'Tis the season...for automotive woes?

So Lu is having car problems. I guess when she went to go to work on Friday her car was making some kind of awful noise coming from the back. She frantically called DEBF (drunken ex-boyfriend) because he's a mechanic. And because he had just fixed her tire the Monday before. Now, I can picture Lu, dressed nicely (okay like a million bucks because she's on her way to work) crouched beside the rear of her car holding her cell phone to it going "can you hear that??!". It's just the kind of thing Lu would do. He told her it sounded like a wheel bearing was out. Then he told me. So I talked to hubby and we told her to take it in Saturday morning and get it looked at. Get an estimate, do NOT have them fix it. If it's a serious problem, we'll come get the car and give her mine so we can get hers back here where one of her assorted brothers or DEBF can fix it less expensively. Well, Saturday morning she sleeps through her alarm and gets up late. By the time she's off work, no place can get it in til Monday. Monday she takes it in and finds out it's the rear brakes. Their shot. The mechanic tells her the front one's need replaced too and it will run $363 dollars.

I talk to DEBF and he says he checked the front brakes when he did the tire and they are fine. Back brakes are secondary so as long as she drives carefully and doesn't slam on her brakes it's fine to drive home. Her father agrees so she says she'll be home on Thursday. DEBF puts the parts on hold for her. The grand total for him to fix her car? $80 dollars. Quite the difference, no?

Well Lu also says to make a Dr. appt for Thursday because she's tired, cranky, cold, and covered in bruises. Which means her platelets are crashing and her hemoglobin is probably down too. So the plan is for her to come home Thursday, leave her car with DEBF and we'll take mine to town.

Last night Hubby had a meeting in one town, Sean had one in another. So after dinner, Hubby heads out in his truck and Sean borrows my car. We joke with him about putting it in a ditch because he really doesn't have much experience driving on snow and ice and the gravel road is still covered in it. I settle down on the couch with a cup of tea and the knowledge that Hildi will be calling soon. Ten minutes later, sure enough the phone rings. I recognize Sean's cell number. Uh oh. He hasn't put the car in a ditch, but the car died. The headlights began to dim, the inside lights went out and then the car died. He's on the side of the gravel road, around a curve and just before a rather large hill. Did I mention it's probably -5?

Me: Oh gosh. I think the alternator went out! I knew it was going bad but it's been doing that for awhile.

Sean: You knew there was something wrong with the car and you let me drive it??!

Me: Um. Yeah. I mean I still drive it. It's just one of those things...you drive it till it finally goes, then replace it. No big deal.

Sean: NO BIG DEAL??! The hell! You're not the one stuck on the side of the road in the dark and the frigid temps.

Me: Yeah. Aren't you glad I told you to take your gloves?

Sean: Do you know how cold it is out here?!

Me: Um. Yeah. Really cold. Oh wait! There's a blankie in the back seat just for this sort of emergency!! OMG. I'm so prepared! Aren't you proud?

Sean: No. I'm cold. And I'm kind of irritated that you let me take your car knowing it was broken.

Me: It wasn't broken yet. Geez, you broke the car. Way to go.

So then I hung up and called hubby. He said he'd turn around and come back but it would take him about 15 mins to get there. So I called Sean back to keep him company.

Me: Dad's on his way. He was all the way past Ursa though so it'll be a bit.

Sean: great. It's not getting any warmer you know.

Me: If you get too cold, get out of the car and do some jumping jacks. Or you could just butt dance in the seat (me demonstrating this even though he can't see me).

Sean: I'm not getting out of the car.

Me: Are you covered up?

Sean: I'm too manly to cover up.

Me: Um. Okay, well if you freeze it's not on my head. I mean, you had a blankie. Maybe I should get some of those hand warmer thingies hunters use. I could put them in the console for next time!

Sean: Or maybe, here's a thought, fix your damn car. Or at least warn people before they drive it that it may break down. I would've stayed home. Where I'd be warm right now.

Me: Man, you're kind of a whiner. You should totally be thinking of this as an adventure.

Sean: An adventure?? For Real? I may get mugged by a deer out here, or kidnapped and sold into the Siberian sex trade.

Me: (giggling hysterically) the Siberian sex trade? Really? Well at least you'll be used to being cold.

Sean: or kidnapped by aliens. Then what?

Me: well you could sell your story and make lots of money.

Sean: The hell?! Nobody would believe me so they'd lock me up somewhere or if they did believe me the government would take me to study me.

Me: true. Don't get out of the car. Lock the doors.

Sean: also my phone's down to one bar so it's probably going to die and you won't even know what's happened to me. Wait, I see headlights.

Me: Oh! Turn yours on so they don't hit you!

Sean: I already did, but they're kind of waiting on the side of the road like they're letting me pass only I'm not going anywhere.

Me: they'll figure it out after a minute.

Sean: wait, they're stopping. I'll let you go so I can talk to them.

Me: okay, but call back so I know you didn't get kidnapped by aliens or child molesters or Siberian slavers or deer.

