There Goes Our Savings...

After being up almost all night last night with Adriana's cough, I woke up this morning to find that the Denver police had been at our front door last night at midnight and woke my poor parents up. It seems that the Colorado Springs police called them and asked them to see if Ben Kuiper lived at this address and if he had a green Jeep Cherokee parked in Colorado Springs. My Dad said yes to both, and the officer said, "okay, thanks for your time" and started to leave. My Dad called after him and asked if he needed a phone number to get a hold of Ben, and he said, "no, we'll find him." That was it. That's what they woke up my 73 year old father and 67 year old mother (who wasn't able to go back to sleep) for--to see if Ben lived here and if he had a car parked in the Springs. Didn't ask to SPEAK to Ben...just wanted to know those two things. I love law enforcement. I really do. But I have to admit--I've never been particularly impressed with the Denver police. This just kinda sealed the deal for me.

Anyway, it turns out that Ben's Jeep, that was parked at the Park-n-Ride a mile from his work, was broken into last night. And it's not like it's in a bad part of town--it's right around the corner from the condo we lived in. He usually moves it back and forth from the park-n-ride to the parking lot at work so he won't get in any trouble for having it there too long. Guess he should have moved it sooner. They didn't get anything. It's 16 years old, so it's not like it even LOOKS like it's worth anything! But they smashed in the driver's side window, which is $200 to fix. I know that because the same thing happened to me with my Ranger a few months before Adri was born. Anyway, the Jeep is so old and it's not in great running condition. If we junked it, we'd only get $400 or less for it. So just replacing the window would all but total the dumb thing.

So now we have to find a place to junk the Jeep, figure out how to get it there (because now the jeep won't even start), and then figure out how to get another car--preferably a van--without draining our savings. We can't afford another car payment. Thanks to my "friend" who owns a dealership we're in the process of paying $8000 ($4k left) for a nice-on-the-outside-scary-mass-of-duct-taped-electrical-wiring-under-the-hood Jeep. He insisted the "check engine light" glowing on the dash was the transmission light, and he had it checked several times by a professional, and he had no idea why it wasn't going off. But like he said, "I'm like family to them," so he took care of me. Oh yes, and now the airbag light is on too. But it's next to the "transmission light". I can only assume the airbag light is on to keep it company.

As I heard Miss Patty say the other night on Gilmore Girls, [crossing self]"Oy to the vey..."

posted by Brandi at 2:16 PM