Update

Well, a lot of stuff to update you on. Mom and I had a great talk the other day, and she opened up to me about why she been on her hamster wheel, and it has made a lot of sense. And during the course of our conversation, she's realized that she has done this her entire life. She went to her "therapist", and basically what she said was, "You're doing a good job. Keep up the good work." That's all well and good, but it left my mother flat. How much money did she just spend to have you say, "You're doing a good job?" Here's my credit card number...just drain my account and leave. Grrr.

My sister just bought a new bright apple-green VolksWagen Beetle. Papa mentioned to her that she should (strong emphasis on should) consider buying a car for herself, and give Mom her Toyota back. It's amazing just how much Papa is holding the marionette stings all the way from New Orleans. Little does he know that I am holding some strings as well. While we were on the way to get my van fixed, he said he didn't like Mom putting so many miles on my van. So I wanted to call him every name in the book, and remind him of what he has done to the family, but I decided that that wasn't a good idea, because he was driving. All I said was that Mom doesn't have any money... period. And I told him about how Kate had to buy our groceries for the last couple of weeks. That seemed to shut him up. Grrr.

Anyway, the new Beetle, which Kate has named (before she even saw the car in person) Sweet Pea. She's been wanting this car ever since they came out with the new ones. I have an artist's rendering of a beetle in room, left over from when Kate had the room. I have no idea how old it is. Kate picked up the car on Friday, and I still don't think that the shock has totally worn off. She's still wating for my father to send in the papers to make the whole deal official, but it shouldn't take long. The saleswoman was really nice. She was about my age, maybe a little younger. She didn't try to push Kate into doing anything she didn't want to do, which can't be said for her manager sitting in the next cubicle. He kept saying wormy things like "This is a very nice VW, wink, wink," and, "VWs are very hard to come by, nudge, nudge." We may look like we were born yesterday, but we're smarter than you'll ever dream of being. Amazing. Anyway, long story short, Kate got them to go down on the price $400, and it's got good milage compared to its age, and the kid who owned the car was very loaded, and he tricked it out with a very nice sound system, and butt warmers.

Well, that's about it for me, I'm going to fix myself some lunch, and start living the rest of my life.

later!