Sean: K. Bye.

About 15 minutes later when I was just about to call him back, he came walking in the door. It was an old man who stopped to help and right behind him came hubby. So they'd come home to get the jumper cables and warmer clothes. They jumped it and got it back to the house. Hubby and DEBF looked at it today. I didn't really understand what they said, but it's running again. I really do need a new alternator though. And Sean refuses to drive it until I get one. Where's his sense of adventure???

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It's a Love Story? Part four...

Was I perturbed at Lu yesterday? Well today I am downright angry. It's one of those times when you shake your head and go "where did I go wrong"? She's having car trouble, she's moving home, and I don't even know where she left her brain. Don't get me wrong...I know she's going through a rough patch and I'm totally sympathetic. To that end, her Dad and I have been trying to help her. We told her to get the car looked at and if it's okay to drive long distance we will come up and trade her cars, to get hers down here where either DEBF or her brothers can fix it and save her a gazillion dollars. Somehow she manages to have trouble getting her part done. Then I keep asking her what day she's off so she can come down and bring some stuff. We don't have a truck at our disposal unless we want to pay a fortune to use Hubby's work truck and since she took stuff up a little at a time it will take a couple of trips to get it all. But she keeps saying she'll look at her schedule and then text me. Only she doesn't. Finally last night I blew up and told her that contrary to her belief the world does not actually revolve around her. The rest of us do not sit and wait for her to be able to come down, we all have lives and so a little advanced notice of her arrival would come in handy for scheduling purposes. Then I hung up. I know, not well done of me...but this snafu (not my first choice word but clusterfuck is so rude) has been going on for days!! And I've got DEBF saying if she doesn't get the car here soon, he'll be in rehab and unable to fix it. So I'm a smidge on the frustrated side.

But I digress...back to the story....

When we left off yesterday our heroine had kicked Jackass to the curb (hopefully for good). She'd decided to leave the Hippie and return to the bosom of her family. She had begun talking to DEBF, at least about her car. So our heroine has returned to Iowa, with the secret knowledge that she will be leaving the Hippie. She wants to talk to her boss first to see how much notice is required to leave her job so that she's not stuck in the same apartment for forever with a saddened Hippie. Her boss says that next week can be her last week. Although she also offers Lu a place to live should she decide to stay in Iowa because she's awesome at her job and they hate to see her go! But boss lady will definitely see if Lu can transfer to the store closest to home. Lu also calls her old job to see if the transfer should fall through to they have a place for her and they do! So Lu will not be jobless.

Now our Lu has been exhausted from all the work, shopping, driving that Christmas entails. She's been cranky and mean. (Her mother also suspects that she needs a platelet check as this is how she behaves when platelets are crashing). She decides to tell Hippie what's what. So on New Year's Eve she tells him that she's moving back home. She doesn't break up with him, she just explains that she's tired of all the driving and she's moving home. That they can try long distance and see each other on weekends ect. He gets majorly pissed off and says that he knows how this works. Pretty soon they'll be down to the occasional phone call and then it's over. (Well, that was the plan.) But our heroine feels bad, she's trying to let him down gently and also not make the living situation unbearable for the next week or so. I know that also this night, DEBF sends her some heartfelt texts (and let me tell you, I know this boy is a sweet talker) about new years and new starts. Sorry I don't have the original texts. Lu would ordinarily forward them to me to see what I thought, but as we're not speaking...well no blog fodder. So Lu is finishing her work week, supposedly getting her car looked at and packing. Hippie is hurt, mad, pissy. DEBF is cautiously optimistic that he can change and get yet another chance with our heroine. And that's the story so far. Do bear in mind that the heroine has other guys who text her on a regular basis as well. One she never even dated who says he'll wait for her forever.

I'll keep you updated as the gossip rolls in...will DEBF really turn things around (he's currently on the list for the residential rehab program in town. They'll call him when they have an open bed and he has an hour and a half to show up. So far he's been sober since he saw Lu)? Will the Hippie put some effort into getting her back? Will a tall dark stranger come into the picture? What's next for our heroine??

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It's a love story? part three...the saga continues...

First...I just want you to know that I'm not especially happy with Lu at the current moment so writing about her has lost some of it's appeal. But I would never leave you hanging like that so I will forge ahead with my tale. But for those of you who don't follow me on Facebook...here was my status for Wednesday...and it was directed at Lu. Sometimes I think you only ask for my opinion so that you have someone to blame when things don't go right. That's totally unfair and you should probably stop. But since I know you won't, I'm going out tonight and consuming mass quantities of tomato juice and vodka. Okay, so that really isn't about you but see how blaming others works? Totally unfair. You probably feel bad now. And yes, she did. But I'm still perturbed with her.

Soooo back to our story....

