Early Warning

Today I had an adventure with my car.

"Unsafe driving, by digitalart/ found at: freedigitalphotos.net

The main vehicle that I drive most is an '05 Ford Escape.  It has been a great car overall and has been pretty low maintenance.  However, I am no fool.  This car now has over 178,000 miles and it is almost a decade old.

So when the clutch started acting funny just after arriving home from California, I have to admit that I wasn't all that surprised that something could be up.  I also thought that I was really happy that this didn't happen while we were on the road.

I called my mechanic.  He is an honest guy.  He told me if the clutch needs replacing I probably need a new car.  He kindly pointed out that putting more money into a car than it is worth is probably not a good idea- especially when said car is old enough and at a mileage that could warrant a transmission or even an engine at any time.  My mechanic also knows that I often travel down to California and he told me he wouldn't want to see me get stranded on the side of the highway.

I was annoyed, but agreed with all of the logic stated above.

I also am very annoyed by car shopping.  Or should I say I hate car salesman.  Hell, don't we all???

My last experience was a good one because it was at the MINI dealer where they don't really have to sell you anything.  You wouldn't be there if you didn't want a MINI.  Duh!

But this time I would need to replace what I have with something similar.  There's nothing that big at the MINI dealer.  Damn!

So I made an appointment to have the car looked at by the mechanic in the afternoon and did a little internet car shopping.  I have had a car in mind if mine should go bad and yet I haven't been so sold on the idea that I have actively ever looked or even test driven.

To make a long story short, I actually found a decent price for the type of car I was thinking about and it turned out to be located at a dealer that, at least over the phone, has salespeople that don't seem to be ready to jerk you around or oozing in greasiness.  I made an appointment to talk with them tomorrow.

Then, during my day of errands and a little work, I drove my car around town with no more troubles at all.  Hmmm.... strange.

by the time I got to the mechanic I honestly wondered if I had just dreamed up some problem that never existed at all.

In the end my issue is simple.  I need a brake job, but my clutch is fine.  It's merely that both the clutch and the brakes feed from the same fluid reservoir and when the fluid is old or dirty it will sometimes affect the clutch performance.  Whew, brakes are way cheaper and I don't have to meet with ANY car salesman at all.  My Friday is saved for something far better.  Maybe I'll hit up a 'Happy Hour' with my neighbor- she's been bugging me to do that.  Oh, and I'm taking this for what it's worth.  I'll be renting a vehicle to drive down to California if I need something bigger than my MINI for the trip!  My Ford Escape is just too old for the trip now and I'm choosing to heed the early warning.

What do YOU wish came with an early warning system?  Have you ever failed to heed an early warning?  What happened?

Summer?!

There has been a lot going on since I got back from a recent road trip.  I'm choosing to let some still developing things work themselves through for awhile before I comment on their actual outcomes...

Since we've been back, my Nephew, Nathan, was super fun and yet super exhausting for his week long visit here: 

He played at several parks,

built some robots,

met a clients Great Dane puppy,

and even got in a workout while I caught up on some work.

And in huge breaking news in our corner of the world- I think summer is actually coming to the Northwest this year!  Sure it looks a lot like what many might call Spring.  However, just about anything tops last year and I am super grateful...


Our forecast for the week:

			High / Low (°F)	Precip. %
Mon Jul 09		Partly Cloudy	77°/54°	0 %
Tue Jul 10		Partly Cloudy	74°/55°	10 %
Wed Jul 11		Sunny	78°/56°	0 %
Thu Jul 12		AM Clouds / PM Sun	77°/56°	0 %
Fri Jul 13		Sunny	74°/56°	0 %
Sat Jul 14		Sunny	75°/58°	0 %
Sun Jul 15		Sunny	75°/57°	0 %
Mon Jul 16		Sunny	73°/55°	0 %
Tue Jul 17		Sunny	73°/53°	0 %

Sure, maybe it's a little bit crazy to be so excited about some 75 degree-ish days without rain, but I will be out and about soaking up as much of it as I possibly can.  Gotta' get while the getting is good!

Surprise- A Road Trip Adventure!

My husband and I have been planning all along to go down to Palm Springs to look at condos during the week of the 4th of July.  We have saved and saved and are finally ready to at least physically look at some properties.  It has been quite educational and frustrating to find out what all this entails. 

