1) In the end, Hurricane Elsa was not a big deal at all for my area. I honestly wasn’t concerned about Elsa until Monday/Tuesday. I didn’t do any hurricane prep: my car only had a quarter tank of gas, and I didn’t have any supplies in case the power went out. I’ve become very desensitized to these storms, I guess. But things started looking a bit scarier as Elsa barrelled through the Gulf and was upgraded to a category 1 hurricane, so I decided to bring in all my patio furniture (which meant deconstructing my patio chairs, since they won’t fit through my narrow patio door when fully constructed, womp) and started filling up Tervis tumblers and water bottles with water. I very nearly filled up my bathtub with water (I held off, figuring it probably wouldn’t be that bad). In the end, Elsa veered a bit west and all we got was some rain on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Honestly, we’ve had thunderstorms that have caused more damage! I am, of course, very grateful. It’s quite early in hurricane season to be dealing with a storm like this, so I guess we’ll see what the next few months hold.
2) My company surprised me with employee of the month! I wasn’t expecting to get it, but it’s nice to have all my hard work rewarded with this recognition. I had multiple people reach out to me after it was announced to say how deserving I was, which was really gratifying, too. I work hard for this company because I love what I do and I love the people I work with and it’s always nice to know my hard work isn’t going unnoticed. (And I’m a “words of affirmation” kinda girl, so stuff like this puts me on cloud nine, for sure.)
3) My car is currently at the mechanic’s and I’m waiting to find out what’s wrong with it. As I was leaving my mom’s house on Wednesday night, my car’s check engine light started flashing and that’s when I noticed that it was being really sluggish. It wouldn’t really accelerate and when I was idling at a red light, it started making all sorts of weird noises and I was really worried it was going to break down on me before I made it home. It was late (9:30 p.m.) and I was only a few minutes from my mom’s at this point, so I just drove it back to her house and she drove me home. I had my car towed to my mechanic’s yesterday afternoon (I probably could have driven it myself but I just didn’t feel safe doing that) and hopefully, I’ll get a call today explaining what’s wrong. I’m hoping it’s a simple fix—I’m willing to pay a couple hundred dollars to get it up and running, but anything more than that, and it’ll be time to send her to the car dealership in the sky and find a new car. At this point, I have a little less than $2,000 saved for a down payment and I was hoping to have at least double that before getting a new car. So fingers crossed she can keep on truckin’ for a least a little while longer!
4) Yesterday was my mom’s birthday! I took the afternoon off work to spend it with her. Unfortunately, she had to chauffeur us around (we both hate driving, so the rule is that you never have to drive on your birthday!) but we had fun. We went out to lunch, painted pottery, and got ice cream at this cute local creamery. It’s always so fun to celebrate her birthday!
5) The weekend is looking like a fun one (provided that I don’t have to spend the majority of it car shopping, ugh). Tonight, we’re having my mom’s birthday dinner at a steakhouse and tomorrow, I have an outdoorsy day date planned (we’re either kayaking or going for a long walk). Sunday is plan-less so far, and I hope to keep it that way!
What are your weekend plans?
Ugh that sucks about your car. It sounds like the transmission maybe? But I hope that is not the issue because that is an EXPENSIVE fix. But I am not a car expert. Some of the issues just remind me of what happened with my accord when the transmission went out. 🙁
Glad you had a fun day celebrating your mom! And yay for a fun day date tomorrow! 🙂
We don’t have too much planned for the weekend which is nice. Tomorrow we are going to my brother’s for dinner. We have only seen them for like 30 minutes in the last 1.5-2 years! They came by for a bit when my parents were here for Will’s baptism but both boys had activities to go to so their time here was brief. My brother is an excellent cook so I am excited for a dinner made by him. We just have to bring beer and wine. Woot woot! Then on Sunday Phil might take Paul to his mom’s after his nap. His mom had back surgery on Wednesday so it depends on how she is feeling and whether she wants a crazy 3yo in her house! Paul also has a hair cut on Saturday and swimming lessons on Sunday. I”m hoping he starts to make some progress in swimming lesson participation but we’ll see…
I am so glad Elsa turned out to be not much more than some rain and wind for where you are. I can see though how you get desensitized to these storms. I mean, there is a fine balance between the need to warn people and getting them ready to evacuate if necessary and having them feel like they’re being ‘pranked’ when nothing bad happens.
I am so sorry about your car woes. They always happen at the wrong time, don’t they? I hope it’s a minor fix and you can keep saving for a new car for a little while longer!
Happy belated birthday to your mom.
We’ll be laying low this weekend. We’re experiencing another heat wave here on the west coast (111F predicted for today) and I just don’t want to move AT ALL. I need to befriend someone with a pool ASAP.
Congrats on employee of the month!!! So nice to have your effort acknowledged like that!!!
Fingers crossed that your car’s issues have an easy and inexpensive fix!
Congrats on employee of the month! Also, I hope your car can be repaired, and simply. I haaaaate anything to do with my car, is it weird to look forward to when I’m an octogenarian and can just order people to drive me around as I will be a danger to the driving community? Probably.
I am so glad the hurricane was not bad! It seemed early in the season to me too!
Congrats on the recognition! You deserve it! I love stuff like that too.
I am relived it was only $200 to fix the car and hope it lasts longer.
Happy belated birthday to your mom!
My weekend was fun – I spent it in Iowa with my family 🙂
Congrats on being employee of the month! Well-deserved, clearly. And from Kim’s comment, I can see that your car situation is at least temporarily okay. Fingers crossed she hangs in there a bit longer. I also love the birthday celebrations you and your mom do – spending time together doing favorite activities sounds like an ideal way to celebrate her.