"New" Business Truck

By Mrs. Accountability on December 20th, 2008

Mr. A’s work truck is a Ford F150, I can never remember the year on it but I think it’s a 1987. It broke down again on Thursday. I finally got him and AJ put on my AAA towing service account. AAA is pretty cool in that they will add other people onto your account and prorate the account, so it only cost me $40 to have them added. We don’t get the basic plan, since being towed five miles wouldn’t help us in the least.

The Ford had the timing chain replaced not too long ago, and apparently there was a gear issue which the mechanic said could go bad, so apparently this did go bad the other day. I drove over to wait with Mr. A while the towing company arrived. In the meantime, Mr. A talked to his sister, who told him her brother-in-law was selling a 1996 Chevy pickup with 140K miles for $2000.

My vehicle, a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder with 277,000 miles on it, has been giving us fits. We have a rear oil seal leak, I think that’s what Mr. A said is wrong, and it is going to take a few days for Mr. A to take it apart and figure out the problem. We were leaking water, it was so weird. The leak appeared to be coming directly from the hose that connects to the thermostat, so Mr. A replaced that hose. He resealed the connection to the thermostat, but it didn’t seem to be working. It kept leaking. He redid it three times. Finally he was able to observe the drip was coming from right above that area, from a small, hidden hose. We thought the problem was fixed, but we still had had another intermittent leak. Finally he found the other small hose, which was even smaller than the first one and cost $20 to replace.

We decided to go ahead and get the 1996 Chevy so we’ll have a third vehicle when one of these antiques goes down. We were able to pay cash temporarily because I haven’t paid bills yet, so we will accrue more debt as a result. This will qualify as a business expense, however. I don’t expect our auto insurance to go up very much per month since the vehicle is older.

I did get Mr. A’s business Christmas cards out. I sent some really nice cards that cost only $0.69 because I always shop at Target on the 90% off after Christmas sale. I also sent out family Christmas cards for the first time in years, really pretty cards with glitter, 40 cards for $1.49 (regularly $14.99).

Tomorrow we’re signed up to bring snacks to church. I detest store bought vegetable trays, they are not only expensive, but gross. One time a vegetable tray was brought and the broccoli had gone bad. When the lady who brought it took off the lid, gaseous fumes filled the room. We discovered the broccoli was rotten. Yuck. When it’s our turn (we voluntarily take turns) I always bring a freshly put together vegetable tray. I baked cookies today, using my Mirro Cookie Press. I wanted to make Christmas trees, but the insert was nowhere to be found. I made snowflakes instead. We’ll put pinwheels together tomorrow morning.

I also don’t like store bought veggie dip, I prefer to make my own from a sour cream base. I used to use Hidden Valley Ranch, and loved it, but I try to avoid MSG so I figured out my own recipe. It’s pretty simple:

1 pint sour cream
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 pinch paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Mix and refrigerate about one hour to allow the flavors to mix.

The pinwheels to which I referred are flour tortillas, spread with cream cheese, layered with meat and sliced deli style cheese, rolled and cut into sections. I’ll try to get a picture and post tomorrow.

Only five days left to Christmas.

Yours Truly,