I'm a recycler! And the next stumbling block.

I finally found the drop-off recycling center. Perhaps you, with you handy dandy tub that the city picks up every week do not understand what an accomplishment this was for me. But after trying three separate times to find a place to drop the crap, it feels great to know that I can recycle and not turn into someone who throws away bottles and plastic tubs. Makes me shudder just to think about it. Of course, the lucky homeowners who get the tub don't have to sort but the drop-off people do. I *will* be writing a nasty letter to the city.

In other news, I had a very productive day today. In an effort to get out of bed at a reasonable hour, I set myself an agenda. Today I was required to: practice morning yoga, get a Nebraska driver's license and new plates, find the *!$%* drop-off recycling center, open a new bank account and wash the dog.

Everything got done except for washing the dog. I've had an extremely difficult time finding somewhere to wash her. In Portland, there's a do-it-yourself dog wash on (it seems like) every corner. About once a month, I pay $20 to wash her myself at Beauty for the Beast on Sandy. Here, the only self-service dog wash I can find is at Petco. The groomers are all far away and very expensive.

Petco was an awful experience. The two groomers up front both seemed irritated with the dogs and I thought one of them was mean. Both dogs seemed very stressed and the groomers were doing nothing to make them feel better. No kind words, no petting, nothing. I was, however, willing to overlook this because I would be washing Jesse myself. But the self-service area is just a back room converted. We had to walk past dogs in cages waiting to be groomed or picked up. There were dogs chained to the wall, waiting for who knows what. As soon as we entered the room with the tub, Jesse started to shake. She never likes to take a bath but I've never seen her so afraid. So we left. I'm not going to subject my dog to such a terrible situation and I'm surprised that anyone would allow their dog into such an environment.

So now I have a dirty and stinky dog on my hands. I suppose I'll have to go to a groomer and just suck up the cost. It's worth paying for, though. That place was horrible. I was stressed just looking at the poor dogs.