Torrefaction

The insurance guy came and checked out the car, and it is totaled.  I feel bad for it!  But they gave me a pretty decent settlement so we're putting it toward the much nicer car we were planning on buying next year.  Hoping to go out tonight and buy it.

Poor little stinky Toyota...what a trooper.  126k miles and it probably would have gone 100 more if not for the water.

Posted by alchemist at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The fresh-ish smell in the car lasted for about 20 minutes, and then it started smelling like a swamp.  Hub kindly took it for detailing - they did a very nice job, it's never been so clean.  For about half a day it smelled like a very pungent lemon grove.

Now it smells like a pungent lemon grove situated on the shore of an even more pungent swamp. 

I filed an insurance claim yesterday and it goes to the body shop on Friday to see if replacing the carpets will take care of the problem.

Posted by alchemist at 05:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning I came out of the house to find my car standing in water up to its axles...the water subsided quickly but left several gallons inside the car where you would normally put your feet. I vac'ed it out using my neighbor's shop vac (jeez, I gotta get me one of those! so cool) but it remained fairly squishy. Also when I started the car, using the remote starter and standing way back in case it decided to explode, about a gallon of water came out of the exhaust pipe.

But now it's mostly fine. I drove it to work and back without incident, and it doesn't smell bad...yet. I can't leave the windows open to help it dry because it's still raining off and on. We'll take it to get its carpets shampooed and steam cleaned ASAP and with luck it'll be ok.

Of course, all the metal parts may be disintegrating into rust this very moment...but as long as it smells fresh, who cares?

Posted by alchemist at 06:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been 7 weeks since our fingerprint appointment.  This is one week too long!  We should have heard something from USCIS by now!

I know, I know, 6 weeks is the minimum.  It  can take up to 12 weeks.  And given how long the wait is once we get our dossier finished, this is nothin'.  But it's got me worrying that the gummint is going to say "no!" to our adoption.  Ugh.  I hate waiting.

It doesn't help that I went to a baby shower Friday (a really laid back, enjoyable one, where people talked mainly about their dogs and remodelling their houses...but still a baby shower) and then spent Sunday with my MIL who wants us to hurry up and get our baby already, because she's not getting any younger.  Yeah...neither am I.  And my mom and dad are nearly 80, so I'm well aware that some people may not be around any more by the time we bring the baby home.  But...it's not like I can do anything about it.  And it seems to me that other people bitching to me about the wait is roughly equivalent to saying "what?  You're STILL not pregnant?"

Ah, I'm cranky today.  Waah, waah, waah.  Hopefully that will clear up in the next SIX OR EIGHT FUCKING WEEKS when I maybe maybe get that last piece of paper.

 

Posted by alchemist at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)