Strange Bumps on Life's Highway

I've run into some strange things the past week or so.

My car is having major issues. You all know I lost my middle-aged "nephew" on the 1st of this month. That cut my income in half when we had only just renewed some short term loans (for car repairs) and a personal loan to replace our busted water heater. No biggie. That's something I'm working on.

So when the car had more issues just a few days after he passed away (battery, front axles, power steering line), it cost me half my month's income. Ok - so again, no biggie, that's something I'm dealing with.

In the meantime, our local news channel awarded me, as leader of our charity crafting group, for making and giving things to local homeless and preemies, an award certificate and some cash. Part of that cash must go to the other gals for yarn they've put out over weeks and months. The cash left barely paid this month's bills but at least it did that..

However, the car was still leaking. Took it in yesterday and found that, over the next 4 to 8 weeks, no later, I must get strut mounts done plus rack/pinion work (the rack/pinion is the leak).

The weirdest thing, though, is that they found oil, of all things, in the reservoir tank for the radiator. It was getting rechanneled along the way back into the radiator. We cannot figure out how it got in their. My car is always locked. The guys did not notice it when it was in their shop for those other repairs the past two weeks. They flushed out the radiator and the side tank, plus refilled everything and I shelled out some more bucks.

It also means I must add a new radiator to my list of car repairs for the very immediate future.

Hey, I know you all have your own stories - and I sympathize and understand - really, I do. And I keep you all in my prayers.

My biggest thing, though, is trying to figure out how that oil got into that little side container. Almost looks like malicious vandalism - but who? Why? How?

Well, I can't afford to stress out over this, so I just added the radiator to my to-do list for the car. Hopefully, these upcoming fixes, when I figure out how to pay for them, will make the car happy for a while - that would truly be a blessing.