Docked

I had run up to Kroger on Monday and on the way home, I noticed a strange noise coming from what seemed to be the right front of the van. It sounded awful.

Seeing as how it is 7 years old and we've owned it for 5 and never had an issue with the brakes, I'm thinking it's the brakes - and so I took it in this morning. The guy asked if it was a grinding sound and I said yes. Looks like it needs rotors too. I also need to have some freon pumped in as the AC isn't cooling as well as it had been.

Oh well, I'd rather have a couple hundred or so in maintenance work than have to buy a new (well, something new to us) van.

I was lucky enough to catch my friend and neighbor at home and she followed me down there and brought me back home. She even told me to call her when it's ready and she'd take me back down. It's not far down the road, but I still feel grateful to have such good neighbors.

So, I'm stuck in the house until the van is ready. That's cool - I have at least 2 loads of laundry to do, empty the dishwasher and reload and a few other projects that should keep me busy.

Besides, I'm a little leery of leaving the house anymore. Yesterday, our elderly (in their 90s) neighbors house was burgled. They had been out for about 2 hours, running errands and someone kicked in their back door, in broad daylight, and stole jewelry and cash. A police officer came to our house to ask if I had seen or heard anything suspicious, but I hadn't.

He said it was the fourth house in this area that had been broken into during the day! And, according to our friends across the street, cars on the next street over had been broken into recently. Our house is locked up tighter than Fort Knox, but we never lock our cars. Guess that will change and I also need to look into getting a fake "security system" sign for our yard.

I also need to hide my parents' wedding bands. They're the only jewelry I have worth anything. I wear my mom's engagement ring on my right hand all the time - the rest of my jewelry is not worth much, sterling silver, etc.

The police officer did say this person (or persons) who are breaking into houses seem to target elderly couples and single women.

This is such a nice neighborhood - it's a shame that we have to feel unsafe all of a sudden. We live at the top of a very steep driveway, so a break-in and get-away would have to be carefully planned.

I've always been the Mrs. Kravitz of the 'hood (for those too young to get the reference: Mrs. Kravitz was the nosy neighbor on "Bewitched"). I open all the blinds in the morning and as I make my rounds thru the house (kitchen, laundry room, etc.), I always take a second to look outside. So, I dare this scumbag thief to try to rob anyone on my street. I will SEE you, mo fo!

Happy Wednesday, hooligans!