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Cars Massachusetts Money Stupidity

Inspection Day Miracle

The spouse’s Chevy S-10 has had the service engine light on for months. One of those silly emissions-related things that cost a fortune to fix and seem designed more to support the repair industry artificially than to be necessary to us proles. At least, that’s what my nephew’s device for speaking to car computers said, and that’s usually what it is. $500 for… being able to get a valid inspection sticker for a car that has no other symptoms than conspiring to make you fail an arbitrary regulatory hurdle.

Anyway, the sticker expired at the end of September. Money was tight even to spend $29 on inspection, so you can imagine what the extortive repair would mean. I finally took it today.

I got in the truck, started it up, and… no more engine light!

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I was worried that it somehow cleared itself, and would be in the same state clearing it electronically would create. If you use a device to clear the error electronically, the computer in the car lacks enough data for the inspection computer to say that it’s working right for emissions. You fail, and have to give it a week or so to accumulate information, then get it retested. Thus if you have a rejection sticker and repair will involve resetting it, you really should get the repair done a week or more before the deadline of the rejection sticker. Otherwise you go over, even if you didn’t want (need) to.

But no… it passed! There were no other problems, and the computers had a friendly chat that resulted in much happiness on my part. Even if there is something wrong, at least we buy time.

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Cars Food & Cooking Kids Medical Money Totally Random

Teeth and Acid and Gas, Oh My

Due to genetics compounded by parenting errors and circumstance, all three kids require a mouth full of dentistry under general anesthesia to fix their teeth, relieve pain mainly in Valerie’s case, and set them up to get through to their adult teeth and do better with those. They’ve gotten better about brushing. We’ve all but eliminated drinking things with sugar, and thrown away the sippy cups. Oddly enough, the youngest was the one most comfortable using a regular cup, and most willingly ready for the change.

Valerie has massive cavities in rear molars, and has had a course of antibiotics on suspicion of infection.

She has a long history of flipping moods like a switch, dropping into full blown irrational tantrum mode for no apparent reason. That includes asking for random this or that, then vehemently not wanting the same thing she asked for. I’d wondered if she had sugar crashes and maybe had a food-related issue that way. A snack could help, after all, if she calmed enough to eat it. I’d wondered if it was a psychological thing. It was a matter of time – not much time – before I’d have asked the doctor.

Her back teeth are especially rotted.

She tends to get a strained sounding voice, almost hoarse. Noticed but didn’t give it much thought. Sore throat, maybe. Not a tendency to cough, though, or to spit up.

While she was on antibiotics, helped by her being able to distinguish and communicate more clearly what hurts, it became clear she had a major gas and heartburn problem, probably reflux. Turns out the sudden tantrum thing is a symptom. She’s missing some of the possible symptoms, but once suspected, I could see that it would come on like clockwork a while after meals, varying with what the meal was. She seems to get heartburn from some of the same things I do, so I can predict it more easily, or get it at the same time she does.

I need to find out what to do for her other than mere gas drops, which help but not always as much as I’d like. It can be almost like an off switch, though. She’ll be hysterical, let out a belch, then be fine. The whole thing got more pronounced and obvious on the antibiotics – that is, she had obvious gas, so there was no way to miss it.

She still confuses and conflates the two. I am sure she has tooth pain, plenty of it, but it appears that most of her “my mouth hurts” pain and tantrums are on account of gas and acid. I feel for her, because I know just how awful it can be when that hits. I give her a lot of latitude in choice of treatment. She’ll ask for gas drops if that is the problem from her perception. She’ll ask for ibuprofen if it’s the teeth, or if gas drops didn’t work yet and she’s frantic, which is the tough part.

Thus I’ll be glad when she gets the teeth fixed and the immediate aftermath pain of that is done. Then if she hurts the same way, it’s not teeth. Hers are scheduled first, on January 11. Sadie goes on the 14th, and Henry on the 18th. Three back to back trips into Boston in the car I am not sure will pass inspection it’s due to have before the end of December, for which I don’t have the money. Fun.

Worse than the confusion between things causing pain or discomfort, she uses “my mouth hurts” like an attention getting cudgel. That is challenging to distinguish from the real thing. Sometime, anyway. Other times it’s obvious, though not sure I could explain how.

Anyway, how weird is it to get a real post here? Time to get a shower, throw in still more laundry, maybe call the doctor about what to give her for the above, get the kids dressed, go pay my car insurance, get gas, and probably go to my mother’s to get the camera I left there and some pea soup they have for me. Maybe leave kids there and get my hair cut, but don’t think there’ll be time. It’s long overdue, though, and that would save a trip. We’ll see.

