Andy Baby...

I took a fair amount of photos of my children when they were young, but no where near what I would take if they were young now. It's so easy to take hundreds of photos in a very short time with digital cameras, and  even smart phones.
But one thing that makes film so cool is that you have to wait and be patient for days before you can see how your photo session went, sometimes a little patience is a good thing.
While I LOVE being in a dark room and manipulating my own photos, using that wonderful paper that gives such deep, dark blacks, the paper that makes the photo look so deep I could stick my finger in it, I love even more being able to get instant gratification and see my photos Now!. (for me, black and white is harder to achieve with digital than film, but then, I'm not very good with my camera).

This is my favorite photo of my second child, my oldest son Andy.
Notice all the texture in the photo...that's natural aging...no layering here. ha!
He's looks so sweet and innocent and vulnerable. Look at his fingers and toes and little up-turned nose his blue eyes and soft hair, his sweet mouth...sigh...sniff
I get a pain in my chest, a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes every time I look at this photo.

A reason...

I believe with all my heart, there is a reason things happen the way they do.
I missed out on a chance at a new and different job this last summer,  a job that was posted and filled while I was on vacation.
I was very hurt and very angry, yet very happy for my friend that got a chance for a much needed change in her life.
Now after several months, I am quite content with the outcome. I have more knowledge and responsibility and ownership than I did while
we were job sharing. I can honestly say I'm happy with my job now.
Years ago, after only a little more that a year of marriage, my then husband decided he would rather be with someone other than me.
I was sure I would never survive, but being single again gave me the opportunity to take notice of a tall, blond haired man with a red beard,
who also took notice of me.
This man with the red beard and I have now been married for 25 years and have three fabulous children.
If I had never gotten a divorce, I would not have given birth to three wonderful children that have grown into the very
special people I am so very proud of. Thank you Mr. Redbeard.
I write this post because my lovely daughter who lives way, way too far away from me, has been dealt a lousy hand. She has come
face to face with the unfairness life sometimes chooses to dish out, and there is nothing I can do to help...except to listen, and believe in her.
I believe this unfairness has happened for a reason, a reason that neither of us is privy to. God has plans for her and they don't appear to
include what she was hoping for, and that will need to be okay, because God is in charge. We may think otherwise, but He is.
This is what I believe.
I believe there is something very wonderful just waiting...for her!

Cold...

I'm thinking...

It's about time that I pull out the long underwear.

An actual hat too, not just a headband.

My legs, front and back, were frozen by the end of our walk this evening.

We ended up cutting it short. tsk

That does no one any good at all.

Annie won't wear her booties. 

I guess I'll need to make her some.

Booties that are soft and bendable,

but also water repellent.

The ones I bought hurt her ankles,

she simply stops walking.

She's a little large to try and carry.

Minneapolis is home to me.
Phoenix, AZ is Kira
Springfield, MO is Andy

Happy...

  

I was reading a Martha Stuart magazine at work the other day and came across an article about teaching your children about being thankful (it was a Thanksgiving issue) by writing what you are thankful for on a cut-out of a leaf, then tacking it to a framed board. I mentioned it to a co-worker and she said that she made a paper tree and each day they would all write what they were thankful for and also one nice thing they did for someone on a leaf, then attach the leaves to the tree. By the time Thanksgiving arrived, they had a real full tree.
She said it went over so well, that they were going to try something similar for Christmas, by writing on paper rectangles, gluing them into a circle and attaching them together to make a chain. Her children are 3 and 5 (plus she's a cool mom!)
I was reading Stacey's blog http://sdanddoublee.blogspot.com/ , and she is doing Christmas Wednesdays with her two. They've already started by writing letters, drawing pictures and sending stickers to some friends that live far away. It didn't go as smoothly as the article in Martha Stuart, but they did it together.

So, I was wondering what I could do with my children when none of them live at home and two of them live in different states.
I could try to get them to post on my blog everyday, but then I thought...yeah, no, won't work.  Then, maybe they could text me something they are thankful for, or something they did for someone, or something they saw that made them feel the love, beauty, power of God. I'm thinking that if I want this to happen, I'm going to have to bug them relentlessly, and then I just might defeat the purpose of doing it in the first place.

I'm going to give it a try anyway, and I'll start it out.

