EJ, Pat, DePressMe,

It's nice to know that you have encountered positive effects with your moves too.....it does seem that sometimes a big move ends up shaking us out of the ruts we get into & once out of the rut, then things can only go better (or at least a majority of the time).

I have more good things to report (and of course some bad that good comes out of) . Go figure...Hertz responded to my email. They are refunding the rest of the amount down to what I was quoted over the phone. What a shock......the email sat in my inbox for 10 days before I realized it was a response to my email. When I read it today, you could have heard my "yahoo" across the US. I had to read of over several times to believe what I was reading. This continues to reinforce my behavior of sending messages when I am unhappy about a situation & feel that I have been wronged.....without totally striking out rudely....I just state things I feel are wrong.....& I seem to get positive results.....AMAZING!!!!

Of course...as always there has to be a "not good" (or more like "that was stupid") thing in my life....just to make sure I am still human. At the end of last week, I was backing the little rental car out of my garage to go pay my power bill which was past due because I hadn't received the initial bill. I put it into reverse & my doggie was in the passenger seat, distracting me also. The car wasn't moving....oh yes, the emergency breakwas on. Just as I was thinking about that, I heard a thump on the rear of my car.....it was the UPS with a delivery (the auto power cord for my GPS unit) that Garmin had sent out to me to replace the one that got messed up by the heat from the windshield. I was excited to get the package, opened the door of my car, got out to pick up the package. As I got out of the car, it started backing up. What in the world??????? I looked into the car & dummy had left the car in reverse & while thinking about releasing the parking break, I actually had released it as I got out of the car. I was right next to the car & was able to jump right back in & put on the parking break....it only backed up about 5 feet, but that was enough distance for the door to catch onto the wagon I had attached to the back of my lawn tractor I had parked next to the car.

I heard the crunch & thought the wagon was done for......it wasn't the wagon that got damaged....it was the door of the rental car.....it jamed the door forward, bent the bottom tip of the door & the hinge ended up gouging 2 huge areas in the metal.....so the door has a hard time closing & makes a horrible crunching sound as the door scrapes against the front fender........I mean....how stupid could I be??????

I was kicking myself all the way to the power company, frustrated with how stupid I had been & that I had declined the extra insurance charges on the rental because I have ever needed them before. Wouldn't you know, after all the huge car rental expenses I was already frustrated with, I added a deductible charge for my own insurance to cover the damage. The trip wasn't all bad however....the power company was great & reversed the late charge so there is always at least one good thing that happens everyday.

The next day, I needed to get some things we needed for fixing up the house. I took the person who is doing my painting so I would get the right things. On the way home I stopped by the local Chevy dealership to get an estimate for the damage to the rental car so I knew how bad it was going to be. While we were waiting for that we looked around the used car lot at the trucks. He introduced me to the car salesman who had sold him his car. I told him what kind of truck I was looking for....& wouldn't you know.....they had the perfect fit.

I took it for a test drive & of course, I fell in love with it. I couldn't get the price down much lower, but it was reasonable similar to others with the same low mileage & good carfax information. Told the salesman I would have to think about it over night & go over my finances to decide if I could buy it now or wait until after I sold my California home. They had already let me take do the test drive alone, then he told me to take the car home & drive it while I was thinking about it. That was a really strange concept for me....really felt uncomfortable especially after what I had just done to the rental car......but the dealership insisted. Going over my finances, I decided I didn't want to run myself that short on cash, so decided not to take the truck....then thought about possible getting a loan temporarially until the house sells, then pay it all off....(can't justify paying $33,000 for an $18,000 car which is what a loan does). I talked to my credit union on Saturday & NO loan!!!

I told him I wanted to bring the truck back.....didn't think it would work out....but he insisted on my keeping the truck until they looked into getting a loan set up on Monday. I was too nervous to drive the truck much of anywhere, but got brave enough to drive it to the county fair Saturday night. That was just after a good rain.....got mud all over the beautiful clean truck that wasn't mine.....then when trying to get out of the parking place, it was so tight.....it took me more than 12 turns to manuver my way out without hitting anything.

My logic told me there was no way they could come up with anything that would work, but Monday afternoon, I got a call, & they came up with financing that was going to work & also get me the extended service policy that is pretty important. So now I am a Kentucky farm Gal, with my awsome truck that is just what I had been wanting.

Go figure......it seems like the way things are working out here.....when something not good happens, something really good comes from it. I feel like I am still living in a dream....but .the nightmares were all left in California......all the dreams even when they have their rough spots all have good endings.

When the time is right, the right things come into my life....& the rough spots aren't as rough as they used to be now that I am not making a big deal out of them.

I have to admit, I am getting a bit stressed about having to go back to California this week (Thursday). I have run out of my prescription, so have to see the Dr on Friday. I have to get things ready for the movers & pack up at least one u-haul & a majority of my doggies. I haven't planned the move out completely yet.....or exactly how I am going to get the California house ready to sell without putting a small fortune into that. I will need to do a lot of the work myself since my husband isn't exactly capable of doing anything handy to help. The trick will be to get him out of my way so I can accomplish what I need to do....that is a whole other issue.

I don't want to loose the "ME" I have found here.....& I am not willing to go back to putting that amount of energy into the relationship. I really like the phone. I can hang up & get away from it. I definitely don't want to bring any part of that life back here to Kentucky. There is no place here for that kind of life now that I know that this is possible. I can't imagine going back to California now.....it seems so far in the past (even though it has only been 2 1/2 months)

I will keep up my Kentucky thoughts & keep the positive going strong, knowing that my home is here in Kentucky now & nothing can change that. Hope to only be in California for about 1 month & not get bogged down in the junk. The good things are in my life now, not just my location (even though that really helps being out of that rut).

Thought I could just give you an update...that so many good things are continuing to happen....will add a photo of my new truck to my group of photos,
Debbie