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Cars Money Stupidity Totally Random Weather

Speaking of Snow…

The downstairs neighbors are morons. They insist on the end spot so they can get out easily when it snows, then leave almost a full car length between them and end of driveway, making it hard for us to park in the next spot in, which we had to go in and out of twice for jobs before they ever budged. At least their newly moved-back-in son helped shovel, though me and the gal upstairs did most of it, including clearing their primo spot they abandon when it snows.

Saturday shift was surreal. Normally it’s been 3 AM to sometime after 7 but before 8, during peak the past week. Knowing trucks wouldn’t make it, they planned 4 AM instead, and when we all got there, nothing had shown. Two were due in maybe an hour, and two more after a further delay, so it looked like it’d be a late shift, but then the others ran so late we had only two trailers. As opposed to eleven the past couple of days. For the first hour we had a safety meeting to occupy the time, in keeping with the place being the most injury plagued facility in the company for no apparent reason. It’s new, but past the breaking in stage, and was designed to be very safe. For me most of the issue has been how the trailers are loaded, but that can’t be unique to the ones routed our way. Sitting down for that killed my momentum most of the way. I get little sleep and only keep going much of the time because I’m going. About a third into the one trailer I co-unloaded, I just crashed, feeling sick, almost like I was going to collapse, weak from all the shoveling effort the night before, and vaguely like I was ravenously hungry. I managed to shake it off enough, and it helped to take off my sweatshirt and work in a T-shirt when it was borderline for that, but I was damn glad when they announced there would be no other trailers. With so many people swarming the work, there was no additional stuff for me to help with, so I was out early.

Ironically, at the meeting they emphasized lack of sleep as perhaps the biggest cause of injuries at that facility. Felt very guilty. The thing is, for the amount of time involved, up to a point it’s possible to overcome and maintain your attention to surroundings and all. Which will make Monday interesting.

Normally there is no Monday morning shift. There has been a short one for a couple weeks, staffed by a few people. Due to the snow, they planned a mandatory Monday shift starting at 1:30 AM. Due to the trucks we didn’t get today, now it’s midnight. Or 12:01, as the manager pedantically put it, to delineate clearly it’s Monday. So that’s going to be massive. Basically a double, 7-8 hours long. Ouch. Immediately following a second significant snow (and ice?) storm and all that implies. Ouch ouch.

The good thing is that makes up for what would have been a three day week. I can look forward to no work on Christmas, unlike Thanksgiving, and no work the next day, same as Thanksgiving. There will be the huge day, the two last ditch days, two days off, one day on, then the normal two days off. Which only feels like one day, due to when the shifts fall and the sleep catch up factor. Then the peak season ends a week later, during which it presumably tapers off dramatically.

I could do without all this snow.

Deb got a trial by fire, having to drive in it. Which at least is much improved by weight in the back of the truck. We do need to get the Buick back into reliable service, as it should be a good snow commute car. It needs a battery badly. I don’t want to spend $70 I can’t afford on a battery until after I know it will pass inspection without any serious issues. That is, if it needs a couple tires to pass, as expected, a battery will be worthwhile. If it’s going to be beyond fixing any time soon to pass inspection, which I have no reason to expect but this is my life, no sense buying a battery.

Sadie just came along and if I had more, or was leading to any further point, I can’t remember. Plus it is time to work on the kitchen and think about supper and, speaking of exhaustion, have more coffee. I am so glad this is a full night of sleep tonight, in theory. Last night I got about 2.5 hours. Since coming home this morning I’ve gotten maybe an hour equivalent of micronapping or simply resting. Tomorrow night, before the megashift, I don’t expect any. The best I could possibly expect would be 2 hours. Mmmm… coffee.

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Cars Geekery Job Hunting Kids Money Totally Random

Cards

I have a list of about 140 or so people to send our now traditional Christmas cards to this year, including the addition of a lot of people who generously helped us out, by way of thanks.

We ordinarily get picture cards printed, featuring the kids, which is a challenge. I mean, three of them, together, looking at the camera, perhaps smiling at the same time? It’s not pretty. I don’t really have one I’m happy with yet, though one is close, except for being too dark without adjusting it.

Well, that’s almost $60 in postage and almost $50 in printed cards. I expect that to be enough to cover stuff needed for the Buick. Or it covers the preliminary look see at the truck, which will then tell us what we have to raise to get the check engine light off and the poor thing sounding better.

So.

This will be the year without a picture card, or not many of them. and without a snailmailed card, or not many of them. There are some pretty decent cards we have left from years past, of the traditional variety. But then, it’s getting late even to send them. I keep forgetting Christmas is here already. Ten days? That’s nothing.

So.

Look for no card in the mail, most of you who might normally get one, and instead I will attempt to post the card/picture we would have used in a special location I will disclose to those on the card list I can e-mail or give the info in a traditional card. Stay tuned, if that’s you.