Jackass texts me the very next day "I guess I'm in a little bit of trouble, huh?" And I replied "well, you did sort of ditch her". He said he didn't ditch her, that he waited til 8:00 for her to text him and when she didn't he figured she wasn't going to make it so he went to the bar and forgot his phone at home. I said I hoped he had fun and he said not as much as seeing her would have been. (I know, you totally want to forgive him, right? Don't do it!) I told him he should apologize to her and explain and she would probably forgive him. I show her the texts and she laughs and says the apology better include a puppy. But another two days go by and she gets no texts from him. Not one. I text and ask if he's ever going to apologize or has he given up on them. He says no he hasn't given up but he's scared to text her, he hates it when she's mad at him. (Meanwhile his FB status says "confused" and many ex gf's are commenting on it. Suspicious, no?) Well, he still doesn't text and finally Saturday she texts him and says "I'm coming down tomorrow. I'll be at Mom's. It would be nice to see you at least once more." He says he'll text if he can make it over. No text. Lu sends him a last text that reads "Same old player. Same old games. Take my playing piece off your game board. Our game is definitely over." And kicks him to the curb.

Meanwhile, Hubs and I take CJ back to school in Springfield on Sunday. And the weather is atrocious. The plan is for Lu to come down from Iowa, stop at the house and pick up Sean, the presents, and the mac-n-cheese I made and meet us at Hubby's sisters for Christmas with his Dad's side of the family. We are running almost an hour late due to weather. Luckily, roads are getting cleared from our house to town, but Lu is running late. Then she calls because she and Sean have a flat tire...on the highway close to town. I tell them to change it. (Lu and I changed a tire about a year ago...I know she knows how to do this.) Sean has never changed one. Luckily, a guy she knows vaguely stops and does it for them and by the time we find them, they're set to go. We head to Christmas. Hubs tells her he'll take the tire to the ag center tomorrow morning first thing to be fixed. I ask what if it's unfixable? He says he'll have to go to town and get another one. She has to leave early to make it to work on time.

Enter Drunken Ex-Boyfriend. (Who's a mechanic, by the way). He has been texting me to say that he's going to rehab. After nearly killing himself in an accident on Christmas eve and getting a consumption ticket earlier that week his friends and family (well some of it) have banded together to convince him to go to rehab. His lawyer also highly recommends this move. I wanted to say "hello? Who tried to get you into rehab last year?? Oh yeah. Me & Lu." But instead I said good plan, so proud...blah blah blah. But really, I am glad he's doing this. It will probably save his life. So I told Lu. Mentioned to him about her tire and he said he could fix it at his Gpa's that night. Tell all this to Lu. She has not spoken to him since May. She has ignored all texts and calls ect. So she decides to talk to him and get the tire fixed. He comes to the house that evening and they go to his Gpa's. But it's bad news. Sidewall's shot. She needs a new tire. He says he'll call first thing in the morning to get one.

After he leaves I ask her about things. She says she told him she was really glad he was going to rehab and she would support him and be his friend but not to count on anything else because it would take a really long time to prove that he'd really changed. That yes, she did still love him and probably always would but she wasn't putting herself in that situation again unless she firmly believed he'd changed. He asked if she'd come in for his counseling sessions if the therapist asked and she said yes, she could do that. I'm pretty proud of her for not immediately caving to him. He got up at 7 the next morning and drove to town to get her a new tire, he had it back here, on her car and her on the road by 9. She said they had this conversation:

DEBF: If you had a bf who serviced your car regularly...

Lu: I did. I got rid of him.

DEBF: Oh. Was he an asshole?

Lu: Yep. Servicing the car was probably his best quality.

DEBF: What if he could change?

Lu: Well, it would take a long time for me to believe that.

However, the one decision she did make that day was that she was moving home. Things are going nowhere with the Hippie and she's tired of driving back and forth. She resolves to talk to her boss and see how much notice she has to give and how good is the possibility is of transferring to the store near us.

*Personally, for awhile, I was rooting for Jackass. I really hoped he'd changed. And he's definitely Sean's choice. But alas, I feel like he played us all. So um, goodbye Jackass. The Hippie? Well, no one's really rooting for him. He's a nice guy but he needs to grow up alot. And Sean really doesn't like him. DEBF? Well I guess his friends and family are rooting for him. His stepmom told him they hope Lu takes him back because they didn't have to worry about him so much. Lu kept him in line. Plus she knows he really loves Lu. His sister's (also alcoholics and truly a little psychotic) don't like Lu at all, but his Dad told him they'd deal with the sisters. His friends even said they were sorry for helping break him and Lu up last time. They thought she was trying to suck the fun out of him by not letting him drink. Now they see that she was trying to help him and they hope he gets the chance. Hubby really doesn't like DEBF. Says he sees too much of his younger self in him and knows how hard change is. Doesn't think DEBF has it in him. Sean? He gets along with DEBF as long as he's not treating his sister badly. Me? I don't know. I'd really like to see her single for awhile. Get to know herself. And figure out what she really wants.*

And tomorrow...she tells the Hippie her decision and places a frantic call to DEBF because her car is making funny noises. Don't miss the next exciting episode of La Vida Lulu.

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