The challenge: 1014 pages in 14 days

  I so enjoyed Ken Follett’s foray into medieval England in The Pillars of the Earth that I’ve eagerly awaited the sequel, World Without End.  After 6 weeks on the waiting list at the local library, I got the call: it was finally my turn.  I picked up my copy last night, along with the sad news that because there were still 47 people on the waiting list after me, I could only keep the hefty tome for two weeks.

Had I all the free time in the world, tearing through a book this size in two weeks would not be a problem.  I am an avid reader, and assuming this book is similar to Pillars, it will be interesting and fast-moving.  But with the time constraints of work and family, logging almost 100 pages a day, every day, is going to take some effort.  It may mean that knitting (how I usually occupy myself during the morning and evening train commute) will have to be put on hold for a couple weeks.

Let No Good Deed Go Unpunished

After dropping off some household items for the MV Big Flea, a community flea market fundraiser to benefit our neighborhood elementary school, I was attempting to back out of a narrow alley and managed to sideswipe the mirror off the driver’s door of my car.  Fortunately, the swiping was courtesy of a utility pole rather than someone else’s vehicle.  Unfortunately, preliminary estimates put the cost of repair in the several-hundred dollar range, far more than the value of the items I had just donated.  I’d have been better off had I stayed home and just written them a check.

However, my luck was not all bad.  My father happens to be an auto mechanic and I spent lots of time at his elbow in his garage–yes, I was a bit of a tomboy and probably the only girl in my 6th grade class who knew how to bleed a brake line.  Though I have since moved several states away from where I grew up and thus too far for him to make the repair, he convinced me that the job would not be that difficult and that he could tell me over the phone how to do it.  He was able to get the replacement mirror at cost for me, $75 including shipping.  (To go through a garage here would have cost almost $200 just for the mirror, plus the labor charges to install it.)

Armed with my new mirror and a very basic set of household tools, I commenced to tear the car door apart in order to install the new mirror.  I got off to a poor start when I found that I didn’t have the proper tool to remove one of the screws (which Dad told me later was a TORX screw), but with a little stubbornness and ingenuity I managed to jam an Allen wrench in there to get the job done.  About 30 minutes later I was proudly adjusting the new mirror, door panel firmly reattached.  And yes, the electronic controls for the door locks and windows still worked, too.

Last minute Valentine’s gift

From GardenFun, a way to get yourself out of hot water if you forgot your sweetie on Valentine’s Day:

**What is our UPS Next Day Ass-Saver Shipping option?
Literally what it sounds like. You got busy, Valentine’s Day snuck up on you, and you completely forgot to buy that special someone a creative thoughtful gift. Now you’re going to be in serious hot water! No problem. We’ll ship out your order on Valentine’s Day via Next Day Air. In addition, we will call your recipient (on Feb 14th) and apologize for the unexpected delay. We’ll make up some story about the package falling off a truck or being lost in transit for you and relay that we have sent a replacement overnight so it at least arrives on the 15th. We will also suggest not taking out any frustrations on you, as you will already be extremely disappointed with UPS. (Only if asked, your order was originally placed with us on Feb 6th.) This Next Day Ass-Saver shipping option will disappear from this website by Feb 15th and we will be denying any existence of it.

Expect to spend an additional $80 for this option.