Oh!  I can’t believe it.  It’s not even registered yet!

Amy was coming home last night, and we live off from a pretty dark rural road.  Anyhow as she had climbed a hill she noticed the lights going dim, radio fading out.  She slips the lights to high beam, shuts off the radio but the high beams fade out die, then the truck dies in motion and she had to pop in neutral and coast in the dark without headlights till the truck would roll no more and she had to leave it.  Remember…these are rural roads so there is no place to park a car on the side of the road here.  She walked home, got the boys and they went back to push the truck home.

My poor baby now sits at the bottom of the driveway looking sad and alone.  Her alternator has failed.

It will cost between $120 and $150 to get another one, and my son doesn’t think he can replace it because it’s in a location that is not easy to get at.  We don’t have the right tools for that job and locally neither do our out of work back yard mechanics.  This will have to go to a pro for repair.  If we can get the battery charged up we should be able to drive it off the battery to the shop so we will probably skate by a tow charge but we are looking at about $100 in labor on top of the cost of the alternator to get her back up and running.

We have no choice but to register and fix her because if we leave her DOA in our yard we will have to have it removed from the property as it’s a code violation to have unrunning cars in your yard.  Its those stupid ordinances that cause a low income family to suffer so greatly.  If I could park this unregistered, I could use the registration money towards the parts and service, but that is against the county law, so I have to register.  If I could just park it and save up the money it wouldn’t be so urgent, but that is against county law, so I either have to fix it or pay for storage.  If I had privacy fencing I could park it behind a fence unregistered and could save up the money to do both…but I don’t have privacy fencing.

So…we are now scrambling to find a way to get this sweet truck registered and fixed so we will not be fined for ordinance violations and well so the truck will be running too.  We have the Lumina so we are not without some form of transportation.  The lumina doesn’t run well…that is the reason for buying the truck this tax return season, but at least we do have something to fall back on.

This puts us behind again in the whole repair/renovation process though.  We just moved back 3 paces for the one one pace we moved ahead.  Ah well….at least it’s not a blown engine…right?

When we are helped, how do we say thank you?  To me the generic words of thanks have lost much of their meaning.  Children are taught it’s polite to say thank you…do we teach them the true meaning though?  Is it just out of politeness that we say thank you?

Personally I like to let the person who helped me out, gave me a gift, or just did something nice know exactly what that offering did.  Not just a simple thank you but something to show them that they made a change in my life.

I tend to do this in my blog posts.  When someone does something good for me I like to make it something special and dedicate a post towards that person.  I don’t often mention the name of the person…some folks just don’t want that kind of attention.  It’s really simple to do these days with places like MySpace, FaceBook and the countless free blogging programs available.

Who can you say thank you to today?

I would like to thank an online friend who recently sent me a brand new microwave.  I had no wishes running, had not expressed a real need for one but this lady had some extra funds and wanted to do something nice.  She was going to buy me a compact fridge as I did need a fridge but when she learned I had bought a used freezer and had no need for a fridge she fished around to find out what else I could use.  We got to talking about microwaves and I had mentioned mine had blown around the time my fridge died.  We were going to replace it with another cheap tiny one but couldn’t find one under $30 so would just do without.

Well…she went online shopping for microwaves and started sending me links and I look through and commented till she found one I really liked.  GE 1.1 cu. ft. Capacity Countertop Microwave Oven,

So, we got to talking about the reviews on it, the pros/cons and I commented I have never had a micro that big. That would be cool to have as I could cook an entire meal at one time rather than breaking it up to two different dishes like I used to do with my mini one.  Next thing I know….she ordered it!!  She sent me the ship to store information.  Of course I said…My goodness you don’t need to do this!  This wasn’t something I needed.  It would be nice to have, very convenient, and of course it’s a beautiful sleek machine that would do a great job but it was a luxury item.   I could continue to cook my meals with my electric fry pan, electric boiling pot, electric griddle and toaster oven.  I don’t have a stove so I use all counter top appliances to cook our family meals.

