I don’t know why I titled this post that way – it just felt like that kind of post.
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I tried to donate plasma this weekend. My husband has been donating a couple times a week for a few months now, with great success. The tires on his car are expensive and he figured donating would be a great way to earn some money on his schedule. Since our tax refund was eaten by a sick dog, a dead deep freezer and a broken garage, I found that I, too, was in need of some extra money and thought I would donate as well.
“Should I chug a bunch of water this morning?” I asked Denis a few hours before the appointment.
“No,” he replied. “All you drink is water anyway, so you should be fine.”
So I didn’t chug 32 oz of water.
We arrived at the donation location only to find out they could not find a vein in either arm. “You need to drink more water,” the nurse said. “Come back in two weeks and make sure you drink plenty of water a couple hours before you come in. If we can’t find veins the second time you come, I’m afraid you won’t ever be allowed to donate plasma at our location.”
So that was a waste of time.
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CootieGirl and I went to go see “Emma” this past weekend. It was very enjoyable although the Gwyneth Paltrow is still my favorite. I did prefer how they portrayed the growing attraction between Emma and Mr. Knightley in this new version though. In the Paltrow version it did seem to come out of nowhere towards the end. But I love Jeremy Northam, so I’ll forgive that.
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Speaking of CG, her job picks up again in the next few weeks. She had a break for a couple months but yesterday she got her first schedule of 2020. She did say that she’s a bit sad that she has to start working again, but I know once the paychecks start flowing back in she will feel very differently.
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As for CootieBoy and me, we have plans to go on vacation in April to celebrate his 16th birthday. It’s a mother/son trip to Florida to go to Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios, visit with friends and then board a Disney cruise. Here is where you likely gasp and whisper, “But what about COVID-19?” To that I say that he and I are not in the health risk group, we will take every precaution, AND my work has agreed to let me take my laptop so that if we ARE quarantined for 14 days I at least will be able to get my work done. I don’t know how CB missing two weeks of school would be addressed. But I’m hopeful that by the time of our trip most of the COVID-19 fears will be alleviated, the number of cases severely slowed down, and everything mostly back to normal once the news cycle grabs onto some other major story to obsess over.
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I’m currently car shopping. Many months ago I started the hunt, but wasn’t ready to pull the trigger. It is now March and there is a sense of urgency because I have two road trips coming up and I know my car may not survive them, as plucky as she is for a 15 year old vehicle. Tomorrow night I’ll go test drive a couple, and if neither of them work there’s another car at another dealership to consider. The two I will test drive tomorrow are sub-30K miles, only a couple years old, and are known for being reliable cars in general. In my mind, because I’m not super-picky, whichever one feels right when I drive it (i.e., has good pickup and is comfortable to sit in) will be the one I buy.
I will have a car payment again, which is sad, but as I plan to drive this car for 15 years just like my current one, it’ll mean not having to deal with car shopping again until at least 2035. In 2035 I’ll be 66 years old and on the verge of retirement. I had always planned to buy a super-fancy soup-to-nuts all-the-bells-and-whistles car to drive as a retiree, so this is perfect timing, really.
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No word on CG’s chemistry quiz yet. It has been over a week and the teacher has yet to put the grade into PowerSchool! So rude.
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I think that’s about all. This post really should be categorized as a hodge podge post, but I didn’t feel like it.
