Of Car and Hockey

Yesterday I had the new car in at my mechanic to be checked over, and he rotated the tires and said everything else was "like new," so it's officially a keeper! Whew. I didn't really think he would find anything, but it's a relief to be past that point.

And you know what that means: bumper stickers. Here's what I have so far (I may end up getting others, of course, but this is a good start):

There's one more in the mail, which leads me happily into hockey season. Training camps started yesterday, and preseason games start this weekend. Hockey news fills my Twitter feed again.

And! guess what! Our cable provider has a package of extra sports channels, and it included NESN (the New England Sports Network), which I didn't think was even available down here! All the Bruins games! With my favorite, homers-and-proud-of-it, announcers! I signed up for that so fast. I'm very excited. Go Bruins!

Hockey Is Coming

Here comes hockey season!

The Bruins prospects played in a mini-tourney against the Buffalo and New Jersey prospects this weekend, which I was able to watch part of online (part of both games, that is, around other things I was doing: Boston 5 to Buffalo 2, and NJ 4 to Boston 3). Unfortunately, neither game was done by the Bruins announcers, so there was more of a focus on the other sides, but still it was fun to have real hockey going again. 

And this week, full training camp starts, which mean exhibition games start next week. And, according to the Bruins, one of those games will be televised! A week from Thursday against Philly is supposed to be on TNT. The rest, well, they'll be on Bruins radio at least, so they'll be talking about the players I want to hear about.

Hockey, hockey, hockey...

Damn It

Sure, enough, I got my period. So soon after writing about how long it had been! Though honestly, if the cycles came 12 weeks apart, instead of 3 or 4, that wouldn't be so terrible.

But better to have none, of course. 

More Maggie (and other) Photos

How about some pictures?

I got a new carrier for Maggie, and while she was skeptical at first:

I left it in the living room, and sometimes she goes in there for a nap.

Lap cat, part 87042.

And box cat, part 42087.

File this under Duh, really?

Ohhh, this is so true.

Visited Norman Love this weekend; good chocolate! And funny sign on the display case:

It was a beautiful day (as opposed to now, when it's thundering and pouring rain).

Who could be cuter? 

Superstitious

I wanted to update y'all on what's happening with my periods*, which I will state up front in case anyone doesn't feel like reading about it.

*Blogging is weird sometimes, you know?

(I don't exactly think of myself as superstitious, and yet when I thought about writing this, I found myself thinking, but what if I jinx it? I finally decided to go for it, though.)

After going off birth control last summer, which I was on due to bad periods, I had a few months of peace, and then they started up again. After that, every 22 to 32 days, it would start again. In June, when it started for the tenth time, fed up with the whole process, I made an appointment with a gynecologist for her next available opening, which was late August (appointments are backed up because of the pandemic, of course). I figured that I would have two more cycles before the time came to see her.

Instead? Nothing.

Nada. Zilch. No periods. It's so weird!

Mind you, I am NOT complaining. Though I dislike the uncertainty, it's much less bothersome than the cramps and general feeling-awful-ness. But it's so weird! Every 3 to 4 weeks, and then all of a sudden it's almost 11 weeks of complete radio silence. No cramps or bleeding, no hot flashes or night sweats, not a single thing that points to definitive menopause. Can this really be it? So doubtful! 

I will report back if it starts tomorrow, now that I've written this, as I almost expect it will. But, you know, it is weird, right?

Bumper Stickers, To Start

Getting ready!

Here It Is

Got the car!

To recap, it's a 2019 Kia Soul +, with under 14,000 miles. It's gleamingly new compared to my old 2012. It has a lot of bells and whistles I'll need to figure out, but the basics--the feel of driving it--are much the same, so the change isn't too much to deal with. I'm sure I'll be looking for a green car in parking lots for a while, and getting used to push-button start will take time.

If anyone has a suggestion for buying knitting-related bumper stickers, let me know. Or cats, or reading/books. I'll have to get a Bruins one, or two... think, think, think.

I do have time to get a few together; the car can be returned within the first 30 days, so just in case, I won't stick anything on this month. For my birthday, I'll get going! Fun stuff.

Adding Another Thing to my Plate

Even though my mother's recovery from hip surgery is going well, the situation does mean I have more things to do these days, and really the last thing I wanted to do, in theory, is add anything else to my plate.

But. Mom and I have talked for a while now about how we could go down to one car, and that though my 2012 Kia Soul has been fine, it's probably a good idea to get a newer one, say 2019, and upgrade the safety equipment versus what I have now. I did some research, and determined that I don't want the base model, but either the + or the ! would work.

Yeah, seriously, the Plus and the Exclaim. I had to google the latter to see how on earth you were supposed to say it. The Plus has all the good safety stuff I want; the Exclaim seems more aimed at turbocharged this and that, which I don't need, but would take for a good enough deal.

Of course, finding used cars is harder these days, with pandemic effects on the markets for new/used/rental vehicles, and I've been checking CarMax regularly and seeing either nothing, or ones with over 50,000 miles on them, which, no thanks. 

There have been two Souls nearby showing as Coming Soon for a few weeks, one with 24K and the other with 28K, and I was figuring either would be worth a look once they were available. But then, Wednesday afternoon, I got an alert that a new one was listed, and it turns out it has 14K--fourteen! Or, as I learned when I talked to the person from CarMax, actually just under. Considering that the buyer gets the remainder of the 5-year, 60-thousand mile warranty, that is not bad!

CarMax transferred it to the nearer location to me, and on Sunday, I will take a look at it, drive it, make sure there's nothing weird about it, and if so, boom, new car!

Which means I need to get some bumper stickers. I hate a naked car.

I love this one, but it isn't meant to be outside, so it won't last. I'll keep looking.