Granny Rocks Retirement

Granny Rocks Retirement Over-60 retirepreneur rebuilding her life after layoff with grit, grace, and plot twists straight out of Ozark or Breaking Bad—minus the felonies.
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A messy, addictive comeback story told in real time, letting Jesus take the wheel.

08/22/2026

So did a test run today…. 👀🫣

If you missed the Subaru shop update yesterday it’s linked in the comments. 🔗

Today, I spent the day working on listing and crosslisting. It’s super hot here in Texas so I wanted to only drive the car before noon or after rush hour in the evening. 🥵

But… I sold 3 items in Poshmark and I wanted to get them in the mail today to hopefully get them delivered and paid out by the 31st so…. 🎉

(Update just sold one more! Poshmark is on fire today! 🔥)

I decided to head to the Post Office at 5:10 and get there by 5:30 when they close. 🕠

Car did ok… got up to 201 degrees but drops a few degrees when idling.

So, I decided I’d try to do a short distance batch on Instacart if they offered me one.

I picked up a batch with 2 deliveries 4.9 miles so I took it. Still pretty heavy traffic and temp was 103 degrees outside. Hottest the car got was 205 degrees but again, drops down a few degrees when idling.

Decided I’d head home to not push my luck but grabbed a short 1.1 mile single batch on my way home. Delivered it just fine.

So then I got offered one more batch that was only 2.9 miles from store but on the way to the store the car temp reached 208 😳…..

I panicked 🫨

I cancelled the batch and headed home. As soon as I did that the temp went back down to 207-205-203 and by the time I pulled into the garage it was 201. 🫣

I drove it on and off for a total of 2 hours today which is the longest I’ve driven it since it broke down last weekend.

I’m afraid it’s illness is terminal and I’m going to end up having to replace it somehow but I’m embarrassed to say my credit has taken a massive hit this year and I have no savings for a down payment.

I only owe $302 on the Subaru to have it paid off.

I’m going to give it try again tomorrow but only do one or two small batches before the heat gets too bad. 🙏

Say a prayer that God makes a way where there seems to be no way! 🙏

If anybody has any suggestions on buying a new used car before I move to Colorado, feel free to drop them in the comments!👇

‼️Subaru Update‼️Everyone (including myself) thought my Subaru had a cracked head after it overheated Saturday. 🫣(Origin...
08/20/2026

‼️Subaru Update‼️

Everyone (including myself) thought my Subaru had a cracked head after it overheated Saturday. 🫣

(Original post and follow up in the comments)

My shop bill today? $21.99. 😳

They did a block test and found no evidence of a cracked head or head gasket issue. They also looked at the fluid I saved from the funnel and said there was no oil in it. The stuff around the radiator opening that looked like oil to me, and to pretty much everyone who saw the pictures, was apparently just gunk. 🤷🏻‍♀️🎉

The only thing they replaced was the radiator cap because it had swollen when the car overheated the first time.

I’ve driven it three separate times since bringing it home Sunday for a total of about 40 miles, and it hasn’t overheated once.

It did however throw the CEL yesterday morning on first start (it only comes on from a cold start and only occasionally) but this time it had a new code U0100. But the shop said that could be due to a possible loose battery cable connection ( which if you remember the issue I had about a month or so ago of it not starting and being the cable makes sense).

Do I completely trust it yet? Absolutely not. 😂 But for now, we’re going to say a prayer, keep one eye glued to that temperature gauge, and hope this Subaru has finally finished acting a fool. 🙏🏻

🚨 If you’re trying Vinted, check this One setting BEFORE you make your first sale! 👀I was all excited because I made my ...
08/19/2026

🚨 If you’re trying Vinted, check this One setting BEFORE you make your first sale! 👀

I was all excited because I made my first Vinted sale. 🎉

Listed a shirt for $12, got an $8.60 offer, accepted it and thought, “Okay Vinted, let’s see how this goes!”

Well… I printed the shipping label and learned my first Vinted lesson the hard way. 🤦🏻‍♀️

The shipping service selected for the order is SpeedX. 🧐

Never used them. Never heard of them.🤷🏻‍♀️

And unlike USPS where I’m already going regularly, the nearest SpeedX drop-off location is 15 minutes from my house. 🤦🏻‍♀️

So now my little $8.60 sale comes with a roughly 30-minute round-trip drive just to drop off the package. 💀

Apparently Vinted has two different shipping options available in your settings, SpeedX and USPS m.

