The Car

About 6 weeks ago we had the unfortunate of getting rear-ended on the highway that leads from Wake Forest to Raleigh.  The whole time we’ve lived here I’ve said it’s a miracle we haven’t gotten on a wreck on that road.  When I traveled it twice a day for my previous job I would see at least a dozen wrecks a week.  It’s too congested, and the state really needs to do something about it.  

Robert was taking me to the doctor, and the city bus in front of us stopped for a pick up.  We had to stop, and the guy behind us wasn’t paying attention (texting and drinking) and didn’t stop in time.  We all pulled over, and what do you know - this was his third wreck in a matter of days.  What do you say, maybe it’s time for him to re-evaluate his driving habits.

So we made the claim against his insurance and they contacted him, except him didn’t respond, so they contacted him again and he didn’t response.  This went on 9 times (phone call and voicemail, email, text, letter).  They finally approved the claim two weeks later.  Then we had to go to the estimator and make an appointment for the repair.  Once we got an appointment we made the rental car reservation.

Monday morning we dropped off the car at Ford at 7:30 - not the Ford near us of course because they don’t do repairs.  We went to the Ford 30 minutes away.  

I had arranged for Enterprise to pick me up from work on my lunch break and take me to the rental location to get a car.  I waited for 45 minutes and nobody ever came.  Robert finally just came and got me.  They didn’t have an cars, only SUVs.  It was fun to drive a Jeep Compass for the week, but I definitely missed the good gas mileage of my Ford Fiesta.  Allstate was supposed to pay for the car insurance on the rental, but when we got there the rep said she hasn’t received paperwork.  I told her to contact Allstate if needed because I had already talked to them and it was approved.

All was well for a few days.  My car was ready on Wednesday, so I decided to pick it up over my lunch break.  I dropped off my car at Enterprise and asked for a ride to Ford.  The driver got lost and admitted to that being her fourth time to get lost going to Ford that day.  I got to Ford and was told that it would be $397.99.  I immediately started sweating and was at a loss for words.  She told me Allstate hadn’t approved the work.  Then she told me Allstate had mailed me a check and that I needed to pay Ford directly.  I told her Allstate hadn’t sent me a check and had never told me they would send a check.  They had said they’d pay the bill to Ford for me.  The worker pretty much just stood there looking at me like “Well…”  She told me I could just pay and try to get Allstate to pay me back.  Sorry, not happening.  So I called Allstate and was on hold for 13 minutes.  I reached a rep and she told me our claim had been denied.  How could this be?  I had spoken to at 3 people who had told me it was approved.  Then she said nevermind, it is approved and we mailed you a check.  No.  So she asked where I was getting the car fixed.  I told her and she said that wasn’t an approved site.  I asked her why a rep and told us to go to this location then.  Then she said to just go somewhere else.  Can’t.  Already got the work done. Ooo...so she talked to the front desk lady at Ford and said they’d mail a check and would send proof of payment immediately via fax.  The front desk lady had to leave for lunch so a guy came to watch the fax machine.  It took 15 minutes for the fax to come in.  It finally came in and I left.  Got to work 20 minutes late.

I thought it was finally over until the Enterprise lady called me back 2 days later and said Allstate didn’t pay for the insurance on the rental so she needed to call my insurance to make me pay for the insurance. NOOOOOOO!!!!  I told her to just call Allstate and figure it out.  She said in her 3 years of working at Enterprise Allstate had NEVER approved payment of rental insurance.  Well, she never called me back.  

Fingers crossed for this whole ordeal finally being over.  And if you’ve ever been in an accident, you have my complete empathy.  This wasn’t even a serious accident with injuries, and it still took 6 weeks to remedy.  However, I do finally have a new bumper.  Here’s hoping nothing like this happens again for a very long time.

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving, friends and family!  This year we are thankful to celebrate this holiday with several friends from church.  Robert and I will be contributing mashed potatoes, creamed corn, and stuffing - gotta make sure you have enough carbs present.  We really enjoy cooking, and it’s fun using family recipes.  The stuffing recipe comes courtesy of Memaw, creamed corn comes from Robert’s Aunt Barb, and the mashed potatoes come from Robert’s mom.  Yum!  

Let's reflect on Thanksgivings past:

Thanksgiving 2011

Our first Thanksgiving in Wake Forest - Apparently I didn't feel the need to blog about this one, but I remember feeling sad about spending our first major holiday away from family.

Last Thanksgiving in Alabama

Growing up, my family seemed to vary on what we did for Thanksgiving.  I remember Thanksgivings celebrated at home, in Jefferson City, and even in Dallas.  The least fun Thanksgiving was the year I had my wisdom teeth taken out.  You can’t exactly eat turkey like that.  I remember loading up on mashed potatoes and jello though.