Tonight, while driving to church for a meeting, I was at a stop light when I noticed part of the Minneapolis skyline in the distance. Now, I might be just the tiniest bit biased, but I think Minneapolis has one of the prettiest, coolest, just perfect skylines. I can't say that I've seen that many, but out of those that I have seen, none of them can hold a candle to Minneapolis.
When Andy was going to the Art Institutes International downtown, I would sometimes drive him to school on my way to work. Every morning the skyline looked different, some days there was a haze, or fog, or mist that surrounded the buildings part way up, other days the sun was just coming up and shining against the glass. There is one building where the top portion changes colors, another that is green, another an odd shape. That skyline always, always, makes me smile and I always make a comment about it when I drive by, to myself if I'm alone. I'm sure my husband is tired of hearing how awesome I think it is, but it's something I just can't hold in. I simply love it!!

   

By the way...none of these photos are mine, unfortunately. I googled Minneapolis skyline and these are just a few that showed up under images. Pretty awesome!

Kilo...

When my youngest son moved out, nearly the first thing he said was that he wanted to get a dog. I tried to nonchalantly talk him out of it.

Dogs live a long time.
Dogs are expensive.
Dogs need shots.
Dogs need their teeth cleaned.
Dogs may not like other dogs.
Dogs may not be allowed to live in certain places.
Dogs can't be left alone for long periods.

He and his room mates were at the Humane Society looking around and had their hearts melt when they met a young Pit bull. He made sure he could touch the dog all over, put his fingers in his mouth, hold him on the floor, pick him up, all the normal things that people do to and with their pets. (or Should be able to do). He then called his sister, the zookeeper from the Phoenix Zoo, asking for some advice on whether he should get a dog or not. She tried very hard to talk him out of it. (her cat just had a urinary tract infection that cost her A LOT) Telling him how much work it would be and how expensive it could be. Well, no one has ever been able to talk my son out of anything he has mind set on.

Meet my new Grand dog, Kilo. (he won over both Annie and Oliver...he'll need to work on Little-Bit)
As I have been told, he and his room mate Dana have joint custody.

Andy was home for a visit last week for a few days, and now he's gone. He and Lauren flew to Springfield Mo., to find an apartment, then she stayed there and started work, while he flew back to Cincinnati to get her car so he could drive it home and deliver it to her parents (it was their car anyway). He got here Wednesday, November 2, and was busy every moment of the day, except for the time he was asleep, and flew back to Cincinnati on Saturday, November 5.
Lauren flew back also so they could finish packing all of their belongings into a POD to be stored for 6 months.  I have a feeling they worked like dogs all Monday to get things finished, ate one last dinner in the city they called Home for the last 17 months, then hopped in their cars and headed out on their new adventure at midnight that same night.
The apartment they found is fully furnished, Fully furnished, everything but their clothes, food and toiletries. Wow! They brought along their electronics too...of course.
I'm assuming he is frantically looking for a job, seeing as how he has lotsssss of bills to pay and no money coming in. I haven't called to find out how that is working out yet...I don't want to jinx anything.

I miss him.
I wish he was here in Minnesota.
I want him to be happy.
I'm not entirely certain he is. (that could just be the Mom in me thinking)
I miss him.

I've learned that it is very, very hard to not put my nose into the lives of my children. I'm sure they would think that I do, but...I...do...not, (even though I really, really want to sometimes)
I do make suggestions, and offer stories, and alternatives though. Just so they can have other options to think about while they are wondering what the heck to do with their lives.

They are at a point in their lives where they don't have anything holding them anywhere, so if they get a chance to move to a different state or even country, or heck, even try a new career, they should go for it. Once they get married and have children, they won't be so easily able to move around.

My advice to my children...

Be happy
Enjoy your work
Don't be afraid to show your feelings
Be forgiving
Swing
Twirl in circles
Lay in the grass
Find animals in the clouds
Have sympathy
Have empathy
Love
Take care of your body (you won't get another)
Be kind to yourself
Read
Relax
Go for walks
Exercise
Dance...at home...with abandon
Hold hands with someone special
Take time off to do Nothing
Call your Mother
More important...call your Father
Believe in God
Believe in ghosts
Believe in yourself
Just believe
Laugh
Have fun
Be a child
Love
Have confidence
Be happy

I love you all so much it hurts!

