I picked her up, and we spent a few minutes talking about how warm and muddy everything had been. I flipped on my windshield wipers to clean off all the muck, and it shot out just enough stream to really smudge it all up, and then ran out. I momentarily panicked. First of all, I had a child in my car (a child whose safety I am responsible for when she is with me) and I could barely see out of my windshield. Second of all, I have never run out of wiper fluid before… ever. I had my civic for almost 7 years, and never once did it run out. I guess that should tell you how often I used wiper fluid in Arizona/San Diego, compared to how often I need to use it in the springtime here! Just one more reason to hate breakup…
Since I’ve never run out before, I had no idea what was involved in re-filling it. I was picturing oil changes in my head, and then adding up the costs and time that were going to be involved in rectifying this situation. I was not a happy camper, and poor Chatty witnessed me having a flustered moment.
I pulled over near the museum and started calling people I knew to try to figure out what one is supposed to do in this situation. Loo, being from Texas, was in the same boat as me – having no idea what is involved in replacing wiper fluid! Mrs. King was laughing at me though (as her husband shrieked in the background “What do you mean she’s never run out before?”) and explained that she had just needed to fill her own two hours ago, and it wasn’t a big deal or expensive at all. She told me how to do it, and I calmed down a bit.
I am a do-it-yourself girl. I taught myself how to re-do all the lighting and electrical sockets in my condo (and only had to call on the husband of an acquaintance once when I realized that I had somehow rewired my bedroom switch to turn on the light in the bathroom!), I re-installed my shelves (after the ex failed at installing them in the first place), I put together my own furniture, and I am always trying to learn something new when it comes to improving my little home. Typically my do-it-yourself projects go awry in some way or another at least once or twice (and I find myself at Home Depot trying to search for a solution for hours!), but I almost always pull it together in the end. I’ve been taking a lot of pride in my house lately, because I know that I did so much of this work myself.
But I’ve never really learned anything about cars. The Devirginator was really great with that type of thing, so when we lived in the same state I always deferred to him (he was actually my first call about the wiper fluid too, but he was at work and didn’t answer). Then, when he wasn’t around, I lived in San Diego and went to a really great shop that I didn’t ever think was trying to screw me over – so I never really felt the need to try to figure any of it out myself. I had never even put air in my own tires until last year, and when I did that I managed to pull the really cool move of not pushing the button to start the air flowing! I sat there for the longest time trying to figure out why the tires weren’t filling up – sometimes I'm "special"! The ex explained to me that I should call on him from then on out whenever anything went wrong with my car. He said that would now be his job. Hmmmm…. Guess I’m glad I paid attention when he taught me how to do it anyways!
Learning this was something I could do myself was really exciting though, so I breathed a final sigh of relief and decided Chatty and I would go to the museum first, and then we would handle my car.
The last time we went to the museum they only charged us $10, and I gave them a $2 donation on top of that, so it was $12 total. I was planning on this same price again, and about threw up when they said the price was now $30. I fumbled for the extra money as they explained that the new exhibit was the reason for the price hike. It wasn’t that big of a deal, because I budget in $50 a month for activities with Chatty anyways, and we havn’t spent any money yet this month. But still… I hate when things turn out to be more expensive than I was expecting!
I made the mistake of joking to her that I am now broke. I could see the immediate concern on her face, and she actually reached into her pocket for the few dollars she had to help. I felt like such a jerk. This little girl is actually broke, why on earth was I complaining about having to spend $30? It was ridiculous. I of course told her to put her money away and tried to explain that I was just joking. In her little eyes, I am rich. I own my condo (which is always clean and furnished like a mansion compared to the trailer she shares with her mom, grandma, uncle, and 3 siblings), I have a nice new-ish car, and my clothes are always clean and different from what she saw me in the week before (meanwhile, she has had the same ratty and dirty shirt on the last 3 times I have picked her up). Note to self: Remember your audience when you try to complain about your circumstances.
We had a lot of fun though, and I will begrudgingly admit it was worth $30. I’m not even a Star Wars fan, but it was really cool. They had a lot of hands on activities, and those are always my favorite at museums anyway (yes, I am juvenile from time to time!). Chatty and I played a bunch of the futuristic games they had set up, and overall we just had a great time. It was all I could do to drag her away from there when my stomach started growling and I knew it was time to get her home.
After we left, I pulled into the nearest gas station we could find, and was cracking up to see 3 different women right out front doing the same thing we were about to do. At least I wasn’t the only one fumbling to figure this out (something completely new and foreign to me) without a man! The cashier said (as she rang up my bottle of wiper fluid that was only $4 – woo hoo!) that women had been coming in all night. She even had pre-cut paper cups to use as funnels sitting right by her register. It seemed like the theme of the night as we watched even more women walk in to purchase the fluid while we were filling up my car. Do men just not run out of wiper fluid? How do they tell when it’s running low?
It is here that I will admit that I did have to call on the help of a stranger to open my hood. I just couldn’t figure it out, which should really make it clear how much I know about cars. In my defense, the latch to open it was under my dash, and not right next to the gas latch as it had been on my civic. It even took the stranger a minute to find it!
But, Chatty and I figured out the rest all on our own. OK, so it’s not like it was even kind of a difficult task, but for a girl who had no idea this was something I could do myself just a few hours earlier – I was proud of us! Chatty seemed pretty excited to be operating as the assistant too, and was all kinds of ready and willing to help.
After I dropped her off, I caught myself thinking that as nice as it would be to rely on a husband to do these things for me, it’s kind of fun when I get to figure it out myself. I will never be a car aficionado, but it’s good to know that I can do the few simple things in a bind (namely: filling my own tires and replacing the wiper fluid – I now have those two down!) Always a good day when you learn something new!
In other news, I’ve been doing the pee test today. I’m slightly concerned that I already had it filled up half way after just 5 hours into what is supposed to be a 24 hour test.
I severely cut back on my fluid intake after that. I drink a lot of water. I grew up in Arizona (where hydration is kind of a big deal!), and have a habit of always having a water bottle in hand. I go through 5 refills of my 1 liter water bottle every day at work, and when I’m home I probably fill my glass back up at least once an hour. I now have no doubt that I could pretty easily fill up about 4 of those jugs on a normal day if you asked me to, but that is not the goal. If I overflow this jug, I have to put whatever comes next into my own container, and I am just not a fan of that idea. I would rather quit drinking.
And in case you didn’t notice, yes, that jug is in my refrigerator. I am now a girl who is storing her own urine right alongside her food. I ask you: how did this become my life? After this is all said and done I have to swish that jug around and then transfer a smaller amount into another container and freeze it before mailing it out; so then I’ll have urine in my freezer. For some reason, all of this kind of seems like something a serial killer would do. Collecting, freezing, and mailing your own urine? I mean… seriously?
How did I become this girl?
