Front Plates Suck

So, with the end of February rapidly approaching, I have found it necessary -- or at least wise, so I don't end up with a ticket -- to renew my car tabs. This, of course, requires that I register my vehicle in Washington State. Goodbye to the Stars that Fell on Alabama. Goodbye 38-tag. Well, almost, anyway... See, in this glorious state, they believe firmly in two plates per vehicle. One for the front, and one for the back. Alabama requires but one plate: in the rear of the vehicle. Which makes good sense to me, since cops are generally following you from behind if they really care about you. Right? So anyway, how the heck do you put a tag (oops... plate. tag is Alabama-talk. I've been informed that they are called plates up here ;)) on this?:



So, I went and registered the car. Got the plates. Asked that pertinent question. The girl tells me to go to an auto parts store and ask for a plate installation kit. And to play the girl card and maybe they'd install it for me. Well, the people at the auto parts store suggested I go to the dealership to see if they make a bracket for installing a plate so that I wouldn't have to punch holes into the plastic. But the guy at the dealership tells me the bracket thing is $31 and change, and if it was him, he'd just poke the holes in and put on the plate, since I'd have to poke holes in the plastic anyway to install the bracket thing. So he suggested getting self-tapping screws from a hardware store. So, let me just go ahead and say that, had I known I would end up in a state that requires front plates when I was shopping for my car... I'd have definitely gone with something that didn't have a bubbled-out front. Okay, so I have successfully purchased the self-tapping screws. And that's as far as I've gotten so far. I have until Saturday to get those lousy plates on. What a fun adventure. I'm not really complaining about it ;). I just think it's amusing. How crazy, huh?

In other car news... As I was trying to go visiting teaching with my companion this morning, I ran into the parking police (the same one, mind you) twice. The first time was right after I'd parked in front of Amy's house and he was marking my tire, because I could park there for 2 hours. Which I had to ask him how much time I had, because I don't know these things... And then, as we were getting ready to leave the lady's house we visited, he came around the corner of the street and pointed at my car (thank goodness we were outside!!!), because I was facing the wrong way for the side of the street on which I was parked. In other words, though my car wasn't in motion, it was going against the flow of traffic. Good grief. Who knew they were so strict? I guess it's only in the middle of town, though. The parking police don't come around where my grandparents live. Note to self: don't live in the middle of town. Thankfully the guy was nice enough to not give me a ticket and to let me know about it. Getting a ticket would have really sucked.

Also, check this out... It snowed overnight again. About an inch. Crazy! But, the roads were completely clear. I had snow on my car that I had to get off before I drove this morning. But the sun was out in the morning and it was a beautiful morning. The temperature started dropping around noon, though. Last I heard, we were at 36 degrees. Yikes! It was pretty warm for a while there :). Okay, so 55 isn't exactly warm. But it felt pretty good to me :).

So anyway, pretty much I just have worked all week and not gotten a whole lot done that I had hoped to get done. My mom had to be gone for a managers' meeting for like 3 days. So that was lame. But, she just got home, so that's good :). Oh! So on Monday, the funeral home was so understaffed that they had me be the receptionist for 45 minutes. Can I just say that was really stressful?!? I mean, I didn't know who would get what call. And then an older gentleman walked in and wanted a form to fill out an obituary. They don't really do forms anymore, since it's all online, but he wanted a form. So, I had to call my mom and get her to help him. Because I knew nothing. Not that they expected me to, of course. And they were so immensely grateful that I took over the phone lines until they could get what they needed to get done and then take them back over. And then, as it turns out, my boss has asked if I'd be opposed to working on Saturdays and doing the phones all day, that way the receptionist and the other lady who does the phones every other Saturday would be there Monday through Friday. It makes me nervous. I realize it's just answering the phone. But still... I get nervous about making a mistake ;). But, I'm going to do it. We will probably start that in April, from the sound of things.

Okay, so that is about it. Nothing super-dee-duperly exciting.