And (drum roll) it's Friday!

Haven't got quite enough Diet Pepsi into the bloodstream yet this morning, but I've gotten my 2317 pieces of paper under control, so the day is off to a great start!

I came in early today, partly because my car is in the shop (power steering decided to be optional, rather than optimal), but mostly because I was starting to feel like the paper was starting to get a little out of control. I have enough stuff in the classroom to make me nutty (like having to confiscate cell phones, for example, because the kids just don't seem to get the fact that they aren't allowed to have them out in class). So I figured getting the paper straightened out (something I could control) would help me deal with the things I can't control.

Speaking of things I can't control -- besides the aforementioned car -- I've also now got a throbbing toothache. I took some Advil last night and that toned it down, and I took some more Advil this morning. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing, as I just don't have the money to have it fixed right now. Being off work for about six weeks isn't conducive to being rich.

But I have more Advil, and today is Friday, and my car is getting fixed, and there's a hockey game tonight. So all in all, life is pretty darn good.

Enjoy your day.

89 Days and Counting ...

So, we had a wicked storm last night that is now spitting freezing rain.

Betsy, my car, is stuck halfway down our steep, narrow driveway, with a house on one side of her and a fence and trees on the other. She has also died -- the engine won't turn over.
At the top of the driveway is my husband's car, the car that needs to be at the family business in an hour.

Eighty-nine days 'til spring.

Open Letters

Dear Paul Gross,

Thank you so much for making Passchendaele. By making this movie that finally shows Canadian soldiers in WWI combat, you have single-handedly given Social Studies teachers in this country new material to show how and why Canada became her own nation during that conflict, and now students will finally "get it".

I can't tell you how excited I was when I first saw the trailer and shrieked to my husband, "They're CANADIAN! Do you SEE that? CANADIAN!"

Oh, and now I have a teensy crush on you. Hope you don't mind. (wink)

* * *

Dear Barack Obama,

I am glad you won. Please stay safe.

* * *

Dear Betsy (aka My Car),

Although the driver's side visor falling off and landing in my lap was not without its amusement, I am worried about you. Between the noisy wheel bearing and the mysterious rhythmic squeaking, I'm getting quite concerned. Hold on, old girl.

* * *

To the Moron Who Cut Me Off in Traffic Yesterday and Then Flipped Me the Bird,

Your concept of "cause and effect" seems a little flawed.

* * *

To My Right Ankle,

Keep getting better. You're coming along nicely.

* * *

To My Blog Readers,

I'll try to do better at keeping you entertained.

And I'm getting closer to 100 found geocaches.

Betsy's Facelift

The swelling has gone down, and Betsy has recovered enough to let the world see her new and improved self, after her cosmetic surgery.

Needless to say, I am a very happy camper. *grin*

Be kind, "doctors" ...

Betsy the Malibu has just gone to the hospital for some cosmetic surgery. This is the longest I've ever left her anywhere, and I'm feeling a little anxious.

I don't think that's the reason it took me fours hours to get to sleep last night.

But I might just be that neurotic when it comes to my car. *grin*

Rolling Thunder No More!

So, first thing this morning I took Betsy to the garage. Driving there, I thought my head was going to explode. I'm not sure how long she'd been that noisy, but it was steadily getting worse. (And the hole actually was bigger today than the last time I'd seen it.) Fortunately the garage is only a five-minute drive from my house, so my misery (and the alarmed looks as I drove past people) didn't last long.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my garage? The mechanic, Mike, has always been really good with me, and his wife, Beth, who runs the non-mechanical part of the business, is absolutely sweet. And neither one of them batted an eye when I asked if I could take some pictures for Betsy's "Internet diary".

When I was taking the "after" pictures, Mike teased me: "I tried to make it look as pretty and shiny as possible."

Well, Mike? It is indeed a beautiful thing.

Tuesday night update

Hello, Gentle Reader,

I'm just sitting here, quietly hooking and watching the Sea Dogs play in Bathurst via the webcast. The game is tied right now, and it really could go either way.

I got another estimate for Betsy's rust problems, and $400 plus tax sounds much better than the other estimate of a thousand bucks. I am quite relieved. She'll be going in next Monday, leaving me without a car for two or three days, but I'm sure I'll live. The muffler problem will be taken care of this coming Friday, and it will be interesting to see if this low-lying headache I've had for the last few weeks goes away with it!

I didn't teach today, but I taught art yesterday afternoon, and afterschool I stayed to continue playing with the press and some paint. A few of the students stayed too, and we basically finger-painted for an hour or so. The results were quiet elegant (even if I do have blue cuticles that are resistant to soap and water!).

