When It Rains, It Pours...

It was nice to have weather under a 100* this past week. I finally got to pull out some long pants and put them on. Oh, it felt good... up until the hail storm!

As I was driving to get a little lunch at SubWay, I heard on the radio that we were going to be hit with a huge storm and to get off of the streets. I had a plan... get lunch, get a pedi, drop the books off at the library and go to the grocery store. They are all right next to each other.

So, I ordered my sandwich, ate half and the rain started. The drops were HUGE! Right after that, the pea size hail started, then the wind. Finally, the golf ball and even some baseball size hail started to come down along with the roof tiles right on my car. It was one tile right after another along with all of the hail. All I could do was sit and watch the hail and the tiles come crashing down. I did learn though, that my car had an alarm. Every time a roof tile hit it, the alarm went off.

When the storm as done, I assessed the damage and it didn't look too bad. Boy, was I wrong... about $9000 in damage wrong!

I moved my car from the parking space in which the tiles were hitting it to another and went in for a pedicure. Just as I sat down... another hail storm. This one wasn't as bad. Just pea size hail.

I tried to relax during my pedicure but it wasn't easy. I knew that the damage was bad since most of the store signs were ripped off of the roof, trees were ripped right out of the ground and one lady walked into the shop with half of her roof rack that was torn off of her car. It was finally sunny when I was done with my pedicure and I walked out to my car.

Oh my gosh! It looked like someone took a baseball bat to it. The entire roof, drivers side (top to bottom), trunk and hood had dents. Then, as I was on the phone with my insurance, I noticed that the passenger side mirror was completely cracked. The windshield had a little crack as well. Other cars in the parking lot looked just as bad but their windshields looked like someone took a baseball bat to them.

This was a very ugly storm.

I called my insurance and it will be repaired, I just had to take it to the body shop for the estimate. As I was driving to the body shop, it started to rain again. This time I noticed that my windshield wipers were broken. Not the blades... the actual wipers.

When the owner took a look at my car, he said that the hail damage on my car was the worst that he had ever seen. It took him over an hour to write up an estimate ~ $9000+.

We were supposed to get another storm today but it didn't turn out that bad. Just a little rain. I guess that L.A. has more rain today so I am going to wait until Monday before I take it to the body shop. I have to get a new roof, trunk, hood, the entire drivers side needs to be redone, new windshield and new side mirror. Not sure how long it will take to fix.

So, that is the bad news.

On a lighter note:
I have four chocolate parties already booked for October and one lady wanting to become a chocolatier. It is a great time to get into this now since there are only 40 or so Chocolatiers here in the entire state of Arizona. Also, Katherine has a new teacher and she really likes her.

So, yes... when it rains, it pours here but we are going to get through it just like we do with everything else. Brett is also due home on Saturday. Yea! We made it through 3 weeks. Katherine has really missed her daddy. Skype has made things a bit easier but she is on the count down now when daddy comes home.

That is the update. I will fill in more detail about the car when I get it.