Two pieces of relatively good news about the accident after the Koscadia meet-up on the 31st. One, injuries seem to be accounted for and mostly bruises. Two, my insurance covers everything. The bad news is that Squatty was totaled out - it would have cost more to repair than it was worth.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Further good news - my firstborn qualified for a car loan, and knows exactly what she wants. She needs to do some test drives, and not all of the money we will use for the down payment has arrived yet (Squatty was worth a reasonable amount, even if not enough to be worth repairing), but we will have a car again real soon now.
The insurance check and my federal refund will provide the down payment for the new car. They will both have arrived by the time the firstborn makes up her mind which specific vehicle she wants and what dealership she wants to deal with. This will be settled on Thursday, but she has a couple of medical/dental appointments to deal with that day as well and will be very firm about doing the paperwork on Saturday.
My daughter has been fussing about what I want to drive. I keep telling her that I will be able to cope - I am not the one who has two kids who won't stop growing. I'm going to help pay for the thing, because I will also be driving it; but it will be HER car.
I want another MINI Cooper, but that can wait for a while. And when I get one, the use of it will be entirely and only mine.
I have two more payments to make on my computer, which are already scheduled. By the end of this month, I will own it free and clear. That will release $200 a month back into my disposable income which, if past experience is any indication, will result in $300 a month available to throw at car payments. Honest - every single one of the last five routine expenses that I have paid off has resulted in about half again as much money available to me as I was paying out.
So far, the inconvenience has amounted to grocery shopping (though I do have food enough to last at least another 10 days) and having to change my chiropractic appointment to mid-day rather than first one of the morning. There's a transit center across the freeway from my chiropractor's current office, and a bridge across that freeway (no, I am not looking forward to that particular walk), but getting there on public transit by 8:00 AM would be difficult.
I didn't cry when my cat died last spring - it was old age, and he had very obviously decided it was time. My car, however, .... Not, by any means, the first one I'd paid for - my first husband seemed to feel he was entitled to use my money as his own - but definitely the first one that was really and truly mine.