It's almost over ya'll, 2009 that is...

This past week has gone pretty well. Mr. C rented a vehicle (2009 Pontiac G6...drives niiiccceee) for me to get around in and I got a chance to hang out with some old friends and to see my family for the holidays without having to worry about transportation to and from. I'm hoping that within the next week or two I will have a vehicle of my own again. We've been without one since the day before Thanksgiving. I could no longer keep up with the car note on my wee income and so Goldie had to go bye-bye. I'll miss that minivan, so many memories...what I won't miss are the numerous visits I had to make to the mechanic, having to get a jump everytime there was a drastic change in humidity or the stress of having to make the choice between making the car note, keeping insurance or having gas money each month. Yes, having a vehicle is nice but when you have more downs than ups it's not as much fun.

I had some good meals and good company. My daughter is home for a couple of weeks from college so all three of my girls are home. I miss my son, he couldn't make it but hopefully I will see him this summer. They are all so almost grown and beautiful, I love them so much and know they are no longer babies but I actually got an attitude because my oldest gal told me she likes this dude. I'm all like, "What? Nope. I don't even want to hear about it."...LOL I know they think I'm tripping and yes, yes I am. I want them to concentrate on themselves before they get all wrapped up in someone else. Live life, explore, expand and once they know what they want and what they are about, then I think they should invite someone else along for the ride.

Maybe I'm just thinking about how my life was when I was their age, by the age of 22 I had four children and I didn't get the chance to explore or expand, I was otherwise occupied. But you can't help who you fall in love with and so I can't be too hard on them, or can I? LOL

So, I'm awake right now because my children woke me from a peaceful slumber to tell me that the kitchen sink was overflowing with wretched foul smelling water. Indeed, it was most foul, so I called maintenance so they could send someone out. That was at 2 a.m., it took him about 45 minutes to do his thing which consisted of my kitchen floor getting doused with the nasty bacteria filled water and a good part of the carpet remnant I had between the kitchen floor and the dining area. But to be fair it wasn't entirely his fault, one of my neighbors decided to run water and when that happened it gushed through the unhinged pipe and filled his little catch all bucket. Damn neighbors! Living on the lower level has its disadvantages, this sink thing is one of them. If my memory serves me correctly this is the fourth time this has happened since I moved here in May. Let me practice some math for a moment...that would make it approximately every two months that I have a problem with the pipes backing up around here. The first time was two weeks after I had moved in...hmm.

I'm going to get me a few more carpet remnants and some runners when the dollar store opens to replace the ones I threw out. Supposedly the carpet cleaners will be summoned to clean the path he walked. I'll follow up with that once the main office is open, otherwise I'll be on edge until it gets cleaned. I did Lysol the area (a few times) because the thought of what was tracked through my house is unsettling. And I sprayed, wiped down and scrubbed every other surface I felt was contaminated (cabinet doors, sink, door knobs, kitchen floor...) I'm not taking any chances.

Anyhow, this month is almost over and so is this year. I'm still dealing with how 2008 treated me and in comparison 2009 was still full of twists and turns but not as heartbreaking, I was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and before this year is out I'd like to say that I was able to change the flickering light bulb of it for a more energy efficient, longer life bulb. If for some reason I don't get in here and post something new on or after Jan. 1st (you know how life gets in the way sometimes), Happy Holiday & a blessed New Year to all who read this. May your bulbs be bright. :=D

The timing of it all...

Just when I was wasting my life away playing on Facebook all day, my computer's power adapter decided to teach me a valuable lesson by literally showing it's ugly insides. I'm just not desperate enough to electrocute myself by plugging the adapter in and getting bit by electricity from those exposed wires. LOL

I won't have any real dough until later in the week and I do have more important matters to tend to with it, so unless I'm gifted an adapter or can find one for close to nothing, it'll be back to the library for me. And even then it will be a while because I don't feel comfortable being around other folks right now for any length of time. Between the coughing and general malaise I feel on a daily basis, I just think it's best for me to lessen my exposure to more germs until I get better.

It's 11:09pm...I need to put the kiddies to bed and I'm going to do something I haven't done in a couple of weeks...I'm going to finish reading The Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum. I'm only a quarter of the way through it and so far its good.

Gonna try this again, here I come pillows!

