My life. Boring alert. But, this is where I dump stuff.

I have decided that the post office folks need something to fuss at me about, so I have decided to leave something off on purpose and then they will have something to fuss about. They will be happy. They will justify their existence, and I will have helped make them happy. This morning, I mailed the "Christmas" package, and had failed to sign the custom form. Voila. James may get a smile out of the Christmas cards I included. Packages to deployed soldiers must be mailed by November 10th. Done. ha. I may mail more later...so what if they don't make it by December 25. Most packages are making it within two weeks. That is good enough. I can live with that. No home baked goodies, but I don't bake much, anyway.

We will bake James a pineapple upside down cake when he gets home. It is fun, trying to fill all the nooks and crannies with little things...like hand cream, dinfectant wipes, dark chocolate.

And armed with my knitting, and a small radio and ear phones, I showed up at the Toyota dealership for our 45,000 mile oil change, tire rotation, fluid check and pesky dashboard light indicators. They tried to sell me on the $275 plus stuff, but I kept repeating: no, just the oil change, check fluids, tire rotation, and anything we HAVE to do to keep it under warranty. I handed them the "passport" book that they stamp, and where I keep all the receipts, and handed them the coupon we get in the mail. When I was "done" an hour and a half later (dishrag knitted) I went to the window to pay, and they start in again about replacing the brake fluid. A brake fluid flush. I asked: if I had that fancy coverage from the beginning that covers ALL oil changes, would you be bugging me about the brake fluid flush?? They said no. I rest my case. Must not be THAT important. Two clerks, and two salesmen started in on the importance of the brake fluid flush for some 2,000 mile coverage. Huh? I swear, they have to be getting a cut or a percentage to be pushing it so hard. I am going to ask Bob to take the car in at 50,000 miles and let them talk HIM into this stuff. I give up. The more they pushed, the more I just wanted out of there. I had to pay over one hundred dollars for that oil change, air filter, fluid check, tire rotation and pressure check, and oh, a "free" car wash. Seriously. And that is with the coupon.

Brake fluid is clear. How in the world could I tell they actually flushed it?? If it needed topped off, then that is covered in the fluid check.

And what is this asking me if I had an appointment? I said no. Did I need an appointment? Was this a bad day for them? no. They just did not want to be stepping on anyone's toes? When I asked whose toes? I was just confused with the whole exchange. Change the oil, please, without lip. Without a sell-snow job. Reset the dang dashboard indicators, because I cannot. (tempted to tape over them)

If/when we ever buy another car, I will insist on buying the oil changes up front and get it over with. Leave me alone. I feel like dealerships are not honest up front. They sell you a car for $20,000. But, for $750 more, we could have bought the full service package, and not been taken to the cleaners with each and every oil change. The tune ups---yikes. How can people afford them? It ought to be part of buying your car. I don't mind bringing it in. I don't even mind waiting for an hour and a half. I cannot work on my own car, and I figure the dealership should know how to keep their own cars under warranty.

I get letters, coupons, etc., from the dealership almost every week. I try to stuff them into the glove box so that I am ready. I have made the mistake of waiting until you pay to pull them out. That somehow negates them. So, I pull them all out at the start...much to the impatience of the salesman. I sense a disconnect between the folks that sell you the car, and their own service department. Seems like if you had a good service agreement up front, they could not keep changing the rules on me.

And next time...buy the car where you plan on getting it serviced. The one time I have travelled back to where we got it (30 miles west) they gave me a loaner car. I did not have to sit around the waiting room. One lady today had to insist on her loaner. The saleman conveniently "forgot".

My life---dealing with the post office, getting the oil changed. I keep thinking these things can be conquered. ha

I got the driveway blown off better. It only unplugged itself once, and I only dropped the heads at the end of the job in the garage, so I did not have to chase it down our steep driveway. Less hilarity for the squirrels. One of these days I will figure out how to belay the shop vac such that it does not take off down the drive all by itself. I am glad the oak trees directly above the drive are males. The put out galls, not acorns. Acorns hitting the roof and rolling down happens on the other end of the house.

Tempting to go vote early and irritate Mark Davis. He is all against early voting. He allows absentee, if you are a trucker or thusly employed such that you cannot vote on THE day. Why do it when you have to stand in long lines??

I am enjoying Bryson's book on how we got the house we have today. Why is it configured the way it is compared to the "hall" of our ancestors before chimneys were invented.

Later: 20 minutes later: just got the mail, and lo and behold, yet another letter from Toyota--the dealership I was JUST at, telling me they only charge $109 to purge, replace, brake fluid, and test drive. (with illustrations of "dirty" fluid versus "clear" wow. And the $25 percent coupon is attached for "any servie" but must be presented "during writeup" there in the small print. I will keep it in the glove box for next time...