2 Days, eh?

That’s what Saturday felt like, 2 days.

We’ve been down to one car for about 2 months now.  Basically, my car was down for about two weeks at the beginning of March while Steve was doing things like repairing the front end and fixing the blower motor (which just broke again today).  Right after that was back on the road the transmission went out of his truck.  That was a huge repair that we simply don’t have the cash to fix so he’s been trying to get a  Toyota truck on the road that we thought would be cheaper to fix (this truck was ours but then we sold it to his parents about 7 years ago and now it’s in rough shape)  The biggest hang-up to getting it on the road has been tires and wheels.  Two of the tires/wheels that were on it were the same tires that we sold it with 7 years ago and the wheels/rims on the back didn’t match the ones on the front.  We searched locally but ended up finding them in Ohio and Kentucky thanks to good ol’ Ebay.   He found tires and wheels in Ohio, but then he found another set of tires in Kentucky so he decided to get those also, I guess for spares?

Friday night we (Steve, I and Rusty) went down to our parents to get his dad’s truck and then we slept at my parent’s place.  Hey, that made 140 less miles to travel on Saturday.  Saturday we got up at 5:00 and was on the road at 5:45.  The truck has a topper on it so we put Rusty in the back, opened the windows back there, opened the sliding windows so he could hear us and put his bed back there.  I thought the set up would be perfect but Rusty hated it.  He rode the entire ride sitting there with his head sticking through the window so he could be “with us”.  We thought for sure he would give in and lay down but he NEVER did.  Maybe a total of 10 miles, the rest of the time he sat there looking pitiful, I really should have taken a picture.

Saturday we ended up going from Leslie, MI to Frankfort, KY and back to my house in Hersey, MI all in one day.  It was right about 1,000 miles.  Oh, we got back to Leslie around 8:00 Saturday night and decided to just head on home but we wanted to see if we could get everything in my car so we wouldn’t have to come back on Sunday.  Somehow we managed to get all that stuff in my little car (love my Breezey car).  Rusty had a very uncomfortable ride but he survived and so did we.  We were home about 11:30 Saturday night and slept like a rock that night.  Sunday I didn’t get up until 9:00.  Hopefully next weekend will be a little more relaxed.

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Happy Secretary’s Day

Ok, I know that technically it’s Administrative Professional’s Day but Secretary’s Day is much easier.  Besides, my title is “secretary” and not “administrative” so I’ll stick with that.  This morning I had this fabulous bouquet on my desk waiting for me and it made my day.

If only it was a real drink, that would have really made my day.

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Hair Ideas?

I’ve had the same hair cut since about the 8th grade and I’m sick of it. I don’t want short hair but I was something with some “life” to it. Any suggestions?

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Caved!

S. caved last night and called DirecTV to have them turn our television back on. He’s not surviving very well now that it’s the NHL’s playoff season and he hasn’t seen a single game. We can listen to all the Redwings games but that is still killing him. So, last night he called, they turned it back on instantly, he turned on the Weather Channel then went upstairs to get on the computer. Now, tell me what’s the point in that? I did watch one episode of Planet Earth (if you are not watching this, watch it, it is the best videography I’ve ever seen) before he turned it to a hockey game. This morning he did say that he is going to call and turn it back off today, I’m not holding my breath.  My bet is he’ll wait until after the final game and then he’ll do it . . . maybe.

It didn’t make me feel good to have it back on last night, I felt weak because he caved. I’m not really missing it. I’m missing the Planet Earth series and I would also like to be watching Deadliest Catch but besides that, I don’ miss it at all. Either one of those shows is available on DVD so I don’t even have to miss them.

Any bets if the TV stays on or not?

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178,000 and Still Going

I love my little 2000 Plymouth Breeze and it’s a good thing because I spend way too much time in it.  This weekend I was hand washing it and I realize that I love it as much today as I did the day I bought it in 2001.  (I also realized that I looked like an ad for Walmart, fat chick in a bikini washing her car with a slogan of “be proud of who you are, no matter what you look like.”  That stems to a joke my friend, Becky, and I have.  It goes something like, whenever you are feeling bad about how you look just go to Walmart and you realize you don’t look so bad.)  Anyhoo . . .

I bought the car on April or May of 2001 and I bought it to prove a point to my husband.  He was still smoking at the time and had me pick up a pack of cigs for him.  At that time they were $4 a pack and I threw a fit.  At the time I was driving a POS car that required me to dump power steering fluid in it every 2 days and the windshield washers didn’t work.  So I quickly did the math and figured that with what he spent on cigs every month I could have a car payment for the same amount.  The next day I drove to the Chrysler dealership and spotted two used cars I liked.  The Breeze was actually my 2nd choice but I liked it much better than my first choice after driving the first choice.  She was one year old, had 22,000 miles on her but was in my price range (kept my payments just a tad over the cig bill).  The only thing I hated about her, and still do, is the location of the cup holders but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

The Breeze and I have gone on many trips to the UP, Mackinaw, 2 trips to KY, 100’s of trips home and a zillion trips to work.  The car has given me virtually no problems, required very little maintenance and pretty much been hassle free.  I would not hesitate to buy another Chrysler product again.

