Month: September 2005

This and that

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We had to take my car into the dealership early today, so we dropped it off and walked around Stratford Mall to kill some time before having lunch. The kids had money Joe’s parents had sent them, so they learned about tax and how it affects how much something cost. In the past if the kids had $10 they would buy toys that equaled $10 and we’d cover the tax, but they have to learn how the real world works so this was a lesson for them.

The boy is always sure what he wants, but the girl can drive you batty changing her mind 10 million times. Then she has to spend every possible cent like it’s burning a hole in her pocket. Plus no matter how much she likes something, if it’s going to eat all her money, she opts to get a bunch of little stuff instead. She’s all about the quantity versus the quality.

I was looking at skirts at one store in the mall and ended up buying two tank tops. I know, I know, like I need any more. But in my defense, they were in two colors I don’t own: white and pea green. I love pea green and I love tank tops, so what could be better? I also went back to the store and got the purple skirt after all. I am pressed for time to find something to wear for the wedding and it’s not so big I cannot wear it, so I’m going with it. I just have to find an appropriate shirt to go along with it.

Time is running out! I started a list of things that still need to be done before we leave and it’s freaking me out a bit. For someone as organized as myself, I’ve been quite the procrastinator for some things.

Anyway, we had lunch at this new place called Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was pretty good, if not very healthy. I had a ton of french fries with my cheeseburger! Good thing I didn’t have any breakfast! I’m going to have a light dinner too to compensate. I’m down to 120 lbs. and wouldn’t mind being 115 lbs. by the time we leave. I just might be able to do it too! I love being able to wear a smaller size. I didn’t mention it before, but I bought two new pairs of jeans last month that fit pretty well and last week I was able to pull a bunch of clothes out of storage that I had gotten too big for that now fit. It’s a great feeling! Plus people at work keep noticing the weight loss which is nice.

Book Reading Whore

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Wow, I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet since June of all the books I’ve checked out from the library, and even if you don’t count the cook books (since you don’t actually READ those), I’ve read 15 books in three months. That’s 5 each month! Go me!

No good vibrations

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Nothing like paying Volkswagen $300 to replace a wheel bearing that was supposedly the cause of the steering wheel shaking only to find it is still doing it. I am not amused.

We had the car in on Friday to have a new tire put on and were told one wheel bearing was in need of replacement and it should correct the issue. We brought the car to the dealership last night and picked it up after work today. Joe took it on the highway to test it out and it’s acting exactly the same!

I really don’t want to see those people again, but what else can we do? This needs to be fixed or we won’t be driving 4+ hours to Wisconsin in two weeks or driving out to Florida, and I really really don’t want to fly, not just because I’m afraid, but because I cannot possibly pack light enough for the airline’s requirements. Plus I do not want to deal with a nasty smelly rental car.

I hope VW stops being so stupid and fixes the problem. I’ve been scoping out the VW forums and it looks like it’s a simple case of tires not properly balanced and/or the car in need of an alignment. But why suggest that when they can go for the big guns and get $300 out of us, right? Grrr!!!

Softball

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Just got home; we’ve been up since 6 am because I went with Joe to his company’s softball tournament. Let’s just say never again, shall we? First off, who the heck wants to play softball at 8 am on a Sunday? Second of all, it wasn’t in the greatest of areas. I can think of tons of better parks. Third of all, this huge park had no restrooms. Well, technically they did, but the field house they were located in was locked until after 10 am. That did not make me happy.

We ended up at a local McDonald’s after Joe’s first game where I had to use napkins since none of the stalls had toilet paper. We grabbed some food and I ended up with a Sausage McMuffin with egg and cheese that didn’t have any egg on it.

The entire event was very disorganized. We were parked way across from the baseball diamond we were supposed to use, so there was a lot of walking involved. Then when we left to go to McDonald’s, we parked right by the diamond we had used, only to find out we had to walk back toward where we were parked originally to use that diamond for the next game.

Joe’s poor team lost both games, but the benefit to that was we got to leave around noonish. And while they might not have played the best, mostly due to the fact that some punks who said they were coming didn’t show up, they did have the nicest jerseys hands down.

I would have taken pictures to share, but none of the punk score-keepers showed up either, so I was stuck doing that. I was not happy about that at all and told Joe I’d pass if they ever have another similar event. Joe even said he’d never do that again too, so I guess we don’t have to worry about that!

I think it would have been more enjoyable if it was in a better location, more organized, and the park district hadn’t given us permits for diamonds we couldn’t use due to soccer games that were in the way.

Luckily all of Joe’s teammates were nice guys (and one gal), or it could have been worse. I do have sore feet since I wore flip flops, though. I wasn’t expecting to cross the equivalent of a football field several times in four hours. Joe’s soaking in a hot bath right now since he’s pretty sore, so I’ll try not to feel too sorry for myself.