Anyway, I went to pick up Rena at her school, then go to her house and pick up her backpack and whatever else she was going to bring, and get home in time to get the already-chopped up veggies into the pot to cook for dinner. Blessings on whoever invented the crockpot. I can saute the onions and mushrooms, then toss in the rest of the veggies to cook for about a half hour, then into the crockpot to finish and keep hot until time to eat. Yeah-yeah, I could start the stew the night before in the crockpot, but I really like to saute and pre-cook before committing to the crockpot.
And take my shower and shampoo, and dress for Shabbat dinner before candle lighting. As I said, somehow I manage to get it all together.
About two blocks from home, my car started making some very ominous noises. Like the rear end was grating against something. Or trying to fall off. Oh, well, I don't need to worry about it. I don't drive on Saturday, and shul is within walking distance.
Oh. I forgot. I volunteered to help at the Buy Israel fair on Sunday. When I told Rena she'd have to go along and help, she was OK with that. She's a good kid.
But there's another problem I didn't think of until Sunday morning. I'm afraid to drive my car with all that noise it's making. So I got on the phone to my daughter, who was on her way to work, and asked if she could swing by here, let me take her to work, then let me borrow her car. Ohboy! Well, she called her office and said she'd be a few minutes late, Mom has an emergency.
Also, I planned to go visit Allen that afternoon, and there was no way I was going to drive 20 miles with the car making all that racket.
As it turned out, Megan made it to work with minutes to spare, I got to learn all over again how to drive a stick shift. Had to swing back by home to pick up something I'd forgotten -- oh, my cell phone and my handicap placard to hang when I finally parked at the hotel where the fair was.
So off we rush, just time enough to get to the hotel and get our assignments. But the hotel wasn't where I thought it was. Where I remembered it was. Oh, shoot! I finally pulled into another hotel, wandered around the parking lot until I saw the OFFICE sign. Asked for a phone book, and got the address of the hotel where we were supposed to be. Oh, such a dim bulb. Of course, now I remember where it is. Ten minutes away from my apartment. And we got there a half hour late, but we still got our assignments.
We stayed a couple hours, and some other volunteers showed up, so we left. There were some absolutely gorgeous things there, and I could have spent, easily, a thousand dollars within about 15 minutes.
We finally got out to Allen's place and visited a couple hours. Had to be back at Megan's workplace by 1600 hours (4:00pm) when her shift ended. We came back to my place, she drove my car around the parking lot and then came in and told me what is probably the problem. The problem can cost anywhere from $100 to $600 to repair, depending on whether it's just the brake pads that need replacing or whether the rest of the brake assembly needs fixing. There's something about calipers and rotors. I think that's what they're called. Anyway, if those need replacing I'm looking at a severely depleted bank account.
So, with that good news, Megan took Rena home, and I flopped into the recliner to try to finish reading the paper that I didn't get to read this morning. Tomorrow, after the PG&E guy leaves, I'll take my car where Megan recommended and find out whether I'm going to have hysterics or whether I'm going to say OK, how long will it take?
So that's it for this evening.
Oh, note to Billy Teabags: I'm in Sacramento, somewhat south of you, but it still gets cold here in the winter.
Shalom