This week has been just, crazy. Work has been crazy busy-and building up to be even more so in the coming weeks. David is in California. And I think I'm fighting with my sinuses. But, as of 4:30 today (no offense to my boss of course-who is going to be really busy this weekend) things started to look up. I get to climb into my sleek sexy car and come home. I have all the ingredients I needed to make Pasties, a favorite of David's. I get to see one of my friends this weekend and we are going to eat cookies, drink mochas and make cards. There is a chance we might try to glitter the cat-I bet if we did that and caught it all on video it would be a bigger hit that Mariah Carey's Glitter movie (don't worry David-puppy is safe, I'm just kidding). And-the best thing of all... ask I write this entry David is on the plane headed home!! In a few hours, the balance in my world will be restored, and I think I'm going to sleep like the dead tonight. This weekend rocks already!
~Emily
Friday, December 3, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
A Girl And Her Car (A Love Story)
This story starts like many love stories do. A bad relationship, and a dream for something better.
Ok but seriously, things were bad. The car I was driving was a 2003 Jetta. It got me from point A to point B, and we had paid it off so it was a car with no car payments. No car payments makes it hard to walk away to car payments again. For about the last year, things were starting to go south with Jetta. Last fall/winter it started to leak. If it froze outside, there would be a layer of ice on the inside of the windshield, as well as the outside. Same with the back window. Also, the trunk was leaking, so if I opened it to put stuff in there was like a layer of dew, except not, in the trunk. Frosty mornings sucked, but thankfully in Oregon, where we live, we get more rain than super cold/ice.
Then maybe 6 months ago (give or take a month or so) it would not shift out of park. I'd get in the car in the morning to go to to work and I was stuck. I called the dealership we bought the car from and take it to for service for advice. What did they tell me to do? "Get out of the car and shake it. That should release the locked gear." Seriously? How exactly does one shake a car enough to do that without being a superhero? What I really had to do was let the car warm up for anywhere between 5-15 minutes. Then my ongoing battle with the cup holders took a turn for the worse. (For those of you not familiar with the cup holders of the 2003 Jetta-they were like praying mantis mandibles and held things not as well. Also, if you are a music fan they were inconveniently located right in front of the radio. You couldn't swap CDs or see what station you were on if you had a beverage.) If I turned to sharp (or really turned at all) my precious cup of coffee would come tumbling out of the "holder." And then, to add insult to injury, my passenger door stopped operating properly. In the mornings I go out to my car with my work bag and put it on my passenger seat before I get in the car and go. The door lock was not working correctly, my key fab wouldn't unlock it all the time. I'd have to get in the car and open it from the inside. And, on the days that I did that, it wouldn't lock with the key fab and I'd have to lock it, and then lock the car.
Obviously it was time to take the car to the shop for usual service and to see what was possessing it. I told them everything it was doing (or not doing) and asked them to replace the batter in my key fab. The next day when I picked up my car, they told me they couldn't get it to act up so maybe there wasn't really a problem. And that there is no leak in my car or trunk. But that they had done the usual service and replace the battery my key fab, and to call them if it acted up again. I drive home, mostly confident in the service department.
The next morning, the Jetta is up to it's usually tricks. They tell me to bring it back. Again, they keep it over night and send me home with a car that they said was fine. Oh, but the guy suggested that I check to see if my brake lights come on when I hit my brake, because if they don't it could be that my car isn't registering that the brake is on. I ask him how I'm supposed to do that by myself (yes, I know I can have David help me but how is that feasible to do every morning?). My confidence is rapidly dropping.
I tell David I'm not taking the car back again, even if it acts up. Which it does. My morning departure routine gets altered by 15 minutes allowing for time for the car to warm up. Oh, and did I mention my key fob starts working; the key fab they put a new battery in? David feels bad for me, he puts up with my complaining and offers me various cars. But I am stubborn. There is a specific car I want, and I stubbornly refuse to change my mind, insisting I'd rather drive Jetta until it falls apart (which at this point could be sooner rather than later).
So what car did I have my heart set on? This:
Ok but seriously, things were bad. The car I was driving was a 2003 Jetta. It got me from point A to point B, and we had paid it off so it was a car with no car payments. No car payments makes it hard to walk away to car payments again. For about the last year, things were starting to go south with Jetta. Last fall/winter it started to leak. If it froze outside, there would be a layer of ice on the inside of the windshield, as well as the outside. Same with the back window. Also, the trunk was leaking, so if I opened it to put stuff in there was like a layer of dew, except not, in the trunk. Frosty mornings sucked, but thankfully in Oregon, where we live, we get more rain than super cold/ice.
