Beautiful Days

How about that? An ordinary day turned into an extraordinary sunset here in Arizona.

 This is what I'm driving now. It's a German Smart Car, made at Mercedes Benz. Yeah, they're available in the U.S. now but the ones they make here are not Mercedes products. I wanted the real deal. It only took me 6 years or so to locate one for sale. The owner bought it in Germany, had it modified and upgraded at Brabus (who does tuning and specialty work for Mercedes) and then when he immigrated to the U.S. he had it shipped over here. He had to sell it, and I was in the market for a car. His loss, completely. I was so excited to see this car for sale I was really not able to contain myself. So, it's turbo-charged. It has custom body panels. It only has 25,000 miles on it. If I behave while driving, I get 40-45 miles per gallon. It will easily do 75 or 80 mph on the Interstate, it doesn't feel unstable or anything like that. Because of the turbo it really moves when you want it to. I love it almost as much as I loved my former car, the Vette:

 

 But, alas, this is what happened when Gary used the Vette to go see a friend in Phoenix one day:

 

 Turns out, Chevy products do not function well in this position. Gary's fine, but the Vette was totaled. After searching for a replacement car for several months, I managed to talk him into a Smart. Don't know how, I only sent him one link---and it was to the Craigslist ad for my new car pictured above. Well, bless his heart, he has certainly warmed up to my little go cart. While test driving it, he had his nose crinkled and a sour look on his face. Now, he drives it every chance he gets and he is quick to tell friends and strangers how awesome our little tiny car is. I've got to agree. I love my little Smart.

 

Shawna, Where Do You Stand On....

Politics is absolutely positively a dangerous hobby and it's conducted in shark infested waters. I love it, though. It's a challenge to remain involved and NOT get your head chopped off, so I suppose that's my motivation. A challenge. But I do believe if the wrong people are out there blabbering their crazy talk about important things, then we normal folks need to get out and counter that. Conspiracy theories. I'm so tired of them. I've said more than a couple of times, "I wish the whole Area 51 thing would become prominent with these conspiracy theorists once again so they'll leave our politics alone. This is how they work: if it's on the internet, then it must be true. Never would they get in their car, go talk in person to someone who knows the truth. Never would they do something as logical as that. They send out inflammatory emails. They post garbage on social networks. They never get the real story, just the one that feeds their scandal starved brain. Next week the Lake Havasu Republican Women are hosting the Arizona State Schools Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Huppenthal. The conspiracy theorists are telling people that Huppenthal received a bribe from CHINA of all places, and this bribe was a part of his whole plan to enact a Federal learning curriculum that will inevitably indoctrinate our children. Proof? No proof. But it was on the internet, so it's true. Mr. Huppenthal will be talking about the curriculum in question, and presenting the facts at our meeting. One interesting note; the curriculum is already a done deal, and has already been implemented into our public schools. The only "Common Core" portion being used by our schools is the math and reading standards. All the other subjects were rejected. Any questionable materials being utilized in Lake Havasu was actually chosen by our local school board. Our local school board was questioned about their choices and they of course blamed it on "Common Core." Meanwhile, we have these so called activists running around giving speeches about how our perfectly dedicated and upstanding school superintendent is enforcing a tenet of the Obama administration because China gave him a bribe. Get real! Join the rest of us in the REAL WORLD!!!!

Oldness Sucketh.

Rarely do you get such a blunt answer when asking a health care professional questions about your various body pains. I was getting worked on by a massage therapist and I wanted to know why I have such persistent back pain. He answered, "Getting old sucks." This, after a friend told me earlier in the day that her brother thought I was in my twenties. He was in disbelief when he was told I was nearly 40. I hate calling off plans because I'm hurting too much. I hate not being able to jog in the mornings. I LOVE TO JOG!! There's so many things I need to get done, and it seems like I'm in the mood to do those chores when my body hurts the worst. Dang it. Well, otherwise, life is good. My family's doing okay, the bills are mostly getting paid, dogs are fine, and I'm halfway thru my training at Cosmetology school. Yep, went back to school. Learning to cut hair, do nails, and have fun. I was prompted to go back to school when I found my work schedule with the events was getting leaner and leaner, with the paychecks getting smaller and smaller. I tried interviewing for jobs but a harsh reality of being involved in local politics dictates that people cannot hire someone who might have political enemies. At least they were honest. So here I am, an underemployed, old, aspiring hairstylist. Who has a handful of political enemies. Should be fun times coming up!

