Okay so. Our car is going to cost much more than it’s worth to fix. At least $2000 for the transmission, plus it needs all new brakes, engine work, and whatever else is going to happen to it the second we think it’s all fixed. Add that to the $1800 we’ve already put into it this year alone, and really, is it worth getting it fixed? Why couldn’t we just shoot it with a gun?

Our only worry was the fact that we really need to get home. If we just left the car here… how would we get back to our house? Especially with all our stuff (we brought SO MUCH STUFF with us – the trunk and the back seat were full). We were willing to put saddles on the neighbours’ noisy dogs if we had to, as long as we could get home.

Read the rest of this entry →

Since we’ve been here, and since we’ve been stuck in the house due to the whole no car/no sun situation, Rob has been attempting to amuse himself by catching up on Dungeons and Dragons. He hasn’t played it in almost 20 years, and is highly amused by the changes that have taken place in the intervening years. He also has been enjoying listening to podcasts of people playing the game. His favourite thing though is that he has found funny t shirts pertaining to the game and he wants them all.

Speaking of funny tshirts – my nephews have both requested (and I have promised them) a souvenir from Newfoundland. They’re 3 and 4 years old. I’m not sure exactly what to get them… a tshirt? A stuffed moose? Whatever it is, it has to be suitable, it has to be fun, and it has to be (okay, sorry, maybe I’m not that great an aunt) cheap. I will let you know what we decide on.

In the three weeks that we have been here, there have been exactly four days of sunshine. It was nice and sunny yesterday. We decided to hang out our blankets to freshen them up a bit – we have two big duvets in the tent and we just wanted to air them out. We went out to pick up some supplies, and by the time we got back it was raining torrentially. I’m not sure what to do with the blankets because they are sopping wet. They’re too big for the automatic dryer. I imagine we could bring them inside and hang them over something but they’re huge; they’d take up the entire house! Plus they’d be dripping all over. So they’re still outside on the line, getting wetter and wetter, and it’s not supposed to stop raining for the next 4 days.

In other rain news, Rob has a cold (I have a tiny bit of one too but nothing like his). He can’t sleep because he can’t breathe, so he has what look like golf bags under his eyes. He is mainlining the Buckley’s Mixture and I have a feeling that for his birthday cake (have I mentioned that tomorrow’s his birthday?) is going to be Dimetapp flavoured.

YUM!

I have been giving myself glycolic acid peels since June (doesn’t that sound gruesome? Slapping acid on my face at regular intervals?). It has helped quite a bit with the acne that has been popping up due to my PCOS. However, every six weeks you’re supposed to take a two-week break, so I figured that since we were taking a two-week trip, I’d just leave all that at home. Well, it’s been three weeks now, we’re not home yet. The zits are here. Cue Joey Jeremiah (although actually I always had a crush on Snake).

My mother-in-law went digging through her cupboards and has come up with a jar of acne treatment cream that looks like it’s from the early 70s. I doubt it has any potency anymore (plus I’m really scared of what it might contain) so I’m going to maybe not use it unless I can find someone else to use as a guinea pig first (aren’t I just brave).

Meanwhile I’ll just keep dousing myself with tea tree oil, and hope for the best.

Are you bored? Do you want to look at the photos from our trip? Here they are. I’m glad that the photos haven’t filled up our entire laptop memory but I guess that’s what SD cards are for.

We’re still here, but things might just be looking up.

(ETA: flickr link fixed!)

Hey, at least Elvis is there. And there are group rates Read the rest of this entry →

A mechanic finally took a look at our car today and it is the transmission.

But, he won’t be starting to work on it until next Wednesday at the earliest.

This “vacation” is quickly becoming… not-so-much a fun time. No offense to this godforsaken place

When I informed Mam of the 4-day wait for our car to be looked at, I immediately received the following email in response:

Offer them an extra $50 if they’ll look at your car first.

And you know? I’m actually considering it.

Mechanic #3 informed us today that it would be another 4 or 5 days before he could look at our car.
Still better than 2 weeks, or not at all, but FOR THE LOVE OF PETE.