I am happy to report that the rest of the week improved considerably from Monday/Tuesday. The plumber replaced the sewage ejector pumps, and while my checkbook is lighter, at least that is done.
As for my car, we sort of shoved my fender back into place; I think I will replace my car in the next year or so anyway (I think driving it 8 years is respectable — though I’m sure I have plenty of frugal readers who will let me know that they’ve driven their cars since the Reagan administration…so, go ahead and tell me: what’s the longest you’ve driven a car, and what years/mileage are you looking at now?).
On Wednesday morning, Sarah and I recorded three podcast episodes, including two with fabulous guests. I’m looking forward to sharing those in upcoming weeks. (The other episode was a just-us banter one.)
Then I went to the airport and flew to Indianapolis. While the flight was bumpier than my taste — I feel like I am often counting minutes on airplanes — we got in on time. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law came to meet me for dinner. My mother-in-law and I both tried a tangerine wheat beer, and it was great!
In the morning (after an 8.5 hour night… a major perk of business travel) I scored a treadmill at the hotel gym. I had two lovely morning meetings with people I know mostly online — another major perk of business travel! — and then spoke at the Indiana Conference for Women.
I love women’s conferences. I know from long experience that while time management is universal, professional women in the 30-50-ish age bracket (i.e. kids still home) tend to respond most strongly to my message. This is, happily, the exact demographic attending most women’s conferences! And so there is an energy in the room that makes speaking really pleasurable. I had the after-lunch spot, but the lunch entertainment was Retta, so people did not walk in depleted. A bonus: the conference was selling all four of my time management titles PLUS All the Money in the World.
(I was also rocking it on the make-up front, since I seized the opportunity presented by a Trish McEvoy vendor booth to get my face professionally done. Too bad I look a bit racoon-ish this morning!)
At the IND airport, I treated myself to a Wolfgang Puck mushroom, leek, and goat cheese pizza, paired with their house chardonnay. I started writing this during an unfortunately bumpy flight home (what is with the air currents between IND and PHL?) and along with reading the BOBW survey responses, that mostly distracted me.
Now it is Friday and I am settling in for some NaNoWriMo catch-ups, editing queries on Juliet’s School of Possibilities and afternoon phone calls on future projects. I don’t think I need to wait for a plumber, so as long as there are no more ER visits (please, please) I think I’ll call the week a good one.
My first car, received December 1994, was a car purchased in the mid-70s by my parents. They took great car of it but had stopped driving it regularly. The odometer had stopped by the time it became mine. I drove it during high school until they finally sold it. Twenty years old and definitely over 150,000 miles.
My first car was 20 years old when I got it. Of the new vehicles we’ve bought as adults, we have a 15 year old van that just hit 200,000 miles and is on it’s last legs and a 10 year old SUV that has a little over 100,000 and probably has 10 more years in it.
Where is this BOBW survey? I checked the podcast page and searched “survey” on your site but came up empty. Thanks.
I had a Volkswagen golf that was almost 20 years old. It was so rusty that the tire shop didn’t like raising it up on the supports because they thought it would disintegrate. I sold it dirt cheap to a neighbor, and then a few weeks later it was totally dead. Gave the neighbor his money back and tower it to the dump.
My 1995 Toyota tracel with 300,000 miles just went off to NPR donation land. I was so sad to say goodbye. She was a good girl
@Star- 300k! Oh my goodness.
On cars – I have over 176K miles on my 7-year-old SUV right now. I’m planning to keep it another 4 years.
My record was a 10-year-old minivan with 280K miles. I wanted to go for 300K, but that would have beat my husband’s record of 290K – LOL! We buy our cars new and run the wheels off them!
And as an aside, these are all GM and Ford vehicles!
@Ruth – you guys were driving quite a bit to get 280k miles in 10 years!
My dad bought a 1974 Dodge Dart brand new and drove it until 1995. I don’t know how many miles it had but I remember the car still ran pretty well, but the body had started rusting out and the repairs would have cost more than the car was worth. My dad’s car pool buddies used to call it the “Flinstone car” near the end because there was a huge hole in the floor only covered by the mats. They joked that if the car ever broke down they could stick their feet out and start running.
I just replaced my car two months ago. My old car was thirteen years old and had over 170,000 miles on it. It had gotten to the point at which I was bringing it to the mechanic for something every 4-6 weeks. I’m hoping that if I take good care of my new one that it will last long enough for my now 3 1/2 year old to learn to drive in it!
@Gisela – I think if you’re going to the mechanic every 4-6 weeks that’s definitely a sign it’s time for a new car. I love the image of the Flintstone car!
15 years on a 2000 Dodge Stratus, maybe 130k miles. At the end, it was, in fact, a dangerous vehicle to drive.
My current car is the one I’ve driven the longest too. 2007 Accord that I bought in 2009. It’s got about 185k on it. I toy with the thought of a newer car, but this one is paid for and running just fine, so the frugal side of me wins for now.
I’m reading this a little late, but it sounds like we had similar stuff going on…I woke up on Monday morning to no heat in my house (upstairs and downstairs HVACs not working!) and some really yucky bugs in my kitchen that required an exterminator (we’ve had a really wet year in Virginia!). This was on top of a husband out of town for 3 days, so I was really not feeling joyful. Thank you for the reminder that ALL of these kind of things are, although inconvenient, not the end of the world. I appreciate the reminder that we all go through silly stuff like this – it’s a side-effect of leading full and blessed lives. I’m glad to hear your issues are resolved, as are mine!