Festivus

If you're not a Seinfeld fan, you're not familiar with the fake holiday known as Festivus. It was the creation of one of the surly Seinfeld characters who refused to go along with the commercialized over-hyped Christmas traditions of expensive gifts and maxed out credit cards. "Festivus for the rest of us!" he'd proclaim. Instead of a Christmas tree, he would erect a Festivus pole in the house. The family activities included a show of "feats of strength" where they'd kind of beat up on each other.
But Festivus dinner was the best because the saying of Grace was replaced with the "Airing of Grievances." The best.

So, Gary's used to having expensive holidays, Christmas in particular. He's used to big extravagant presents. He was worried about this year, with his surgery in September we haven't been able to sock away money to buy very much for presents.
He was kinda speechless when I explained that I'm more of a Festivus kind of person. I don't like Christmas gifts, and I get no pleasure from spending a lot of money on things that I know will end up in the garbage. I prefer to have one thoughtful gift that will always be remembered. Think about it; what did you get for Christmas last year? Can't remember?
I got one present, a Kindle, and it was soooo appreciated. I spent a lot of money buying up E books on Amazon and my reading kept me pre-occupied. I've always loved to read but last year at this time I was quite miserable and lonely. The Kindle was with me everywhere.
Gary kept bugging me, "What do you want for Christmas?" And I kept giving the same answer, "I'm really not a gift person. I don't want THINGS."
I felt bad for him, because I wasn't trying to be evasive or difficult. I just didn't want him spending a lot of money on stuff.
On Christmas morning, I got this:

A new fancy Kindle. Good call, Gary.

And since Gary wants a hundred things for Christmas, I gave him this:

There's enough cash there for something really nice. I shopped around for some things that I knew he'd like, but it was all things that a person wouldn't be able to return if it wasn't just right. He's been into the gold mining lately and with that hobby comes requirements for different equipment and gadgets. There's quite a large group of people in this area who are into the mining as well, and they periodically sell off their used equipment. I considered buying up some used mining equipment, but figured a gift of cash would be safer.
He promptly spent it at Sam's Club.

Mental note: don't give Gary cash. He'll use it on a year's supply of paper towels and protein bars.

I Know

Can't say I've been that busy, just pre-occupied. But that's no excuse!

Since August I've been doing quite a lot and I'll have to get to typing in order to catch up.

Mexico, Kansas City, Vegas, Off Road Races, World Finals, it just keeps going.

I'll start right now.

In August I began tackling a very detailed and complicated "To Do" list. With five bedrooms in this house and only two of them inhabitable, I decided to start cleaning.

The master bedroom got a little touch up, but the real difference was with the other master suite. It was stuffed with spare furniture to the point that if someone stayed in there they couldn't walk. They couldn't really get to the bathroom. And I couldn't clean.
So it was cramped, dusty, and the furniture was everywhere.

I cleaned it up in about twelve hours with Shay's help. Didn't get a "before" picture, but here's an after:

Yes, that's a full-size Monitor Lizard on the bed. Something that Gary had hidden under a pile of stuff in one of the other bedrooms.

The next project was the Gun Room, which had a pile of stuff so big you couldn't open the door. Shay and I tackled that one, pulling out a massive pile of cardboard boxes that turned out to be empty. Every single one. I picked up the gun cases and accessories and put those in the closet. After the large objects were moved I found a wallet. Yep, someone's wallet that went missing during a big weekend two years ago. Gary called him and let him know it was finally found.
The cardboard went out to the trash and the carpet in the room got cleaned up. That enabled me to move Gary's stuff for work in there-- a bunch of spare ATM parts that he keeps here.

The next room was the bunk bed room. It's right next to the front door and most people that walk in don't even know it's there. There was a great bunk bed that had been slept on once or twice by Gary's sons, and it needed to find a new home.

After much campaigning, I managed to get it a new place to live. Now we can move the furniture that is in the trailer out back into the bunk bed room. Eventually it will be another guest bedroom, but right now it will be storage while we gather items for the big garage sale later this month.

And, oh, what a garage sale it will be....

Big Kid

Shay is 13 years old, but he's nearly 8 inches taller than me. And he hates being 13 years old.

Once in a while, the real Shay will emerge. It's not easy to get him to come out and play, but I keep trying.