When life takes a turn

This past week has contained more chaos, frustration, and stress than I've experienced in a long, long time. Last week was rough, though I made it through 4 days of day shift training. In other circumstances I would have called in sick due to the lack of sleep and severe cramps I had all week, but I endured. And I didn't smoke! I've been smoke-free for a week and a half now.

About a week ago though, I had to bring my car in because it didn't start. Long story short, what was originally thought to be a problem with the fuel pump is actually a problem with water in the engine. The theory is that one of my sensors is broken, and it didn't tell me when I overheated my car, which is when water got in the engine. It's going to take more to fix than the car is worth. Basically, I've spent the past 4-5 days (I had a long weekend from work) researching cars, pouring over my finances and credit score, and looking at all my options. I've been to several dealers and probably test driven about 5-6 cars so far. And I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I really thought that the whole "all car dealers are dishonest" thing was a cliche. So far however, it's proven to be true. I don't appreciate being told that I can't find a Honda Civic in my price range when I've already found several. I don't appreciate being told that the types of cars I'm looking for are expensive to fix, when I know for a fact that they are common and easy to fix cars... and besides, the dealer is trying to sell me a Suzuki. And I really, really don't like it when I specify my budget and am constantly being shown cars that are $5,000 more than what I can afford to pay.

It's been frustrating. I keep telling myself that God has a plan in all of this, and that I'm learning a lot about being on my own and standing on my own two feet. So if you read this and you are the kind of person who prays, please send one up for me, because I could use some patience right about now...