On my drive home from Virginia my "Service Engine Soon" light came on as soon as I crossed the Florida state line. I had oil and water and the engine was not over heating; just an occasional chug-chug when I stopped or started, so I resolved to make it home. It was the long, Memorial Day weekend so I had to wait until Tuesday to call for an appointment to get my car serviced. I could not get an appointment until the following Wednesday. I drive a GM, and so many people are panicked about GM going under that the dealership is flooded with services and repairs.

It is Saturday and I still do not know exactly what is wrong with my car. It appears that the transmission is malfunctioning and sent an internal signal to the diagnostic gadget, but they have not yet pinpointed the exact problem. Apparently that is done by an 'adjuster'--- from the warranty company(?) In the mean time, on Thursday they arranged for a rental. It was really scary at first because they told me that my warranty was expired. (59,000 miles on the car) I knew better and located the original purchase order and was able to prove I paid for the 100,000 mile extended warranty., but not before I had a complete melt-down. (Panic attack!)

Sometime while in Virginia I lost my debit card. I am fairly certain that it was at my sister's house. She had recently moved into a new house and there are boxes and piles everywhere. I canceled that card and ordered a new one. I don't carry cash, and boy, did I ever feel handicapped without it! The new card arrived today. Life is somewhat back to normal. I have a car in the driveway and a debit card in my purse.

How have I survived the past week? By drawing. I am doing a painting of a Red Hat dinner and there are at least seven ladies in that scene. It took me three days to draw and compose it- then re-draw it on to the canvas. Now, I am working on the under-painting. I am so glad that I chose to do this with an under-painting because I have already found errors in my original composition--- things like, that is NOT how a hat fits on a head! I can usually pin point errors like this by looking at my painting through a mirror. That begs the question, why can't I see them looking at it straight on?