These things come in threes, right??

When I was driving home from my very long work day I was thinking to myself, "Hmmm... what do I blog about tonight?". Well Universe, this isn't what I had in mind.

I want to start this by saying I am okay and my Kiaster seems to be okay. But seriously- 3 people hitting my car in ONE year. For effin heck sake! So I was driving home and I go to turn left, pull in behind the car in the left turning lane, signal light on, stopped a safe distance away, waiting at the red light. There is an accident and lots of police cars blocking the way we were going to turn. So what does car in front of me decide to do? Oh yeah, REVERSE into my car. WTF!?! I just about peed my pants. I took her information (she "didn't see me") and will check things out in the light tomorrow but things are looking all right. I just want to sob myself to sleep. What did I do, Universe? Whatever it is, I'm sorry. Enough with the machines running into me already! Is this some twisted car-ma? Probably with puns like that, I suppose.

I hope your commute home was more successful. And hey, I guess I should look on the bright side- at least I wasn't involved in the serious accident across the street.

Kiaster 2.0

Like I mentioned, I was rear ended shortly before starting my [new] job. My poor gold Kia received a lot of damage and as a result the other insurance company refused to repair it and paid me out. Which actually really, really sucked. I don't understand how one day you can have a perfectly good car that is reliable, looks good and is mechanically sound and they can give you such a measly amount because it's "old". Needless to say, my joy of being debt free was shortlived and I went straight back into debt buying the Kiaster 2.0. I do love it though, especially the heated seats. Seriously, I wish all of my seats (except for my toilet seat because that creeps me out) could be heated. I've never had a car this new (it's 2009) so that is a novelty. I am cheap though so I would have rather kept that money and waited a few years to buy a new car. Oh well. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me since the woman that hit me didn't even see me and probably was going 60 km/hr while I was at a complete stop. The impact was so jarring that my cigarette astray thing popped out completely! Luckily it was full of change and not cigarette butts. I'm just glad I wasn't seriously injured.

Now my car is pretty awesome since I have a GPS (trust me, this was a valuable investment for work) and automatic windows and doors. Basically I have arrived into the 21st century! Now all I need are some fuzzy dice.

Visitors

If things weren't busy enough, we just had some visitors from far, far away. Matt and Leah's mom, Ali, came to visit and she brought her lovely friend Mary along too! It was really great seeing them both. Ali lives extra far away in Thailand and so we only see her once a year or so. Mary is a bit closer (at least she lives in the same country!) but we don't see her that often either.

I had to finish up work for a few days and we were in the midst of packing but we still managed a pretty good visit. Matt and Ali went to Elk Island Park for a hike one day and another day I took Ali and Mary to the Art Gallery of Alberta. They just reopened it after making some big changes and it was pretty cool. My favorite part was the Degas sculptures and the Yousuf Karsh exhibit. You could even take your own "Karsh style" picture and email it to yourself. I hate both of the ones taken of me but I think these ones of Ali and Mary are cute. What do you think?

Mary and Ali were good sports about helping us pack things and move. Mary left a little earlier and while Ali was here I was rear ended. My poor little Kiaster!!! At least $1500 of damage and the other person wrote their vehicle off. I'm sore and it was really frustrating to not be able to lift anything or help with the move. I held a lot of doors open and put lunch together. I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life that are willing to help me out. I hope my car gets fixed soon but I think it's going to be a hassle. Ugh! Not fair- I was doing everything correctly and I have to do all this running around. This is the second time I've had to get her repaired this year (a family friend backed into my door and messed it up on Boxing Day). Anyway, the good outweighs the bad so hopefully it will all be resolved soon.

We had lots of laughs and good food and their visit went by too quickly. Hopefully we can get together again soon and things won't be so chaotic! I wouldn't mind going to Thailand again- it's our turn to visit, right?

Meet the Kiaster!

We bought my Dad's Kia Rio on Monday. Isn't it adorable and fabulous? What a step up from our old Honda Civic! You can't tell but it's gold. I love goooooold! Isn't that vierd?

We've got the apartment, got the car, got the cell phones and I have a job interview on Monday! Things are looking up!