This very  thoughtful friend insisted she wanted to do something for our family and though a microwave is considered by me to be a luxury item, it’s also a useful kitchen tool that could help me with family dinners.  She pretty much was not going to take no for an answer.

Not long before this she had sent me some winter clothing since my movement to the wheelchair caused some weight gain and none of my winter clothes fit me.  She has a heart of pure gold and I wish all the best things in life for this lady.  She doesn’t have an easy life herself.  She lives with a disability from an automobile accident and while she does work her paycheck doesn’t really inflate her purse very much.  She lives in a rather rundown apartment and dreams of one day moving to something nice while accepting her reality.  She really didn’t have the funds to be blowing on an internet friend like that, but at the same time it wasn’t going to put her without her basic needs so she wanted to do this.  That is someone with a true giving spirit.  She didn’t feel sorry for me, she knew this was not a basic need and I could get along just fine without a microwave, but she wanted me to have something nice as she knows that while I tend to my bare basics and do stay above the urgent need level….I don’t have luxury items.

Could I send a friend a microwave?  Sorry friends….chances are I will never be able to do that.  I can barely afford to go to a dollar store to get my mom, sis or sons a birthday present so I could never be able to give someone such an expensive luxury item.  I feel wonderful about giving a few bucks every month to people in need on MicroGiving and hoping that that few bucks helped them get something they really needed.

I can only imagine what a good feeling it is to get someone something they don’t really need, but would really like to have.

I was so thrilled when we got the microwave.  Amy and I opened it up like it was a holiday morning!  We cleaned up a special spot for it and we had already bought some barely nutritious, overpriced, small portion frozen dinners to celebrate our new to us freezer and brand spanking new HUGE sleek microwave and everyone got a chance to use it cooking their luxury TV dinners.

To that special friend THANK YOU!  The newness has not worn off either, I find myself nuking my coffee water rather than using my little teapot I picked up at goodwill.  Seems my coffee tastes better when made in a fancy microwave oven

Written from Michie the boys mom:

My son needs to be in a new school NOW
My son is 14 years old he has osteogenesis imperfecta which is brittle bone disease and he has aspergers syndrome. Yeah that’s why I said wasn’t one enough? But this what he was dealt in life and he deals with it pretty well. I am very proud of him and he is a good kid.

Due to the economy being the way it is we had to move for my husbands job. A new state, new town, new house, new school.

This morning I had to drag a kicking and screaming 14 yr. old into a school he hates. The school is in a crack neighborhood and doesn’t have the accommodations he needs, he is being picked on and this is really traumatizing him. This breaks my heart. The alternative is private school or for him to live with his dad.

I found a great school that can accommodate his needs. They even have elevators which will mean no stairs for him thus, less the chance of broken bones.

The problem is I need a thousand dollars by Monday to get him into this safer better environment. I know it’s a lot but I fear for him every day. I hate to leave him. I know how much I am asking but I am praying for a hero.

I can save up over the summer and pay for the next years tuition but there is no way I can get the money they want this fast.

Please if there is a hero out there please, please, please help us.

Thank you and please pray for us to find a hero. Thank you so much for listening. If you have any questions please ask. I will be happy to answer any questions you have.

There is an ongoing thread in the Greedy or Needy forum that can help explain more of the situation.
The link for that is: Michie needs help BIG TIME and QUICKLY!!!

Michie has a chip in link here:

Needed School Tuition

On Wish upon a hero

Hello! I had a wish up for a battery recently someone tried to help me get one thru another member but unfortunately it didn’t work out but the effort was very much appreciated! Thank you! Well I needed the battery immediately so I used my heat money as many people are being forced to do rob Peter to pay Paul.Well I thought I would be ok but I am not able to get the money in time. I am on my last bag of wood pellets they will only make it till the AM and this is my only source of heat.
Can we please get some help? Thank you

One bag of pellets costs $6 and they family uses 2 bags a day. Please see if you have some spare change to help this family heat their home. One bag at a time, we can get this done.

Here is their wish link with paypal button:

http://www. wishuponahero. com/wishes/?id=124932