Running

The last while has been pretty ridiculous.  I feel like I've been running around constantly!  We had some unusual stuff pop up and that had us rearrange pretty much everything.  When it all settled down, I expected things to slow down a bit and get back to normal.

They didn't.

With our Christmas season soon to kick in (yeah, I know, it isn't even Halloween yet, but I'm a crafter, which means getting started requires more time), things are just going to pick up.  Throw in my husband's health issues and Eldest's new job, and I find myself heading out about 3 times a day.

Did I mention Eldest has a new job? :-D

Locally, the job market seems to be picking up dramatically.  I'm seeing "help wanted" signs everywhere.  Part of it is because businesses are looking for more staff for Christmas, but it started picking up before that could be considered the reason.

Eldest had dropped her resume off at a few art stores, but they haven't been looking for much lately.  Then she filled out an online application for Michaels.  She specified a store that we usually frequent.  A day or two after she finished submitting the online application, she got a call from a different store.  They called on a Wednesday, asking if she could come in for a Thursday morning interview.  She walked out of the interview with a job!  She applied for, and got, a job in receiving.  They asked her to come in on the Saturday at noon to do some paperwork, saying it would be about 3 hours.  She finished the paperwork after about an hour or so, then they put her to work in the back!  Her first shift was 3am on the next Monday, and today she just finished another shift with a 3am start.

The down side of a 3am shift is that the buses stop running at 1:30am and don't start again until 5:30am.  Which means I have to drive her.  She could take a cab I suppose, but the cost is prohibitive, and we don't exactly have reliable cab service in our city.  There are plenty of cabs out there; their service just sucks.

I don't mind driving her, though.  I tend to be up late anyhow, and it gives us a chance to chat.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make up for the lost sleep by sleeping in.  Whether it's running errands that are time dependant, needing to pick up Dh from work because his back has gone bonkers again, or whatever, I just haven't been able to get any real sleep.  The things that need doing aren't a problem; it's just that I'm not getting any chance to catch up on things in between, whether it's my email, my course work or just plain sleep! *L*

My crochet classes are getting sign ups now, though.  I had my first official class, and it was a blast.  I've got classes booked every week; it's just a matter of getting people to sign up for them.  I've finished the first part of my instructor's course and have started on the second part, but with all the running around, I've accomplished little.

We've had some issues with our van, though.  Some weird electrical gremlin is affecting our lights, inside and out, and it's getting worse.  For the first time in 2 years, I contacted the dealership asking about our coverage for that (if the coverage we paid for does cover it, it'll only cost us our deductible.  Otherwise, I have no idea what it will cost to fix), along with a couple other questions.   After 2 yrs of no claims against our roadside assistance, we were supposed to get some money back.  I was told to talk to the insurance company and they had no idea what I was talking about.  What they had was a different type of coverage, and it would require claims free to 2015.  Which means if we get our van fixed using our coverage, we lose the rebate.

We were supposed to go into the dealership on Thanksgiving afternoon to talk about that, including the possibility of a trade in (that would allow us to have lower interest rates, though I doubt it would have given us lower payments).  The dealership has moved since we bought that van and, while I had a vague idea of where it was, having driven past it some time ago, the salesman gave me directions to the entrance, which isn't on the main road.

We never found the place.   His directions sent me someplace else completely. This actually exemplified why I had numerical street systems.  Dh tried calling for directions while I drove around, trying to find the street the salesman told me I should take (it turned out to be an avenue), but after following the directions from the receptionist, who somehow got it in her head that we were coming from a different direction, we got to an area that was primarily residential.  Dh even used google maps on his phone, which was so vague, I still didn't know where it was supposed to be.  We decided to just go home.  Dh phone again, this time to leave a message for the salesman we were supposed to meet, but the receptionist couldn't get past his name (a French version of a common English name).  He was so pissed, he gave up trying to leave a message and we just went home.

Once home, I looked up the place online and that's where we found out that the place was no where near where we were told to go, and that the avenue (not street)  their entrance is on didn't even extend to where we were told to go - it was cut off by the residential area we saw, instead.

So I fired off an email to the salesman explaining why we didn't make it, expressing our unhappiness, and asking the one question they weren't addressing, even after asking 3 times; did our coverage include the sort of electrical problem we described.

It's been 3 days and he still hasn't answered.  I don't think he will.

So now I'm driving around with a van with only one headlight in the front, one set of lights in the back, a break light that pops on and off, sometimes dinging, sometimes not, at random, a left signal that blinks at double time, but not sometimes doesn't turn on at all anymore, and a right signal that sometimes becomes a left signal, then back again on its own.  I've already been warned that trying to track down a problem like what we're having can be extremely expensive - and that's before the cost of repair. 

Beyond this, I'm really happy with our van.  I have no real desire to trade up, though if it would have resulted in lower payments, I would have been okay with that.  I'm just ticked that we're not getting our questions answered, and then that weird runaround, and now no contact at all.

Irritating.

Well, I'm feeling myself fall asleep as I type this, so I'd better finish up.  Not that I can go for a nap or anything.   Time to go do dishes, then dirty them up again to make supper.  Assuming I don't get a message from Dh asking for a ride, which I expect will happen within the next half hour.

*sigh*