It’s a Federal Holiday, so I am off work. That is, I have a day off from my paying job. Today I am catching up on other important things, like cleaning out the car, cleaning the kitchen and living room, and soon I’ll be helping my mother choose some health insurance.
Thor accidentally got a day off from school. I just assumed he was out since I was, and didn’t bother getting him up to go this morning. As it turns out… That’s all right. He’s just spent an hour listening to NPR and learning (and asking excellent questions) about political campaigns and campaign ads. He’s not going to get that in class, so one missed day is no big deal.
We got up early (on a day off, early is 8am) so we could get to the car wash/detail shop before the rush I expected after all the nasty weather we’ve had, only to find it closed. I wanted to get the interior done because I’m driving people this week, and there is no need for anyone but you to know about my recent French Fry explosion. The detail shop charges out the wazzoo to do the interior, but some things are worth walking a little funny. Still, closed.
So, Thor and I headed to the do-it-yourself car wash and did it ourselves. $3 later, we have a shiny, clean, buffed interior. I was especially impressed with the ArmorAll Multi-Purpose Cleaning Sponge that I got out of the vending machine for $1.
One sponge got my entire interior, and my dash is looking really good now. $1 on the vacuum got my whole car, trunk space included. That single dollar put 5 minutes on the clock. The last dollar was for a lint free towel, also out of the vending machine, and I used it to wipe down the interior again, and get the bits that I didn’t want to ArmorAll.
I did have a moment of confusion when I went to vend. The vending center looks like this:
You put your money into the tiny rectangle in the center, and lights corresponding to the products available for the amount of money you put in start to blink. You press your preferred button, and your product drops out of the larger rectangle corresponding to your choice. Yes, the station attendant did come over and explain it to me, after watching me stare and pace for a little while. In my defense, there were no instructions. I mean, I could see where to put in my money, but I couldn’t figure out how my product was going to come out of that tiny rectangle. It isn’t easily visible that the product will fall from the larger rectangle.
To recap: $3 do-it-myself=really good looking car interior.
Still, nothing is going to help all the juice stains across the back seat. Once upon a time, I had a toddler and a very long commute. Who sells bench seat covers for baby-ruined backseats?
In other news…
I was invited to a Ladies’ Pokeno and Potluck party last week and had a really nice time. I also had a really embarrassing time. I joke about being dyslexic, but I have some real issues. There are things that are just very difficult for me to do, and numbers are one of those things. Some shapes give me problems as well. I’ve been playing cards since I was old enough to hold my own hand, and I’ve have real issues with Spaces and Clubs since then, too. You stick numbers next to them and… Oh my lord.
Pokeno is a little like Bingo, but instead of numbers and letters, you have playing cards. Instead of a caller saying, “B-2”, the caller calls, “Ace of Spades”. And, instead of calling two or three times so that all the Blue Hairs have time to search out their cards, it is called one time and gone. It moves fast. It moves very, very fast.
The way my brain sees things… Things flip and move. So that Ace of Hearts I thought was on the right side of the card is actually on the left side of the card. When I go to put my chip down on the right, the Ace of Hearts has moved, and I have to chase it down. Takes me a few seconds longer. Also, that 4 of Spades I thought I saw was actually a 4 of Clubs, but because it was next to a 9 of Spades, the Spade and the Club dance around. See? It gets challenging.
I’ve had this issue my whole life, so it is normal to me, and most of the time I can function at normal speed or better. I’ve learned coping mechanisms and have learned to mask my weaknesses, but games like that just lay me bare. My vanity doesn’t have a mechanism for that kind of coping.
The ladies I played with were very kind, and a couple of them were even slapping chips down on my card for me, and rather than letting me stumble over suits when it was my turn to call (I could either call or play, but I could not do both at the same time), called my games for me. It was humbling. It was also still a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed the company.
I promised to practice my suits if they’d let me play again. Ha!
The Outside Lane 