Then maybe 6 months ago (give or take a month or so) it would not shift out of park. I'd get in the car in the morning to go to to work and I was stuck. I called the dealership we bought the car from and take it to for service for advice. What did they tell me to do? "Get out of the car and shake it. That should release the locked gear." Seriously? How exactly does one shake a car enough to do that without being a superhero? What I really had to do was let the car warm up for anywhere between 5-15 minutes. Then my ongoing battle with the cup holders took a turn for the worse. (For those of you not familiar with the cup holders of the 2003 Jetta-they were like praying mantis mandibles and held things not as well. Also, if you are a music fan they were inconveniently located right in front of the radio. You couldn't swap CDs or see what station you were on if you had a beverage.) If I turned to sharp (or really turned at all) my precious cup of coffee would come tumbling out of the "holder." And then, to add insult to injury, my passenger door stopped operating properly. In the mornings I go out to my car with my work bag and put it on my passenger seat before I get in the car and go. The door lock was not working correctly, my key fab wouldn't unlock it all the time. I'd have to get in the car and open it from the inside. And, on the days that I did that, it wouldn't lock with the key fab and I'd have to lock it, and then lock the car.
Obviously it was time to take the car to the shop for usual service and to see what was possessing it. I told them everything it was doing (or not doing) and asked them to replace the batter in my key fab. The next day when I picked up my car, they told me they couldn't get it to act up so maybe there wasn't really a problem. And that there is no leak in my car or trunk. But that they had done the usual service and replace the battery my key fab, and to call them if it acted up again. I drive home, mostly confident in the service department.
The next morning, the Jetta is up to it's usually tricks. They tell me to bring it back. Again, they keep it over night and send me home with a car that they said was fine. Oh, but the guy suggested that I check to see if my brake lights come on when I hit my brake, because if they don't it could be that my car isn't registering that the brake is on. I ask him how I'm supposed to do that by myself (yes, I know I can have David help me but how is that feasible to do every morning?). My confidence is rapidly dropping.
I tell David I'm not taking the car back again, even if it acts up. Which it does. My morning departure routine gets altered by 15 minutes allowing for time for the car to warm up. Oh, and did I mention my key fob starts working; the key fab they put a new battery in? David feels bad for me, he puts up with my complaining and offers me various cars. But I am stubborn. There is a specific car I want, and I stubbornly refuse to change my mind, insisting I'd rather drive Jetta until it falls apart (which at this point could be sooner rather than later).
So what car did I have my heart set on? This:
2010 Dodge Charger (with a Hemi)
And so life went on. Bad Jetta became the norm until one cool morning. David was helping me load up the Jetta and I think he was kind of amazed what I had to do to get the car rolling in the morning. Looking at it now, it had to be sort of comical, the way I would contort to open things or manage the coffee into the cup holder maneuver. While I think he was impressed with my crazy morning skills, I do not believe David was impressed with Jetta.
To Be Continued....
~Emily
Thursday blah blah blah
I tend to feel better when I blog. It's like public therapy. I just don't blog as often as I should because if I did it every day it would be my stream of consciousness ramble and is that really entertaining? That concept completely conflict with my desire to amuse and entertain my 3, no wait I think I have 4 now, readers! David and I have been busy doing things around the house to de-clutter, so we have been busy with that. It's been good. We've been working on it together and the house is starting to feel more open and user friendly. We still have a bunch to do, but now I feel like I can have people over (even though the cat might throw up).
I'm sitting here watching Vampire Diaries, and texting with a friend who is watching from Georgia. It makes it more entertaining. It looks like the baby witches are self destructing. I better go pay attention! More later... I have a story about a girl and a car that I need to share :D
~Emily
I'm sitting here watching Vampire Diaries, and texting with a friend who is watching from Georgia. It makes it more entertaining. It looks like the baby witches are self destructing. I better go pay attention! More later... I have a story about a girl and a car that I need to share :D
~Emily
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Full Snark
So I guess I woke up in snark mode this morning. Given the lack of sleep (thank you puppy for the strange face sniffs at 3 something this morning) and the fact that I'm always even more "off" when my David is out of town I shouldn't be terribly surprised.
