Wednesday, July 20, 2011

It's the Little Things

AKA "This Blog Should Really Be Called *insert mundane life here* But That Just Sounds Depressing."

So, umm, update: WE GOT MY CAR BACK YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been on a serious freedom high for the last 36 hours or so. No more being stranded while Luke's at work! No more bumming rides like a twelve-year-old! No more carefully managing my time when I leave the house before it's time for Luke to go to work! It's an amazing feeling, and I have to admit the cabin fever has been a little more intense thus far this summer . . . not that I would have been going much of anywhere anyway - I mean, let's be honest here - but just the fact that I couldn't go anywhere farther than the zoo even if I wanted to . . . it was kinda driving me nuts. What can I say, I like the independence that comes with having a car.

The neutral news: it's not fixed. Sort of. Our mechanic, who is great, just could not find anything wrong. He drove it around plenty, and it's clear the problem is there, so at least I'm not, like, hallucinating or something, but there just didn't seem to be anything to fix. So we're all going with the "it's an old car (because '97 is kind of old for a car) and she idles rough now and this is just the new normal for the old girl" explanation.

Side note: what is up with the whole referring to cars/boats/planes/whatever as female? It's really kinda dumb when you think about it . . . to bad most people don't think much anymore, ya know?

Anyway. Solidly on the good news side, since he didn't do anything more to the car than drive it around (well, and inspect it so we could renew the registration), the monstrous, going-to-have-to-max-out-our-card bill we'd been mentally preparing ourselves since, you know, April? Never materialized. YAY!

Bonus: it's a little too early to say, but one of the little problems might have been fixed. Ever since I got this car back from Ashli (and that's a LONG rant you do not want to get me started on!) there's been some sort of short in the dash or something and sometimes the needles don't work. Okay, well, sometimes none of the needles work and most of the time just the speedometer doesn't work. I've gotten really good at gauging my speed based on the other cars around me . . . seeing as it's been, you know, four years. It's too soon to tell because it was so unpredictable before, but so far all the needles have worked all the time - not that I've driven it much, just from Tremonton home yesterday and around town a bit today . . . but still. Encouraging!

So now the basic plan is this: my cute little red neon is the car I will use to go work and other places I go by myself (mostly because Luke doesn't like driving it for some reason) here in town, and anytime we go farther away then, like, North Logan we'll take the taurus. It's a lovely little plan, and can I just say I am SO glad we have it! I was seriously starting to worry that we would end up having to sell it, which would have been really depressing. She's my first car . . . and I admit I get a little ridiculously attached to inanimate objects. Especially if it's the first one (still have fond memories of the rented 3/4 size cello I started out on) or I've had it for a really long time. It would have been (and will be) a little heartbreaking to have to let this car go. Lots of good memories and stuff.

Random: on the inanimate object attachment note, the embroidery hoop I've had since I was 8? Broke on Sunday. Again, only one I've ever had and for nearly two . . . yeah, not finishing that sentence. It probably has something to do with the fact that it sat unused for, like, ten years (more, I think actually) and now I've been using it pretty constantly for . . . dude, almost a year now. Man, time flies, doesn't it?! On the plus side, the new one I bought Monday is a very pretty blue (favorite color! woot!) and I guessed the price absolutely spot on, which TOTALLY made my day. Okay, so it was $2.99 and I said $3 - but that's so close enough. :-)

And a second random: we decided to treat ourselves to some ice cream today in celebration of the car repair bill that wasn't, so we went to Coldstone. Because Coldstone rocks. In case you missed it on facebook, they have anew flavor - strawberry basil. It sounded so wrong that I just had to taste it. I really can't say it tastes bad (although Luke gagged rather dramatically), but heaven knows I wasn't surprised when the dude said it wasn't selling well. You can definitely taste both flavors, and while they are both very good, very tasty flavors . . . well, they are not flavors that go together and whoever thought they were needs to be committed. On the other hand, oatmeal cookie batter + salty caramel with brownies, strawberries, and cookie dough mixed in? Fabulously delicious. I highly recommend it.


P. ost S. cript
Dude, I knew this girl had a decent voice under all that autotune! (although this song could still use less of it) And while this is no "Bring Him Home" it's certainly less inane than that other song that shall not be named so that Katie will not start twitching, lol. Someone might save herself from permanent internet meme status after all!


4 comments:

  1. Strawberry and basil go really well together. I can see, however, how it would suck in ice cream...you need a little balsamic thrown in and you can't do that as a mix in, you know?

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  2. Yeah, I think I could see that. But there's something about the ice cream format . . . they just don't mesh well.

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  3. Ah....thanks for the no twitching! ;)

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  4. $3 is close to $2.99, however, if John Toomey had taken you to the Price is Right and you ended up on stage, $3 would not win you the new car.

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