Tomorrow I'm teaching French. Should be a good day.

Ahhhh, Betsy ...

What's $1200 worth of work between friends?

Well, at least now I know why you're so noisy these days. Your muffler has a hole the size of my thumb (not the tip -- the thumb), and the tailpipe -- well, who knows where the tailpipe went. All I know is that it's no longer attached to the muffler (which itself is hanging by a thread). Two hundred dollars to replace it all.

And then there's the body work ... another grand.

I love you, Betsy. Really, I do. You're the best darn 1998 Chevy Malibu out there.

But you cost a lot of money. (sigh)

Sunny day, thumpy head ...

Whatever weather rolled through here last night woke me up with a pounding head at about three AM. I finally dozed off at about six-thirty, just in time to call in sick for work. I hate calling in in the morning, but I felt fine when I went to bed last night. No idea it was coming.

In about an hour, I have to take Betsy to the doctor for an estimate. Her right rear quarter-panel is a mess, rusting from the inside-out, and there are a few other rusty spots around her. I think they're also going to look to see if there's a hole in the muffler than can be patched to cut down on the noise.

I'm not looking forward to driving her out there with this headache, but at least the sky is clear now, and she's still in my driveway.

Celebration!

For the first time in four months, the snow has melted enough for me to get up the driveway!

(happy-dancing like a madwoman)

Viva La Betsy!

I got my car back on the road yesterday.

It has been a very long three and a half months without her. Oh, I still had her, sitting in the driveway, taunting me everyday with her presence (not to mention the expired safety sticker and out of date registration stickers on her plates). But with $1000 worth of work needed in order to pass inspection, what was I to do?

Well, the great news was that the leak that she sprung while sitting in the driveway only added another hundred bucks to the bill, so it snuck in under the $1000-mark, bringing the total to $990.12.

Having my car and my freedom back?

Priceless.

Road Trip!

So, today was the day I really became a driver.

The morning started off with a trip to the bank to set up an account specifically for my car stuff, so I can easily track it. Then I dropped by the school so I could get a copy of the parking lot scheme so that if I'm filling in for someone with a parking spot, I'll have a place to park.

Following this, I headed into the insurance broker and received my first auto insurance card with my name on it. Shortly thereafter, Hubby and I went to change the car registration. I now have a car -- in my own name.

That was when it hit me. When Hubby dropped me off home, I went inside in a bit of a fog. But this wouldn't last. I had big plans for the rest of the day, you see.

In a town about an hour away is a 79-year-old lady who means the world to me. I usually refer to her as my godmother, but, in fact, we met when she was my babysitter when I was only a year old. She and her husband were a stabilizing force and source of unconditional love as I was growing up, and their home in Welsford was where some of the happiest times of my childhood were spent. Since they moved to Oromocto in 1991, and Joe (my godfather) passed away in 1993, my godmother has been waiting for me to get my driver's licence so that I can come see her more often. She was the very first person I called on Saturday when I got my driver's licence, and when she asked when I was going to come see her, I immediately told her, "Monday, as soon as I get my insurance."

So, after Hubby dropped me off and I came inside, I was all a-quiver. I had a plan of things I was going to do, but it had finally sunk in that I was now legal to drive without a co-pilot, and I needed a minute to digest that. I went out to Betsy (my car), tossed my jacket in the back seat, and put the keys in the ignition. And sat there. For a long minute. Finally, I turned the key, put it in DRIVE, and, for the very first time, drove down the driveway and out onto the street, all alone.

By the time I got to the end of my street, the jitters were gone. A trip across the Reversing Falls Bridge, through Simms Corner, and a pit stop at Canadian Tire to pick up a car emergency kit (booster cables, etc.), and I was on my way!

I know the road to Welsford as well as I know my own face, so I wasn't surprised it went quickly. When I hit Welsford, just for fun, I went up the main road to see how much things had changed. I went as far as the old school, just past Joe and Vernice's old house, then turned around again. I had the cruise control on the whole way through the Geary woods, and that made life much easier. Since it was pretty much lunchtime when I was nearing Oromocto, I decided to continue on to Fredericton. Destination (of course): Chapters.

I called Vernice to let her know I'd be there before long, had a quick salad in the food court, then checked out Chapters. It's a crime we don't have one here. Sometimes I don't even need to buy something. Sometimes just being in a bookstore that large, being surrounded by all of those words, is enough for me.