So what set me off? What gave my snark button a super good push? I was at a grocery store getting some lunch today. The store was busy, and they had several lanes open to accommodate the masses, including two express (12 items or less) lanes. I had like 3 items so of course I head to one of the two express lanes. The other lanes had some lines with very full carts, and my 30 minutes for lunch were quickly ticking away. As I stand in line (and several people get in line behind me) I find I am not moving very quickly. There were 4 people in front of me. The woman at the check out was talking to the checker rather than writing the check to pay and get out of the way. The person next in line was coughing and acting impatient, in hopes that the chatter would hurry and get along little doggie. The hint gets taken, the check gets written and the next person is up. This person had 12 items, and wanted to know the price for EACH item before it was scanned in. Then, a pair of shoes caused a brain freeze and "should I, shouldn't I" was tossed back and forth. The other express lane is also pretty packed, but they are actually moving. I contemplate line jumping, but there were only two people in front of me now. The shoes were put off to the side and the transaction was finally finished. I am impatient, and anxious to get out. I notice that the people in front of me have placed their items on the conveyer belt. It looked like a lot of stuff, so I count the items. Lets just say they both have more (quite more) than 12 items. That really ticks me off. The person checking out adds 3 gift certificates to their transaction, and kept changing their mind on the amounts. As I'm standing there, getting really pissy about the number of items people have a cashier comes through our line to tell us we can go to the "self" check out. Now, I say "self" because really you can't just go over there and use them any time, you still have to have help from a cashier. So I don't really see how that is "self" check out. It's more like supervised check out. I don't pay what I pay for groceries to help pay for employees wages to do the work myself. I nicely tell her I actually hate using those, that I'm in the 12 (said loudly) items or less line because I expect people to have 12 (again said loudly) items or less so things actually move along. She walks away. Now, the woman in front of me with her 22 items is being checked out and she is fighting about coupons and prices. In my head I'm telling her to piss off and take it to a non-express lane and let the rest of us get back to work, in real life I'm willing my eyes to pierce the back of her head with laser beams. She gets all huffy and says "never mind, just take those items off and I'll come back later." When it was my turn the checker apologized for the wait. All I said to him was "I remember the day when people were actually told they had too many items and were asked to move." Yeah. I felt old, but I did work at a grocery store and I did have to tell people that they had too may items for a lane (if that was true). And we were nice about it.
So I am just fed up with people being inconsiderate. I am not trying to give the impression that I think I'm more important than anyone else. I am not counting each can of soda, or bottle or banana as a separate item. I just don't understand why people are so selfish and can't read a simple sign and be courteous. If the store is slow, and there are no lines I don't care where you go. If the cashier is doing nothing and waves you over because you are waiting I don't care, that is different. When the store is BUSY and the express lane has a line, look and see if it's your fault. If you are being the express lane douche bag. There. I said it. Strangely, I do feel better.
/end rant
~Emily
So what set me off? What gave my snark button a super good push? I was at a grocery store getting some lunch today. The store was busy, and they had several lanes open to accommodate the masses, including two express (12 items or less) lanes. I had like 3 items so of course I head to one of the two express lanes. The other lanes had some lines with very full carts, and my 30 minutes for lunch were quickly ticking away. As I stand in line (and several people get in line behind me) I find I am not moving very quickly. There were 4 people in front of me. The woman at the check out was talking to the checker rather than writing the check to pay and get out of the way. The person next in line was coughing and acting impatient, in hopes that the chatter would hurry and get along little doggie. The hint gets taken, the check gets written and the next person is up. This person had 12 items, and wanted to know the price for EACH item before it was scanned in. Then, a pair of shoes caused a brain freeze and "should I, shouldn't I" was tossed back and forth. The other express lane is also pretty packed, but they are actually moving. I contemplate line jumping, but there were only two people in front of me now. The shoes were put off to the side and the transaction was finally finished. I am impatient, and anxious to get out. I notice that the people in front of me have placed their items on the conveyer belt. It looked like a lot of stuff, so I count the items. Lets just say they both have more (quite more) than 12 items. That really ticks me off. The person checking out adds 3 gift certificates to their transaction, and kept changing their mind on the amounts. As I'm standing there, getting really pissy about the number of items people have a cashier comes through our line to tell us we can go to the "self" check out. Now, I say "self" because really you can't just go over there and use them any time, you still have to have help from a cashier. So I don't really see how that is "self" check out. It's more like supervised check out. I don't pay what I pay for groceries to help pay for employees wages to do the work myself. I nicely tell her I actually hate using those, that I'm in the 12 (said loudly) items or less line because I expect people to have 12 (again said loudly) items or less so things actually move along. She walks away. Now, the woman in front of me with her 22 items is being checked out and she is fighting about coupons and prices. In my head I'm telling her to piss off and take it to a non-express lane and let the rest of us get back to work, in real life I'm willing my eyes to pierce the back of her head with laser beams. She gets all huffy and says "never mind, just take those items off and I'll come back later." When it was my turn the checker apologized for the wait. All I said to him was "I remember the day when people were actually told they had too many items and were asked to move." Yeah. I felt old, but I did work at a grocery store and I did have to tell people that they had too may items for a lane (if that was true). And we were nice about it.
So I am just fed up with people being inconsiderate. I am not trying to give the impression that I think I'm more important than anyone else. I am not counting each can of soda, or bottle or banana as a separate item. I just don't understand why people are so selfish and can't read a simple sign and be courteous. If the store is slow, and there are no lines I don't care where you go. If the cashier is doing nothing and waves you over because you are waiting I don't care, that is different. When the store is BUSY and the express lane has a line, look and see if it's your fault. If you are being the express lane douche bag. There. I said it. Strangely, I do feel better.
/end rant
~Emily
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