My life has become much busier this past month. I have my Jeep now: a 2009 Compass.
The first day I got it, I went out for a practice drive with my father. It went pretty well, except for the highway when I had to switch lanes. I think my fear of lane changing comes from my road cycling days when I'd have to bike between two lanes with cars on both sides of me. It was frightening, but I did it. Now it's almost more difficult, even though I technically have more protection. I can't just turn my head sideways to see what's there. I have to rely almost completely on the side mirror, and I'm not used to judging distance that way.
Other than that, I'm doing OK with the driving. I ended up using my Jeep for the forces of good this past weekened when I helped my friend and her husband move. Her BIL was supposed to show up with a truck to help out, but he ended up not making it out. He felt too tired, but then he went to a social thing that same day instead. They were quite annoyed with him. A mutual friend of theirs couldn't help because he was "busy getting his dick sucked," as she put it, and their other friend was out of town for a legitimate reason, not sure what exactly. Another friend who would normally help is 7-8 months pregnant, so she was a no-go. Her MIL and BIL showed up, as did her mother, a mutual friend of ours, and myself. Mostly women, in other words.
We kicked ass.
The point of that whole spiel is that I loaded up my Jeep with boxes and bags of clothes, making two full trips to the new place and one lighter trip with the cats. I got to practice backing up the vehicle. I set off the alarm by accident after pressing the "panic" button on the key fob, and I didn't know what the heck was happening. My friend came running out and figured out what happened. I'm thankful that it happened in a residential parking lot, not in a busy commercial parking lot, like at Walmart or at the Shoppers Drug Mart. That would have been embarrassing. Even more so, I mean.
What else . . . I figured out how to get to the self-serve car wash and successfully drove in and out of it without hitting the entrance. I found out I need more than 3 minutes to properly soap it up and rinse it off. I loaded up my vehicle with boxes (of my own stuff) and went to my storage unit. A few items came out, several boxes went in. I still have more stuff in the garage to go through. As I probably mentioned before, it was a rough move.
Other unpleasant things I accomplished:
- sent a box in the mail to my ex-fiance with his things that got mixed in with mine. He's still not talking to me. His FB account is now either deleted or blocking me, I'm not sure which.
- paid off money I owed to the CRA from my 2017 taxes. I know, I know. Bad Browncoat, waiting so long. It's done now.
- went to a chiropracter appointment. I have another one this week. I might have to switch again, since this guy is out of town, and I'd rather not have to drive so far each time I go.
- got my obligatory once-every-three-year cervical cancer testing done and over with.
- probably something else that I can't remember.
Now that I've written all that, I feel like I deserve a drink. Oh, and tomorrow night I have to stop by the Jeep dealership to get a spare key cut. And then it's my mother's birthday on Monday, so I'll have to ask my brother if we're doing dinner/lunch or something for her this weekend. Next weekend, I'll be going to a bike maintenance clinic at the local bike shop. THAT I'm actually looking forward to, except I'm not happy it's early in the morning. Booo mornings.
The peas are coming up in the garden, as are the romaine lettuce seedlings and a couple of the cilantro seedlings. The radishes and green onions are still doing well. I still need to plant a few things out back. The larger garden area, the one my father and I (mostly my father) put together, is ready to use. I just need to figure out what the last frost date is and then get some parsnip seeds. The eggplant and tomato seedlings are probably ready to harden off now, though I'll likely end up buying them from the store. My seedlings don't seem to ever do well. Oh, and I planted some watermelon seedlings in the empty lot next door. I put them in a spot that nobody will notice from the road. Fingers crossed that they'll grow!
Not much else to report. My food has finally settled enough for me to go for a run. I haven't gone running since 2-3 weeks ago. This month is going by fast. I'll try to keep looking ahead— and I'll definitely have some Tequila Rose later tonight.