So Friday morning Casey and I went to this used tire place to get . . . reassurance? He knows a guy who knows a guy and they cut us a break. I’d budgeted $120 for a new tire (for a car I hope to unload pretty damned soon) and ended up paying $25 on a fairly new tire. Except it wasn’t the one “damaged” in my hit-n-run, it was the one on the other side that was so bald there was no tread left. The “damaged” tire we found out was fine once he got it up on a jack. And guess what! My car doesn’t shimmy and grind anymore. For the moment anyway. Now Ginnie can stop angsting about the car.

And here I was thinking I was about $100 bucks up right? No such luck. Ginnie came home from school with a couple of envelopes: one for a class ring and one for her announcements/cap & gown. Order due TODAY. We’re passing on the overpriced announcements and went with a Senior 2009 sweatshirt and her cap & gown and tassel. There goes my extra $. And we’ll check out Walmart for a class ring next check. She’s happy. Good thing my kid is thrifty. Seriously, I told her we’d manage to get everything she really wanted and it all worked out. They had a “hers” package and a “his” package and the “his” package came with a free large Senior mug. Now, tell me. What exactly is a Senior male expected to put IN his large mug? Coffee? Riiiiiight.

At some point we need to sit down and make a list of who she’d send announcements to anyway. Would we even need 50? And get her portraits done. I reminded her about moo cards and how much nicer they are than those plain old name cards. Seriously, what do people DO what all that crap when they receive a graduation announcement? Maybe if it’s someone you care about you might throw it in a desk drawer never to be seen again. Waste waste waste. We’ll do some announcements and the slightly more useful moo cards but I’m not doing the tissue inserts and stupid name cards and deluxe inner envelopes and envelope seals, etc. What a rip-off.

Saturday, I printed out a draft copy of the PodcampAZ program I’ve been working on and went to the work up. After that I went to a friend’s birthday party and observed people playing Rock Band, until the kids took over. It annoyed me to no end that these 8-11 year old kids were basically beating the shit out of the equipment and nobody reigned them in. I’ve heard those drums and guitars break easily so I hope nothing was broken. What happened to parenting? I do believe indulgence is killing us all. From bratty kids to Wall Street players. And speaking of parenting . . .

Buck wasn’t answering his phone Sunday, so Casey called me with the all-clear to go to Kira’s birthday party. His loss. That Girl was there with her new boyfriend and twin babies and you could tell she was getting pissed when nobody would talk to her. Were I her, I be happy they didn’t talk to me . . . and tell me exactly what they thought of me. I was proud of Casey’s friends that they were civil and didn’t kick the bitch’s ass. And those are some unfortunate looking babies, let me tell you. Fat with big heads. Poor kids. Kira made out like a bandit and had a great time though she was so over-stimulated and tired that she could barely focus. Screamed bloody murder in fear of the piñata.

And that was my weekend. I’ve turned into a cranky old lady.