Insane Random Ramblings

I always say that Summer is my favorite season. I love to enjoy the weather while wearing my summer shoes and capri pants with a nice tee shirt. But that’s at a end right now. The weather has been fluctuating but it’s basically in the low 60’s or high 50’s.

One of the things I have to do before it gets too cold is winterize my car. I need to have the belts and hoses inspected and get my coolant checked and/or refilled. I also need to look into tire chains for my car. We had a ton of snow last year and I may be doing a lot of driving this year. Making sure my car is road ready will really give me piece of mind.

I had better start making appointments now because snow and frigid temperatures will be here before you know it.

And I am not looking forward to it. I’m not going to NYC, I’m going to the Salamanca area, which is closer to Erie PA. It’s only about 4 hours away from me but it’s not a fun drive at all. One way is not bad, but if I have to do the whole round trip in one day, it’s going to be bad.

I already printed out directions but I hope I win one of the trucking gps that they’re giving away this week at work. It’s employee appreciation week and we can win lots of different prizes all week including the gps.

I may just try to entice one of my friends to go along for the ride with me, but secretly I’m enlisting another driver. Then I won’t care how long the drive is.

My car is just about 4 years old. Well 4 years to me, it’s actually 6 years old but I bought the car used. I generally try to pay my car off in 4 years instead of stretching it out longer and paying a ton more money in interest.

I’m really yearning for that new car smell right now. I want a fresh shiny car with no scratches or dings that I can add mazda rx 8 custom floor mats to. A sunroof would be good unless I go with a baby SUV again since I miss my big car. Right now my car is really low to the ground while my other car let me sit high.

I guess the positive is that I don’t have any crazy car bills or car payments to make for a while. Too bad I’m going to roll that money into a house payment instead of saving for my next car. Sigh…I guess this dream is over for now.

It just seems to be a never ending cycle with my car. I bought a used car and the previous owner definitely did not take care of this car. Every year I need several small things and 1 or more larger things during inspection. I just had a oil change, tire rotation and several of my fluids flushed and refilled. The refill is what set me back since they totally refilled everything.

The only thing I save money on is the breakdown service that I pay for. I don’t drive a lot but when I do drive, I tend to go very long distances. So I need a service that will basically cover me anywhere. Especially after the tire fiasco that I had a few years ago. After that incident, I made sure I had a service that covered me anywhere I go.

Hopefully I’ll pass inspection without needing a lot of work this year.

I specifically went to the store yesterday to buy healthy snacks. I got almonds, fruit and low calorie popcorn. There were no real perishables so I went out for a while before heading home. When I finally unpacked the bags (close to midnight) I realized that the almonds had fallen out of the bag and into the back seat of my car. I was not going back outside that late at night to get them either.

Now today I have no good snacks. If I had bought the weight loss supplement that I wanted to try I could have that. But I decided to wait until after the holiday weekend. I’m really rethinking that decision right now. Luckily I go to lunch soon because I am starving.

This is getting ridiculous. My insurance has gone up for 2 years straight. Our insurance policies are only good for 6 months at a time so our rates can go up twice per year. And all 4 times that my policy has renewed, my rates have gone up.  

I switched insurers to save money but my rates keep climbing with no end in sight. I guess it’s time for me to get a new auto insurance quote to see if I can bring my premiums back down.

I guess I should be happy that my renters policy has stayed the same.

Unfortunately I can’t take advantage of it. I just realized that my car inspection is due right now. I’ll clean out my bank account paying for the work that needs to be done on my car. In addition to the inspection and emissions tests that I need, I also need brakes on my car.

I’m sure that will set me back a pretty penny. So a short trip is out of the question right now. Especially since I still need to look into getting something like CLA to help me lose a few pounds. The last thing I need is to try to get on the plane and be told that I have to buy two seats. It sounds like a joke but it’s really happened to people.

That would be a horrible way to start or end a vacation.

Ugh my car needs so much work right now. One of the known “faults” or defects with my car is squeaky brakes. I try to let my car heat up for at least 3 minutes before I drive anywhere so I don’t have to deal with the sound. Well I haven’t driven anywhere in over 2 weeks so I let the car heat up for almost 7 minutes instead. The poor brakes still sounded horrible.

I’ll have to take my car and let a mechanic check it out because those things sound bad. I’ll probably do some shopping while I’m waiting. I might check out hgh supplements, vitamins and zinc tablets to keep a cold at bay. I’ll probably be in there a while since I expect to need a lot of work.

It’s almost time for my annual inspection so I may as well get that done too. No sense going back more times than necessary. I just hope it doesn’t cost too much.

I need a oil change and a tire rotation. Every other oil change it’s time to get the tires rotated. Since my tires are brand new, I only have 6,000 miles on them, this is my first rotation. One of my tires blew out on the highway several months ago. When I got to the tire place I found out that all of the tires were pretty bad so I got them all replaced.

It’s too bad my inspection isn’t due until May. I could just get everything done at one time. At least I won’t have to put out too much money right now. 

I never change my oil at the 3 month mark but I always try to change it after 3,000 miles. The reason for that is that I don’t drive that many miles in 3 months. This time it’s taken me almost 6 months to reach that mark. I’ll drop my car off and run across the street and go shopping. I want to price a PS3 and buy some stuff for my house. I need laundry detergent, hangers and some personal items. It seems like I don’t have any clothes but I keep running out of hangers.

There’s really nothing like knocking out multiple chores at one time.