Empty nest…

It’s been a week now since my youngest left home. He had a chance to move in with a friend that just recently lost one of her room mates, and the price was perfect. He figured he would have a chance to live away from home and see how making rent and utility payments would be without having to do it all on his own. He had been talking about moving to Colorado, and I casually mentioned the fact that he had never lived away from home and wasn’t used to paying bills and managing his finances. I’m hoping this goes well, because he has been my one stubborn child, never wanting or allowing help. He always thought he could “do it” on his own. I’m having faith!! This vacancy happened at just the right time, and he seems to be very happy.  I’ll be happy as long as he pays me his car insurance and phone bill each month. I’m trying very hard to be cool and not bug him when I see how often he’s out with his friends, at restaurants and bars. (I keep track on Facebook).

I’m finding that I’m handling the “Empty Nest Syndrome” very well. As long as there are cell phones and Skype, so I can text, call or see them anytime I want, I can then survive until the next time I can see them in the flesh. Even when they were all living here, they seemed to be gone more than they were home, either at work, school, or out with friends.

Maybe someday, we will live within driving distance, short driving distance. Close enough to be able to get together for special times without having to make a flight reservation. At least they are all happy, healthy and doing fine.

Easter…

Kira is coming home for a visit this Easter! Yey!! David has been working very hard on the basement, but he is only one person, so it’s taking a while to get done. He’s almost got all of the electrical work finished so he can get it inspected. He has to run some water pipes to the tub and sink and get them inspected, then it should be smooth sailing from there to the finish. Putting up insulation and sheetrock will be a snap, especially if we can entice some strong young men to help out. (a little beer, a little food, OK, a LOT of beer and a LOT of food should do it) I’m taking charge of tiling the bathroom…can’t wait, it’s going to be soooo cool!  We found 50’s style light fixtures to hang next to the 50’s medicine chest that goes with our blue 50’s tub, toilet and wall hung sink. I bought metal legs with attached towel bars for the sink.

I found really cool hanging lights for the bed, but where I wanted to put the bed ended up taking up too much room, so we had to design it to be in the corner. We returned the lights (sniff) and found another cool style that screamed for a built in headboard. Thank you David, it will be perfect.

Anyway, where I’m going with this is, hopefully two months will be enough time for us to finish these rooms. Kira has already visited us once and we didn’t have a guest room, then Andy visited and we still didn’t have a guest room, so I’m praying that we can have a guest room by Easter.

This was in the beginning, I’ll post some in between pictures as soon as I clean up some of the stuff lying around. I’m so excited!!!

Christmas Day…

For the past few years, we go to Karen’s for Christmas Day, eat a wonderful ham dinner, then go see a movie. This year turned out a little different. First, we still went to Karen’s, but she didn’t make a ham, which I was really looking forward to, instead, she made a roast. Now the roast was very good, but I just had my taste buds all set for ham. Oh well. Second, we didn’t go to a movie, because the theater doubled in price from the previous years and the only movie we wanted to see was at a bad time. So, we played Texas Holdem! What a hoot! I’m not much of a card player at any time and poker isn’t any different. I was sort of getting the hang of it though, but my Mom, my 90 year old Mom, she held her own. Ethan was helping us for awhile, but she really didn’t need all that much help. Figures huh?!

Later on that night, we had a bonfire on our new patio. David and Ethan shoveled off a big area and got the wood going. Andy made up a batch of his delicious Margaritas. Oh man those are good! A bunch of Ethan’s and Andy’s friends came over for several hours and talked and drank and generally had a great time. I really like all of their friends, they’re fun and nice and don’t make me feel like I’m an ‘old lady’. I wish I had friends like that when I was young. Heck, I wish I had friends like that now, but that’s another story.

Christmas Eve…

I hadn’t seen Andy in 7 months. I had to work on Christmas Eve day, so I didn’t get to pick him up at the airport, which was probably good, because his friends did something pretty cool. They were dressed up and had a sign with Andy’s name on it like they do in the movies for people who don’t have anyone they know to pick them up. Actually, I saw a guy at the Phoenix airport with a sign. Then they went out to breakfast. So I didn’t get to see him until our Christmas Eve church service was almost over. We were humming Silent Night and walking out of church with our lit candles and in the very back pew sat Andy, looking all cute and Andy like with his black wool jacket and scarf, little scruff on his chin, holding a candle and smiling. I blew out my candle in the Narthex, turned around, went back in church and gave him a hug. I told him he would probably be safe making a break for it. I guess I taught him right, because he waited a little bit longer before sneaking out. After a couple more hugs, we hung around a bit to have cookies and punch and to let some other people say Hi.

We got home and put together all the food and drinks while waiting for the others to stop by. We had hard and soft tacos and chips and salsa, cheese and crackers and of course cookies. Andy was disappointed that we had tacos and not prime rib, but we never have a big meal on Christmas eve, never had and probably never will. We have our big meal on Christmas Day!

