home
about the artist
gallery
blog
links
contact

Slam Bam – A Dent in My Holiday

. . . but nobody got hurt.

But, first, a photo of my Christmas Table Runner. Mr C says this is his favorite of all the runners that I made.

xmasrunner.jpg

runnercloseup.jpg

runnerentable.jpg

OK, I woke up feeling pretty good. I noticed that the stores were opening at 8 am. So, ate my breakfast, got dressed and headed out to finish my Christmas shopping. I am toodling along in the inside lane, the car on the outside lane was stopped and then I see a car pulling out of a shopping center, in front of the stopped car and aimed right at me. I slammed on my brakes, she hit my front fender and then the whole side of my car scraped against her license plate and front bumper. Total damage to my Lexus, probably $5-7000.

We both pulled into the parking lot. She had two very small children and a school age boy. She said he had a school field trip and she was picking up a lunch for him. I called Mr C to see what I needed to do. I got her name, her driver’s license number, her license plate number. She showed me the insurance info. I saw that it expired March ’08. I wrote down insurance company name and phone number and policy number. It was her mother’s car. She says she lives with her mom and takes care of her as she is terminally ill.

The kids were crying, the little boy was anxious to not miss his school trip. I said I would call her later. I was just so happy that no one was injured.

I went on and did my shopping. When I got home, I called my agent. He said that I have 72 hours to file a police report – required when the damage is over $1500. He said that since it was not my fault, I needed to file a claim with her insurance. Whoops, phone disconnected. I am getting nervous. I called her. She said she would find the right number and call me back. No call. In the meantime, we got back with our agent who tried to track down the insurance company with no success.

I called the driver again. The phone rang and rang and rang. I remembered that she told me she had caller ID and didn’t need me to give her my phone number. I called again on my cell phone and her son answered. After giving me the run around about her not being home ( I could hear her in the background), I told him to tell his mom that she needs to talk to me and that she needs to file a police report.

I am feeling bad about this. I could tell that she is a young mother without much — driving her invalid mother’s car. But, I can’t have my insurance cover this without filing a police report and I have to give them her information and I don’t want her to get in more trouble by being in denial. Sigh…..

So, what did I do while all this phoning and detective work was going on? I was making Mrs. Maus’s Fruitcake a recipe from Martha Stewart. Mr C loves fruitcake and since we are doing an open house next week, I thought I would make some. This is what 6 pounds of fruits and nuts looks like.

fruitcake.jpg

I also got my studio organized and put the piles of fabric away and swept up all the trimmings. There are lots of trimmings with the mod log cabin runners!

Tonight, we went out to dinner. I enjoyed a wonderful roasted beet and fresh pear salad and sauteed sole with spinach. I had enough left to bring home for lunch tomorrow. It was delish.

13 Responses to “Slam Bam – A Dent in My Holiday”

  1. Tinuviel says:

    Oh! I hope you get it all straightened out.
    In the meantime, your fruitcake looks delish and the runner on the table is smashing!
    Happy Boxing day to you all!!!

  2. Karoda says:

    ugggh, i’m hoping the other driver doesn’t accrue bad karma by avoiding her responsibility…many times a bad situation becomes worse…hangeth in there Gerrie.

  3. Karoda says:

    ugggh, i’m hoping the other driver doesn’t accrue bad karma by avoiding her responsibility…many times a bad situation becomes worse…hangeth in there Gerrie.

  4. Reva says:

    Bummer about the accident and the associated insurance-fu!

    But I AM looking forward to sampling that fruitcake.

  5. Accident = bad. fruitcakes = good.

    Have a great Christmas, Gerrie.

  6. Kathie says:

    Oh no–terrible news about your accident and the ensuing grief (which looks like might get to be even MORE grief). Thank goodness no one was injured.

    Your table runner looks perfect on your table.

    Chin up.

  7. Deborah says:

    Oh Gerrie. I am so sorry to hear about the accident. How awful for everyone and becoming much more complicated. Wow! That was a lot of table runners. Beautiful.

  8. Karen says:

    Oh, dear! A very similar accident happened to my daughter in Seattle last Saturday. My husband insisted she wait for the police, which with a non-injury accident took about 3 hours. No one was hurt but her car was “totaled”. Luckily we have had no problems with the other driver’s insurance but it’s been a hectic week getting everything taken care of. Not a good time of year to have to deal with these things, I hope yours get straightened out quickly and doesn’t distract you from the holidays and projects.

  9. Oh, dear, dear. Here you were up and about for the first time and crash. I guess you have to be Mrs. Meany no matter how sweet she was. You had a pleasant day after that. Keep your spirits bright.

  10. Judy says:

    What a debut back into the land of the living!
    I’m so glad that nobody was injured in that little fender bender, but I am so sorry that she is being so neglectful in dealing with you! I hope that things get straightened out today.
    The fruit cake looks yummy: another thing I’ll add to my to do list for next year!!
    The table runner is fabulous….what great color sense you have!

    xo

  11. dee says:

    I’m so glad you’re alright but I would put feeling sorry for her on the back burner. She needs to do the right thing so you can be compensated. What a crappy thing to have happen anytime but right now is supercrappy! Hope it turns out alright.
    That salad sound great.

  12. Fitzy says:

    No matter how sweet the other driver seems, she’s obviously burning the candle at both ends and likely not giving you the straight goods.

    This really gives us pause on so many levels. Be thankful we have simple and uncomplicated lives, relatively speaking.

    Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Gerrie!

  13. PaMdora says:

    Too bad about your car accident, and I hope you get it worked out with the mother.Your night out sounds fun though — seems like I haven’t eaten out in ages!!