The "Bad News" Week

Well, this week has turned into a nightmare. Yesterday turned out to be the day of bad news.

About a month ago, we took out a loan on our new house. Even though the house was paid for and my mother-in-law wanted us to have her house once she passed away, we still needed to split the worth of the house with my sister-in-law. So, we took out a loan, in order to give my SIL her part of the settlement. During the application process, we assumed that the mortgage company would include the house insurance with the mortgage payment like they normally do. We found out yesterday that they did not include it in the house payment, so now we are having to pay homeowners insurance out of our pocket, in addition to our mortgage payment. Once we have made our payments this year, next year the insurance will be included in the mortgage payment. Either way, it’s a slap in the face for us.

As many people know now, Karla had two accidents close to the end of last year. In the first one, she injured her foot and the doctor said it was a bad bruise. She continued on and proceeded to have another wreck, which caused her to re-injure her foot. For some time it has been bothering her, so she went back to the doctor and he referred her to a foot doctor (I’m sure there is a fancier name for it). He determined that her foot was fractured. Yesterday she went to see the foot doctor again and he put her in a walking boot. She has to wear the walking boot all the time, except when she is driving or sleeping, for the next 4 weeks. If, in four weeks, there is no change and the foot is still fractured, she will require surgery. We pray the foot boot does the job.

One more bit of bad news. For the last month or so, I had noticed that my gears weren’t shifting properly in my truck. Back in December, 2004, my transmission went out on my truck. It had 80,000 miles on it. I bought the truck used, so whoever had it before I did, did lots of towing and didn’t do it right. Because of that, they fried just about every part of the transmission. Well, yesterday, I went by the place that repaired it 6 years ago. Now the truck has 160,000 miles on it. While talking to the mechanic, he advised me there had been a few defects in the transmissions for the S-10 pickups, so it was inevitable for the transmission to go out. Sure enough, after the mechanic test drove it, he informed me it would not go into 4th gear. When I asked him how soon I needed to get it repaired, he told me the sooner I get it in to be repaired, the cheaper it would be. The truck is paid for and in good condition, so I figured it made more sense to have it repaired for $1,200.00 than to buy another one. So, this morning, I dropped my truck off at the transmission place. The truck was still running and changing gears, so the transmission was not completely out. I am hoping it costs less than the $1,200.00 I was quoted. I am also hoping to have it out by Friday. The mechanic told me it would be ready by then. So, it looks like I will be bumming rides for the next couple of days until I get my truck repaired.

This morning, after I got to work, I blew my nose….and it started bleeding. It’s been many years since I have had a nosebleed. It is so dry and so hot in the office, I am sure that’s what triggered it.

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