Adventures in shopping

We bought another car last week.

I'd say a "new" car, but it's not really new - just new to us. We looked at a few the same age as my broken Previa, but the first was not in very good condition. When we went to look at it, it was parked on the street in front of where we used to live in G;lendale! That was weird. It was parked on the main street, but we didn't like the looks of it (except it was blue!) and so never even drove it around.

The second (also blue) car looked better than the first, and when we drove it around it sounded fine. The body had some big scratches and the tape player was broken. I didn't like it that he seemed in a hurry for us to decide right then. There was still another van I wanted to see first, but K seemed eager to tie it up too. The guy said he was in a hurry to sell it because it had to be registered by the next day, and he was hoping we'd take on that cost. Finally I told him we could leave a deposit on it, but he said no, if we were sure, he could wait until tomorrow. Altho I wasn't sure, K shook his hand and said "It's a deal!"

The next day we left in the morning and drove out to see the third car at a dealers. It seemed far away, since we'd never been to that part of town, and we drove through several areas of town to get there.

It was weird weather that day, sometimes cloudy, so that sometimes K would say, "This town is too hot!" We'd drive awhile further and it seemed cooler there, and K said, "Oh, this town is much cooler."

Finally we found the dealership, and the car there was in the best condition, plus it had a radio/tape player and a 10-CD Changer in it too. It's gold. When we drove it I thought it didn't sound the best, but it was a few years younger than the other two and it had far fewer miles. And it's a Toyota, right?

So it seemed clear that was the one to buy, and we quickly came to a deal on the price. Then we felt bad about calling back the guy from the car the day before, but we offered to pay him a $100 deposit we had meant to give him. He said that was OK, which I thought was really cool of him. I haven't been nearly as cool lately when people have gone back on me.

We had to wait around while they got it ready for us, so we decided to go have lunch. I think it was a Vietnamese part of town, and altho I love the food in Denver, I haven't found a Vietnamese restaurant out here. So we walked to the corner and passed a restaurant named "My Dung", but I didn't like the sound of that. That's almost as bad as the restaurant sign near us that says, "Poo Ping".

But I digress. We went into a restaurant that looked nice, but we had no idea what the food would be like there. K ordered filet mignon, and I ordered sizzling beef with spaghetti. K's steak was sliced into chunks and laid in a bed of an asian garlic sauce that was delicious. I added a little hot sauce to mine, and was in heaven. It had sliced beef in it, and seasoning to the noodles, but I have no idea what seasoning. It was like a taste adventure.

Finally we left and went back to the dealership. We told him we'd gone and had lunch, and he said, "Where? My Dung?" and we said oh no, not there.

Then we drove two vehicles home.

How come every time I try harder, it gets harder?

I've been trying harder to take care of the details in my life. I'm trying to pay bills faster, and get some details out of the way faster. Like negotiate with the low-balling insurance company, getting another car, stopping my old dialup ISP from charging to my credit card - you know, little aggravating details.

So the other day when I checked the mail, I was surprised to see a letter from parking violations! I opened it up, and thought it must be a mistake. I thought it was about a ticket I got a year ago when I picked up my sister from the airport - but I knew I'd paid that. So I looked closer, and saw it was indeed at the airport, but it was dated April 1st! At 3:15 in the morning!

If someone gives you a ticket, shouldn't they actually GIVE it to you? Shouldn't you KNOW you got a ticket? If we weren't there long enough to GET a ticket, why should they give us one?

Wasn't it enough to get into an accident that totalled my car that night? Did we have to get a ghost ticket on top of that?

Why even give tickets at 3 in the morning? Was it crowded at the curb? No. Shouldn't people who have to catch a ride at 3 in the morning get some kind of break? Or people that are picking up people at that hour? Do they really need to worry about getting a ticket, too?

Geez!

I learned a lot about cruises.

We decided to try a short cruise first, to see if we even liked it.

I'd always heard about 24-hour buffets and all you can eat benefits of cruises, but I don't think I realized that every night there are gourmet meals! Every night we got to choose an appetizer, salad, meal, dessert - all first rate choices! I even tried escargot (tastes like herb butter). J got strawberry soup and pear soup, but didn't care for the watermelon soup. It's those meals that I missed most of all when it was over.

And I knew they charged for acoholic drinks on cruises, but they also charge for sodas and water! Well, I didn't want to drink the tap water because my Mom got something weird on a cruise and besides it tasted funny. So it came down to drinking the bottled water they had in the rooms, which were small and over $2 each. So it was hard to stay properly hydrated, and was one of the only things I didn't like about the cruise. That and a distinct rolling sensation on the ride back to San Pedro. Couldn't they just drive fast at night when I'm asleep?

Tipping is a big deal on the ships, as I guess no one is paid very much. They actually recommend how much you should pay, and it comes out to around $10 per person per day. Yikes!