Everything was going so well. I felt tired. I was yawning, my eyes felt like they needed to be closed. Me and my little nephew were in the bed after I read him his bedtime story and I could have sworn I had fallen asleep. But here I am almost five hours later, fully awake trying to figure out what the heck happened. Am I not tired because I didn't get out of bed until after 1pm yesterday? I don't believe I had any more caffeine than usual and I'm not stressed or worried about anything. I simply don't feel sleepy.

I have things to do in the morning, places to go, people to see and I don't want to do it if I'm going to feel like a zombie. On top of that I have one sick kid, I decided to keep my 2yr old nephew a couple of more days and I have my other two nephews (7 & 8) to watch over. So I'm going to try this again. I had a slice of left over pizza and some tea because I felt hungry. I've played all the Facebook games I want to play, I've chatted with family and friends and now I'm blogging. Sometimes doing so clears my head of the day's static enough for me to shut down my brain for a few hours of decent sleep. So goodnight or rather good morning. My pillows and eye mask await my arrival. ;>p

Please Pimp My Ride...LOL

I love my minivan although I never, in a million years, thought I'd ever drive one. I had high hopes, my dream car was an '89 Mustang, white with a sports scoop on the back. It was the one thing I was earnestly working towards...until I had kids. It didn't happen immediately after I had my children. The decision was made one day when I realized that they were getting bigger & taller and I was getting tired of their knees being in my back as we rode in the car. They were too close to me, so close at times I could hear them breathing and often hear them too well (arguing, laughing loudly, singing loudly, begging for things loudly). I needed space and a van afforded the space we all so desperately needed.

There are still times when we are driving down the road and I see a Mustang at a light, parked or driving past and I say aloud, most of the time, that I will have the car of my dreams one day. It will most likely be when my kids are truly grown and away from home and if by chance I happen to have grand children they will have to fit in the car. I figure if I don't make room then people won't assume I have the room and try to leave me with their kids. I want to be able to take quiet evening or weekend drives alone or with a friend, no kids allowed. ;-p

I've had a few vans and the van I have now...there are so many things I love about it and so many things I hate about it. I have heated leather seats...heated! In the midst of a MI winter those are the most awesome creations man has ever come up with! I also love how the rear seats disappear into the floor. I've been able to move furniture, kids, animals and merchandise in it without problems. The entertainment system is great, the speakers, the CD/DVD player, cassette player (for those of us who still have them) and there are even ports to hook up video games or a portable TV if you want. The gas mileage isn't bad and when I first got it all the gadgets that make the doors open automatically were a dream. I could be walking towards my car with my arms full, push a button and voila! the doors would open for me and with a push of the button I could close them just as easily. In the winter it was heaven sent but not anymore...something happened and the car went all HAL on me. (2001: A Space Odyssey, if you didn't catch that HAL reference.)

I'm disappointed in how many times I've had to change the brakes, rotors & other little engine problems I've had with it. Add the electrical problems and my beautiful van soon became a monster. If it weren't for the aforementioned features of the van I would have gotten rid of it long ago, it's fully loaded. The newer standard models don't come with the features I have and after careful consideration, if I traded in what I have for something newer my note wouldn't be that much lower and a lot of the newer vehicles still have some of the same malfunctions. Despite those things I'd still keep my van over the dreaded car I used to have any day...I hated that car almost more than I hate my 2nd ex husband (may he enjoy the bites of many bed bugs for years to come).

It's getting colder and I need to winterize my vehicle. I need to get new tires & an alignment (I shouldn't need brakes again but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm told I do) check my belts, hoses & fluids, make sure all of my fuses are good, get a new battery, reconnect some wires that got severed, do a little body work because of a run in my sister had with an immobile pole and just do a general detailing inside and out. I used to think having a vehicle would be the best thing ever. No more taking a bus in the dead of winter, freezing my tush off. I thought this one guy was crazy because he told me that he'd never owned a vehicle in his life and never would because he saved more money not doing so. I didn't understand that logic until maybe 10 years ago when I had to pay my first car note, insurance, repairs, fuel and whatnot. I guess if I lived in a city where bus services were abundant I could see not necessarily needing a vehicle just like he did, unfortunately I don't so I'll have to push on.