A dull day turned good

One of the chores I hate most in the world is taking my car in to be repaired. But today it was time. The convertible top wouldn't go all the way down, and then, wouldn't come up. If I let it sit, off, for an hour or so it would behave, but I couldn't take the top down to go to the office, grocery, etc. I'm afraid someone will steal my handicapped sticker and that funny fake daisy Megan gave me. What's the use of having a convertiblel if you can't take the top down? The dealership has "fixed" this problem three or four times, but the last three times I tried, no deal. So I took it in today and mentioned that the button that puts all four window down at once stopped working a few days ago, and the things that tells the temperature only worked when I was stopped. When I accelerated, it began to flash the way it does when the top isn't securely down.

Then I came home to a dull day. I wandered, not quite sure what I wanted to do. When I came home last night, e-mails cancelled both my lunch and dinner dates for today (my brother suggested I read my horoscope). Called my neighbor to see if she could do lunch, but she had a conference call from 11:00 until 1:00; called another friend but she had plans. I folded the laundry that had sat in the dryer until it was well wrinkled and then decided what I wanted for lunch was salmon croquettes, so I made them and put them in the fridge. Watered the plants on the porch, did some other chores, promising myself I'd settle down after lunch. Well, then, work hit--a proposal for a mss., a reader who said he'd read another manuscript, an e-mail from my boss about Google, and several other small things--a Google permission from an author and stuff like that. So I dealt with all that, ate a salmon croquette with fresh asparagus and grape tomatoes, and settled down to the manuscript I'm reading.

This evening Betty, who didn't seem to mind that I'd cancelled our dinner for tonight and then rescheduled it, picked me up and took me to get my car--which isn't fixed. They can't figure out which switch it is, but the temperature indicator and the window button now work, so we're making progress. I have to take it back next Tuesday. Betty and I had dinner at Mac's on Seventh, a place she's mentioned a lot and one that's close to the VW dealership. We split a Caesar salad--too much red pepper for me, and I had the scallops appetizer with a dab of a wonderful corn/avocado/lemon salsa, and we split bread pudding (soooo good!) and split a second glass of wine. Felt like we'd splurged in calories and money, but I came in under my Weight Watchers points for the day. I will say that a single serving of bread pudding costs a devastating amount of points! This morning I should have weighed, but I was in such a rush to get the car to VW that I forgot--best, since I'd eaten at Joe T.'s the night before. I'll weigh in the morning.

So now more acquisitions work and then back to the manuscript, feeling happy and full. Retirement is good.