I learned SpeedX can be turned OFF for future sales. Guess what I just did? 😂

Unfortunately, once the buyer has already purchased and that shipping method has been selected, you can’t just switch the existing label over to USPS.🥺

So if you’re testing out Vinted too, learn from my first-sale mistake:

👉 CHECK YOUR SHIPPING OPTIONS BEFORE SOMETHING SELLS.

Steps in the photos!

This is all part of figuring out a new platform, but I sure wish I’d known this BEFORE that first sale. 😂

Anybody else learn this one the hard way? 👇

Wooo hoooo! 🎉 My first Vinted sale!I listed this shirt for $12, got an offer for $8.60 and decided… yep, SOLD! 😂I’ve bee...
08/18/2026

Wooo hoooo! 🎉 My first Vinted sale!

I listed this shirt for $12, got an offer for $8.60 and decided… yep, SOLD! 😂

I’ve been playing around with Vinted to see what I think of it, and now I finally get to experience the whole process from listing ➡️ offer ➡️ shipping ➡️ getting paid.

One thing I learned with this first sale is that payment works a lot like Poshmark. The money sits pending in your Vinted Wallet until the order is successfully delivered, then you get paid.

So far, I’m liking how simple the app is. Now we’ll see how the rest of the process goes!

Who else has tried Vinted? Love it, hate it, or still watching from the sidelines? 👀

Can anyone identify this vintage brand of USA Made Equestrian Riding boots?Also how can I determine the size? I’ve found...
08/18/2026

Can anyone identify this vintage brand of USA Made Equestrian Riding boots?

Also how can I determine the size? I’ve found listings on eBay of these exact same boots… some with the size and some without 🤷🏻‍♀️

Any help is greatly appreciated!

After eBay being painfully slow lately, yesterday finally decided to show me a little love. 🙌Three Zero Foxtrot hoodies ...
08/18/2026

After eBay being painfully slow lately, yesterday finally decided to show me a little love. 🙌

Three Zero Foxtrot hoodies sold at $59.99 each, and two of them went to the same buyer in back-to-back purchases.

I had already told the buyer I’d give them 10% off if they bought two or more. Since they purchased them separately, the discount didn’t happen at checkout, so I refunded the $12 afterward.

That brought yesterday’s gross sales to $167.97 after the refund, with the buyers paying shipping. Minus fees and COG of course.

And after the kind of sales slump I’ve been having lately, I will GLADLY take it. 😂

It was also a good reminder that doing what you say you’re going to do matters. The buyer didn’t have to chase me down for the discount. I promised it, so I honored it.

Now I just need eBay to keep this same energy. 🤣

Time to start getting your winter clothes listed!!

How are your eBay sales right now? Are you seeing things pick up, or are you still hearing crickets? 🦗

08/17/2026

🚨 FACEBOOK… WHY DID I JUST NOW FIGURE THIS OUT?! 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

You know how someone will leave a helpful link in the comments, but Facebook turns it into plain text so you can’t freaking click it?🚫

That happened on my Subaru update post. Someone dropped a YouTube video they thought might help me, and I’m sitting there thinking… Cool. Now how the heck am I supposed to open it? 😂

Well, completely by accident, I figured out there IS a way to copy a link out of a Facebook comment.

And because I cannot possibly be the only person who didn’t know this existed, I made a quick reel showing exactly how to do it.

Seriously, it takes seconds once you know how.

👀 Watch the reel and tell me: DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD DO THIS?!

Because Facebook sure wasn’t going to tell us. 😂

Well… today did NOT go the way I expected. 😳🚙After yesterday’s Subaru overheating disaster, and the P0117 code, I went i...
08/16/2026

Well… today did NOT go the way I expected. 😳🚙

After yesterday’s Subaru overheating disaster, and the P0117 code, I went into today thinking I might be replacing the coolant temperature sensor.

After extensive research AND talking to the guys at Auto Zone, we went a different route first.

