where's that pot of gold?

My hubby is mowing the lawn which has me all in a dither.

working hard, against MY better judgment

The last time he mowed was the day he came down with the flu which turned into pneumonia. Now you might ask what does one have to do with the other?  While there is no scientific fact that getting overheated in 958 degree weather can lead to illness, I believe it did. So, it's only natural that little Miss Negativity would promptly assume that today's mowing will lead to a relapse.

It drives Dale nuts to have the grass looking scraggily so despite my exclamations of doom and gloom he's out there mowing away. Too bad those boys of ours are conveniently away at college 'cause I would definitely have them out there pulling lawn duty. Ian managed to get out of mowing all summer, so he'd be number on the list.

We have good news and bad news heading into the weekend.

GOOD NEWS: we got Dale's car back from the body shop and it looks as good as new. They even washed and waxed it so technically it looks much better than it did prior to the ACCIDENT.

see how pretty and shiny it is!

 I haven't said much here about the ACCIDENT because I've been so upset about it. I feel horrible because my husband loves his car and I went and messed it up. And, even though the ACCIDENT wasn't my fault (thanks a lot teenage girl not paying attention) it WAS my fault because (a) I was driving the car instead of my van. (b) I insisted on going in to pick up Dale's paycheck instead of letting a co-worker bring it by, and (c) I just had to get a Sonic Strawberry Limeade on the way home which caused me to be on the road where the ACCIDENT happened.

So there you have it ... I was responsible for wrecking my husband's beloved car.

Everyone says to be thankful the other driver was cited with the accident and that she has insurance which pays for the damages to be fixed. I am thankful but I was also mad because of the trouble and inconvenience we had to go through in order to get the car repaired. But all that is behind us now, so I will be happy for the good news that the car is home and looks great. However, I may never drive it again because I don't want to have to deal with the angst of being fearful of wrecking my husband's beloved car again. (angst of being fearful - am I being a bit redundant here?)

and now, for the BAD NEWS: did you know that if you are driving down a road in little Chambodia (aka Chamblee), Georgia, and you come to a left turn lane that has an arrow that turns from green to red you're supposed to stop? Especially if there's a cop sitting right there? Now if you're driving anywhere else in metro Atlanta you can watch and count the number of cars that go through that red turn arrow without nary a person being pulled over, even with cops in close proximity. I guess the trick is to only do it when there isn't a cop car right behind you.

I really think he got pulled over (did I mention this happened to DH not me?) because (a) it's the end of the month and the city needs it revenue and (b) the cop saw a big-ole-double-cab-white pickup truck with an Oklahoma licence tag on it and warning bells went off (not that I'm insinuating possible racial profiling or anything).

Now before you get your knickers in a wad over my statements, let me say .... yes, the light was red and he was in the wrong, and yes I'm aware of the bad things that can happen when people run red lights. And while usually DH is the one who never even thinks about not stopping and I'm usually the one yelling "go for it," this time he gambled and lost.
But holy cow, do you know how much it cost for running that red arrow? $150, that's what!

And of course that's money we don't have just sitting around. I'm thinking I might have to sell myself into slavery to cover the cost, though at my age I'm not sure we'll get enough to fully cover it. My other option is  to take the money that I was getting ready to use to pay off the remainder of a loan that's been hanging over my head for awhile.

Sigh .... This ticket also probably means we're going to have a big hit on our insurance.

BIG SIGH.

There is however a silver lining to this part of the story ... that would be it was my hubby that got the ticket and not me. Don't you think I should be off the hook now for wrecking his car? Funny how these things work out, huh?

So, last night at dinner we were lamenting over the run of bad luck we've experienced lately. I'm so ready for this "season" to be over so I can go back to living my normal, carefree (ha!) life. We also acknowledged how ironic it was, after all these years of warning the boys about being responsible drivers, that in three short weeks we, the parents, managed to be the ones having accidents and getting traffic tickets ... a fact I'm sure they'll rub in our faces once they figure it out. 

Now while I go drag my husband away from mowing, I'll leave you with photos of my Spooky rolling around in her favorite spot in the yard. I swear there's some natural growing catnip there!

I feel good

oh so good

whatcha lookin' at Willis?