Three weeks is a bit long to go without blogging, I must admit.
The first weekend we moved in to our new place my mom and brother came to stay with us on the way to San Antonio. So we mostly ate at different restaurants and hung out and took Ike to the dog park. The next day we drove to San Antonio in the rain for a 60th anniversary brunch for my great aunt and uncle. On the way we had one of 2 I-told-you-so moments that would happen over the next 2 weeks.
And what was it, you ask? I was checking Google Maps when I rear ended a Honda Fit. 1. It was raining and I thought I’d come to a complete stop already. 2. All I did was tap the car and the only damage they had was a 1/2″ hexagon-shaped indention in the paint from the bolt of my license plate. But the car was NEW and the guy was PISSED. They guy yelled at me in the pouring rain. It was awesome. Luckily Dave calmed him down (hooray for retail training!) and I gave him all my info but he never called.
The I-told-you-so? I tend to think that checking my phone doesn’t really affect my driving, in spite of numerous studies and reports and articles on how it affects everyone else’s driving. I’ve swerved out of lanes, come to a screeching halt and missed exits due to texting or reading tweets, etc. Yes, I’m admitting it. And Dave has said, “JEN!” more than once while I’ve been driving/iPhoning. But this particular time, we were like 1 mile from a restaurant I’d never been to and I wanted to check our status.
I already felt bad enough and what I didn’t need was Dave to say, “See, babe, this is why I tell you blah blah blah blah blah . . .” I pointed that out and he promptly apologized. Profusely. Nobody likes an I-told-you-so.
A few days later (day before my birthday, in fact), I opened my car door to go to work and saw an exact repeat of this. Awesome. I have an alarm now, but it wasn’t on. Whenever Dave drives my car and we’re walking away from it, I remind him to lock it. And he gets SO annoyed. He’s like, “I’m GOING to lock it, Miss Patience.” But by then we’re too far from the car and he has to backtrack to lock it. Which makes me laugh inside but outside I act like I didn’t notice.
Anyway, this particular evening, Dave drove me home and was making me an early birthday dinner and had food in the oven. So he raced inside and I didn’t bother telling him to lock the car and risk being the nagging wife. I didn’t have my keys so I figured I’d just lock the car later. I did not.
And then a few hours later I had no radio/AC/blinkers/hazards, etc. Dave felt TERRIBLE. I said we should just each have 1 I-told-you-so and move on with our lives. That at least made him laugh.
My car got fixed quickly and I haven’t gotten a new radio. I might go back to the original factory radio (that of course I have to BUY since I threw my old one away). This new fandangled radio with the iPod jack does not seem worth it. It’s already cost me $1000 in deductible payments, not to mention the alarm I got just for that reason.
In other news, Dave’s employed again, so we’re catching up on all our bills. The deductible didn’t help, especially since I couldn’t find any of my credit cards to put the payment on one of them. I guess I am so against adding to my debt I’ve hidden my credit cards from my consciousness. FTW?
So things are sort of starting to get to normal. We’ve unpacked everything we use frequently. The rest of it is in boxes in a shed behind the house until we get the appropriate furniture: bookshelves, entertainment center, desk, etc.
One frustrating thing is that in the move we’ve somehow misplaced an entire box of kitchen things. HOW THE F DOES THIS HAPPEN?? We packed everything ourselves, loaded it ourselves, had it locked in a pod with our own padlock in a storage shed, and unpacked it ourselves. We left the apartment in 100% spotless condition with not one thing staying behind. The pod was completely empty when we were done.
And yet, we’re missing all of our mixing bowls, cutting boards, word-for-Tupperware-for-things-that-aren’t-Tupperware-branded and things like spatulas, ladles and serving spoons. And maybe a giant saute pan. I’m baffled. Oh well, maybe we didn’t need them anyway?
This past weekend is the first weekend I didn’t unpack anything. I cleaned and relaxed and weeded the little garden patch outside. It felt nice. Of course, it’s almost December so there’s no point planting anything, but at least I know it’s there when I’m ready.
And only after all of that was done did I even start to THINK about updating my blog. So here we are. I have more to say. There will be more Ike stories. More about my running. And more about life as it is here in Austin. Which isn’t much different than life in Houston. Unless you’re biking, then it’s COMPLETELY different. More on that later, too.
