An excellent way to show your support; I just sent some money that way. It would rock if every single couple waiting in line to get married in SF was given flowers, dontchathink?
Also, Desi sent me a link to this picture, and I followed another link to this wonderful set of pictures.
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Hey, look! A couple of the guys from The Bachelorette have their own web sites. Todd, who was funny as hell, is
here, and Ryan M. (that cute guy who couldn’t shut up) is
here. Can a Trista and Ryan blog be far behind? I think not!
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I just started on my first packet of Seasonale last night. This means, if my calculations are correct, that I won’t be having my period again until mid-May. You have NO idea how thrilled I am by this, folks. I’m going to save a fortune on tampons, that’s for sure.
I do expect, however, that my body will be confused as hell in a few weeks. I always start retaining water about a week before my period is due. The pill I was on is monophasic (a steady dose of hormones throughout the course of the pill, rather than triphasic, in which the hormone level changes through the course of the pill), which means that there’s no reason my body should do anything to prepare for the onset of my period until the Sunday comes when I don’t feed it a pill at bedtime. But I’ve been on the pill for several years, and I guess my body has adjusted well enough to know when to start retaining water. I’m going to estimate that it’ll take an entire year for my body to completely adjust to the new regimen, but that’s okay with me. Better a confused body for a year with only 4 periods a year, than an unconfused body and 12 periods.
Oh, don’t give me that look. Y’all KNOW you love it when I talk about my period!
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Lately – say over the past few weeks – Fred has started pointing out SUVs that he thinks he’d like. Because I’m pretty good at reading the signs, I had a feeling that we’d be shopping for a new SUV sometime soon. Finally Friday, we started seriously talking about it, and decided to do some looking around over the weekend. Actually, what we talked about was trading in his Jeep for a new vehicle, but I came up with a better idea: trade in
my Jeep, since it’s in worse shape than his, PLUS we owe less money on it, and his Jeep could become mine. Which means that I’d get a Jeep that is in better shape AND has a kick-ass stereo.
Saturday morning Fred headed out to check out an SUV that had the look and price that was within our range. He called me on his way home to tell me that it was “ugly as hell” and that he was no longer interested in it. Saturday evening, at my suggestion, we got Subway for dinner. After we ate, we went to another dealership, where we all piled in to another SUV and went for a test drive.
The verdict? It was okay, but he didn’t love it. (He asked my opinion, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s his opinion that counts, since he’s the one who’ll be driving it) It’s only a 4 cylinder, and after driving an 8-cylinder Jeep, it was a big difference. We got a printout from the salesman showing the different payment options, Fred told him he wanted to think about it, and we left.
We spent a good part of Sunday driving around looking at different SUVs, unmolested by salespeople, since most car places are closed on Sundays around here. We stopped at a dealership near where Fred works when a particularly cute SUV caught his eye, and they happened to be selling a yellow Beetle. The door was unlocked, so I actually sat in the car and got a feel for how comfortable I’d be in a Beetle. It was amazing how much room was in that car, especially the dashboard.
(No, this is not a story about how we went to look at cars for Fred and came home with a yellow Beetle for me, unfortunately!)
This morning Fred went to test-drive an SUV he really liked, and he reported back to me that he really, really likes it. He’s going to go drive another SUV at another dealership later this morning, but the one he drove this morning has 6 cylinders, and the one he’s going to go drive later is only a 4 cylinder.
I’m pretty sure he’s going to call me this afternoon and tell me he signed the papers to buy the 6 cylinder SUV.
This is absolutely the most adult thing we’ve ever done, shopping around for an SUV. Before, we’ve always said “Hey, let’s go look at cars!”, and ended up coming home that very same day with a new (used) car. This whole test-driving and thinking-about-it thing, the running the numbers to see what the payment would be, the seeing who’ll give us a good deal? Never done it before. Sad, isn’t it?