We took our time chatting and eating, trying to waste time until Ethan got home from work. He was to get off at 8 pm, but it ended up being a bit later. Once he got home, we Skyped Kira and proceeded to open up presents.  Kira’s boyfriend John was with her at the time, so he got to meet all of us and see how strange we are, but then, aren’t all families strange? We had a really nice Christmas eve. We got to have Ethan at home, we got to have Andy back at home and we got to visit with Kira complements of technology.

Answer my cell phone???

I painfully learned a lesson today. You’ve heard people say, ‘What’s the use of having a cell phone if you never answer it?’ Ever since we’ve had a cell phone, my kids have asked me that question. I usually just sort of laugh it off, giving one excuse or another. Or I ignore the call or text, thinking that I will just call back or text back later. I just always assume that there is no real problem, and that they just want to tell me something they saw, or want. I never think that there is something wrong!

Well, last night Kira text me that she wanted to tell me about her trip to Sedona when she got off work at 9:30. I was really tired and I was already in bed and it was 9:30 my time, which meant I would need to stay awake another hour and then listen to her story. I told her I would be asleep by then (which I was) and that I would have my phone glued to me the next day. She said she would call me the next day.

I had some errands to run, and I had my phone turned on high. No call. I finished the errands, came home, changed and started working outside with my phone on high. No call. Now, on every other day, she would have already called me. I took a break from yard work to have some lunch and while eating I gave her a call. No answer, so I left a message. I finished lunch and went outside to continue working. I kept checking my phone to make sure I didn’t miss her call or text, and nothing! I called her again and left another message. I sent her a text. After several hours of this, I told Ethan about it and he tried calling. Nothing! Now I’m starting to get really nervous. If she rarely called or text, I would have thought she just didn’t feel like calling, or forgot all about it, but she calls and texts several times a day. This was just not like her. I finally quit working for the day and took a bath, trying her phone again. I even left a message on Facebook. Nothing. It was now time to leave for bells with David. I told him what was going on and that I was scared something bad had happened, and my next plan was to start calling Arizona hospitals. I was thinking all sorts of horrible things and near tears. We hung up and I was trying to get dried off and dressed when my phone rang. I thought it was David with some news…it was not.

It was Kira! Finally calling because she saw my text. My text that I had left hours ago. She had been out with a friend at a movie and had her phone turned to silent. Geez! I was angry and mad and relieved all at once. She was out having a good time and not dead, or kidnapped or in a hospital, admitted as a Jane Doe.

I told David that she had been out with a friend, and had her phone on silent and you know what he said????? ‘You have to let her go sometime’. MEN are such dolts!!! THAT was not why I was upset…I was upset because I was afraid she hurt or in trouble or worse yet, dead!

Lesson learned? Keep my phone near me, turned up loud enough that I can hear it when it’s sitting in my purse. Answer when they call, and return the texts. I can’t assume that a call or text may be unimportant, or routine when it could be something much, much, more! Thank God this time it was just a ‘New friend’.

1500 miles...

David and I spent over two hours on Skype talking to Andy and Kira tonight, and Ethan joined us for a while at the end. We got to do a three-way conference call. It was pretty cool. The unfortunate thing about this is that the conference calling isn't free. I'm not sure yet if we all have to pay for it, or if just one account is needed. I guess I'll have to check this out.
I google mapped the driving directions from Andy's apartment to the Phoenix Zoo and the miles they quoted me was 1570 miles. That is one heck of a long ways apart, but through the miracle of technology, we were all able to see one another. We were even able to take a screen snapshot, and I just may have to use it as our Christmas cards. Both kids took us on a tour of their apartments by walking their laptops around with the webcam capturing their everyday lives.
I really thought I was taking their absence quite well, considering that this is the first that Andy has lived away from home, and Kira and I did tons of things together when she was home. I realized that wasn't true two weeks ago at choir practice. We were singing a Christmas song, 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' and I got to that line and couldn't sing anymore. I was immediately transported to one of the pews in the front of Parkway UCC, on Christmas Eve, standing with Andy to my right and Kira to my left and we were singing that song, and the lower part of my mouth started to quiver and I got tears in my eyes. Geez, I'm not certain that I will be able to sing any of the Christmas Carols. Thank God I don't have to sing 'O Holy Night', because even though I sang it as a solo several times, the duet that Kira and I sang was very, very special, not to mention, really, really fun to do. This will be a year of change for the Christmas Eve service. We have a new minister, and taking out 'O Holy Night' and maybe the pageant will be something totally different, which I think needs to happen. We'll come up with something quite special and beautiful and meaningful to give people peace and comfort. I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to brainstorm some ideas for a superb service.
Andy's plane arrives Christmas Eve morning and of course I will be at work. I won't get to see him until he walks into church that evening, unless of course, he stops by the hospital to say hi on his way home from the airport.
We plan on Skyping Kira Christmas Eve, if I had an iPhone, I could Skype the church service too, maybe Andy could!!

