Reading Goal Progress Update Lameness
I set a goal to read 45 books in 2008. So far, I have read two. I’m currently working on Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It’s really long so I might count it as two books. Just you try to stop me. I wasn’t going to even peek at this series because the books are big and heavy. I found the paperback at our library’s book sale and figured I’d give it a shot. I like it. More than I thought I would. Dammit. There’s like six more books all this size in this series. What am I thinking?
What are you reading?
Stage Fright
I showed my blog to someone I respect. She hasn’t even had one second to take a peek, but I kind of want to hold very still and pretend I’m invisible. ACK! I don’t know how people just have a blog and tell everyone they know and give all their Aunties their URL and “blah blah blah this is my life and I am writing crazy stuff and I’m going to eat turkey with you sometime very soon!” It’s a scary thing.
American Idol
The auditions take over my life. I think they’re being less cruel this year. I like that. I wish they wouldn’t have everyone sing the same random song that they didn’t come prepared to sing. It’s transparent and stupid.
Also, it is on. Goodbye.
Since we bought the van, I’ve pretty much spent all my time in it. It’s good that I like it.
We had one scary thing happen on a road trip yesterday morning (in near white-out conditions! Hooray!) when the gauges and warning lights would go beserk. We suspect it has something to do with the windshield wipers. Like, when you turn them on, the gauges all go to sleep and then WEEEEEEEEEEEEE! flip out and everything dings. Then they keep doing that as long as the wipers are on. But not when they are off. Awesome good time jolly happy.
But! We bought the extra warranty stuff so getting it fixed should be no big whoop.
Have a super Wednesday, peeps.
The stress of car shopping and making offers and freaking out has left me utterly exhausted. Was buying a house this horrible? I do not remember wanting to sleep for one hundred days after the purchase of our home.
So! After much hand-wringing, we bought a newer Town and Country with low miles and a sunroof and a bunch of gadgets we don’t know how to operate. DVD, 6-disc CD changer, GPS, and a whole lotta buttons. I can control the volume of the stereo and change the radio station and switch to CD or DVD from THE STEERING WHEEL. I did not know this was possible. When my kids asked, “How are you doing that!? How is the channel changing?” I wish I’d told them I could control it with my mind. But I wasn’t thinking fast enough.
Usually my son is difficult to motivate in the morning. If he’s upstairs by 7:15, we’re getting a head start. Today? He was ready to go with his coat on by 7:15 and came outside when I was warming the van up. Everyone was so excited to go, we were at school ten minutes before the doors opened. So we drove around for a while. I didn’t check one curb or hit anybody. Backing up wasn’t so bad. And heated seats are THE BOMB.
Even though it’s used, this is the youngest vehicle we’ve ever purchased. Also, it cost more than all the vehicles we’ve ever driven combined. My husband is excited like a new daddy. He’s going to clean out the garage and he wants pictures of the van to put up as wallpaper on his computer at work. Adorable.
Tonight, I’m hoping not to dream about auto specs, blue book values, Autocheck reports and giant, cackling dollar signs.
We bought a new-to-us minivan today. It has all the bells and whistles and might give you a lap dance, it’s so sexy.
If you think buying a vehicle is easy, I hate you.
More tomorrow when I will be filled with peace and joy and love and terror at the act of backing a van out of my driveway.
Gossip
She probably doesn’t want me to tell you this, but Melanie at BeanPaste took a fun political quiz and posted her results. Don’t tell her I told you or we won’t be BFFs anymore.
Politics
I said “fun political”, didn’t I? Trust me, it’s a good time. I know this, because I did the 2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz, too. And I thought it was a super party time good thing. It was way more fun than car shopping. (Which we are doing largely long-distance now. We don’t even have a picture of one of the vans. It’s like “Let’s Make A Deal!” for realz. Who’s got a paperclip? Aw, you just bought a donkey. (If you don’t understand that reference, I am four million years old.))
I usually don’t discuss politics or religion and here is why: I don’t want to. Anyway, some of my lovely readers might have a seizure over my results. Fair warning.