Here in a nutshell is more than anyone who is not shopping for a Palm Springs condo could ever want to know: 

1) As I mentioned in a previous post, Palm Springs is unique in that every other mile of the city has been designated as native Indian land.  This means that half of all properties have a small lease that is paid to the native people over a long term contract that is renewable indefinitely.  Basically both the natives and the city want to keep this as a simple peaceful arrangement so as to be profitable to all parties.  However, this also makes fairly unpopular lending on condos in general even a bit more sticky in Palm Springs. 

2) So many condo properties in this area of California have been foreclosed on that many of the communities have more units being owned by investors than actual residents.  And, guess what?  The banks don't like to loan on condos that are majority owned by investors.

3) Even with perfect credit and a good sized down payment, anything that is deemed 'wrong' with the community that we might eventually select a unit in could completely nullify any agreement we might actually have with a seller.

So have I mentioned that we're up against a big challenge here?! 

No worries, we are NOT giving up that easily.

We're up for a look with a realtor and it's happening next week.  Yes, you might have noticed that is one week PRIOR to the week of the 4th of July. 

We have moved the trip up BECAUSE.... drum roll please.....

My husband has an in person interview with a company in Arizona!  ...And he can't fly yet or even pick up more than 15 lbs., which would put luggage out of the question.  BUT, he is feeling great and ready to do an interview so here we go- We'll be driving down and taking our two dogs along with us.  Yes, we're a little bit crazy!!!

And we'll top off the trip by stopping by and picking up my nephew, Nathan, on the way back so he can have one of his week-long summer visits with us over the 4th of July.

It is going to be one big whirlwind adventure!

All The Disney Details- The End

Thank y'all so much for indulging me in my little endeavor to preserve the memories of my nephew's first trip to Disneyland and in turn share way too many pictures of said event.  This is to be the last installment of my series on this subject.  Truly, thanks for the patience.

By the last day at the Disneyland resort, Nathan had really gotten comfortable with the place and pretty much knew where everything was.  He was feelin' quite at home that last morning when we noticed he was wearing the remainders of his ice cream all over his face- yes, ice cream that we had let him eat with his breakfast as we were cleaning out the hotel room fridge.

I have some really good excuses for allowing this.  1)  First and foremost, we were on vacation and that totally allows for eating ice cream for breakfast.  2)  He saw the ice cream before I had the chance to throw it out.  3)  I had been awakened by the alarm clock next door at 6am, that proceeded to go off for over 15 minutes before I could get anybody in that room to shut that sucker down.  I guess there must have been one heck of a party going on over there the night before because these people seemed a little more than hung over.  So I was in a weakened state, what can I say?

It turned out to be quite a stellar day for eating all around when we had lunch at the 'Big Thunder Ranch Barbeque' all you can eat place inside the park right before we used our fast passes to take another ride on 'California Screamin'- the roller coaster with the big loop and the 55 miles per hour.  Yeah, this was Nathan's idea.

Amazingly, we made it through without any encore performances from our lunch.

As the trip wound down, there was a definite sense of how grateful we all were for how well things had gone.  After such a long build up to this trip (with all the complications that my sister had thrown our way, it had been a couple of years since I had promised this to Nathan) we were all making sure to take in everything we could to save the memories in our hearts and know that this was just the beginning of a positive new future to come.

Nathan's Dad and my husband took the opportunity to buy a few more souvenirs that Nathan had been eyeballing, including a flashing light saber and a light up spinning R2-D2.

He used his cool new toys to help him enjoy the 'Fantasmic' show at the rivers of America in Disneyland.  This show was even more impressive than 'World Of Color' had been.  It has the light show on the fountains along with live Disney characters and boats added to it.

Here is a good sampling of the show. (You may want to pause the music player.)




Yes indeed, this kid was happy and satisfied.

On the way back home we realized just how lucky we had been.  The weather for us had cooperated with our plans quite magically, after all.  When we were on the road, the weather was miserable.  Both ways.  But while we were actually at our destination we were treated to blue skies and warmth.  So when we had to take a 3 hour detour to avoid a snowy mountain pass on the way back, I took it as a reminder of just how fortunate we had been.  Plus it allowed us to show Nathan the Redwoods.

One extra stop for some fresh air and a break from the windy roads and Nathan was able to give me the 'No Hurl' guarantee.  To think that car sickness almost got to him after all those crazy rides! 

