The Man is on a roll... and only 3 days into 2012

Yesterday The Man's heavy duty mistake took up our morning.  But with such an awesome start to the day, there just had to be more.
We were toying with the possibility of getting a different car.  West found one 45 minutes away that had the natural gas conversion on it, which intrigues us.  So after unloading all the lumber, we headed out to see the car.
We pulled up to the house and I was immediatley put off.  There were huge scratches in the paint down the side.  On both sides.
The guy had the price jacked up $2500 more than anyone else we'd looked at, but he had natural gas so we were willing to look at it.  Come to find out the natural gas didn't acutally work.  But he kept insisting that he had a quote of what it would cost to get it fixed.  We still took it for a test drive just because I hate the soft suspension on our car and West wanted me to feel how this one rode to see if I even liked it.
We got in and it just felt... grimey.  And then I saw it.

A booger on the window switch.
We get out and tell the man that we're probably not interested. The man, of course got defensive. West continues in bluntness that he has the price so much higher than anyone else for a feature that doesn't even work and the thing is completely dinged up.
 I did the only thing I could think of, smiled, waved, and very sweetly said, "but thank you so much."
After that we looked at one more car (that ended up needing a few too many "small" repairs) and as we were leaving she asked that we please let her know if we decided we weren't interested.  She would rather us call her and tell her no than leave her hanging.
So today we decided that getting a new car probably wasn't something that we're going to do right now.  West, trying to do the nice thing, called the lady to tell her we weren't going to pursue it any farther.  And as he tells this to her I hear her response from the phone, "yeah we figured as much yesterday."
Wait, what? We'd been interested enough yesterday...
West continues to say that there was just too many repairs and we'd "found a different one". Her responses are still "off" and then he realizes... he'd called the number for the first car we'd looked at, not the second...
So West not only gets very blunt with the defensive guy yesterday, but then calls up his wife and does it again today.

A heavy duty mistake

When I woke up this morning my main goal was to get Christmas put away.  Good-bye decorations, good-bye lights, good-bye tree.The day had a different plan for me.
The Man got a phone call from a framer buddy.  Was somebody else framing the basement on the house West had just finished? Because that's framing faux pas.  If you just barely finished framing a house and they want the basement done, that basement is yours.
No...
Why is there a new pile of of lumber on the lot?
Turns out that when West ordered his lumber for his new house, he got distracted enough that he had it delivered to the lot of the house he'd just finished, not the lot that he was starting.  A difference of roughly 25 miles. *sigh*
West needs to start the new house in the morning so he needed to get the lumber moved stat.  The kids were in school and I had the day off so I decided to tag along so he didn't have to do it alone.  I figured I could help him out so it wouldn't take him so long to do it.
We get there and we load up the truck with as much as we can.

Not too shabby of a morning's work if you ask me.  That's a lot of lumber to move by hand!  We headed to the new lot, talking about our house remodel ideas when about half way there we hear...

and this picture is after we had tossed it from the middle of the road to the side of the road. 300 boards. Now that we've loaded the truck, and now tossed it all out of the middle of the road, we get to load it again.  Good thing we had our good karma paid up because a few awesome guys pulled over and helped us restack all of this into the truck.
We slowly proceeded the rest of the way to the new lot without another mishap and breathed a sigh of relief as we pulled up to the curb. 
A guy came by and looks at me, and then looks at the truck.  "He's not going to make you move all of that is he?"  He thought he was being cheeky.  Dude, you have NO idea.
But no, this time, I didn't have to move it.

I have to say that West and I are a good match.  We both do some pretty stupid things.  I'm just glad that West's mistakes are a lot bigger than mine are.  Literally.  This one was really heavy!

This Side Down

I saw this while I was driving to work this morning:And I laughed. I actually laughed right out loud. Really? Someone has a quirky sense of humor... but then I started thinking... which led to googling...

Which left to me to think that maybe those signs are needed more than we realize.

I'm going to be a parrot in Jr. High

Brynn (9 yrs) and I were driving in the car past the Jr. High when she tells me, "I'm going to be a parrot in Jr. High."
In utter confusion I reply, "a what?"
"A parrot."
"Ooookaaaaay....?"
"Well it says right there on the sign."
I look over at the Jr. High and see the lettering across the front of the building.
"Brynn, that says 'Patriots', NOT 'parrot'."

