Vrrm Vrroommmm!

Last Saturday Andrew and I went to a 2008 Car Show. Every make and model was displayed, anywhere from Ford to Lexus! Some cars on display were consept cars not out on the market yet. Andrew's favorite concept car was the Chevrolet Camero, and mine was the Hybrid sedan, I think it was by Toyota? The Camero went off the market back in 2000 when Andrew was looking at buying a car. He ended up buying a GMC Blazor and not the last of the Cameros. Eight years later th camero is back and in the spot light.
The rear view mirrors on the doors were designed to narrow, so to look "cool" but they are not functional being so narrow. The official camero design will come out looking similar but with wider door mirrors, to be fuctional.

The hybrid car that I liked comes in a regular gas car version as well. I don't know why the car makers would make two of the same car like that though. The Hybrid version was $2000 more in price. The regular version looked exactly the same and has all the same features, except for being a hybrid. I think splurging the extra $2000 would be better for the environment and gas milage overall. Why pick out the regular car? I am pretty sure it was a Toyota car brand.

Other cars I liked were the Dodge Cavilar, Rav4 small Suv, and the Lexus Suv.

What I like about the Toyota Rav4 is the back door. Usually on SUVs the back door opens upwards ant with the Rav4 the door opens outwards. Very nice! (see photo below)

Here I am sitting in the drivers seat of the Rav4. My new dream car for when my current car goes cupput.

Outside of the car show was an obstacle course for test driving three different cars. You could either test drive a Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra or a jeep car, which I didn't get the brand name of it. It was free to test drive through the obstacle course! Andrew and I both drove the Toyota Tacoma truck. Starting off the course with driving under the bridge, then down a curb, 25 degrees titled, then up a hill to where the driver can not even see the ground any longer. The hill is pictured above where the truck is driving under the bridge. The guide who sits in the front seat with you is directing you by the flags boardering the lane. SCARY! I just had to trust the guide and continue to drive forward. Then at the base of the the hill was another slanted hill set to a 30 degree angle! (photo below) The guide told me to stop the car, resting on the slant, to wait for the truck ahead of me to go ahead further in the course. I think he wanted to see me sweat, and was yanking my chain, having me stay there on a 30 degree slant. CRAZY! The truck was resting on two wheels it felt like, I could probably touch the ground if my window was open. Ending the obstacle was a tee-ter-totter. I drove slowly up the ramp and evened the truck forward letting the truck go forward on its own as it tottered forward. If you drive the onto the teeter-totter properly there is a small sound landing at the end. Some drivers go on the ramp too quickly (Andrew) and make a thump going down off of the teeter-totter. This was so much fun!

I Felt Like a Junkie...

I tried Ebay for the first time and it was so addicting! I felt like a junkie...an Ebay junkie!

There is an MP4 player I have been wanting to get for a while now. Andrew told me about a website, to buy it through for a good deal. The site is http://www.newegg.com/ to search for products at discounted prices. I found the MP4 player on the site for $99 and did not buy it right away, because I wanted to check with Andrew first if that was a good price, and if I could buy it. My money is his money and his money is my money as well. We have a golden rule to not buy something over $100 with out letting the other know first, to agree on the big purchace. We have had this rule for a long time, and it works, it saves us money and saves us from impulse buys in the long run. He told me to go back to NewEgg.com and buy it online, it was a better deal than the same one I wanted to buy at Walmart for $189. By the time I went on the site, the Brown, Zune, 30 giga bite, MP4 player was too expensive...the price went up! Then I checked out other sites and could not find the Brown color avialable at all! I was bumbed out! I should have bought the brown one back when it was $99! The Zune hold photos, videos, songs and also tunes into FM radio. Side note: Apple Ipods do not have the FM radio feature! Zune is better.
Then I thought to try out EBAY! Typed in the words, "Zune Brown 30 GB" and a large variety is listed by bidding price and by when each bid is to end. I have never bought anything off EBAY before, I did not even have an account. I quickly learned how to use Ebay, which is very userfriendly by the way. Narrowed down the Zunes to 2 possible bids to keep track of, as well as a bid on the accessories. The accessories were sold separatly by another Ebayer including the wall charger, car charger, an arm band with protection case (photo below). I started my bidding, on the Zune Brown 30 GB (photo below), 4 days ago and would gradually check in on the progress of the price going up in bids.

Today was the final morning before final sale for both my Zune and the Zune accessories! I was on and off the computer every hour checking my bids. The accessories one went for $22.99 and I won that bid and it will now be shipped to me. SOOOOO, this means I HAVE to get the Zune now, since I have the accessories.

