Bridesmaids Dresses and Used Car Salesmen

Welcome to March blog readers (Martha)! Its nice of you to join me. Hopefully, all is well where you are and that you feel the spring in the air! I do! Its supposed to rain all day tomorrow-I’m thinking Gone With The Wind and popcorn with the dogs followed by some dog free time sewing. I’ve got several projects planned-a St. Patrick’s day shirt, a little bag for clothespins.

Anyway, first some stuff about my day today. Finally, a Saturday off! March appears to put me back onto my normal Saturday work schedule with the exception of being on call the second and not third weekend of the month. That only sucks because I wanted to take the dogs to a dog costume contest on that weekend. Also, I think that Jenn Savini was off that weekend so we could have hung out. Maybe during the week.

Okay, this morning Joe and I got up and went to Harrisburg. Today was the day that I was going to buy a bridesmaid’s dress for Tiffany’s wedding. Joe had to come with me (even though he didn’t put in much input) because I have no friends. We got there and it was a sheer mad house. The consultant picked out seven dresses for me to try on. I only tried on six because one I couldn’t even get zipped. I didn’t really like it anyway. I then got measured for the dress. I was then informed that my bust measurement put me at a size 10, my waist at a size 12 (which is what I tried on) and my hips at a size 16! I ended up ordering a size 14. Within forty minutes, I had purchased a bridesmaid dress for Tiffany’s wedding. Its nice. This is what the dress looks like except that its going to be wine with champagne trim. I kind of like the colors here.

After the dress trying on, we went and ate some Chipotle. I love Chipotle and apparently everyone else does too. I’ve never been in one where I didn’t have to wait in line for some amount of time. We ate then went to look at cars. We’ve decided that a new used car purchase is an option for us. Something that we are looking for in the next couple of months. A new house in addition to a wedding isn’t going to happen but I think that a car is possible.

We went to a Toyota/Jeep dealer because Joe said that he’d rather go through a big dealer than something like Uncle Bob’s Backyard Motors. Once there, Joe asked if he could take the lead on this. I told him sure, because even though we were really looking for a car for me and that Joe would be getting my car, I decided that I could play the role of the woman.

We were hustled into an office by Reggie, an infectiously enthusiastic black man in his late ‘50s. (This detail about race is important here in a minute, trust me.) There he wanted to know what we were looking for (an SUV) and what we would be trading in (a 1996 Toyota Turcel with 165,000 miles, which got us the ever useful favorite Pennsylvania phrase-‘it is what it is’). Joe at this point, jokingly said that he would pay them to take his car. Then Reggie said ‘that’s mighty white of you.’ (Joe and I both instantaneously shut down. I wasn’t sure why until we discussed it in the car. What a racist thing to say!) Then he wanted to know what our price range (from there on referred to as our price point. Ugh.) was. It was too low. So he showed us some cars that were about $6000 above the arbitrary number Joe and I set to spend on a car. At that point, he suggested we do some more research into what we wanted and what we could spend. I jumped in now and explained that we were from Missouri. And that in Missouri, $9000 would buy us a very nice used car. I gave the example that when three years ago (I think its actually been more.) I bought my ’98 Jeep Grand Cherokee, I paid about $6000 and that I had seen ads for the exact car (mileage, age, features) here in Pennsylvania for about $8000-9000. How could that be? So now our options are that Joe continues to drive the Turdcel till it dies (prolonged by the new brakes its getting on Tuesday) or we figure out how much we can really spend a month on a car payment in addition to rent, bills, horse boarding, saving, etc, etc!

After being traumatized slightly at the car dealership, Joe and I went home and then took the dogs to the dog park. Joe worked to give Mary pneumonia by making her play fetch in a creek. After that, we came home and ate KFC and now we are sitting around watching Chopped! Reruns and writing blogs.

Hmm…what else. You may remember me mentioning, Max the grayhound with the broken leg that I saw on emergency. Well, Max got referred to a surgeon to put his leg back together and they referred him somewhere else. The owners called to ask if we trusted the second clinic. We had no problem with it. So they went. And this week, the owners noticed Max licking at his toes, that the bandage was wet and it smelled. Taking him into our clinic, it was discovered that his skin over the bone implant had rotted off! The whole thing was infected, the bone plate was lose and the bone still as broken as when I saw him. He was promptly referred someplace else and went into surgery. I called Friday and left a message about how sorry I was and that I hoped Max was doing well. Poor dog.

Friday, I also diagnosed a hernia in a chiwawa. The owners were totally unaware. It may of occurred when the dog fell off of the porch. Also, I continued to be Dr. Death on Wednesday. In six days of working, I euthanized eight animals. All of them needed it in one way or another but it still doesn’t make me feel any better.  

On the marriage front, I finally got some more information regarding renting the room at Ellis Library for the ceremony. Its going to be over $2000. Joe says to go for it. I’m not sure. I still have to look into costs for renting chairs and a small stage as well as set up. And decorations. And a reception hall. I also need guest lists! Guest lists people!

I put in for a vacation in April or May. Joe is still trying to decide if he's going to Japan. I want to go on vacation with him which is going to be difficult financially. Top contenders for place are Canada, Seattle, California and Fort Lauderdale. I also inquired about going to AVMA in St. Louis. I knew it was going to be difficult because of Tracy being out on maternity leave but I wasn't sure that it would be impossible. Besides, AVMA being in St. Louis would be a great opportunity for me. CE, time to see my family, time to see my friends, time to do wedding stuff, it being free. Unfortunately, its not going to happen. TH has his vacation right at that same time. Ugh. Low man on the totem pole. At least everyone was apoligetic about it. Which isn't going to stop me from complaining.

Finally, my mom is harping on me about moving the ponies. I think I mentioned it before. She’s pushing for all three ponies to come which just throws a whole wrench into the thing. Two fit nicely in a stall. A third would have to be pasture boarded for cost purposes. This means it needs to get here before the grass gets too green so it can get used to eating grass 24-7, being with large horses, being outside in the weather, and getting used to hotwire. I told her that I really only want to take two ponies. I asked her when she could come up. She was like whenever. My real question now is if she brings the ponies, is my mom going to stay so that she can go dress shopping with me? Or is going to bring them and go home? Joe suggested that his mom and Casey pick up the ponies and bring them out here using my parent’s trailer. Once here, Jackie would go dress shopping with me. Everyone, but my mom wins! Joe and I haven’t in depth talked about the ponies. I guess it doesn’t matter. I really need to look at the budget. And my time budget.