You Can Take All Of Me

What a whirlwind of a weekend... It never fails that my plans changed drastically, but I was still able to get most of the stuff done that I wanted to.

(I'll apologize now this may be a little choppy, I am making dinner right now...)

My plans all changed Friday night when Collin called me right after he left work. He has been fighting a head cold/sinus infection all week, and his car started acting up as well. Well, lucky us, the car died just south of Wilsonville on I-5.... Thankfully we got AAA, and we got it towed home for under $100...But meanwhile, Collin got to spend almost an hour in his cold ass car while waiting for the tow truck (who had to come to him from Canby)... At first the plan was to tow it to Woodburn (which would have been free) and then attempt to limp it home with me following him, so Alicia drove to Woodburn in the pouring rain... I get to the Arby's parking lot near the outlet stores, called Collin, and we reassessed the plan.... It was rather unrealistic to think we could drive the car home from Woodburn so he had the tow truck driver bring it all the way home. The alternator was the probable suspect; which for any non-automotive savvy readers is the part in your car that keeps the battery charged when the car is running, bad alternator, equals no battery power, equals dead car. If it had been dry daytime, Collin would have made it home, but as it was dark and raining he had to use the headlights, the heater, and the windshield wipers (which suck the most juice from your battery... Crazy right?) which killed the battery with a quickness only seen in ninjas...

****Dinner break****

Mmmm... That was awesome: pan seared/oven roasted chicken breast, mashed potatoes, green beans, and mushroom gravy. Yum.

Anyways, so Collin got his car towed home. Saturday morning I woke up to him coughing and sniffling. His cold had worsened considerably so he had to stay home from work. I made sure he was well nourished and medicated and then went about getting the car fixed. I pulled the alternator and the battery (I had called Autozone the night before to put an alternator on hold), took the battery to Schwabs to be tested and charged, and then went to Autozone so they could test the alternator (it was dicey because even though all the symptoms screamed bad alternator, we JUST put that alternator in back in July...). I don't think I had ever been so happy to hear someone say "No bueno."(except maybe for the last time this happened... An alternator is an easy fix comparatively.) As I said we just did this in July, and we had purchased the alternator from Autozone so it was swapped out for free under the warranty... Thank god for that. Then I went and got Collin some Mucinex, and picked up the battery from Schwab's. Gave him more medicine and put the car back together.

Once the car was up and running again I made sure Collin had everything he would need and then headed to McMinnville.

My mom was happy to see me. We talked for a little bit. I paid the past due on her electric bill.... I envy her... My mother's past due on her electric bill was a whopping $28... Okay, well I don't envy her, she's having a tough time right now, but I envy her meager power bill. Then I made my excuses and went over to Rose Lodge. Spent about an hour there visiting with dad, Jenn, Jordan, and Little Miss Amanda. I cannot get over what a serene and happy baby Amanda is, and in all honesty, Jordan seems like he has actually mellowed out a bit since her arrival. He's still a terror, but not so bad...

I headed back to Salem shortly after four. Once home I made dinner. I made a spinach, tomato, artichoke pizza... It was awesome, there will be some tweeking to the recipe before I make it again. I love Rachal Ray (I got the recipe from her magazine!), she gives me tons of great ideas and tips.

Today I mostly did laundry and relaxed. Then only thing I didn't get to was working on that piece I wanted to start. It'll probably won't be until next weekend before I really get started on it. Speaking of...

I can't wait for next weekend. I get FOUR days off!! I get my regualr weekend plus Monday and Tuesday. Saturday I am getting my hair done. Sunday is still wide open. Monday Collin and I are going to Portland for an AFI concert, and spending the night at the Courtyard Marriott; which is about three blocks from the Roseland and looks awesome! It will be so nice to have a mini vacation away from everything, and especially great to get to spend time with Collin. Tuesday after we check out of the hotel we are going to pop over to IKEA! I am sooo freaking excited!

That's about it for now...