83% Chris Dodd
83% Dennis Kucinich
82% Mike Gravel
82% Barack Obama
81% John Edwards
78% Hillary Clinton
78% Joe Biden
71% Bill Richardson
35% Rudy Giuliani
28% Tom Tancredo
24% Mitt Romney
24% Ron Paul
20% John McCain
17% Fred Thompson
14% Mike Huckabee
Religion
HA! Like, you so totally thought I was going to go there. As if.
Diversion Tactics
Did you know that I don’t know how to cook roast beef without sticking it in the crockpot? It is true. There is a little “hunk o’ experimental cow with root vegetables” in my oven right now. The kitchen smells delicious, so I might be on to something. I would really like the internet to make up its mind about the cooking temperature for beef roasts. Who do I call to have that fixed?
I’m over at RealMental today, talking about how mysteriously difficult Januaries are for me. I hope you’ll click through and have a look.
We are trying to buy a minivan. I hate how difficult it is to buy a car. We test drove one on Friday and liked it. The price was just out of our range so we had to sleep on it over the weekend. We researched the vehicle, looked at other options (which were none, actually) and decided we’d let them call us.They called us this morning. We did the “I don’t know because I’m a helpless woman, let me ask my husband” song and dance first. Because I don’t know how to do it any other way. (We do this the opposite way for furniture, though. He’s the dope, I’m the stickler. We think it works. We’ve not tried buying big stuff without that routine, so maybe doing it another way would work, too.) Anyway, I called him back and named my price, thinking he would say, “Uh, no way.” and instead he jumped on it like a rabid dog. CRAP. I should have said “My Price minus A WHOLE BUNCH.” He’s “running numbers” right now and will get back to me. I have one thing to say about that: HURRY UP. Piece of advice: Don’t do this stuff when banks are closed for a holiday.
Agony. All the questions: Is this the right vehicle? Should we keep searching? Should we try to drag this out until February? Will someone give me a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey for free? Yes? What if this thing falls apart? What if I back into things and people and pets with this cruise liner? How about a chauffeur? Who the hell decided to spell “showfer” “chauffeur”?
I would like the third child in every family to come with a minivan. I wouldn’t want to give birth to the minivan, but I would like it to be waiting outside. Like a lovely parting gift from the hospital. And also, the home version of Family Feud.
Look That Up In Your Funk and Googles
A month ago I saw a spike in traffic from people searching for the phrase “Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls.” Apparently, the phrase was a clue for the New York Times crossword puzzle. I’m seeing a lot of traffic for that phrase again today. I wonder if it’s the same thing.
I’m also getting a lot of hits for “lucy was my lady don’t love her anymore.” This is one of my favorite posts. The title is a song lyric. (I’ll let you put all the pieces together.)
Camera “Shy”
I wanted to make a little movie of my little guy talking about his upcoming birthday or how much he wants sharp claws so he can climb trees. But he gets angry if I point the camera at him. Violently angry. I’m glad he doesn’t have sharp claws.
Weather: Frightful
It is freezing here. Not that this is riveting news. It’s probably freezing where you are, too. I wanted to mention it though, before my fingers fall off.
Speaking of my fingers
My carpal tunnel syndrome is getting worse. I dropped things six times at work last night. A couple times, the dropping looked a little more like I was throwing things at people. Which I swear I wasn’t. Typing just this much has caused my right hand to tingle like crazy. It’s bugging me when I sleep. I think I have to stop ignoring this.
Vroom, vroom, vroom.
We are giving up on our dream of being hip. We’re going to test drive some minivans tonight.
Then we’ll come home and hate on each other for a few days. We are not agreeing on whether or not a van needs a DVD player. He wants one. I do not. I think I win because 1) I’m going to drive this thing the most and 2) this is the same guy who wanted to put a urinal in our bathroom. Obviously lacking in the judgment department. SO I WIN.
Crazy weekend ahead
Tomorrow my son has a basketball tournament and my daughter has a dance camp. I have to work Saturday and Sunday afternoon and everything overlaps. I am behind on laundry and my house is a serious disaster, as usual. I’m going to go scrub the bathroom, take a shower and run the hell away.
Enjoy your weekend!
“cxbf” wants me to know that I have “excellent texture.” Which is super because feeling good is exactly what I’ve been shooting for.
But you can’t please all the people all the time. “69 Indian Lesbians” say(s): “I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view.”
You take the good with the bad, I guess.