On the ebay screen where I watch the bid amount and the time count down, there is a refresh button. I kept on clicking the refresh button, like a junkie. I was clicking and my heart was racing, my eyeballs were bright eyed and glued to the screen, I was nervous that I would loose the bid and some one might out bid me! I set aside a maximum bid for $101.15 where ebay would automatically bid up to that amount dollar per dollar at a time as other bidders bidded. I HAVE TO WIN THIS ZUNE...I can taste it....just a little longer...come on...no more bids please! I am the winning bid, with 5 minutes 46 seconds to go! Refresh button...5 minutes 32 seconds... 5 minutes 19 seconds refresh refresh resfresh refresh refresh....1 minute 33 seconds to go till bidding ends. I am still in the lead and the bid is currently at 99 dollars and 15 cents! COME ON refresh button! 1 min 12 seconds! 58 seconds! 12 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!! refresh button! I won the bid. I just bought a Brown Zune MP4 30 GB from some guy in O'fallon, Missouri! WOOO-HOO! Only 15 cents more than the one I was going to buy off the other site. EBAY rocks! I am an Ebay junkie and I am feeling high off my winnings. I cannot wait to get the Zune and its accessories in the mail now! YAY!

Darn!

Aunt Floe came to visit, which means I am not preggy yet. We will keep trying. This is the fun part anyway, practice makes perfect. HEEEHEE. Another 28 days and counting till I find out again if I am preggy or not. We are both ready when ever a baby does decide to come along. Andrew is ready and so adorable about the whole process. I think he will be ok during the 9 month process when the time comes, because he was nervouse about it at first, but now he is hopeful.

Yesterday I drank a glass of Sangria, and Andrew looked at it and asked, "is that alcohol? you can't have any alcohol in your system!" I said, "no it is a non-alcoholic beverage, a carbinated juice, similar to sparkling cider." I reasured him that I am not going to drink any alcohol while we are trying for a baby and especially during the pregnancy. I still have 5 of my Spirnoff Ice in the fridge still because I can't drink them. I told Andrew, "We need to have friends over one night to drink up the alcohol, so it wont go to waste. There is a bottle of wine in the fridge too!"

Any one want to come over for a glass of wine or smirnoff ice? I make good pork chops also! We will make a night of it. I will stick to my glass of Sangria.

This Week Has Come To An End!

I am glad to have this past week is done and over! What a horrible week it has been. Starting with last Saturday evening, I came home from work and checked the mail. Useually I will start sorting through a stack of mail throwing out the junk mail and setting aside bills, and start off reading any letters or cards I get first. I saw a letter from my Uncle Ed, ripped it open to see how they are both doing, and what trips they have been on recently. It was strange at first to see a letter in the mail after Christmas. My Aunt and Uncle always write a Christmas letter with the holiday card. This season I noticed I did not get one, so when I saw it on Saturday in the mail, I immediatly thought they must have been on a vacation or another mission trip and didn't get around to sending out a Christmas letter in time.

I read it only to find out that my Aunt Kate passed away! She died of cancer back on December 19th. Which explains why I didn't get the usual Christmas letter, and recieved a letter from my Uncle afterwards. I wish I never ripped open that envelop it was the worst news ever to get in the mail all stacked up with the misc. bills and junk flyers! The rest of the night I was balling, I flouded a small village...Andrew did not know how to help me but to just hold me and lend me his shoulder to cry on.

Then Sunday was ordinary, just went to work. Only thing though was I felt so sad on the inside, but on the outside I had to do a "service with a smile" and greet the guests at work cheerfully. What got to be so annoying by the end of the day was the repeated question, "how are you?"

People automatically ask others in passing, "Hi, how are you?" The other person useually responds back, "I'm fine, how are you?" Well in all reality I am not fine! I just found out my Aunt just died, but I can't really say that, I just have to say,"I'm fine." At one point a guests comes up to me, asked me the dreaded question, "How are you today?" I replied back, "Great, how about yourself?" I am thinking to myself why did I say "GREAT?" and why do people even ask others that STUPID question? Because, if the I actually replied back saying, Not good at all, I am feeling pretty sad today." I don't think the person who originally asked really cares! Would they actually set aside 5 minutes to talk to me and listen to how I am feeling for real? No I do not think so! They are not even listening to my short reply back of "FINE."

