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It's been a strange couple of days. Let's go in order, shall we?

Wednesday
I get home from work to find something leaking from under my car. After searching the Internet futiley in an attempt to find out what it could be, I called my brother-in-law and described it to him. He thought it might be a brake fluid leak, so he told me not to drive it. I arranged a ride into work on Thursday morning and left the key in the car where he could find it - he said he would come over on Thursday to take a look.

Thursday
Somehow, miraculously, I get up at 5:17 in the morning. I take care of the animals, I put on my workout gear (which at this point is just old pajamas, plus good sneakers), and I do my aerobics tape. In the morning! I was so proud of myself. I felt like it was the best exercise I had done since I started working out a week before. I did the whole tape, I only stopped a couple of times, and I felt like it was actually beneficial.

Then I got ready for work, early, and I sat in the living room and waited until my ride came to pick me up, which she did at about 7:15. And I had so much energy all morning! I was on fire, getting so much done, and I didn't really get tired until about 2:30 or so. Then I pretty much crashed that night.

When I got home, I had a message from my brother-in-law, telling me it had been a gas line leak. He has replaced the damaged section, and I owed him $7. Woo! Thanks, B-I-L.

That night J and I watched the new Futurama DVD, and I was so exhausted that I basically half slept through the end. Exercising in the morning made me feel great in the beginning of the day, but I was wiped out at the end!

Friday
My day off from exercising, so I slept until the normal time, then had an unremarkable workday. Well, unremarkable except that I got my yearly raise. Woo! I love that. Of course, it all went on bills, just like normal.

Friday afternoon/evening. J gets home, and we decide to put off getting groceries until Sunday, but, since it's cheat day (the one day per week when we can eat fattening stuff) how does pizza sound? Well, it sounds pretty freaking great, so I call in our order, put Willow in my car, and she and I go to get it.

We get there fine, I find a parking space not too horribly far away, and I pick up our pizza and cheese sticks. I go back to the car and get in, start her up, and start to drive home. I get just outside of the town where the pizza place is, and suddenly my car starts acting weird. I step on the gas pedal, and it doesn't accelerate. I can't get it past 35, and then when it does go past 35, it won't go past 45 at all, and when I come to a small hill, it won't make the top because it doesn't have any power. So I turn around and limp my way to a public ball park, where I park in their lot and call J to come get me. Then I call AAA to come tow my car away. Sigh.

J gets there while I'm on the phone with AAA, and once the arrangements are made (after a few phone calls to various places), we stand outside of the car and eat our cheese sticks, and J has some pizza (I didn't have any, because my stomach is a little upset from nerves - stupid car). The tow truck comes, it takes my little red car away, and J and I drive home, where I spend the evening in a funk, because who knows what's wrong with my car, or how much it's going to cost to fix it, and damn it! I was just going to have my first month where I'd be able to catch up. All of my little bills are going to be paid off, and I was going to actually be able to have some extra left at the end of the month to help with household things. And now the freaking car is broken down. I don't know why life has to work this way (or at least my life), but I hate it.

But J is really nice and comforting, which I really appreciate, and I'm feeling okay by the time we go to bed. (Thanks, J.)

Saturday morning
I'm here at home, waiting for the garage to call me to tell me what's wrong with my car and how much it's going to cost to fix it. I have about $90 in my checking account. What are the odds of it costing less than that? Pretty damn slim. My only ray of hope is that I'm supposed to be getting my economic stimulus check - here's hoping it comes today.

Update
I just got done working out, and I am covered and sweat and need a shower, but Rosebud is outside, so while I wait for her to come in, here's an update on the car.

The mechanic called when I was just starting my workout, and told me that my fuel pump was bad. It was going to cost me $362 plus labor and probably plus a fuel filter to get the car back on the road. Crap! I took that in, started my exercise tape back up, only to have him call back about five minutes after his first call. I had told him about my BIL replacing part of the fuel line, so he put the car up on the lift. My BIL had clamped off the fuel line and not taken the clamp off. My car is fine and the mechanic is only charging me $50 for his time.

Whew!

And how much do I trust this mechanic now? A less honest man would have charged me for the fuel pump anyway, but he didn't. Love it! So now I'm going to go shower, and since J is at work, I'm going to see if my sister can pick me up, take me to an ATM to get $50, and then take me to pick up my car. Yay! Thanks, honest repairman!

And now I must go shower. The sweat is annoying. Later!