Leaving Chapters, I thought I'd figured out the easiest way to head back to Oromocto, and it turns out I had -- except I missed the turn-off. Next thing I know, I'm headed for the other side of the river! As much as I love the Princess Margaret Bridge (my grandfather actually designed it), I looked for an escape, and managed, with very little difficulty, to get myself turned around and headed back the way I'd come. No panic -- nothing. (Buffing nails on shirt.)

I had a great visit with my godmother, and, aside from being stuck behind a slow-moving army convoy for far too long, the trip home was very enjoyable. I got back to the city at 4:30 pm and decided to head up to the hospital to visit a friend for a little while. Eventually, I wandered home.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my first real day as a member of the motoring public. :) I realized that, now that the fear of not knowing what I'm doing is gone, I actually LOVE to drive.

Zoom-zoom. :)

Licence to drive.

I GOT IT!!! I GOT IT!!!!

WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zoom-zoom-zoom ...

So, since I didn't drive at all yesterday, due to a blinding headache, today was The Day.

And today was the first day that I drove everywhere from the time we left our driveway at11:30 AM until we returned home at around 3:30 PM.

First, we went to Doug's brother's place to drop off some mad scientist materials, then I drove to Kent's, which has a large parking lot with the added benefit of no Sunday shopping. My instructor had suggested that I should get some extra backing up practice in before my next lesson, so that was our plan.

I quickly discovered that trying to back into a parking spot without anything marking it except the lines on the pavement made it very difficult to see where I was. At this point, Doug noticed that the cart corrals were the exact width of a parking space. And so, although having actual rigid objects made it a bit more intimidating, it was actually much easier to see what I was doing.

The instructor had said that backing in to the right was more difficult than doing it to the left, and he was right. But once I figured out how far away I should be before starting to back up, things got much easier. I practiced parking and 90-degree turns for about an hour in that parking lot.

After Kent's, we went to over FutureShop (where Doug bought a new receiver, which he is testing out at various volumes as I type, much to my chagrin), then I drove out to Rothesay to Doug's sister's place. Then back in the Rothesay Road, up on the highway to Crown, to Shoppers Lansdowne, and then finally home, where I, in one try, backed into and up The Steep, Narrow Driveway From Hell.

During my driving adventures today, I made one serious mistake, when I accidentally cut off someone going straight when I was turning left (I had run out of my flashing green and didn't notice). But no one got hurt, or mad, and no horns were honked, and it's the kind of thing I'll obsess over, which means it'll never happen again.

In short, it was a very good day.

Baby, you can drive my car ...

The last day I was in the classroom this year, while invigilating an exam, I came up with a list of ten things I wanted to accomplish with my summer vacation. At the top of the list, and the one thing I will somehow manage, come hell or high water, is to get my driver's licence.

When it comes to being a member of the motoring public, I am a bit of a late-bloomer. But, since we are now fortunate enough to own two fully-functioning, will-pass-inspection vehicles (and four that don't deserve those hyphenated adjectives, so we won't go there), I figured it was time.

I have had my learner's permit for (get this!) ten years. You can't rush these things, you know. So when I found out that a driver's ed class was being offered at my place of work, I decided to fork out the money and settle in.

Going into the classroom portion of driver's ed, I had two expectations:
1) That I would be the oldest one in my class.
2) That I would be surrounded by my own students.

Yes, indeed, I was the oldest one in the class. The instructor, who was very nice, was older than me, but only by less than a month. (She said that I look much younger than my age, so I automatically liked her from that moment on.) I also hold the record for the longest permit-holder she's ever taught.

As for the students, well, only about five of them had I ever seen before in the classroom, so that wasn't so bad. I think my favourite moment was when one of them turned around to pass something back to me, realized who I was, and his mouth gaped open in shock. That was fun.

The four days of classroom instruction did drag, but only after I'd watched all of my teacher-friends gleefully skip away at noon on Wednesday, leaving me and my peanut-butter-and-jam sandwich sitting forlornly on the couch in the staffroom. As they all went off for a last-hurrah at Vito's, I felt like somehow I was stuck in summer school. It was a very weird feeling.

So, now that the classroom part is done, all that is left is the in-car instruction. This scares me. I am a bit of a nervous Nelly because I haven't been able to practice frequently enough. Two weeks go by (because the brother-in-law has borrowed my car) and suddenly I'm right back at the beginning. Nauseous, white knuckles, the whole bit. It's awful. I should be driving every single day, even if it's just around the block. I need the very basics to become automatic before I can become confident at the less-basic stuff. It's very frustrating. But I will get there.

As for the rest of the "Must Do" list ... It will be revealed in good time. :)