Annie was sick

For those of you who don't know, Annie is my 1997 Cherry Red Dodge Neon. Last year she started overheating on a more and more regular basis, but EVERY SINGLE TIME I brought her to the mechanic, he could not get her to overheat. He could find nothing wrong. Everything I thought of as a potential fix, he said he'd do, for a very high price. I have been fighting going back into the red for a while now. Bills with obnoxious collection agencies come first. Sorry Annie. But I needed some work done on my car, and I had no idea what needed fixing. It was a source of major aggravation and stress.

I can handle a lot of stress. I can handle the chaos that is working retail or worse, a portrait studio, during the holiday rush. I can handle having several jobs and deadlines all at once. My multi-tasking skills are the envy of all who see them. I can handle getting lost, because I have enough sense to which way is north at all times and be able to retrace my steps. I don't like to, but I can even handle a group of unhappy three-year-olds who all want to play with the same puzzle. But money stress, I cannot handle. It follows me around and invades EVERY thought I have. I have been lucky enough to be blessed with family who help me when they can, sometimes when they can't. I am SO close to getting rid of my one remaining credit card and starting the work that is improving my credit. But I literally thought there was no hope for me in the car department. I'd never be able to afford to fix her (I thought I was looking at $1000 to rebuild the transmission) and replacing her? Doubtful.

Yesterday I was quoted $124 by a car service company to have my thermostat replaced. I thought that price was a little ridiculous, borderline disgusting actually. So I called a semi-retired mechanic friend of the family. He said "$124 for a thermostat? No. That's far too high." So why then, am I praising the man who charged me $190? Here's a list of what this awesome dude did for me.

*transmission fluid flush
*Replaced thermostat
*Oil Change
*New Air Filter...

Does it make sense now? I thought it would. And Annie? She now gets more than 8 miles to the gallon. You think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. The stress is gone. Now it's just a credit card and some other incidental bills. Normal, everyone has that kind of stuff, debt. This is a hole I can dig myself out of. I can do it relatively quickly and easily. I feel so good right now.