Instead, I bought a sealable spill-proof funnel, another gallon of antifreeze and spent a ridiculous amount of time burping the cooling system and watching the temperature like a hawk for at least an hour. Never got hotter than 201 and the fans worked fine and the heater was blowing hotter than Satans 🫏. 🔥😈

After several heat/cool cycles I decided to test it before even THINKING about trying to get home.

I did a few laps around the gas station and neighboring U-Haul lot.

Temperatures stayed good.

So I finally decided to make the roughly 5-mile drive home with the heater absolutely BLASTING. 🔥😂

My son followed me and we stayed on speaker the whole way which really helped me feel better.🥰

Thank you so much son!! 🙏💖

Highest temperature on the drive: 199°.

And yep…

The Subaru made it HOME under her own power. 🙌🎉

No overheating 🥵
No Check Engine Light 🚨
No smoking 🚭

That was today’s BIG win because the alternative was spending about $100 on a tow just to get it home. That’s $100 I really didn’t have to spend.

But now let’s address the elephant in the room… 🐘

What the hell is causing this oily-looking stuff in my coolant?! 😳

These three photos were taken at different points today, and whatever it is definitely has my attention. 🫣

The one encouraging thing is that I checked the engine oil itself. The dipstick and underneath the oil fill cap are NOT milky, frothy or mayonnaise-looking. So at least I’m not seeing that obvious sign of coolant mixing with the engine oil.

Tomorrow I’m calling the shop to find out what they’ll charge for a combustion gas/block test on the cooling system to see if combustion gases are getting into the coolant.📞

And THIS is where I want to hear from my car people.🔧

Any mechanics following me? Or anyone who’s dealt with something that looked like this?

Looking at these photos and knowing what happened yesterday, what would YOU be checking next?

It’s a Subaru Forester Touring 2.0 XT Turbo with 162k miles that has had an intermittent P0300 code ever since I bought 6 years ago.

Just replaced the radiator like three months ago and also replaced the plugs/coils and valve cover gaskets about two months ago. Struggles under acceleration load and runs rough upon cold start(Still getting the P0300 after the repairs).🤦🏻‍♀️

The one weird thing about the P0300 is that it only throws the CEL on cold start… never while driving.

Would a combustion test be your next move?

What could cause that oily-looking residue besides a head gasket?
And would you keep this thing PARKED until you knew exactly what was going on?
Would you risk the 3.5 miles drive to the shop?

Because here’s the other piece of this puzzle…

I don’t just need the Subaru to get from Point A to Point B. I need it to make money. 💵

Gig work is how I generate instant cash while I’m also listing trying to get eBay moving again. Every day the Subaru sits means one of my quickest ways of bringing money in is sitting dormant right along with it.

But blowing up an engine because I desperately wanted to make a few hundred bucks would obviously be a whole lot worse. 😬

So car people…

If this were YOUR Subaru and YOUR livelihood depended partly on that car, what would your next move be?

I’m listening. 👇

😭😭😭🤦🏻‍♀️🚨Read comments for update!!!!😭Well sitting here waiting for my son to pick up a new hose from Auto Zone. I had p...
08/15/2026

😭😭😭🤦🏻‍♀️

🚨Read comments for update!!!!😭

Well sitting here waiting for my son to pick up a new hose from Auto Zone.

I had pulled into HEB to do a shopping batch for Instacart and smelled hot radiator and said out loud “that better not be my car” but an old rackety car was driving by at that time so I thought it was probly them.

Went in and complete the shopping and came out to load the car and smelled it really bad. 🫣

Popped the hood and sure enough it was blown. 💀🌋

I had two deliveries that I now needed to deliver a total of about 5 miles.

I ran back in the store bought a roll of duct tape and a jug of antifreeze and did a patch job to hopefully get me through the deliveries.

I made it thankfully but the car got up to 228 degrees and started overheating the last half mile of the second delivery.

So here I sit … praying the hose is all it needs.

I’m hoping this happened just due to the hose being 13 years old. 🙏

The car has still been driving like s**t and throwing the P0300 code every few days but it still gets me around and has been allowing me to de deliveries which is mandatory for me to do until I can get to Colorado and reset.

08/15/2026

Really cool piece of driftwood! 🥰

This got added to my personal collection!

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