I <3 my new car. :-)

I got my new car yesterday!!! :-D I love it, it is exactly what I wanted. Here's the (long and detailed) story:
A while ago I submitted a CarFinder form on St. J Auto's website; I asked them to e-mail or call me whenever they got a Subaru Baja in. Since then they have gotten a few in, but they all had standard transmission, and I haven't learned to drive standard yet. Well last week I was browsing their website, looking for a car that I might like and I found a sage green 2006 Impreza that had very low mileage (about 12k), was automatic, and affordable (about $17,700). My mom has an Impreza and I really like the way it handles so I decided to take a look at this car and possibly buy it. I had been communicating frequently by e-mail with one of the salesmen at St. J Auto so I let him know that I would like to take a look at this car; I decided that I would take a look at it on Saturday (yesterday, the 15th) at 11am. On Friday during my lunch break I checked my e-mail and saw that he had sent me a message first thing that morning saying that 11am wouldn't be a good time, that noon would be better. I replied that noon was fine, and when I returned to my inbox I saw that he had just barely (while I was writing back to him) sent me another message - the car I wanted to look at had been sold.... I called to talk to him about another Impreza that was the same color and year but with about 64k on it, but that one was a standard. Oh well. "It wasn't meant to be" he said. I told him I would still come and check out their other cars; there was a 2005 Impreza there that I wasn't very interested in, but I decided I'd look at it anyway. That afternoon I looked at The Car Store's website to see what they had for used cars - it's closer than St. J, but because it's in Norwich it's a lot more expensive so I didn't really want to go there, but figured it wouldn't hurt to look anyway. I found about 12 cars that I wanted to look at, but none of the prices were on the website so I wasn't too confident that I could afford any of them - if I found one of them was affordable I would probably get it. So yesterday I called St. J Auto and canceled my appointment to look at the 2005 Impreza since I didn't want it that much; I decided to go to The Car Store instead. I went to The Car Store's website to print out the pages for the cars I wanted to look at so I could remember them all, and then Dad came up and suggested I check out the websites for the Subaru dealers in Berlin, Claremont and Rutland. I was kind of hesitant to look because I had checked Berlin's the week before and hadn't seen anything and the others are pretty far away, but I decided to check to see if anything new had come in anyway. Nothing I wanted in Berlin. Nothing I wanted in Claremont. I didn't see anything that I wanted in Rutland, but then dad said "There's a Baja" - I had missed it in the list, had only noticed the many Forresters listed which I don't care for very much. I put my mouse over the link and the picture came up; it was black! Getting more excited I clicked on the link to check it out - it was a 2006 (which was the last year they made them) black Subaru Baja, automatic, with tinted windows, a sunroof, and low mileage (28k)!!! Now this was basically my dream car (I have daydreamed about getting a black Baja with a sunroof and tinted windows many times lol). And I could afford it (it was about $19,900)!!! I called the store to make sure it was still there - it was! I got my parents to agree to go look at it that day, and I gave the dealer a $200 deposit over the phone so that no one else could buy it while we were on our way there. Of course I loved it, and of course I bought it. :-D I got some pretty good deals too, it's certified so I was able to get an amazing 6 year/100k mile warranty for a one time cost of $550 ($100 deductible for just about anything - even if the motor blows!). And I added into the price a Xzilon treatment which I will have done sometime next month. This is some pretty cool stuff; it is applied to the interior and exterior and will protect my car from just about anything that should get on it; spills, salt, bird shit, etc. They had one of their floor models treated with the stuff and a can of spray paint - you can spray the paint on and it wipes right off. So if you can't already tell I'm pretty excited!! I think I lucked out on the car and everything else, and it has everything I wanted it to have. :-D I love it!

Tired...

I just got home from work about 25 minutes ago.
Last night I was on call with Angela, and at about 12:30 this morning Brad called me in. We had to do emergency surgery on a dog with GDV (bloat). We were in surgery for about 2 hours, and I was finally able to go home when others came in at about quarter to 8am. Now I'm just waiting for sleepiness to kick in so I can get some sleep..

