Finishing up May

My weekend off was wonderful.  I didn't do much but relax and enjoy myself. I did do some cooking, and I ate big beautiful salads like this both days:

I also took a trip to the newly opened butcher shop on Saturday afternoon and grilled quite possibly the best barbecued pork chops I've ever made that night. They were seriously delicious.

While I was out shopping on Saturday I bought myself flowers. Aren't they pretty on the table? The tomatoes in the bowl came from the farmer's market.

I was off again today (I get three days off this week because Monday was a paid holiday) and I got some errands taken care of. First of all, I took Ginger to the vet to get her yearly steroid shot. Every summer about this time she has an allergy flair that makes her miserable until she has one. My normally stand-offish girl actually made friends with an old lady and her puppy while we waited to be seen. She liked them so much she sat beside them instead of me while we waited! She has good taste, I must say. The woman was kind and kept gently petting Ginger's face, and the puppy was absolutely adorable. I think Ginger was telling him that the vet is nothing to fear. :)

Things took a scary turn for a moment after Ginger had her shot. Our doctor (an excellent vet who doesn't miss much) noticed two tiny drops of dark colored urine when they were about to lift her back off the table. He said, "Hey, what the hell's this?!" and grabbed a syringe to collect the tiny sample. My poor girl had a UTI and we had no idea! Just to be sure it wasn't caused by kidney or bladder stones, he did an xray too. Thank goodness she didn't have any stones, and so we have to give her antibiotics for 2 weeks and then take her back for a checkup. I was so scared while they had her in the back doing scans. It's hard for me to describe how much we love this dog.

After the vet drama, I went to the bank to make a deposit and then did a chore I'd been putting off for way, way too long.

CARWASH!!

Is that 70's song about Workin' at the Carwash, Hey! playing in your head right now? Good.

The end result:

My Scion is shiny and clean again! I vacuumed out the inside (which it desperately needed) and wiped down the interior with special car wipes. It's funny how a car seems to run better when it's freshly cleaned!

Other things I did today: finished my application for the SC Guardian Ad Litem program, mailed out the rent check, had lunch at a new Mediterranean restaurant in town, and rescued my husband when he ran out of gas on his way home from work. The old truck he drives to service aquariums has a broken gas gauge and about once every other year he'll misjudge and need to be bailed out. Fortunately I was at home and only about 2 miles away when it happened this time.

Not too bad for finishing up the month. Steady on to June!

Absolutely Red

I have a new car! And it's really, really red....

Toyota Scion XB

Two weeks ago I traded in my old car (a Toyota Corolla) for this. I love it! I didn't expect to buy a fire engine red car, but the salesman talked me into it. It was the only Scion he had on the lot, and someone had ordered some special features on it and then never followed through on buying it. He offered us the extras for free (fog lights, spoiler, clear coat paint protector thingamajigs, a better stereo) if we bought that particular one. For the first few days I felt terribly conspicuous driving such a red car, but then I got used to it, and now I kind of like it. The red seems cheerful and fun to me now!

The official color is "Absolutely Red"

The car we traded in was only two years old, and had just passed the 12,000 mile mark. Corollas get great gas mileage, and are very reliable, but the car was never very comfortable to sit in for long periods of time. It certainly wasn't made for things like road trips or going camping. We bought it when my husband was just finishing up chemotherapy, and at the time we weren't sure that things like camping trips would ever be possible again. We bought a car that made sense at the time, but now that life is back to normal, our needs have changed. Now a bit more space and cargo room is important to us. Especially since we've added a fourth member to our family this year!

George

The Scion will be perfect for hauling our two big dogs around in. The inside of it is surprisingly roomy, with ample space for legs and plenty of overhead clearance, even for tall people in the back seat. The small cargo area and the back seats will lay down flat when we want to take the dogs somewhere, and we've bought a canvas tarp to put down to save the seats from damage. The hatch and doors open close to the ground, just right for the mutts to climb in and out easily. Even with two dogs traveling with us, there will still be enough room for luggage and/or gear. The car isn't really all that big; it just seems like it because it's designed well. The gas mileage should be fairly good, and it has great reliability ratings. It's been much more comfortable to sit in than the old car (my back didn't like those seats at all) and I've had fun driving it. Best of all, now we can plan a family vacation!

The ones we really bought the car for.