This question has become a very annoying question to me. Do not ask me, "how are you?" if you really don't even realize you just asked it. This question has become a repetitive greeting, like a robot, we greet one another either by walking by some one, or as we approach another and automatically ask it. Please just stick to the greeting, "Hello" or Hi, or "good afternoon!" Don't ask any more the dull, meaningless question of how I am doing. After that sad day of putting on a fake smile, I realized this. I have decided to not bother with the repetitive greeting, instead I will greet people through out the day with a simple, "hello" or "Good evening."

I had some issues bottled up I was not aware of till now, looking back on my frustration of working that Sunday after the news of my Aunt was found out. Luckily I had the following 3 days off afterwards. I stayed at home, thinking back on fond memories of my Aunt Kate, the next day I just slept all day and watched a movie on charter on demand. Then on my third day off I broke down my Christmas tree. Put away all of the ornaments and such, it was a tedious task that I kept putting off. I like decorating for the holidays, but taking it all down seems to be harder in the end, and packing it all back up in storage boxes. As I was putting away my ornaments I came across about 5 of them were from my Aunt Kate over the years! I am so glad to have them in my collection, it is even more presious, now that she is gone, to have these ornaments from her.

The week progressed and Friday comes along, I took Andrew's car in for an Oil change and he took mine to work. After the oil change, I was heading to work and the back, passanger tire blew out! On the dash was an orange "!" that lit up and I thought...I am almost to work and will check what that means when I park the car. Since I got the oil change I just thought maybe it was a light lit by mistake. A few minutes after the orange "!" lit up the car made a loud noise and wabble wabble, I quickly pulled over onto the highway shoulder. I had a tire blow out. I learned how to change a tire and use the car jack. It is amazing how the small metal car jack can lift up the heavy car so easily! I was in the middle of changing the tire, still cranking up the car to take off the ripped up tire, and a MO Dot worker pulled over to help me with changing it. He was very helpful, and he didn't charge me for his help either. Just a good deed of helping a lady in distress. I have seen other vehicles on the side of the road with MO Dot helping them out before, I just didn't know how to get a MO Dot person out to my car. If I had to call a MO Dot phone number or get them through triple A? This MO Dot worker was driving passed me when he saw me pull over, then looped around and came back to where I was on the off ramp shoulder. I am very thankful for his help! Thanks MO Dot man, where ever you are.


This new week is turning out better than this past week has been. I can not imagine it getting any worse than having the news of a relative passing away, and having a tire blow out, hopefully the week will be better news to come. Andrew will be startring his annual volunteer work agian. He does taxes for a non profit group called Vita, here in St. Louis. He has been volunteering with Vita ever since we lived in Burbank, CA and it has followed him through out our time moving around state to state. He will be working with VITA every Saturday till April when the tax season is over. I am so proud of Andrew, he is a great man and a great husband to have.

To Be or Not To Be...That is The Question?

I will not find out if I am pregnant or not until the middle of next week! I am so eager to find out. I have been taking my multi vitamin and Folic acid daily, not drinking any alcohol and eating right, in case I am. This Wednesday coming up, I will find out if Aunt Floe comes to visit me or not. If I don't get a visit from Aunt Floe, then I am preggers! If I do, then we keep trying.

Fingers crossed. I have to wait, a whole week and it is so hard to do! I just know that I am usually on target and start always on a Wednesday, every 28 days, so hopefully I won't this time. :)

Andrew is funny, he is more nervous about me being pregnant for 9 months having an actual baby. He doesn't look forward to morning sickness, or midnight runs to "taco bell" or what ever the craving may be. I think he will do just fine, and I will try to make it as easy as possible for him to "deal" with pregnancy.

Can't wait!

Sun Shinny Day

The past couple of days have been so warm for this winter season. St Louis has tempuratures ranging from the 70s to high 50s. Today is another sun shinny day in the middle of January. Missouri is having better wheather than California! neener-neener neener! I called my mom and she told me her rain gage had an inch and a half of rain a few days ago, and really stormy winds. How is the weather by your house?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

Happy New Beginnings! May this year, 2008 be greater than ever! Resolutions are useually small ways to improve your life with the start of a new year, and new beginnings. Our way for improvement this year is in a very big way...instead of the popular resolution, most people have, of wanting to loose wieght...I will actually want to GAIN wieght if it means there is a baby inside growing. Andrew and I are trying for a baby this year! Fingers crossed and we will keep everyone posted! For now we are just practicing the baby making miracle. ;) How is that for a new years resolution?