Tabby's surgery

So. A couple weeks ago we took Tabby up to the veterinary specialists in Burlington, VT for her surgery consult. The vet told us that the mass was not in the worst possible spot luckily, but that it was still a bad location. He tries to get at least a 2-3cm margin all the way around any tumor, and because Tabby's was right on top of (and possibly attached to) her spine he could only go so deep. If he has to he will remove the spiny processes of her vertebrae as well. I was a little surprised when he told us that we could leave her there and have the surgery done that very day - I had figured they would be booked for at least the next several days! But because we weren't able to discuss it with my Mom we decided to wait and talk with her, and then call back and schedule the appointment. We made it for the next Thursday, November 1st.
So Thursday Nov. 1st arrived and my Dad dropped Tabby off in Burlington. I was able to get the next day off work so that I could talk to the vet about how the surgery went when we picked her up. Before picking her up we went to the University Mall, and I got several things I had had my eye on. :-) Then we headed for the veterinary clinic. The vet said that he felt they had gotten good margins around the tumor, but that we wouldn't know for sure until the histopath results came back. The technician who brought her out said that everyone there loved her, and that she had been purring almost the whole time she was there after waking up. She's such a happy cat. :-)
A couple days later the histopath results came back, and the margins were good, they got all of the tumor! So that's a good sign. I know that fibrosarcoma is not a good cancer and can reoccur, but we are optimistic about it, and of course we hope that it never comes back.

The Break-Up

So I think this has been coming for a while now.
The same weekend that my car's exhaust broke, Matt and I split up. There was a weird feeling in the air the whole weekend, and then finally on Monday on the way back to the apartment (we had been hanging out in Matt's van and he was dropping me off at the apartment so I could go home and have my car fixed - he was planning on going back to work on his van some more) I commented on his flaws that really bother me and that I don't think I could live with. We got into this big 2-hour long discussion with tears and everything, and then in the end we decided to take a break. For months now I had been considering ending it because I wasn't happy, wasn't getting the things I need and deserve in a relationship. I was getting frustrated and depressed. It wasn't just me though, we both have flaws that the other can't stand. His smoking. My indecisiveness. His drinking habits. My lack of motivation. His refusal to do anything that I asked of him. His never having time for me. And so on. Leaving after we broke up was sad of course, but not as awful as it could have been. We hugged and said good-bye, and then we both went on our ways. We are still very good friends, and who knows, we may get back together again at some point. After some changes take place of course. But for now, may it R.I.P. 8/9/05 - 10/15/07.

Car issues.... again

So much has happened in the last several weeks... I'm going to separate the three major things into three separate posts. The first is about my car..

On my way up to the apartment several weeks ago my car's exhaust decided to break. Everything was fine until I stopped at a red light. When I hit the gas to go again I could hear very loud exhaust - I thought to myself "Is that me?!" I let off the gas for a second and sure enough it stopped. I looked in my mirror to see if my muffler had fallen off but I couldn't see anything there (however it was dark so even if it had fallen off I may not have been able to see it..). I will also comment at this time that some people had severely irritated me by tailgating me very closely - when we stopped at the red light they were so close to me that I thought they were gone; I couldn't see their headlights at all! When I looked closer I could see them in the car though. I drove the last 5 minutes to the apartment very carefully and made it there fine. When I looked under my car later I saw that the exhaust under the driver's section of the car had come apart and was hanging down, but not touching the ground. Matt had wanted me to use my car a couple times over the weekend and thank God I didn't. When I went to leave on Monday I didn't even get by the next building and I could hear the exhaust pipe scraping on the ground. A couple people came over to look and a guy broke it off for me so I could manage to get home. The piece must have been almost two feet long. He told me to drive with my windows down so carbon monoxide wouldn't build up in the car - that was one COLD drive home... I wore my hood up the whole way! And might I say it was embarrassing too? People would turn to look as I went by. And I tried to be really careful; if a car was coming I would temporarily let my foot off the gas until I was sure it wasn't a cop. :-P But I made it home and my Dad kindly used the credit card to have the parts replaced the very next day.
Now, however, I'm not sure that the water pump we replaced several weeks before my exhaust problem is the right one.. The guy at the parts store said it wasn't the same pump that was in my car before but that it should fit. But now my car will start to get hot when driving in certain conditions; for example when going slow through the stupid ass construction going on right in front of where I work... It hasn't overheated yet, but it gets pretty close. So we will see how that goes. My dad says that he's getting sick of fixing something in it every few weeks - he thinks I should just go for a new car! Which I might. :-) I set up a carfinder thing on St. J Auto's website to e-mail/call me whenever they get in a Subaru Baja that is 2004 or newer with less than 50k miles on it. So we will see!

weird.

