another bump in the road

Hey kiddos...so sorry for the long hiatus. Heres whats been happening in my life lately:  First - my attempt to fund raise failed miserably, but I didn't put a lot of time into it since I was so busy with work, so its probably my own fault.  Those of you who purchased a photo - if you would like some of your money back just ask, I can no longer afford my portion of the training so I have had to lower my expectations and sign up for a few shorter and smaller trainings instead of the environmental specialist training I had been hoping for.  This is because of surprising new financial developments in my recent life.  In case you didn't know, I went home to Vermont for the Thanksgiving holiday to surprise my mother.  I spent a wonderful week at home with my family and puppies and then headed back to Sacramento this past Saturday.  I landed at around noon and learned through a series of phone calls that the pass i needed to take to get home to Tahoe was under chain controls and sadly, i do not have any chains.  Instead of risking life and limb I opted to call some friends in Placerville and the surrounding area to try to find a place to stay, and when I did I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a bottle of wine and some snacks to give to my friends as a thank you for their last minute hospitality.  As i pulled out of the grocery store my car stalled in the middle of an intersection.  A good Samaritan stopped and helped me push it out of the road and then a police officer stopped and offered to call a tow.  I tried and tried to get it to start but I was unsuccessful and eventually yielded and allowed the officer to call a tow for me.  My friends that I was going to stay with came to pick me up and we followed my sad little vehicle to the garage where I had to leave it in the pouring rain...all alone...poor Rosie (thats her name).  The tow truck driver informed me that in the future I should not allow the police to call the tow for me, as it costs nearly twice as much because of some agreement they have.  Thanks officer.  And that was right after I told him that I'm a full time volunteer whose contract runs out in December.  Unemployment here I come!  

So there you have it...the bump in the road that makes this training impossible.  After the repairs (I was quoted just under $500) and the tow (just plain wayyy too much) and all the favors I bummed to have a place to sleep and a ride back to Tahoe, plus the bus ticket to get back to my car, and the cost of chains so I can get it back up here...its all just too much for me to be able to spend money on non-vital things like trainings and such.  I am not broke, don't worry, my father is helping me out a great deal, I just don't think I'm in a place where I should be asking for any more favors.  I feel like I've used up about a years worth in the last 3 or 4 days.  So thats that.  I'm just going to lay low for awhile, do a lot of reading, working, walking, sleeping, and various other activities that don't require the spending of money.  Thank you so much to everyone who helped me out, to my parents, to Doug and Melissa for picking me up and giving me a place to stay and driving me up the hill, to Lauren for getting up early and putting the chains on her car just to drive over the summit and get me, and to everyone else who helped or tried to including Officer Helpful and his very expensive tow truck friend - I know you had good intentions, I just wish I had known better for myself.  Lesson learned.  Anyway my car should be fixed by tomorrow and as soon as I can catch a bus or find a ride I'll be off to go get her.  Until then I'll just be getting lots of exercise, with about 2 feet of snow on the ground walking to work is an interesting daily challenge!