Greetings from the reservation!

Squiggles and I drove down to the reservation to visit with my parents for a few days while Brian works most of the weekend. And, since Tuesday is Veterans Day, my sister has a long weekend and is coming to visit, too. Yay! We're going for winery visit attempt #2 - they have their holiday open house this weekend with crafts and music and wine, I hope. We tried to go last month when they had 50's and 60's music and a classic car show, but it didn't work out. Brian was originally supposed to come with us this time, but he had to be at work for a VIP wedding. I hope that's not a sign of bad things for this weekend!


Anyway, as a follow-up to my car insurance adventure, that stinky gecko raised our premiums $190 per year over what they had originally quoted us! Grrr...I guess it had to do with our driving records. Mine is clean, but Brian has a couple blips on his (nothing serious, not to worry, just speeding and the like which we are all guilty of). However, I have a feeling that the main reason our premiums went up so much is because of that jerk wad who totaled our PT Cruiser back in April. You say you don't know about the jerk was who totaled our PT Cruiser? Long story short, we dropped the Cruiser off with this guy who did some part-time catering work for Brian when he wasn't doing his day job as a mechanic. Well, he *said* he was a mechanic, anyway. Brian said he trusted this guy, so of course I did, too. Unfortunately, we found out the hard way that we should NOT have trusted this guy. He took our car out for a drunken joy ride, ran it off the highway, hit the guardrail and some trees, then fled the scene. No kidding. The highway patrol called us (late) that night to inform us that our car was being towed. We had to total it with the insurance company. It was somewhat of a blessing in disguise, though, because the Cruiser wasn't that great of a car for us. In fact, we always joked that "if there was a way to total the Cruiser without anyone getting hurt..." Ha ha ha. It happened. Be careful what you wish for! We're really happy with the Accord we have now, though. Unfortunately, I have a sinking feeling that it's also the reason our insurance premiums went up. Jerk wad.

(The picture above is of a happier car memory...my little Alero hit 100K miles back in September!)