She is not leaving without a fight

So, my car. My car's been with me for over 18 years. She's performed admirably. Sticker price was $9,995 and she is worth every cent. Now, however, it's time to let her go. I don't want to. I have some unnatural attachment. Apparently so does she.


I listed her for sale on Craiglist a few days ago, feeling somewhat like a traitor. I mentioned this & was teased. My reply? "Just wait until we actually try to sell her."

She's been reliable & wonderful for almost 2 decades. But now, she needs more work than I'm willing to invest. She needs a new windshield wiper assembly ($200 part), first and foremost. New brakes and tires would be on the list for next summer. A serpentine belt is also probably on the horizon. Essentially, if I am willing to invest $1,000 of parts and labor, she'd be in tip-top shape. We don't have the $1,000, and if I had $1,000, I have several other places it'd make more sense to invest it.

When we purchased our other car, it was with the understanding that buying one mid-sized vehicle, we'd eventually go down to 1 car. We both work less than 10 minutes from home. Now that my office has moved, my work is actually on the way to DH's work. Heck, I could walk it if I wanted to dodge some traffic on a busy street for a block or so.

So, for every reason I can name, it's time to get rid of her. So, a lady contacted me yesterday & we talked this afternoon. She wanted the car today. TODAY. Dang. Okay. She arranges for a ride ... and then everything goes downhill.

(1) I can't find the key to the lockbox that houses important papers, like, oh, the title to the car. Eventually I find the keys (in a very odd place, mind you, NOT where I would've said I ALWAYS keep them), so we're good to go.
(2) She has difficulty cashing the money order she has (I told her I would only accept cash). She has to speak to a manager, etc., and is delayed in getting to me by almost 2 hours.
(3) Just before she's supposed to arrive, I go to move the car from the garage to the driveway (keep in mind I've not driven it more than 11 miles in the last 3 weeks) ... and the battery is dead. DH gives me a jump start & I lap the block a few times to make sure it charges up.
(4) She finally gets here with cash, the battery is reasonably charged up, I've made sure there's enough gas to get her home (she lives 26 miles away), I've found the title and read the directions, and ...







she doesn't drive stick.




*face palm*




I clearly listed that in the Craigslist ad. *deep sigh* So ... I've resolved to take her to a mechanic who's expressed an interest, and quoted me a price. I'm just not telling her. If I can set up a time, I'm not mentioning any of this in front of her. I'll just tell her I'm taking her out for a well-deserved joy ride.

Why does it feel like I'm taking a friend out into the woods with a sordid plan involving me coming back alone?

Anyone want to buy a 9 month sized pinafore?

So, funny story .... I bought to make a pinafore for Alexandra. I bought it in 2 sizes: 12 month & 18 month. My aunt, who is quite industrious, agreed to give it a whirl before she came to visit from Minneapolis. WELL. She printed it out & later that day I received an email that she'd made "more than 1." When the dust settled, she'd made EIGHT reversible pinafores & brought them last weekend. They were awfully tight on Alexandra & she thought maybe the pattern was wrong. I'd also bought a finished pinafore from the same seller, so I did some comparisons & deduced that somehow my aunt resized the pattern when she printed it out! A consultation with the pattern maker revealed that the pinafores ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifre actually closer to a 9 month size! So, I am awash in pinafores Alexandra can barely fit into, including 4 beautiful Christmas designs! BUMMER. I'd like to be able to recoup the cost of the fabric, at least, and cover shipping - so if you're interested, make me an offer!! Feel free to pass along to others, too!

More baby scrapbooking

I actually did these pages in fits and starts over several days ... then it took me for ever to take pictures of them ... and longer to upload and crop ... and now to share! It's been busy with my aunt visiting & with DH out of town at his brother's wedding!

I have decided just to document random elements of Alexandra's life, so it allows me to skip around & pick different things that strike my fancy -- like realizing these two pictures showed how some things have changed and some things have stayed the same!



And this page is just a fave photo of mine. Huge eyes, very contemplative ... and gnawing on her links, which is a favorite past-time.



And again another one of those milestones -- didn't even get pictures of her first tooth coming in, because it came in with nary a whimper, but the 2nd one was a bit more documented. It's only been in photos taken earlier this month that you can actually SEE the teeth in any pictures, but at least it's documented!

Milk and Cookies and a Book

I am about to retire for the evening. I currently have the house to myself (okay, I'm sharing it with Alexandra and a couple of cats), and I've really enjoyed the peace & quiet this evening. It's amazing how much I can get done in just a few hours if I have the run of the place. I need to change the little girl & give her a bottle (she only ate 12 oz today ... I'm surprised I didn't hear whimpering!), then time for me to curl up in bed. I'm going to enjoy some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, a glass of milk, and a good book (Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson). Good night, all!

I had some fun this weekend ...

And managed to scrapbook some random photos of Alexandra's. This first one was completed with pictures taken by an acquaintance (a professional photographer) who visited us when Alexandra was just over a month old:


And these photos were taken on an impromptu stroll with my Blackberry. Not bad shots ... and it shows our adventures, including smelling flowers, and falling asleep.


And this documents my inviting over some yoga buddies to spend time with Alexandra in September. They threw her a shower in April & I thought they might all like to see her a few months later!


And these pictures I took after we had our professional photoshoot. Seemed appropriate to use the whole "punkin" thing. I've been calling her "pumpkin bear" lately ... now shortened to "punky bear." I'm weird. I know.


And these pictures were e-freebies done by the professional photographer -- small pictures intended to be emailed to loved ones for Halloween (which I certainly did!), but I decided to print them out as 3x4 images & make a Halloween page for her while it's still fresh in my mind!

Who cares about catching up?

So my scrapbooking took a back seat (way, way, way back seat) about 2 years ago, when we were doing everything we could to increase our chances for an adoption, including my taking on a part time job in addition to my full time one. So, right about now, I'm working on December 2009 photos for our chronological albums. And I'm also working on pages from the last 7 months, because let's face it -- Alexandra's pretty damned photogenic & she's just fun to scrapbook, too.

I'm taking the same approach I took when I first started scrapbooking in 1995 - stay current & slowly work your way forward from the beginning. Eventually, the gap will close to nothing. I don't mind if that doesn't happen ever again - the last time it did, I was dreadfully bored with nothing to scrapbook & resorted to scrapbooking other people's photos.

My favorite online scrapbooking community is closing its doors in the next month or so. I don't know if I'll look to join another one. Truth be told that the friends I've made online I can still access through other means, mostly Facebook ... and I just don't know if I can handle a time-sink of getting involved in another community. Alexandra's going to be mobile soon (I predict some kind of intentional scooting or crawling forward this coming weekend, just because I think she'll show off for her Great Aunt who is visiting), and I'll have my hands full.

So, without further ado ... here are a couple of scrapbook LOs of my new favorite subject. I've got 5 more piled on the living room coffee table that are yet to be uploaded. But you'll be inundated with those too. If you choose to come back, that is.

Here's a page from August of this year -- visiting my parents after my dad's heart attack in July.

And this shot you may remember from my DIY Photoshoot post in September. I like this picture of the 3 of us, even if Alexandra isn't exactly looking at the camera.


And this page probably never would've been made if not for a freebie offer through CVS for pictures on my Facebook account. They're not the best pictures -- but they were some of the first we shared with the whole world on the day her birthparents legally released her into our care, 3 days after she was born. I still remember waiting on pins and needles. After caring for her in the hospital, when she was only a couple of hours old, we were just terrified they might change their minds & we dared not tell anyone outside a very tiny circle of loved ones. When we got the word, we were just stunned, then overjoyed.