Bad luck comes in 3s. Or in my case -- 4s.

They say that bad things come in 3s.

1. Fell out of the attic and dislocated my ankle.
2. Collapsed at work and had to be taken by ambulance to the ER.

So my plan was to wrap myself up in a double layer of bubble wrap, lock myself in my house and not come out for about a year, in hopes of avoiding bad thing #3.

Then about 2 weeks ago, my friend Angela and I decided to take our girls and go to the mall for a lunch date and shopping. A seemingly innocent outing.

3. Rear-ended an SUV while driving to the mall, causing the hood of my trusty Corolla to slightly resemble a tent.

Now being involved in a car accident is bad enough, even when no one is seriously hurt. Angela and I suffered some minor whiplash, but thank God our girls were OK. Tali (Ang's 3 month old) slept through the entire thing and Allie was content to snack on organic Sesame Street crackers.

Also, being in a car accident is bad enough when it's your fault.

Oh yeah -- and being in a car accident, when it's your fault, when the vehicle you rear-ended is a shiny-brand-spankin-new 2012 BMW SUV just plain SUCKS.

As I told my mom, hey, it was my first accident after 11 years of driving. I had to make it memorable.

The Beemer lady was super nice though. I think she thought I was a lot younger than I actually am, because when I mentioned to her that I've never had a car accident before, she kindly put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Oh sweetie, how long have you been driving?" And when I told her, "Um, like 11 years," she responded, "Oh. Wait, how old are you again?"

Oh, and before I forget:

3.5. Dropped and broke my camera because my hands were shaking when I was trying to get pictures of the damage to both vehicles.

The police officer eventually arrived. He gave me a ticket, but said all I have to do is show for my court date with a letter from my insurance and he'll drop the ticket.

Here's what my poor car looked like:

A few days later, the auto adjuster from my insurance came out to assess the damage to poor Dietfried (my Corolla). She didn't think he was totaled, so I took him to Image Collision Repair and Body Shop, and in the mean time, got a sweet rental car to tide me over. A 2012 Chevy Impala, to be exact.

Fast forward to this past Sunday. We were on our way to church in the rental car, and I pulled into the turn lane on Butler Road.

BAM!

4. Hit the curb, blew out the right front tire in the rental car, and bent the rim.

I mean, really?

Another call to the insurance, a 2nd accident report, a 2nd auto adjuster, and now I have a Chrysler 200 as a rental for my rental.

You know it's bad when you walk into Enterprise rent-a-car and all the guys behind the desk look up and say, "Oh hi, Mrs. Hadel!"