And the hits keep coming.

It's just not my week. I know there are times when it seems like nothing good happens to you, and that makes you suddenly believe there really are some sort of cosmic forces at work that feel the need to balance the world out a little, you know? Like, maybe you haven't had too many bad things happen for a while, so boom boom boom boom boom, you're suddenly in shit-city and there's no rationalizing it. It just all happens suddenly at once. And then it's over for a while (hopefully). I mean, there are times when things just really do not go your way.

That's definitely been this week for moi. Next week has to be better. I can't believe it's still only Friday, really. So, yesterday I blogged about how I wish my teenage self would have been a bit more practical in her choices of school courses. There was a purpose in that train of thought that I briefly mentioned: my car had issues.

I used to have a car that had spark plug problems. That is really the only car mechanic-like thing I can sort of diagnose. And my lovely older-model car, Tinker, was exhibiting all the signs of needing new spark plugs. Okay, that's all right. I thought I knew what I was getting into. I left work yesterday morning and drove back to JC and took the car over to the mechanic's shop, mentioning how I thought there were spark plug issues and figuring it would set me back maybe 50-80 bucks depending on how many were needing replacing. So, not a huge deal. I start school next week and due to the late class cancellation mentioned in a previous post from this week, my schedule is packed full and I'll be on the road even more than normal.

Fast forward to getting the call from the mechanic about my car. Insert heart-dropping news that my little Tinker is needing *wait for it* about 1,000 dollars worth of work on her, just to keep her from breaking down. I was right about the spark plugs, but the reason for the spark plug failures have to do with another part that has failed and needs replacement, etc., etc. On the laundry list of things wrong with the car, we (Mr. Mechanic, me, and my dad) choose certain things to be fixed now and certain things to not fix now (and maybe I won't ever fix them because I really just need Tinker to last me one more year). But still, 1000 bucks was super disappointing to a girl who truly lives on very little money anyway.

So, that was rough.

Fast-forward to last night/early this morning. Major rainstorms pushed through my town and, as you know about me, I was awake and watching the radar on tv. Now, I have a leak in my roof over a former porch area that I haven't been all that concerned about. It was something that I've known about for a while and that I just haven't gotten around to. However, about a month ago, there was water dripping from a ceiling fan. Meaning that there was water getting to an electrical wire somehow in that room. That was worrisome and bumped the need to get that looked at to the top of the list. So, hearing rain fall in the porch last night was just kind of expected. However, suddenly having rain fall right next to me onto the cat from a spot where an old patch in the living room ceiling suddenly gave way was completely unexpected. Iris was pretty miffed by the whole thing. And I couldn't stop laughing at first while running to get a bowl to put under the new leak. Also, another leak sprung up near that one so we had water coming out of the wazoo in my house last night. In its odd way though, the house has no leaks upstairs. These leaks are all on the first floor. The porch has nothing over it, but the living room has my main bathroom over it. But, the water is coming in through a false wall and just drops from the roof straight down. It isn't trickling through any of the stone walls inside the house that I can tell. This was enough of a surprise to get me to call roofers this morning to start getting estimates on repairs. We're set to get more rain tonight and tomorrow though, so my buckets are staying in place, and Iris is going to have to deal for a few more days with possibly getting wet again.

But wow. A new roof I cannot afford. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping against all hope that it's a simple flashing problem and that if someone comes, they can repair it in little to no time and at a very reasonable cost. My neighbor works for a roofing supply company in Columbia and he's taken a very superficial look at my roof from his own back porch and he told me that the roof itself looks fine but that the flashing isn't very good. And that was two years ago when he told me that. The roof is still in the same shape it was then, but I think the flashing has really given way now...obviously, and right onto a dozing blind cat who was so confused and then pissed off because she was already not able to go into her room (the porch) because of the rain and then it finds her anyway when she's just dozing in the living room. Sigh. Ahaha. Still funny...

I love my old house and my old car, but having them both go out in the same day is a little overwhelming. C'mon cosmos, surely my bad stuff happening can stop now, right? I'm beginning to feel off-kilter toward the bad stuff side of things. Let's give Jill a happy miracle, eh?