21 already…

October 5, 2010 my baby boy turned 21!! David and I drove Ethan to The Cafeteria in Uptown to meet some of his friends and have a birthday celebration. It’s just a little strange to drink with your children, but really not as strange as I once would have thought. I had a Long Island Iced Tea and the Taco Special, David had his usual beer and hmmm, I can’t remember what he ate (neither can he), Ethan had beers and tsk, I can’t remember what he had either. I only remember that Jaimie had the Mac & Cheese. His friends included, Mandy, Kenny, Dawn, Eric, Steveo, Justin, Jaimie, David, me and of course, Ethan. They had a good time going from bar to bar, no one got in trouble and they are all still alive!! Here are a few pictures of the big night!

Crabby face…

Another picture of Little Bit…he has such a nasty look, but he really is pretty sweet, when he wants to be, when Andy is home, and he’s been fed, and he’s being held nicely, and not being irritated, or having his nails cut, or medicine put on his kitty acne, etc.

Just kidding…he realy is a nice cat!

Please don’t be afraid to leave me a message and/or your name. I know there a at least a few people stopping by to look at my posts and I’d really like to know who and also say Hi and Thank you for taking the time!

Teen life stuff…

Remember when you moved away from home for the first time? What did you pack to take with you? Just the things you thought were important, right? How about all the stuff you collected while growing up? The dolls, drawings, crafts, scout badges, projects, hot wheels, stuffed animals, cards, high school letters and awards. I’ll bet you left them home for Mom to deal with, because you really didn’t want to take all that old junk with you to your new place. I’ll also bet Mom saved it all for you, in boxes, or plastic bins just in case you wanted to look through it when you had kids of your own. Actually, I’ll bet she just couldn’t part with any of it and thought that you wouldn’t be able to either. I know this is what my Mom did, and I am really happy she hung on to it all because it has been a lot of fun to look through the boxes and report cards and art work and things that I thought were so, so, important at one time.

So, I have packed plastic bins with Kira and Andy’s stuff. Kira, being a girl, has WAY more stuff than Andy will ever, ever, ever have. They wanted to keep all their college books and papers which makes perfect sense also anything that they just didn’t know what to do with, only they knew they didn’t want to toss it and they wouldn’t be able to take it along. High school is a big part of what makes a person who they are and a lot of that had to be saved. I had already planned on keeping things from their childhood, because that just sparks so many memories when you look through it, especially with your own children. I was kind of hoping that they would take all this other stuff though, but really, is there ever enough room in an apartment? Just so they know that as soon as they sign the purchase agreement on their first home, I’m carrying these bins to the truck, driving on over and delivering their ‘life’ to them. 

Now all I need to do is clean, sort and rearrange my own stuff so I can fit in their stuff. At least I’ll get to that gross kind of cleaning that always gets put off until a cold winter day. Someday I’ll have a clean house. hahahahahahaha

 

Oh, I almost forgot…many, many, extra cords and such!

Little Bit…

Poor Kira, we save the yucky jobs for her! Just kidding, we can actually do them ourselves, it just takes 10 times longer.

Seriously, whenever Kira is around, we ask her to cut the cats nails. She is young and still has close-up vision so she is able to see the nail, get the clippers around it and clip before they pull their paw away. It’s quite amusing when David and I tackle their nails, he holds the cat, I take OFF my glassed, get real close to their paw and slowly get the nail in the clipper. By this time, they start squirming and it’s only the first nail, we have nine more to go. I’m making this sound much worse than it is, but it really does go so, so, so much smoother when she does it.

Still, Little Bit doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself…(Andy, where are you?! Little Bit stays still way better when you hold him!)

Just look at that face, if looks could kill…I think someone would be in for it!