I find it kinda funny that I never saw the customer who asked me out again.
Several months ago when I was working at Shaw's, there was this really nice guy (who looked about 10-15-20 years older than me) who I would chat with when he came through my line, and who I saw nearly every day. Before you start thinking I was being flirty I'll let you know that I would chat with any friendly person who came through my line. If he was in someone else's line he would wave and call over to me, asking how I was. One day I was clocked out and ready to head home when he rolled up in his Mustang (I was standing outside my car taking off my sweatshirt) and said "Hey, I've been wanting to ask you something".
Me: "What's that?"
Him: "I was wondering if I could get your number.. so I could call you."
Me (feeling embarrassed, and making a face): "Ehh, I don't think so, I already have a boyfriend."
Him: "You just seemed kinda nice."
I think I said "sorry", and then he put on his sunglasses with a smile and drove away. I felt so uncomfortable, not because of him, but just because I always feel uncomfortable when I know a guy would like to date me or something. I guess it's just one of my quirks. But anyway, after that I really didn't want to see him and avoided him so he wouldn't see me (again one of my quirks; I do this every time I know a guy likes me). I saw him in line once and I made sure I didn't bag for him, and another time when he was in line I went over to the CSR desk and pretended to be checking out the schedule book so he wouldn't see me (or were those both the same time? I can't remember). And then the last time I saw him he was in an express line and they told me to open up another express - I said I could take some of the express customers in my line and looked at him, but he ignored me and didn't say a word. I never saw him again. Which is weird because I worked there for several more months before I left. It made me wonder if he came there just to see me lol. I suppose it's not impossible. :-P

:-(

About a week before I started working at Veremedy my dad noticed a lump on Tabby's back (Tabby is one of our 3 cats). When I went to visit my parents I checked out the lump - it was hard and immobile, and about the size of a grape. I didn't think it was very good so after I had been back at Veremedy for a couple days I brought her in to be looked at. One of the vets examined her and another performed a fine needle aspirate (a procedure where a needle on a syringe is pushed into the mass and the syringe plunger is drawn back to pull cells into the syringe - the cells are then sprayed onto slides, stained, and examined under a microscope). When the vet later examined the slides she saw various normal cells but also some fibrocytes which would point to fibrosarcoma. Because of these and the location (on the spine a few inches back from the shoulder blades) the two vets who had looked at Tabby feared it might be a vaccine-related fibrosarcoma, and they recommended that I bring her back the next week for surgery to have a piece removed and sent out for biopsy. I brought her in for surgery on Tuesday, October 2nd and the sample was sent out to a diagnostic lab. I got the results back yesterday and they weren't good.. Tabby has a grade II fibrosarcoma of the aggressive recurrent type (in other words, cancer). The lab recommended we take her to an oncologist for consultation. My parents have already decided that they want to do the aggressive surgery needed to remove the tumor even though it will likely cost more than $1,200. So, my mom is going to get an appointment with an oncologist for Tabby as soon as she can and then we will see what happens. We will do our best to make sure that Tabby's "golden years" are happy, comfortable ones.

quick update

Ok, so it's been a while since I've updated. Long story short my car is working fine now (though I'd still love to get a new car!) and my job is going great (check us out at www.veremedy.com). It's a little weird only being at my apartment half of the time, but it's not so bad.
And I'm tired now, so... I guess that's all I have to say.

Cars, cars, cars

It turns out that my car is fixed and back to working fine now. My dad and Dan (his mechanic friend) worked on it some more yesterday and finally got the fluid to circulate through the motor. Dad took it on several "test" runs, and says it is now fine for me to use again. Yay! But I still want to go car shopping next weekend (or at least sometime soon). I want to get a Baja most of all, but a newer nicer Subaru would be fine too (mine is a '98 Subaru Outback Wagon). Mine still looks very nice and was well taken care of and I love it, but it needs several parts replaced and the motor knocks. It has about 120k miles which isn't a lot for Subaru, but a car with lower mileage would be nice. So now I'm really excited to go car shopping!
On the way back up here to my apartment last night another deer almost ran out in front of me on the interstate but stopped on the bank, maybe because I was coming? I don't know why it stopped, but I was sure glad it did - my heart just about went up my throat when I saw it running towards the road. I also saw some animal in a pull over area, but it was dark so I couldn't tell what it was. It kind of looked like it was a fox. The rest of my ride was uneventful.
And now I've got a bunch of cleaning and packing that I need/want to do, but my computer keeps distracting me. :-P

Thursday night I took my mom's car back to my apartment so I could make it to my last day of work. When I got there yesterday I discovered that one of my co-workers (who is also a pastry chef) had baked a beautiful cake for me and another girl who was also there for her last day. It was the most amazing cake I've had in a long time, possibly ever. So delicious. And another friend crocheted a beautiful blue and white blanket for me, and made me a turquoise necklace. I'm going to miss everyone.. I met so many nice people while working there. Aside from that it was a crappy day - I was stuck on express and carts the entire time (both of which I dislike). It seemed like it was "Torture Molly Because She's Leaving Day". After work I quickly grabbed some stuff and came back here to my parents' house so Mom could go shopping today with her car (well.. she said I didn't have to come down, that she could wait to go grocery shopping, but I wanted to). I felt sad because I ran over a little (baby?) skunk on the way there... I tried not to hit it but it ran back into the road.. :-(
While I was at work yesterday Dad and his mechanic friend Dan worked on my car, but even with the new water pump they couldn't get fluid to circulate through the motor. It looks like I may have no other choice but to get a new car..
So after shopping today I am going to take my mom's car back to my apartment again tonight and spend the night, hopefully getting to do something with Matt, and then I will clean tomorrow, etc., pack up the stuff I need for the week, and then head back down here. Ugh. I'll be glad when I finally have a routine going.

