeled that bad boy out to the curb with his friends.

On a get rid of it rush,  I searched the clutter in my 1 car garage and found a shelving unit we had bought for our tiny basement 2 piece bath about 6 years ago. We had diligently put it together than realized I had grossly overestimated how tiny the bathroom was and how massive the shelf was. You could be in the bathroom to pee or the shelf could be in there. And the shelf didn't seem willing to take turns.

Off it went to the end of the drive with a joyful plop and a 'never used/ I can't measure properly' sign on it.

Back I went to the laundry and went out to the backyard to hang clothes on the line. About a half hour later I took out a bag of garbage for a legitimate reason to check out the driveway.

Woot woot!! All four of my friends were gone, happily, off to a better life, and NOT in the landfill!
$$ saved.

First purchase out of the 'home improvement' budget

As I said a couple posts ago, I tweaked my budget to allow for $200 / month for home improvement. I can spend it on something on my list, or save it for a bigger ticket item. This is letting me appreciate life more in the now, rather than everything going to my mortgage or retirement or planned spending for  big events. Not that those things aren't important!! They are. I've just been.....not appreciating or living in the NOW, lately, and that is not fun at all.

I decided that I would replace the computer room chair. There are two currently in there. One has lost it's suspension and sits low low low. The other was a cast off from DH's former work. The base had broken so there was plywood underneath to support the seat. The chair itself was probably a very costly one to start with. It had tears in the leather when we got it and they have gotten quite bad. 

Seeing the chairs made me feel very.........poor.  Were they functional? sort of.  Was replacing them a NEED? no.  It was a quality of life WANT. Having this as part of the budget line helped.

So DS and I went off to look for chairs. There are three places in town where you can get office sorts of chairs. Four if you count Walmart, who did not have any in stock aside from 'utility' chair - those basic plastic ones with the teeny seat that break far too easily.

 Store 1 was an Aaron's. I had honestly never been in it. I had thought it was office furniture and such. Much to my disappointment it was home furniture.....most of it dinged or damaged. No chairs there so exit, stage left.

Store 2 was an office type store. I went to the section with the chairs and almost had a stroke. Sticker shock stroke. $500 chairs. $700 chairs. an $899 chair. good lord...for a chair!! Who can afford that.

I pulled out the ones that were $200. There were 3 of them. Actually one of the three was $229. DS sat in them all...tested out the arms...the lean back etc. We narrowed it down to the $229 for comfort. I snapped a pic of it and put it aside. DS played in the $899 chair for a few minutes, trying to decide why it cost so much. Then off we went.

Our final stop was Staples. The upside was that there were lots of different kinds. The downside was that you would have to assemble your own chair if you bought it.

We again pulled out the ones in our price range. There were more in the <$200 range. DS dutifully tired them all out.  DS's eyes kept going to one that was marked $249. He said it felt soooo much more comfortable. Right. Of course it did. I reminded him of my budget.

Along comes a sales associate. A former student of mine. I asked about the chairs we had pulled out. He gave me what info there was then motioned to the chair DS was sitting in. Turns out the $249 chair was on clearance for $89. Old stock or something.  I was able to replace BOTH of my computer room chairs with new  ones that were semi fancy, ON budget. including tax.

And we didn't have to assemble them!!! bonus.

This is like the ones I bought. Every pic  I tried taking downstairs was coming out with flash glare and spots.