The Accident: The dust has settled

Dearest Friends,

I have good news! The insurance company did considered mom's SUV to be totaled. They paid out more than mom expected. They also are paying for the rental car that mom had for 5 weeks. Mom has to pay the insurance portion of the rental car bill. Since she had dropped the collision portion of her car insurance, she thought it prudent to take the rental car company insurance. Mom has received the payout on the KIA, and a check for the day's wages for the day she was in the accident. She finally has all of the medical bills to turn in to her insurance company. Her insurance will pay those and then get reimbursed from the other guy's insurance.

On the day of the accident a friend of mom's gave her the name of a injury lawyer. This friend had been in a horrible accident and is lucky to be alive. Mom had a meeting with the lawyer a couple of days after the accident. She has decided against using the lawyer to get a high settlement. Mom wasn't seriously hurt. She was checked out at the ER on the day of the accident. She saw a physical therapist and nurse practitioner about a week after the accident. Mom is fine and her upper back and neck pain is mostly from arthritis. She was aware of the arthritis in her right shoulder and upper back. She did not know she had arthritis in her neck! Anyway, her medical bills are far less than she expected. As long as the insurance covers them then she says she's good.

Now for the new used SUV. After searching high and low, she ended up buy a 2006 Jeep Commander. It's a bigger SUV and has three rows of seats. The third row was lowered so there is more room for groceries, bags of cat food, and bags of litter. The mileage was low for a 14 year old vehicle at 162,034 on the day of the purchase. The windshield had a huge crack in it so she has already had that replaced. The air conditioner was blowing cool air, but not cold air. Mom took the Commander to Goodyear to get the condenser checked out. She told the mechanic to go on and check the entire thing out since it was bought "as is." The condenser was replaced, along with some belts, a drip pan, and a new catalytic converter. She trusts Daniel, one of the fellows that works there and has dealt with him for several years. The only thing to fix now is the CD player/radio/viewing screen. The screen is dark, the CD player doesn't work, and the radio is set to several AM stations and can't be changed. For the record, mom knew that didn't work when she bought it.

Mom sometimes names her vehicles. The Commander is named Vengeance. Her nickname is Lizzy (for Lizzy Borden). Mom told us there is a reason for the name, but she can't share it yet. It has something to do with her trip to California last November. Mom's weird, but you all knew that.

Everyone is well here. Arson is having some issues. He has started marking areas in the house by spraying. Mom thinks he is action out because Cinnamon and Samantha hate him (they really do). Bart doesn't like him either, although it may be that Arson doesn't like Bart. If Arson walks by Cinnamon, she will hiss, yowl, and whine. On occasion swatting is involved. It's the same with Samantha. If Bart crosses Arson's path the same thing happens. In that case mom is unsure of who is starting it. Bart is pretty low key. It's all frustrating for mom. 

Business are slowly opening up here. Mom hasn't ventured into any of the stores other than the grocery store and Dollar Tree. She said she isn't ready to go to the mall. She and our uncle have gone out to eat a couple of times since some of the restaurants have opened. Both Denny's and Cracker Barrel have done well to keep customers apart. The staff all wore face masks and gloves. Mom said she will be happy when things go back to normal. On the other hand she wonders if things will ever really be normal again.

On that note, I'll end!

Stay safe.

Love to all,

Angel Clarissa & Co.