I tried to rationalize that J is only 9 and therefore only half an adult and shouldn't cost as much, but when I thought about it, the staff really went out of their way to make her happy. They remembered what she liked and brought her a fancy chocolate-coated glass of milk every night. They were really working those tips!

Once you've paid your tips, though (the last night of the cruise), things really change. They really kick you off that boat but fast! We had to have our bags packed and in the hallway by midnight, and we had to be out of our rooms by 8am! I kept saying that it couldn't be true (I thought people were messing with me!), but it was.

Things have stranges names on ships. We had an emergency drill the first day, and we all had designated spots we were to report to if the siren went off. Those spots are called "Muster Stations."

And when we went to Catalina, we had to go in a ferry, which they called a "Transom." Never heard of that before.
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Anyway, we had a great time and came home exhausted. The wife of a man I work with arranged the trip for a group from my office, so I already knew some people, which was nice. The first day we went to San Diego, where I took J to Seaworld. We had a great time, but it was not the warmest of days and we got SOAKED in the Shipwreck ride! Cold water, heavy, soaked. I finally had to buy some sweatpants to get through the rest of the day. We saw whales and dolphins and some great pet tricks. I didn't know cats could be trained!

The next day was Catalina, where my shoe broke and I had to buy new shoes! K was so excited to be able to say I blew out my flip flop (like the Jimmy Buffett song.) That night, some friends said they were having Salsa lessons in one of the bars, so we went over there for awhile. They were teaching the Marengo (sp?) and lined up the men on one side and the women on the other. I was looking over at K (he's so cute!). Then I looked a few people down from him, and with a shock I recognized my Uncle Frank!

The strangest things seem to happen to me. What are the odds of seeing a relative who lives in another state on the same cruise? (Actually he's a second cousin, but he seems more like an Uncle.) And it's strange because both our families lived in Germany at the same time, and I used to hang out with his daughters for awhile. Later he became estranged from his wife and daughters, and now has a new wife and lives in Arizona! So I haven't seen him since my Grandpa died in Nov. of 1999. I haven't seen his daughters since High School.

We went to visit his mother last summer, though, on our way back from Colorado. She was my Grandpa's sister. I told him I couldn't wait to call my mother and tell her, and he said he was going to call his mother when he got home too!

BTW K really enjoyed learning this Marenge dance, because it was easy and he got to lead! He had me doing lots of turns and was pretty proud of himself.

The last day we went to Ensenada. We used to go there a lot, so there's very little there to tempt us into buying anymore. I bought a few cute bags and a little painting, but that was it. No blankets or ponchos or ceramic hamburgers. K and I looked for the restaurant we always used to go to there, but all we could remember is that it had a tree inside, and we didn't find it. We found our friends, tho, and so we went to Pappas and Beer for a few shots and a few beers. It felt like old times with new friends.

That was fun, but we should have negotiated our drink prices before we sat down, because when the bill came I had a shock. I think every drink was about $5! So next time, no Pappas and Beer without negotiating first. J decided to buy a stuffed monkey on the way back. It was $12, so I told her, "Ask him if you can have it for $10." The guy kindof looked at me, but then he told her, "Tell you what, I'll give you 10% off." so that was some discount, at least.

Then we went back to the boat and ate a buffet, and J climbed the climbing wall about 8 times. She did it 12 times total, for the trip. She's got a lot of energy, that's for sure! She had fun going to the shows with me. I got to see my Uncle a few more times, then they kicked us off the boat early the next morning.

Welcome home!

Yesterday I came home and my daughter came running up to me to say hi.

Immediately I noticed something was different about her. Part of her eyebrow was missing! About a quarter of an inch from the inside, on one eye only. She hadn't looked like that since she got into the Nair when she as about 2 years old!

But now she's 9, and what the...? I asked her if she'd done it with a razor, and she said no, she'd used tweezers from the drawer in the bathroom. I asked her why and she just shrugged.

My efforts to get to the bottom of it have been useless. I tried again later, asking what had motivated her to do it. She just shrugged. I asked if she had noticed that she'd gone to far, and she said no. I asked if she thought it looked good, and she again shrugged.

So finally I started complaining that we are just about to go on a short cruise with people I work with, and now my daughter's going to look funny.

She just said, "Sorr-eeee!"

Argh.

The other day a fireman cut in front of me.

He was just turning on his lights and no siren. I asked Josie, "Why are firemen always so cute?"

She said, "It's because they keep in good shape, Mom. Not like policemen. Don't even get me started!"

What?

Trying not to laugh, I said, "What do you mean?"

She said, "They eat a lot of doughnuts!!"

File under: Cute things the kids do

I was surprised to see how many people are up very early in the morning.

We told the driver which highway to take, and we were about to get onto it when suddenly the driver saw a sign for a different freeway to the right, so he decided to go that way instead. He said, "I think this goes there."