I wanted to take a minute to list a few things for which I’m thankful:

Robert will be graduating in two short works

I’ve gained a sister, and my brother has gained a wonderful wife since last Thanksgiving

Robert and I both have jobs that we really feel blessed to have

We have a church family that truly has become family

Mittens...duh

The King of kings who abundantly provides for us in ways that we don’t expect

What are you thankful for?

Life Lately, 11.24.14

The semester (and school in general) is wrapping up.  Robert turned in a paper last week, and now he has two papers, a sermon, and one final exam left.  He’s excited to graduated, but I can proudly say that he’s finishing strong and not cashing in early.  He’s had a very successful semester.

Work has been going well for me.  I got a new supervisor in July, and she’s taught me many new things.  Robert and I were just talking earlier today about how many things I’ve learned that I never knew existed or never thought I’d learn how to do.  Hopefully they are skills that will be beneficial in the future: accounts receivable and collections, sales and upselling, shipping, invoicing, ordering business supplies, editing the website, pricing and costing.  Warehouse and safety supplies might not be the most interesting topic in the world, but I truly am blessed to have a stable job and to have incredible co-workers that have become friends.  I know not everybody has that, and I don’t take it for granted.

It has started to get colder.  We’ve had a couple of frosts.  I still enjoy hearing southerners referring to frost as ice.  I saw about 10 snowflakes on the way to work one day, but other than that it’s mostly just grey and dreary.  Moving to a place that gets some snow would definitely get the location some bonus points in my opinion.

Robert and I had the honor of being the go to kid watchers when our friend Desiree went into labor.  This was the second time we’ve gotten to be a part of the go team for a family in town.  We really do feel like it’s an honor to be trusted to be at the ready to and watch someones child in their time of need.  Our first time around was for our friends Adam and Amy.  Amy went into labor around 2am.  We thought surely that wouldn’t happen again with Des, but sure enough we got a call at 12am.  It makes it more exciting. :)  I have to be honest, Robert got the call and sprung into action while I hesitated and was left behind.  Robert went and stayed with Seth.  Des was a rockstar and delivered sweet Cadence Joy 15 minutes after arriving at the hospital.  When Seth woke up the next morning he hollered for his dad.  Robert went into his room, and Seth was mildly terrified for a moment until Robert explained that his parents were gone because baby sister had arrived.  Seth was all good once Robert said they could make pancakes together.  He said Seth asked where I was. :)  They watched some Curious George together.  Robert said it was much less annoying than most children’s shows. haha  We went up to the hospital after work, and Cadence truly is beautiful, and I know she’ll be a wonderful addition to their family.

I wrapped up my volunteering the the church nursery on Wednesday night.  I worked with the 3 year olds this semester.  What a fun age!  We went out on a bank with one twin brother peeing on the floor and his other brother peeing on the wall.  Never a dull moment.

Life Lately, 11.8.14

We're in the graduation countdown!  Robert graduates in just over a month (December 12).  There's a lot in flux right now as we don't know where we'll be headed after he graduates.  It's a very popular topic to discuss.  "So, what will you do after Robert graduates?"  "Where will you move after Robert graduates?"  I guess the short answer is we have no idea.  He's applied for some positions, and he's had some good leads, but church work can have the tendency to move rather slowly when it comes to hiring a minister.  We know he desires to lead youth and/or music, but for now it's a waiting  game.  Like many people, that doesn't come easily to me, but we're trying to focus on the fact that God has always provided for us before, and he won't stop.  We came to NC not knowing anyone, not having friends, and not have a church, but God has met all of those needs and brought us closer to Him and each other in the process.

Did I tell you I've started an afghan?  It's going really well.  I'm crocheting about a million granny squares, and then I'll crochet them all together like an afghan.  It's a fun project, and it keeps my mind occupied during tv shows, traveling, or while R studies.

This was one of my practice squares.  I made it with fluffy yarn, but for the actual afghan I'm using plain Red Heart yarn, and you can see the stitches a lot better.

We were able to go to the state fair at the end of the month, and our friends Hunter and Emily joined us.  Highlights included beautiful flowers in the gardens, a ride down a huge slide, and our first experience eating elephant ears.

Next I managed to get a nasty cold and stomach bug.  No details will be shared.

It's finally started to cool down a bit here.  It's still nowhere near freezing, but we did turn our heater on one evening when it got down to 64 inside our apartment.  We haven't needed it since then though.  We brought our little ponytail palm tree in for the winter.  It's doing quite well!

Oh, did I tell you we got rear-ended?  That's been a real treat.  We're both completely fine, but we're going on five weeks of trying to get it fixed and dealing with insurance.

And now it's time for some Mittens pictures.  I know you want to see them.