So the last few days have been interesting...
On Tuesday, we were out and the car started to overheat. We stopped in at a gas station and put in some water (which usually does the trick), but the gauge was still nearing the HIGH level. As we were in the area, we stopped in at an old Scout Master of Ben's, Gary Heffner who has a garage over on Center Road in Mesa (little plug there); after a nice catch-up-chat, we were given the dire news... The head gasket's are cracked which is causing carbon monoxide to enter into the radiator and whole lotta of other mumbo jumbo but basically, its not doing the job of cooling the car down.
Okay, so I am so not mechanical and the fact that I even remember "head gaskets" has me pretty super-impressed with myself.
So to fix it, it'll cost us over $2,000 and we've got a 1998 Ford Explorer SUV with near 200,000 miles on it... I am told that this is pretty good and that basically she has "given up the ghost", and the best thing for us is to trade her in for a newer model.
After a gallon and a half of water directly into the radiator, we're right to go... but with the dire warning to not take the freeways, but go for the slower side roads; no air-conditioning... OK so Arizona has not hit the heat yet, but c'mon! The sun shines here 300 days of the year and when sun hits the vehicle, I don't care HOW cold it gets, it gets darn hot inside!
So my brilliant husband decides that this problem is actually not something new and we can probably take it for another six months or so. Lets hope I'll not be flagging anyone down to help give us a ride if his "theory" is proven wrong! That'll sure be a blog and a half.
Well the stress of all that "excitement" had me falling asleep in the car; which really is so rare for me. By the time we arrived home and I wake up, I am in a full-blown fibromyalgia flare-up. The pain is so severe I can hardly walk to the house from the car.
Most people who I meet have no idea what Fibromyalgia is, so here is the "Google Health" definition to help you out:
"Fibromyalgia is a common condition characterized by long-term, body-wide pain and tender points in joints, muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues. Fibromyalgia has also been linked to fatigue, morning stiffness, sleep problems, headaches, numbness in hands and feet, depression, and anxiety."
WOW! It's common! Gone are the days when it seemed to be this rare dis-ease that plagued women and was mostly mis-diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue. So, I guess I am not that "unique" after all... oh well, who wants to be unique when it comes to such illness of the body, right? Quite frankly, you can take the darn dis-ease and shove it up... Well, I am sure you get the idea.
So with the flare-up this week, which BTW has been one of the worst I have ever had, came on so suddenly and I've never had it flare-up like that before; I've not been able to do much of anything but sit and ponder life. (The last time I did that, it lent to Ben shaving off his beard after over ten years! A good thing? Who knows anymore... Side note: Be VERY careful what you wish for, ask for a new man and you might just get the shock of your life. Gone with the beard are a lot of little things which added up to a lotta big things, he really is a new man, and I'm still getting used to him... Topic for another blog somewhere down the line. Possibly.)
And one thing I have realised in my endless hours of pondering life... waiting for a budgie to lay an egg is like waiting for a Tsunami to hit Hawaii, only to be fraught with disappointment... or relief depending on how you look at it.
I have literally sat for hours watching this neurotic budgie hop from perch to perch, into her nesting box, throwing everything out of her nesting box, then knock on her food dish until it too becomes dislodged and lands on the cage floor. I have seen her take the grit perch covering, which is about twice as long as she is; and try to pop it into her nesting box... cos you know, when those babies hatch, they'll be just making a mad dash for the grit. I've watched her twist off a metal nut and bolt which is attaching her nesting box to the cage; and I've seen her bite off the ties which are holding the cage doors down, and sit there lifting the doors wide open, much to the delight and hope of the cats sat watching her. She has near destroyed the box which contains her nesting material, only to take the material and throw it about the cage, then attempt to push it out of the cage. Of course none of this stuff is making its way in to the nesting box.
And poor Peter, our male budgie, tries so desperately to help Lucy out, only to get shut down and shut out time and time again. You can literally see her having a mood swing and having "words" with him. And boy she can scream at him with the best of them. And poor Peter, he sits and takes it; one can visually see his head getting lower as she chastises him. Then, he hops off and tries to do something else to please her, and of course is met with further disdain on Lucy's part.
Yep, in this past week of trying to alleviate my pain in my arm chair, spending too many countless hours watching these budgies with the fascination of a child viewing life for the first time; I have come to realise something... That is this, no matter what species we are, women will always find a way to have a mood swing and put our men in their places; and no matter how hard they try to please us, we never seem to find that satisfaction in them, even if we think we do.
So, I publicly wish to apologise to my dear husband for all the fault I've found in him over this past week and want him to know that I really DO appreciate him, even if he doesn't move fast enough or have sonar hearing, or can read my mind and just do what I want him to do without having to ask. For all those "faults", I love him dearly and am so incredibly grateful that he is my husband and my "burden"; and I am so grateful that each time I overheat, he adds a little bit of water and takes me a little further together with him. I just hope that he won't be looking at trading me in for a "newer model" anytime soon.
Am I promising to not ill-treat him again, well yes... until my next mood swing. ;-)
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