We all made it back to the comfort of home, safe and sound, that night.  What a trip it had been!

All The Disney Details- Part Deux

It has been exactly 4 days since we returned from the Disney spring break road trip and my nephew has already called me today to ask if we can go back this summer!  I let him know that we would probably be doing other new things this summer.  It was a good try though.  I'm glad Nathan knows it never hurts to ask.

So to continue the story where I left off...  After 2 and a half days of basically not much more than just driving, we finally got to start the part of the trip that was the whole reason we went in the first place.  Nathan had always wanted to go to Lego Land and I had always wanted to take him to Disneyland.  So we were gonna' do both.  On Monday, we headed for Lego Land.

Nathan was super excited, but I was a little bit worried because it was supposed to rain.  As we were driving in from a half hour away, we even drove through a huge rain shower.  I knew this would be a real bummer after how long he had been waiting for this and it looked like it probably would be a rainy day.

 

There was no way I wanted to rain on this kids' parade

 

But you know what?  Everything worked out just fine for Nathan's special Lego Land day.  The rain never came and eventually even the puddles from the night before evaporated and we got a beautiful blue sky day!

 

Lego Land had just about anything you can imagine made out of legos.  There were animals, monuments and cities, and even some funny tongue in cheek stuff.

Yes, that dog is doing what you think he's doing.

Nathan's favorite ride was an insane sort of giant robotic arm that would twist and turn you all around in midair.  You get to choose which level you want when you get in the ride.  The levels are 1 to 5.  Nathan did level 5, every time!  The video below is an example of the ride, though not with my nephew on it.



There was also a unique and tasty treat that we tried at Lego Land park.  It was called apple fries.  It was deep fried apple strips with real whipped cream to dip them into.  Apple fries were truly yummy.

 

What an absolutely fantastic day!  And this was just the beginning...

 

All The Disney Details- In A Series

We are back from the Disney trip!  What a great time for my nephew, Nathan, and for us! 
There's so much to tell that I'm going to break this up into several posts because frankly I want to preserve these memories in as much detail as I can and this blog will serve as a perfect way to do that.  I want to remember everything- that my feet still hurt 3 days later and that I'm warding off any and all restaurant food for at least 30 days and even that I never want to stay in the 'kid' area of any hotel for any reason ever again!
I'll start with the fact that the first stop we made was at a Taco Bell and this is literally the first thing my husband pulled out of the bag:

 

Sometimes the universe has a weird sense of humor...  Can you believe this? 

I don't eat much fast food so maybe this is more common than I know.

Yes, this was a road trip.  We drove down to California, just as we have many times before.  I have had kids in the car on other trips so I know a little bit about what happens when you put a kid in the car for a 20 hour drive.  We had planned to alleviate some of  the pain of wondering, "Are we there yet?" with a tried and true trick of mine.  We had a big red bag full of other smaller bags with surprises in them that Nathan got to open, one bag every two hours while we were on the road.  By the time we got to San Diego this red bag had become the most important piece of luggage in the car.  Nathan would check to make sure it was in there before we took off again.  Who needs a toothbrush when you've got a 'magic red bag'?

In San Diego I had wanted to see the beach.  We have gone as far as Carlsbad before, but never to San Diego.  The weather was beastly on our way down and by the time we got to San Luis Obispo there were winds of 35 miles per hour and it was like being inside a sandblasting machine. 

Everything was blowing all over.

Even the TP wanted to take flight!

The parasailors even had to call it quits.

After only a short time out on the beach, we ended up with sand everywhere- as grit in our mouths and eyes and somehow it even got into our socks!  But no wind, sand or long car ride could stop the smile on this boys face:

'Disney'd Out!

Yes, I have been away enjoying the 'happiest place on earth' with my dear nephew and have had little time and poor Internet connections so have been unable to share any of the details.
I will post fun stuff just as soon as I get back home.  I promise!  Things have been wonderful for this trip so far and I appreciate that many of you have had me in your thoughts.
However, we are currently staying over in a small town in a rural area of California hoping that tomorrow will bring good enough weather to let us pass through the Mt. Shasta area.  If not, we will head out toward the coast and then through Grants Pass, where it is supposed to be merely rainy, not snowy like Shasta.
Wish us luck, and I will enjoy a bit of your blogging that I have missed before calling it a day.
It looks like there's some irresistible stuff out there just waiting for me.