I must have been delirious, or maybe I was just so happy to be headed in the right direction, because I seemed to get into a pretty good mood. "Don't worry," I assured him after he realized his mistake, "this goes there too." And luckily he beleived our directions after that.

So we did get home after going about 20 minutes out of our way. We had planned to leave it at a nearby dealership, but when we got there the entrance was blocked and there was only 2-hour parking on the street. Plus we didn't actually know how we were going to get home from there, so we asked the driver to take us the rest of the way up the hill and just park it at our house.

And I don't think the driver really wanted to, but he felt a little bad about taking us so far astray, and so he drove us all the way home.

HOME! I was finally (FINALLY!) home! I was SO happy to get there, even if it was about 6 in the morning. And I don't think I was even tired anymore, because it took us a little while to calm down and unwind, and we finally went to bed at 7 am.

Funny, that's when I usually get up!

This turned out to be the day I stayed up all night.

And all I wanted to do was get home and spend some time with my hubby before he had to go to work!

When we left the airport, it was probably around 3:30am. It was raining, but not many people were on the road. We came through downtown, which looked misty, and got into the left lane of the 110 so we could exit to the 5 north. We came around a turn and suddenly there was something in the road! At first I thought it was a street sign. You could barely see it because of the mist and the darkness.

K swerved right to avoid it, but we still hit it and I think we drove over it, because after that our right tire was history and we were bouncing along on our rim and the bottom of the van!

As soon as it happened, I was bummed about two things. First, I knew we weren't getting home anytime soon, and second, that might be "it" for my van. My dad had been telling me to get rid of my collision coverage on it because the van wasn't worth much.

But it was worth a lot to me, and I was bummed to see it get so damaged. K had pulled back over to the left, and we got out and looked at it. K was upset, and kept saying, "Man! This van is MESSED UP!" and "What was that thing?" I immediately started calling AAA, and was told they'd be there in 20 minutes.

Oddly enough, the police showed up right after it happened. We told them about the pole we hit, and I advised them to put out some cones or something as other people might hit it too! Well, they seemed to be doing something else (maybe reporting back to dispatch) and sure enough, other people started coming along and hitting it too!

I guess it turned out to be a street light. Every person that hit it seemed to knock it further and further out into traffic. Three people pulled up behind us because they'd hit it too. The guy behind us hit his grill, which seemed oddly high. The third guy looked hispanic, and he just sat there looking stunned. His front bumper was bent forward at an angle, sort of like an "L". I tried asking him if he was OK, but he didn't respond - he just sat there. Later I saw him just drive away.

At first I was afraid to get hit by other cars on the highway, but then I realized that the pole was sort of blocking for us, because people had to drive clear to the right lane to miss it. The flares the police put out helped too.

The flares made a bright barrier, but cars were still having accidents as one person would swerve to miss it and hit someone else. There were quite a few accidents that night because of that light pole. No wonder we didn't see it - it was dark because the street light fell down!

One of the cops that showed up first was pretty cute, but he kept saying the most negative things! I heard him telling the guy behind us that he shouldn't report it to his insurance agency because they'll blame him for hitting the pole! Later I went up to the guy behind us myself and told him that what the cop had said didn't sound right. So we exchanged names so we could be witnesses for each other and about all the other people that didn't miss the pole either! Also that cop told us that our car was driveable - I think he just wanted us to leave! I thought he was crazy, because the rim was even bent!

Finally another police car came, and they pulled the pole off the road I guess, and the flares started burning a little low. All the other cars drove away, and we were the only ones left (waiting for a tow.) Those last poor cops trying to clear the highway were dealing with a bunch of boneheads that night, though, because one driver just stopped and looked at him, like, "Am I supposed to stop here?" and the cop shined his flashlight on him and yelled, "Drive!"

They made their way to us and finally told us to drive off to the nearest exit. So I guess the first cop was right about that. Unfortunately. I'd eagerly watched every car and truck that came through, but the only tow truck was already carrying a car and wasn't the company name the dispatcher gave me. I had my phone in my pocket, but somehow standing out in the rain I didn't hear it, so I had to call AAA back and request another tow truck. The first company claimed we weren't there or something - I never really understood.

Anyway, we ended up right by a bunch of little apartment buildings. The "new" AAA guy showed up pretty quickly, but spent a long time in his vehicle after he showed up. I finally started to get mad - why would nobody hurry up or help us tonight? I asked what he was doing and he said, "Just a MINUTE, Ma'm!" and I finally cried a little bit. K said I looked so sad with my mascara running down my face.

But I guess I got it out of my system, because I didn't get any madder when it took him 45 minutes to figure out he couldn't tow our van because the axle was jacked - he then called for a flatbed. This guy also showed up pretty quickly, and helped the first guy get our van onto the flatbed. Then we climbed aboard the tow truck for our ride home.

It probably was about 5am by then.