Blessings in Disguise. (God is really good at it)

     A week ago right now, my bestie and I were in Yukon, Oklahoma (a strong contender for where I may end up moving. I love El Reno, but Yukon has its good points. ). We were bottom-of-the-car deep into a river of flowing overflow from the flash flood that just happened out of nowhere!  If you know Jeannie, you know I was the one driving and dropping her off as close as I could to the building we took refuge in, so her hair didn't get wet.  Me? I won't melt. I parked the car on a hill and walked into the grocery store. By the time I got there, maybe 30 seconds of walking tops, I looked as if I jumped into the pool with all of my clothes and my shoes.

    So, the next day or maybe the day after, I started my car and drove it to Sam's Club. As I pulled out of the driveway, I could hear a definite rattling, and that's never good, right? I knew what it was; it had to be the oil plate, or something like that. It was something dangling from having fought its way through a massive flood. At least the darn thing started! At least I could drive it! (If you know me, you know I hate hate hate noises coming from my car - I also hate smells coming from my car!) 

    Today, (since I don't drive much and didn't need to do it earlier than today) I went to AAA and had them change my oil and the air filter, and I let them know there was a significant dangling noise as well-- they understand when people say things like that. They changed the oil, laughing at me because it had only been 1019 miles since I did it last time (which was October, and this is July), and they admitted that while the air filter did need to be changed, it could have gone another month or so. I had it changed and asked about the battery.

    The battery, as it turns out, is FLOODED, and they told me I will need to get a new one sooner than I will need to have the oil changed again. I'll do it next week, but dang -- that was something I wasn't expecting. The blessing is that the AAA guy told me I could wait a minute, I didn't have to do it right away, and he told me that Sam's Club batteries are 25-30% cheaper; he knew I was a member, we've seen each other in the store. (I was an English teacher when he was in high school, so he remembered me. 

    There you go - oil and air filter change, $90.  I'll hit up Sam's Club in a week for the battery for around $140 + labor; it was $284 at AAA. I love it when people are honest with you and help you out. He didn't have to tell me, but I told him I would get a battery on Amazon for much less - that's when he said I could do well by going to Sam's, as they get the same Duracell I could pick up on Amazon, and they charge $10 more than the Amazon price. They take the old battery, of course, to dispose of it correctly.  Good job!

    I started my little Stephen (car) and we drove to Michael's, where I picked up really cool Autumn candles and took photos of their Halloween stuff for my son. Michaels, like Hobby Lobby, is a crafts store, so they have Halloween things in case you're thinking of being crafty -- or just want to get a jump on the whole thing -- I love, and I do mean LOVE, Autumn. It's only 8 weeks away, and I can't wait! I bought 4 scented candles and I'm cranking up the cappuccino machine in my head, and busting out the pumpkin latte creamer! Yes, I am.

Photo Credit: Me...at Michael's.