Cell phones…

 

Having Kira come for a visit after nearly three months in Arizona didn’t seem a bit strange. I was getting nervous about her visiting, thinking the house was a pit and I hadn’t gotten things done that I should have in three months time, the usual thing that I go through whenever anybody comes over, (I’m just weird like that). But really, it felt like she had never been gone. The only thing that I can attribute this to is…the Cell Phone! It’s so nice to be able to text or talk anytime I want. I absolutely LOVE texting, because I can text a comment like ‘Eric…OMG!’ and more than likely she will know what I’m talking about. My older sisters don’t text, one doesn’t even have a cell phone, but if she did, she wouldn’t text either. They think it’s too impersonal, a person should call and talk, not text. Well, neither of them have children, and they just don’t get it.

I have a feeling letting her get on the plane tonight to fly back to Arizona is going to be harder than I’m anticipating, although it went a whole lot smoother getting both her and Andy to their new places than I had thought too, I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed nevertheless.

A conversation I had via text with Andy today, was about school loans, transferring money and ended up with changing my depends when I’m OLD…think about it. hahahahaah

So it is now 3:40 on Friday, September 3, 2010, Kira is having coffee with a friend, I am typing, David and Ethan are getting electrical stuff for the basement. I have No Name steaks thawing for dinner that I have to have ready by 5:30 at the very latest. We need to leave for the airport by 6:00 and her plane leaves at 8:40. It will be quite a few months before I see her again, and I’m not sure when I’ll  see Andy. Thanksgiving and Christmas should really suck this year, but they are only as far away as a phone call, or in my case, a  text!

Sunday evening Skype...

Andy called the other night wondering what was up with Ethan. I had posted a comment to Ethan's post about not ever wanting to come back here (home). Andy got a little concerned that maybe Ethan had just up and left, but I assured him that it was just me not leaving well enough alone. Sometimes I just don't feel like keeping my thoughts to myself, I do think about what I'm going to say before I say it, and sometimes I just let it out. This was one of those times. Anyway, we got around to talking about Skype and he told me we should set up a Skype date with Grandma and Barb on Sunday or Monday. I thought this was so cool of Andy to suggest it and I jumped at the chance to get us all together to chat.

I worked today and I told them I would make something for dessert. When I got home, I realized that the house was just too much of a pit to let them see, so I hurried and vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, washed, dried and put away the dishes and straightened up. Mom had left me a message that she would bring a pie that she made, so I didn't have to worry about making anything. Yeah!

I set up the time with Andy of 7 p.m. Cincinnati time which was 6 p.m. our time. We had to try several times to get a hold of him on line, and I ended up giving him a call and telling him to turn on his computer. Once he did, we were connected in no time. We talked for over an hour, which is just amazing. He's doing really well, loving cooking for Boca and they are very happy he's with them, even going so far as to actually 'tell' him. Not all places of business bother to tell you when you are doing a great job. He doesn't get to see Lauren very often as she works days and he works evenings, she's asleep when he gets home and he's asleep when she leaves for work. It won't always be like that, but for now they just have to put up with it.

Mom and Barb were pretty amazed to be able to talk with him face to face. The connection wasn't the greatest, but it really doesn't matter when you don't get to see a person for months at a time.

I'm quite proud of him and what he's accomplishing. I think he will go far in life.

Mitsubishi...

Foreign cars run rampant in our household (with our kids at least). We sold Kira's Galant a few weeks ago to a man that was buying it for his daughter to tool around in. Whew...I thought that car would be a permanent fixture on our driveway. Then just today, we sold Andy's Spyder to a man buying it for his daughter that doesn't even have her license yet. I would not have gotten a sporty little rag top for a brand new driver. One accident and she'll
be dead. Maybe she'll be a good driver...cough! The parents on the other hand were driving very safe cars, he a newer, big, pickup and she a newer SUV, hmmm, they probably could have afforded to pay a few hundred more. Oh well, it is sold, it is out of our driveway, we won't have to pay insurance on it and Andy had a little more in his account, well on Monday he will.

Truck...

We saw two 1951 trucks this weekend. One of them was a 1951 Chevy 1/2 ton totally reconditioned truck. All new, beautiful smooth, unmarred green paint, wood boards in the bed, so nice. Only a mere $18,500.
The second one we saw was a 1951 Ford 1/2 ton, all rusted, no floor in the cab, doors didn't close all the way. Apparently had a new engine though...it didn't look 'new' to me, maybe new to a 1951 truck, but not new to 2010. It did run though, and it had a title and license, and it was only $2500. I will need to take Ethan along with me when I get around to seriously looking for a truck.