Stresssssss

Let's just say the last 24+ hours have been a little stressful. It started last night on my way to my parents' house: I had a bag of bagel chips open and sitting on the passenger seat so I could eat them on the way and a thought passed through my mind. I thought "If a deer or something ran out into the road in front of me and I had to slam on my brakes, these chips would spill everywhere..", and then a few minutes later what do you know, a deer bolts out across the road right in front of me. I came so close to hitting that deer - I heard my tires squealing or something (I don't know though because my car has ABS), and I had to swerve the tiniest bit, but that deer was mere feet from my car. That just about gave me a heart attack... However, because of the slight downhill slope at the end of the road where I live, I have a habit of putting my arm out when I hit the brakes to keep whatever is on the passenger seat from falling on the floor, and so none of my chips spilled.
And then what came was worse. When I got to my parent's house and shut off my car, I could see steam just rolling out from under the hood of my car. At first I thought it was smoke, but I got out and smelled it and it just smelled like hot car. I was concerned though because it was hissing and didn't stop steaming, so I called my dad outside to look at it. After some examination we discovered that water/antifreeze was pouring out of the motor (not the radiator). Not good... Especially for a person prone to anxiety. Especially when this anxiety-prone person has to drive to Veremedy the next day, and then back to her apartment an hour away, plus the weekly commutes that will soon begin. There was nothing we could do then so Dad said he'd look closer in the morning. So this left me worried about my car and what I was going to do if it couldn't be fixed, and worried about Veremedy the next day... Ugh.
But in the end my day at Veremedy went well, and Dad thinks that a new water pump may fix my car problem. If not then this weekend I will be car shopping. I'd almost rather do that anyway because my car is old (a '98), and needs several new parts. What's holding me back is that it's my first car, the interior/exterior are in beautiful condition, and it only has like 120k miles on it. But we will see what happens.

Just two more days at Shaw's.. Tomorrow I work 10:15-5:15, then I have to head down to my parents' house so I can go to Veremedy Thursday morning. I am supposed to go in for a kind of "refresher" day. Friday, my last day at Shaw's, is another retarded shift - 12:45-6. This weekend will be awesome though; I am going to visit Amanda and probably spend the night there. And then Monday is my first day back at Veremedy.. Wish me luck!

Finally, I'll be working as a vet tech again...

Last week one of the girls who works at the vet clinic where I used to work called my parents' house and left a message for me. I called her back, thinking that she just wanted to tell me something, but it turned out she called to see if I wanted to work for them again! I told her I'd think about it, and that I'd call her back. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do.... It would be stupid to turn the job down and stay at Shaw's where I would be making $7.25 an hour (and working only part-time!)... but if I took the job I'd have to stay at my parents' house during the week and only come up here on weekends. Finally I decided to take the job. I don't want to work in a grocery store, and I want to make more money. It's gonna be tough with all that traveling (from here to my parents' house twice a week, and then half an hour to work every day), but I think it will be ok. If Matt and I are meant to be together, then this will work out fine.
I gave Shaw's my 2-week notice on Friday, so my last day is going to be Friday the 21st. My first day back at Veremedy will be the 24th. I'm nervous because I don't have the confidence I need yet, and I feel like I've forgotten stuff since school. Ah! I think it will be ok though. I just need to get back in the swing of things.

So long, 21

Yesterday when I got out of work I came down here to spend the weekend with my family. It was so nice to be able to wake up here at my parents' house and spend the day with them and not have to leave to head back to my apartment at the end of the day. I miss going shopping and doing other daily things with my family.

