General

…and the color is?
We picked up the car Wednesday… Unfortunately, we haven’t been home yet when there’s enough daylight to take a picture of the car. The title says it’s green. It’s not green! The jetta is green. Put them next to each other, and the wagon looks blue. Hopefully tomorrow will be sunny enough to take a good picture or two. Then I can get a collective opinion on what color this car is!

Now I just need to buy one of those nifty mesh barriers to go between the way back and the back seats and Molly can ride around in the back of the wagon. We saw a dog riding in the back of another wagon on our way to work. It was so cute – the dog was going back and forth across the car, looking out both sides, and the whole time his tail was wagging against the back window. He looked really happy.

I confess, I totally spoil my dog. Last night I went out and bought her Christmas presents. Yes, I buy my dog Christmas presents. She even has her own stocking. I might have gone a little overboard, though. I bought three new bones, a package of four tennis balls, a snake that has squeakers in it, and this container of what looks like playdough, but is actually “doggie-dough“. It’s like edible (well, doggy-edible) playdough that you shape into fun and exciting treats to feed your dog. Ok, I admit, it was a totally impulsive thing at the checkout. Especially since we don’t normally feed her soft treats since they’re bad for her teeth. But, hey, I’m sure I’ve wasted $3 on things that didn’t make half so good a blog topic before! :)

new look
I had to get rid of the leaf banner, since it’s supposed to be winter. Of course, it’s currently 59° (F) out, and sunny… The last time I remember December being this warm and snow-less was the year I really had my heart set on a sledding party for my birthday. This year, I have no such plans, so I have to blame it on Denis for going out and buying a snowblower. :D

Being “graphically challenged”, I found these images at Graphic Garden. They have some cute stuff there! The design may change a bit in the next couple of days, but I’m happy enough with it to post it now. Oh, and I also took down the “links to me” section, since they were all people listed under “friends’ blogs”.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree…
…unfortunately, I don’t know any more of the words than that, but we got our tree yesterday! :) Tonight I’m going to put a fire in the fireplace, pipe my iPod with all my Christmas songs into some bigger speakers, make hot chocolate, and decorate my tree. Yay! I love December. It’s my birthday month, and Christmastime, and there’s (usually) lovely snow. <sigh> Now if it would just start snowing tonight, everything would be perfect! (‘Specially if tomorrow ended up being a snow day!)

New (to us) Car
We finally found a used wagon, with most of what we wanted – it’s not a standard, but how hard can it be to drive an automatic? (You must understand, I’ve only driven manual transmission cars – except for an occasional rental – for the past six years.) It’s a very different color. The sort where when you first look at it, you can’t really say whether you love it or hate it. My mom thinks it’s a light silver green. I would have called it aquamarine – almost the color of my birthstone. (Which led Denis to believe he was off the hook for a birthday present. I don’t think so!) The dealer just said it was green. The loan guy (who’s color blind) thought it was gray. I’ll have to post a picture and get everyone else’s opinion on what color it actually is.

Dance the Night Away
Saturday night was our holiday party at work. It turned out great! The food was wonderful, the DJ was good (although, not many people danced), and the hall was beautiful. Our dance instructor will be very proud of the fact that we got out there and danced a lot more than we would have before we took lessons. All in all, a very memorable evening.

Hmmm…. Just another indication that stock is more important than the employees…. :D

Customer Service is Dead
I consider myself to be a web-savvy person. In fact, I’m happier doing my Christmas shopping online instead of at the mall – parking isn’t an issue, you don’t have to listen to Muzak Christmas carols, there are no lines at the cash registers, and if you decide to shop at 6AM the day after Thanksgiving, you can do it in your pajamas. But this year my experience has been less than stellar. Last year, all the online merchants would do anything to get you to shop at their site instead of a competitor’s – free or upgraded shipping, discounts, that sort of thing. This year, they mislead you about availability of items, the shipping times and rates are either hard to find on the site or way out of line, and they’re grouchy on the phone when you call to find out where the order you placed three weeks ago is. I guess I can understand if something’s back-ordered, but at least tell me when it’s expected, and let me change my now useless priority shipping to something cheaper. Instead, every single online customer service rep I’ve contacted has been surly and unhelpful. I understand that they deal with upset or angry people constantly, and they might not even have the information I’m looking for, but they could at least pretend that since I’m the customer, I must be right.

Next year, everyone’s going to get hand-made stuff. Or I’m going to start shopping in February. At least then, everything I order will be sure to arrive before Christmas, back-ordered or not.

It’s cold and foggy, and I woke up with a headache…not a good start to the day! But then we stopped on our way to work at a coffee shop which had chocolate chai and pumpkin muffins. Mmmm. I think I’m in heaven.

Used Car Blues
I’ve decided I hate car shopping. It doesn’t help that we really haven’t decided what kind of car we want. Ideally, we’d get a wagon, but nice used ones are really hard to find – apparently, people tend to drive them into the ground rather than trading them in. So we’ve also looked at a couple of pickup trucks. I really don’t think we’re truck people – we test drove one last night. It was fun to drive, and it actually fits in our garage…but there’s no space for a laptop bag or even a coat except at the passenger’s feet. We seriously considered it anyway, but decided to wait for the perfect used wagon to come along. For now, we’re helping the environment by carpooling everywhere we go.

Still Stuffed
I am so glad leftovers last only a few days. I don’t think I can look at turkey, stuffing, or pumpkin pie for at least another year! I made a triple batch of stuffing (yes, I toasted 90 slices of bread and crumbled them into cubes) and four pumpkin pies. The sweet potato balls were actually a huge hit with my family – who would’ve guessed? – and of course, my grandmother made all the other trimmings.

Even better, I’m almost done with my Christmas shopping, and I have all the supplies for the things I’m making. I even managed to find a way to re-arrange my living room furniture to fit a tree. Now we just need to find a way to get a tree home… Unfortunately, the Shadow died. It just won’t start – doesn’t even try to turn over. We’re sure it’s not the battery, since jump-starting it didn’t work… Since it’s a 10-year-old car which also needs a new clutch and other assorted repairs, we’ve decided not to revive it again – which leaves us, at the moment, with only one car. And I’m having a hard time convincing Denis to get pine needles all over the inside of the Jetta. (OK, I’m not too sure I want that, either). So we also went used-car shopping this weekend. Which is a whole long story in itself…