Something's Gotta Give - Part 2

What do Milk Duds have to do with this?
Read on - you'll see!

When it rains, it pours, they say.

After last week's ordeal (exactly one week ago!) I thought maybe I was over the hump.  Hmmmm...  Guess not.

I've been having some niggling car issues that I've put off a few weeks - after all, I'm not driving much.  I fill up the gas tank about once a month, compared to once a week when I was working!  So I wasn't in a HUGE hurry when the oil change notification popped up on the dashboard display.  I mean, it comes up when the oil life is still supposedly at 20 percent.  Well, I'm not getting it changed until it's a LOT closer to ZERO!

And for a couple of months, when I turn the car, there has been this subtle "thump" from the right rear quarter of the car.  I suspected something in the rear suspension.  Oh, goody.

In the past two weeks, when the car's not moving, the dash display has started showing TWO new notifications:  "Traction Contol Off" and "Service Brake System."  Plus the red idiot light "BRAKES" came on at the same time.  Oh, GOODY.

Yesterday, while I was running some errands, I flipped on my right turn signal, and it started blinking like crazy.  Heavy sigh.  One of the bulbs had burned out.  Good grief. What next???

I'd planned to take the car to the shop this week anyway, so I called and made an appointment to have it looked at today.  By gosh, I was going to remove these low-level automotive anxieties from my brain!

And here's where the
Milk Duds come in.

Then last night, while I was watching an old movie and munching Milk Duds, I lost a crown.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  Are you kidding me???  Of course, I had to extract the crown from a caramel-y Milk Dud - FUN.  So I called the dentist.  Because it was late at night (well, honestly, early this morning!), I left a message.

This morning, I took the car to the shop, and That Man followed me to take me back home.  Shortly after gingerly eating a bagel for breakfast, I got The Call - come to the dentist's office at 9:00 - ohyespleaseandthankyou!!!

So here's the status as it stands right now!  The dentist cemented the crown back on.  (That Man told me it probably popped off from all the recent stress - HA!)  I was in and out of there in 30 minutes, and it feels fine - like nothing had happened at all.  

I was right about the car's suspension.  The rear shocks were leaking, the right sway bar link was broken, and the control arms were loose.  All those repairs require an alignment, too.  For the brakes, the master cylinder was leaking into the vacuum booster, and that affects the anti-lock brakes and traction control.  The bad turn signal bulb was the right rear, and the oil and filter have been already been changed.  Whew!!!

I'll get the car back tomorrow, and I'll be some mega-bucks poorer, but it's all necessary stuff if I intend to keep the car - and I DO.  

The car only has 201,000 miles on it.  After all this, I should be able to squeeze another 100,000 out of it, don'tcha think?