This morning was laid back; I had coffee and a donut for breakfast and relaxed for a little while. Then a little after noon we headed down to West Lebanon to do some shopping. Mom let me pick out some Vera Bradley items for my birthday at Mouse Menagerie - I chose the Mini Hipster, and the Checkbook Cover and Clip Zip ID because they didn't have the Pocket Wallet in my color (which happens to be Java Blue). They also had some really cute teeny tiny notepads at the counter and I got one with kittens on it. So cute! Later we had dinner at Weathervane (a seafood restaurant), and the waitress found out that it was my birthday when I ordered a mudslide. She grinned and said that she would "make the kitchen aware of that", and later brought me a free ice cream sundae for dessert. :)

And for my birthday dinner (which we will have tomorrow instead) Mom is going to make my favorite "pillow" cheese ravioli with Texas Toast (yum!), and bake a coconut cake. Mmm!

New Hampshire-ite

I finally got my New Hampshire license yesterday. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to keep my Vermont license, but that's ok. :-P

Presents in the mail for me :)

Yay! The "go-everywhere clutch" that I ordered from Coldwater Creek finally came in the mail today. It is a black mock-croc leather clutch with an envelope-style flap. There are two "gussets" (they are the leather straps on the sides) and two buckles that attach them to a strap that goes across the front. The envelope flap tucks under the front strap and secures with a magnet. Inside there are two slip in pockets and a zipper pocket. And last of all, there is a wrist strap that you can detach if you don't want to use it.



Here is a little story for you. Many months ago I had seen the "go-everywhere clutch" in the outlet section of Coldwater Creek's website, and bookmarked it thinking that maybe I would buy it sometime. I liked it, but not enough to buy it right then. A couple weeks ago I was looking through all my bookmarks and saw the "go-everywhere clutch" again. This time when I looked at it I thought it was really cute and decided to buy it. I considered transferring money from my savings account to my checking account so I could buy it before my next paycheck, but did the wise thing and decided I wouldn't use any money in my savings account unless I absolutely had to. Payday comes along and I stop at the bank to make a deposit. I go home, log on to Coldwater Creek's website, and what do you know, it says "sold out and no longer available". I was like "WTF! It was just there yesterday!". It just figures that the very day I make a deposit to buy it I go and look at it is gone. However, I happen to know that with Coldwater Creek things tend to appear again after they have previously been "sold out". So I frequently (like 10 times a day!) checked to see if my "go-everywhere clutch" was back. A week later I was lucky enough to spot it on there, but saw that if I clicked on it, it was still "sold out". This was a good sign though, and I kept checking until finally I caught it at a time where I could actually click on it and add it to my cart - you better believe that was the fastest online order I have ever placed. So now, finally, I have it here and safely in my hands. :-P

Handbag Blues..

Why do designer handbags have to be so expensive? Most of the time I don't care because there are very few designer handbags that I actually like. And there are a few designer handbags that I could afford, but the ones that I really like are always the more expensive (to me) ones.. For example the new handbag that I spotted on the back cover of this month's Lucky magazine - the 'Village' Triple Zip Satchel by Cole Haan, in 'Gunmetal'. Luckily the price isn't completely out of my range (it sports a $375 price tag), but it would take several weeks of saving before I could afford it. And I would feel a little guilty spending that much money on a purse too... but maybe I should just treat myself. My birthday is coming up after all..

Cole Haan 'Village' Triple Zip Satchel

By the way, I'm really not a gluttonous, spoiled brat; there are designer handbags out there that cost well into the thousands of dollars range - and some people whip out their wallets for those without a second thought! I highly doubt I would ever spend more than $400 on a purse - and even that is way too high..

More pets!

I've got more Chocopets now! Because I liked Prickles so much, I decided to adopt four more new pets: a "Cactie" named Cactie (original, I know..), a "Scarlet" named Scarlet, a "Spotty" named Spotty, and a "Malc" named Cheeky. I am going to keep one pet on my main blog, and every once in a while I will switch pets. You can visit them all at my new blog created specially for them, My Pets.

Prickles

A new pet has joined me on my blog - he is a "Puffy" named Prickles. Please visit him; he loves to be fed treats, and likes to have the beach ball tossed to him. Adopt your own pet from Chocopets.

Lucky Dog?

The other day when I went into Irving to get my gas receipt, I noticed that they had new "Lucky Dog" scratch tickets. I hadn't bought any scratch tickets for a while and they had cute puppy pictures on them so I decided to get two. It turned out that I won $1 with one of them. Yesterday I brought the ticket in to redeem it, and got two more Lucky Dog tickets. Well what do you know, one of them won me $2. So I went back to the counter and go two more. And guess what - one of those tickets won me $2 more! Back to the counter I went. I could only get one more Lucky Dog ticket though because the others were stuck in the case, so I got a Ducks In A Row ticket too. No luck with that one; I never win with those, but the Lucky Dog ticket got me $4! See where this is going? I haven't redeemed that ticket yet though because I want to get more Lucky Dog tickets.. wouldn't you? :-P