Prayers & Positive Thoughts Needed....

So, first off... P&PT that when we go vehical shopping on Saturday, we're able to find a well-running, reasonably priced car in good shape for me. It's time. As much as I hate to go buying a "new" car as we head into the down-swing of Peak Oil, as we head into a Recession/Depression.... My car just isn't going to make it much longer, and I really DO need to have transportation available. Public transport isn't an option around here, so a new car is really the ONLY option left me, as I continue to work in town & need to grocery shop on a semi-regular basis.

One of the car companies has a specific "lightly used" car that we're going to go look at, if they haven't sold it yet. It's a 2005 Pontiac Grand Am. 4 door, 3.2 (liter?) 6 cylinder engine (the exact same as the buick I'm driving now), power everything, gold colored. It'd be a pretty dang close to perfect car for me. EXCEPT, the fuel usage isn't going to be too much better than what I'm getting on my current car (24 in the summer, down from 26 two summers ago) and 18 in the winter. (That is, if I don't let it warm up more than 10 minutes, though that milage has gone down considerably in the last week, along with the average outside temps.)

Anyway.... If you're the praying type, pray that I find something that'll keep me getting back and forth for as long as we can afford it, and will be a safe ride while I must. As I've said before, my current car has just worn out. She's 17 years old this year, and even while some parts are still in good working order (excellent emmissions on this old car!), other parts may break down at any moment, and are indicating that that moment is coming quickly.

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Also, prayers & positive thoughts for my cousin JJ. He's in the ICU in his home town in Washington with a E-coli infection/illness. As of when I talked to Mom last night, he's had one transfusion because he's "Bleeding from both ends". It sounds like he's probably got an ulcer or two exacerbating the problem. He's been doing a lot of traveling between Washington & California for work, lately, and the best guess is that he ate something contaminated while in CA.

To add to this story, though..... My baby sis is currently living with JJ & his girlfriend. My sis split with her hubby last month. Evidently the (now) ex was staying out all hours and rarely home, if he was working, he wasn't sharing any of his money for providing food, she couldn't use the only vehical for getting to work because he was always using it..... Anyway, at the breaking point, he'd evidently taken off to his Aunt's house with the vehical, all his clothes & his personal-hygene stuff & didn't say anything about his whereabouts to my sister until the next morning. Then he claimed that he'd gone over to wash his clothes, but he hadn't bothered to bring them (or his personal hygene stuff) back with him, indicating to my sister that he was probably planning on moving out on her. On top of that, he left her & my niece without any $$ for groceries, a bare fridge, no transportation to even GET to a grocery store.....

So, my Mom called her oldest sis who's got two sons (JJ being the younger) and my Aunt Vonnie sent the older to pick up my sis & niece & bring them back to live with the younger son & his girlfriend while my sis gets up on her own two feet & figures out life WITHOUT a boyfriend or hubby paying her way.

My younger Aunt took my sis over to the welfare place the other day & got K. & my niece signed up for all the public assistance programs while K. searches for a job & an apartment of her own.

In the meantime, though, JJ is now in the hospital & really, really needing P&PT. He's not old (mid thirties, I think), he's in reasonably healthy shape (except for this & the ulcer, apparently)..... From what little Mom had to pass on to me, it sounds like the Dr's are optomistic that JJ should be home in a few days. Just praying that this is the case.

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It is STILL -45 deg. here. This is 4 days running, now. The furnace shuts off only temporarily. In fact, it just clicked on again. It'd only just shut off after the last cycle about 20 minutes ago. The weather forcasters are now saying that it looks like we could continue to see these cold temps till the beginning of next week. Origionally they were saying that we'd see a break in the cold by weekend. It's not that this is unheard of, but dang..... You couldn't tell we've got global warming, right now! Most of the last 10 years have seen unprecidented warmth, including rain in the middle of winter. (In fact, we DID have one day where it rained, in January.) And, this is just further proof that it's not necessarily "global warming" but "Climate Shift" and extreme weather fluctuations.

If this wasn't proof enough (rain last month, extreme freezing temperatures this month) that massive string of massive Tornados in the states the other day SHOULD be proof that Climate shift is a reality. It IS happening. And those who refuse to see it are fools of the worst magnitude.

Also, the fact that the furnace is running non-stop makes me think that DH and I really, really need to consider how we could fit a woodstove in our house. We really really need to decide (duh!) if the TV is so important that we must keep it and not have a woodstove installed in it's place. The corner where our TV is set-up (the ONLY enormous wall in our house that doesn't have a furnace vent smack-dab in the center of it) is also the only place in the house where it'd be truly feasible to put a woodstove.

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Unfortunately, with needing to get me a "new" car at this point, that means we won't be able to use our tax refund for other things for the house (new doors & door frames for both front & back doors, being our primary concern). If the tax refund is substantial, it makes the most sense to go ahead & use it as a down payment on a car. Which brings me back to my reluctance to actually NEED a new car when I know that the realities of vehicals being usable much longer are shakey at best.

*sigh* I just wish it all wasn't so complicated. And I wish I'd gotten that damned job out here at NPB Lib. Then I wouldn't have to worry about having to have a car to get back & forth from work. I'd only need a good pair of long-johns, a pair of snowpants, and some hiking boots to get me there & back. *wry smile* Oh, and a flashlight for late-night walks home. *wink* And in that case, I'd wait till Dh was free for grocery shopping before I'd go. The only reason I'd have to use my car would be for Dr's appointments. *sigh* If wishes were horses....

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Ok. I think that's it for today. I've got a couple of errands to run before work, so I'd better end this now if I'm going to visit any of my blogger-buddies today.

Have a Blessed Day!