What’s even cooler than Fred getting a new SUV and passing his Jeep on to me, is the fact that THAT Jeep will be paid off, or close to it, in about a year. And then? And then, my friends, it will be time for me to get a new vehicle. A car. A SMALL car. Possibly a yellow Beetle. And I’m willing to wait a
whole year to get what I want.
Will wonders never cease?
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I love these little bitty birds. Finches, aren’t they?
Spanky, checking to be sure the back door is still open.
Such a pretty boy.
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Some of those pictures of Ryan remind me of Colin Farrel.
We have The Swap in the UK except it’s called Wife Swap and some of the wives have become infamous from it.
Someday you WILL have your yellow VW; but for now a word of wisdom. You know you are getting older when your next car costs as much as your first house. Hee. Love your and Fred’s journals.
Robyn…
I think you should divorce Fred and make him live a lifetime of pain since he obviously dosen’t realize that when you go to a dealership on a Sunday and the door to the Yellow Beetle is unlocked, you HAVE TO BUY IT FOR YOUR WIFE!!!! seriously though, congrats on the new car, you didn’t mention what it was however, is it a Jeep? Ford, Dodge?
Melanie, the not mentioning is intentional. 🙂
Yep, those are American Goldfinches! Mine are finally here.
I have a 1990 Nissan Pathfinder 4×4 five speed which has 174,000+ miles on it and still going strong. I always ask strangers who are owners of older Nissans how many miles they have on the truck/car and they usually say up in the 100,000-300,000 miles range.
Did you look at the new Nissan Armadas ??
Rugbypet — we didn’t look at the Nissan Armada.
You know what was the best about those pictures from San Fransico? The older couples. I read a story in the paper this morning about two women who had been together for 51 years. It’s inconceivable to me that people want to get up in other people’s business when all those other people are doing is loving each other. Sigh. Thanks for the link, Robyn. Oh, and Fred…did you ever drive a …nah…I know better.
Those pictures are so awesome. I nearly cried. They all look so exhuberated and happy! It has been a long time coming!
I am unfortunately one of those freakish people that never watched Sex and the City, but I can appreciate the joy of the finale of a long running show and the coming together of everything.
I loved the pictures. I want to live in a country that supports what those pictures represent. Thanks for the link.
God, those pictures of couples made me cry! Just look how HAPPY they are! *sniff* It’s so beautiful!
I will never understand how anyone would want to suppress the kind of love and joy radiating from those people.
I really wish I was there, to see it in person…
Here’s what I think you should do about the car situation. Get rid of your old jeep. Fred keeps his current vehicle, and YOU get a new Beetle. You are the queen, after all!! Ha ha!!!
So today the President wants a constitutional ammendment against gay marriage. I cannot, for one second, figure out how in the world homosexual marriages threaten my heterosexual marriage for one single second. I don’t get it.
I think their argument boils down to “it just ain’t right.” Well, if I get totally honest, I have a little of that “it just ain’t right” feeling in me — but that’s an incomplete statement. The complete statement is “it just ain’t right FOR ME!” because I am a heterosexual. A heterosexual union “just ain’t right” for homosexuals. So what’s the prob!? Good Lord. Get over it people. Get over it Mr. President.
Hey Robyn,
I just wanted you to know that my neighbor adopted Pilgram on Sunday. (No I can’t spell)She changed her name to Dipstick because her tail looks like it was dipped in oil Dippy for short. Another cat with a great home.
Susan
I too loved the pictures of the older couples. I almost cried at the one of the two elderly gentleman. But I do live in a country that “allows” same sex marriages. Same sex couples have been getting married for the past year in Canada. But the province that I live in has a provincial government that is trying to roll back the law. The protests are based on fundementalist values. One radio commentator, who was not gay, had a great piece on the subject saying, the unbelievable arrogance of people saying that they are speaking for god. The protesters say they are protecting the union of marriage. I asked my hubby of 36 years if that meant we were less married that before the law changed. But neither of us noticed any difference!
Pat