Tattoos and Cars

This weekend was all about tattoos and the family car. On Saturday, Joe took me out for my pre-birthday surprise - a new tattoo! It's one I've been wanting to get since January, just haven't had the money. Being a little more experienced this time, I brought my new library book and read while Rob did his thing on my ankle. Here's what it looks like:

If you can't make out the words, it says "We're all mad here." It's an Alice in Wonderland thing, which goes with my Hatter tattoo. I've designated my right leg as the Wonderland leg, so anything Alice-related will end up there. Not that I have any immediate plans. Joe got a tattoo also (naturally!). It's an ambigram, which means that when you look at it from one direction is says Saint and when you look at it the other way it says Sinner.

Also got the brakes fixed on the car today. Our friend Josh did it for free, we just had to pay for the parts. So now all my brakes work, yay! In the next week or so he'll also be repairing our tie rod and wheel bearing. Very handy, having mechanical friends. We hung out at Josh and Nancy's house all day. This meant Xander had to play with Tehya, who is only four. There were some rough spots, but for the most part they got along.

When we got home, Joe and Xander finished up a school project - diorama of Jack and the Beanstalk for the Fairy Tale Museum they're making. Didn't they do a good job?

Week In Review

It's been an entertaining week for the Brunos, which started on Sunday with dinner at our friend Nancy and Josh's house. It's the first time we've dined together that hasn't been in a restaurant, and they went all out. Josh BBQ'd these huge steaks (which were insanely delicious), and Nancy made twice-baked potatoes from scratch. Even Xander ate one! We'll be seeing them again on Saturday at the motorcycle club's annual dinner at the Heartbreak.

Tuesday we picked up our rental car (our regular car is having some issues at the moment). They gave us a Kia Optima and I'm now doing almost all of the driving because Joe just can't fit behind the wheel. Watching him try to get in the other day was hilarious! Hopefully our car will be back on the road next week sometime.

Wednesday we had dinner at Eli and Krissy's - corned beef and cabbage dinner number one. The kids played, the grown-ups hung out, and Joe immediately became addicted to something called Angry Birds on Krissy's Droid. Dinner was good, and followed up by a giant cupcake made with rainbow colors. It was delicious!

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, so there was lots of wearing of the green and more corned beef, just for us Brunos. Joe had it cooking in the crock pot all day and it was delicious! Next year we need to get a bigger corned beef or something, though, because there's not even a crumb left. Xander at corned beef both days, and some potato. I'm so proud of him for trying new food!

Today it's already warm, though we do have a wind advisory. It's a big conference day at work, and Xander normally wouldn't have had school but they used up all their snow days. Sorry, buddy! I've been up since 6am because Joe was snoring so bad I couldn't get back to sleep. It's going to be a long day!

Oh Woe, My Poor Car!

Do you see anything wrong with my car?

No? Well, let me tell you a little story. The other night I was driving home from work (it was about 5:15, getting fairly dark) and when I got to the street I live on I was stuck behind a van with flashing yellow lights on it. This van was crawling down the street, but I didn't feel comfortable passing because I didn't know if there was something ahead and also because it was a no-passing zone. And since the driver didn't wave me around or pull off to the shoulder, I had to tough it out.

The morning after this incident, I saw that the double yellow line had been painted. There were tire marks coming from that to my driveway, where I'd driven a little on the fresh paint. Now it all made sense! I had a little chuckle about that. And then Joe came home from work.

Turns out more than just my tires are yellow. Now Joe has to call the insurance company to see if there's anything we can do about this. The line painter wasn't marked in any way - I had no clue what he was doing besides driving slow. It was too dark to even get a good look at his vehicle, though I could just make out a picture of the state on the back doors. Want a better look? Check these pics out!

Cassie v. Carl

The next sound you'll probably hear is my head exploding. I have not been driving my car since Monday, due to the fact that my wheel bearing is bad and making very unpleasant noises. I've been lucky to get rides coming and going, and Joe took two days off of work so that no-one would have to endanger their lives by driving.

The car is right now at the shop, where we had an appointment today to fix the wheel bearing and the front brakes (why does everything go bad at once?). When I dropped the car off there yesterday evening, Carl wasn't sure if he could fit it in today. Um...what?? I've explained about this being our only car, husband works nights, blah blah blah. then he thought he might could get to it today after all.

It's now half past 2pm and I still haven't heard from Carl. I just left him a message, letting him know that I need to plan how I'm getting home tonight. I hope he calls me back...soon! I hate cars, they cost so much to get fixed. And while Carl's prices are reasonable, I wish he was better at getting back to me about things.

So hopefully I'll have my car back tonight. If not, Joe's head will be exploding much longer and much louder than mine!