While I was washing her I saw the spider cracks on the hood from where something fell out of nowhere in the middle of a windstorm and smashed in the roof.  Literally.  We were at a red light and “CRASH”.  Where the dome light is was caved in, the paint was cracked but we never found what did it.  I also noticed that the paint is starting to bubble on the fenders, a sure sign that rust is starting.  The license plate is rusting and I’m sure that if we ever have to take it off it will require torches because the bolts are completely rusted.  Hey, she’s 7 years old with alot of miles.  Her life is probably almost to an end but right now she is still going strong.  I just pray I’ll get two more years with her and it will be a sad day when I have to let her go.

(If some big-shot at Chrysler is reading this I would always take a “bonus” for promoting your product)

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Anniversaries and Birthdays

Tomorrow, April 21st, is the anniversary and birthday for 3 “events”.

April 21st, 1999 was my first day of working for my current employer.  Eight years ago, I can’t believe I’ve lived here for 8 years now.

April 21st, 2003 was my first day in the position I am still currently holding.  Purely coincidence that it happened that way.

April 21st, 2004 we were blessed with my nephew, Braxton  Robert.  We thought for a while that Dominic was going to end up being an only child because Jamie was having issues staying pregnant, not getting pregnant.  After many losses we were blessed with this special little guy (and soon to follow 2 little girls)

Happy 3rd birthday, Braxton boy!   See the cut under his eye?  Mini blinds are evil and sliced his face just like a paper cut that resulted in 7 stitches.

On another note:  We are going to have a fantastic weather weekend.  Is is sad that I’m looking forward to raking?  Ok, I’m not looking forward to that but I’m looking forward to doing anything outside even if it means raking.  It also means I get to hang my sheets on the line, oh, I’m so excited!

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Aunt Vic’s New Buddy

As you can probably tell from my posts I have a pretty big fondness for my nieces and nephews.  They are all very special to me.  Well, I think Kirsten is going to be my next buddy.  Sunday, after she remembered she knew me, she want to hang with Aunt Vic.  We played inside, we played on the swing outside.  After a while she would walk up, put up her arms to let me know she wanted me to hold her and of course I would pick her right up.  Yep, I think Kirsten and I are on our way to becoming buddies and I think that’s pretty cool.  Besides, who can resist a brown eyed blond?

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One Of My Favorite Things

One thing I do all summer long is hang my clothes on the line. Not all of them, I don’t usually let my panties dance around in the wind, and I don’t hang out my towels but just about everything else is hung on the line to dry. I would like to say that the reason I do this is to be environmentally friendly and not use the propane in the summer BUT the real reason is to be wallet friendly and not use the propane in the summer. Besides, I enjoy hanging my clothes out, I don’t know why, but there is something about it that I enjoy. Call me weird.

Now, to my point. Hanging my sheets on the line is something that I look forward to. Nothing beats the scent of my sheets after drying out in the country air. I also try to time my clean sheets with freshly shaved legs. Heaven. Saturday I put fresh sheets on my bed (and had shaved legs). Since it’s warmer (sorta) I switched from flannel to cotton sheets. Well, the last time I used these sheets they were dried on the line and that wasn’t realized until I put my head on the pillow. What a wonderful surprise that reminded me of how much I’m looking forward to hanging my sheets on the line in the very near future.

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The Benefits of Not Having TV . . .

If you recall, about a week ago we had our cable turned off, by choice, we didn’t stop paying our bill, and decided to live live life without TV.  For the first couple of days the silence was deafening and I was really going stir crazy.  After a day I broke down and watched a DVD, The Pursuit of Happyness.   Yesterday we hooked up an antenna to our stereo because it couldn’t hardly even bring in local channels so we listened to the radio last night.  I think the biggest motivation to do that was the fact that game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs started for the Redwings last night and we had to listen to it (go Wings, 1 down 3 to go).  Here are some of the benefits I have found of not having TV:

1.  I suddenly have energy when I get home from work and am not a lump in a chair.

2.  I cook dinner (probably has to do with reason #1)

3.  We eat at the table, what a concept!

4.  We talk to each other, like real conversations and not “I wonder what Mike is going to get into on Dirty Jobs tonight.”

So far I haven’t really missed the TV at all and I think that this is going to be a choice we are not going to regret.  I’ll still take DVDs as presents if you are looking for ideas.

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I’m A Blogging Idiot

It’s official, I’m a technology challenged person.  Ok, maybe not completely technology (well, yes I am) but I am very blogging-challenged.  I’ve had an online TTC journal for years, that was/is relatively easy but I  simply don’t understand all the blogging stuff.   Yes, I figured out how to create my blog but it s all the other stuff I don’t understand:  Tags, Stats, Feed, RSS, etc.  I need a 12 year old to tell me  how this all works, I’m a quick learner but reading the mumbo-jumbo confuses the heck out of me.  I’m only in my mid-30’s, I don’t like being “behind” on such stuff but every year I find more and more that I am not keeping up.

I like having my blog and being able to have my friends and family follow my every day babble so why do I care about the rest of it?  Maybe it’s more the fact that I just don’t “get it” that bothers me.  I’m much too young to feel this darn old!

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