Taquitos for dessert

A phone call with Cas (age 10) went like this:
Me: "Can you pull some cookie dough out of the freezer for me?"
Cas: "Taquitos?"
Me: "Cook. ie. Dough."
Cas: "Ta. quit. os." At this I think she's being a smart alec so I continue with
Me: "Sure, if you really want taquitos for dessert..."
She laughs and we hang up. A minut or two goes buy and she calls me.
Cas: "Mom, I can't find any."
Me: "There's some on the very top shelf of the freezer." She pauses for a second to look...
Cas: "Oh... did you mean cookie dough? I thought it was weird that you wanted taquitos for dessert."

In hot water

I woke up this morning with my head thick with the cold I've been trying to fight all week. I'm losing the battle in a very bad way. I dragged my self to the shower and turned the hot water on. Only the hot. It takes a minute or two for the hot water to travel up to our bathroom on the second floor from the water heater in the basement. But this morning something wasn't right. It just was not heating up. West woke up and came in to the bathroom. "It's still not hot?" He asks. I numbly shake my head. He heads down to the basement to check the pilot light on the water heater, maybe it went out? He returns shaking his head, the pilot light is fine, everything is fine, still no hot water? No, still no hot water. It's been a good ten minutes. He tells me if it hasn't heated up by now it's not going to. I'm seriously deflated, I'm sick, it's freaking 5:30 in the morning, I'm facing an icy commute, I just want my hot shower damn it. Of course I'm just feeling this, not actual saying it. I'm over all too "blah" to really say it. West heads back to the basement in confusion. I reach into the shower to turn the water off, but find it's already off...?? if the hot water is off then that means... Oh crap. How do I tell West what a retard I am? I turn off the water and try the hot for real this time. It's hot in a matter of seconds. I tromp down to the basement where West is still trying to figure out why in the world we aren't getting hot water... Hey, I know why... "Are you serious? I thought to check it but then thought no, she's smarter than that." I'm thankful for West's sense of humor and that he can laugh at me. Even at 5:30 in the morning...

Remote Control Granny Racers

I want one.

Now taking donations?

My mom bought this for us at a yard sale... gee, thanks Mom. Now taking donations...? LOL

The day my car ate my phone

Meet the middle console of my Denali.I usually set my phone on it while I'm driving. But on this particular day the lid flipped open sending my phone... Down into the crack BEHIND the cup holder. You know, the crack that the lid slides into. The crack that was way too small for my had to get into to retrieve the phone.
See the grayish line a little to the right of center down there? That would be part of the phone. Visible, but out of reach.

West puts up with a lot from me. AND he has handy tools for dropping things when working ON cars, that he was able to utilize for me dropping things while IN the car. My hero.

Aging gracefully

I always wondered how I would handle wrinkles, dreaded crows feet and smile wrinkles... gray hair. Would I be OK with it? I could never make up my mind on if I would take it and be comfortable in my own skin, or try creams and dye to cover up mother nature's effects on my face and hair. Today I saw it. A gray hair. My first gray hair. With out any process of thought, I reached up and yanked it out. I stood there, staring at that strand of white hair in my fingers and was completely amazed and taken back at what had just happened. I guess I can now say I know, that my gut reaction is not going to be to sit back and take this aging thing with out a fight... or at the very least some cover up and dye for as long as I can get away with it.

Dead Pigeon Pose

My sister, McKell, got me into Yoga 12 years ago. I have since been a believer in it, and Pilates, as a form of exercise (mind, body, and soul). My favorite way to start the weekend is to hit the Yoga class at the gym.
Today we were on our backs with one leg straight in the air, the other leg crossed across it right above the knee, and our hands holding onto the back of the extended leg's thigh. The teacher, trying to explain how to do this says, "it's kind of like pigeon pose, only on your backs with your leg straight. I don't know what to call it, my mind just went blank!" And continues to fumble through a description (as there were some beginners who needed a little extra help). After she said that though, all I could think of was a dead pigeon with it's legs in the air!This is a what pigeon pose actually looks like, and is nothing like what we were doing! What we were doing, evidently, has been dubbed dead pigeon pose in my mind.