Sunfires are mom-mobiles, right?

Included in the upcoming lifestyle changes in our household will be a new car. While my Sunfire does have all of the necessary attachments for baby seats, I will not be attempting to use them. So we've started to explore our options.

Chris and I did try several basic 4-door varieties, but I seem to like the small wagons better. Yikes, I blanch a little just typing that. Growing up we had a few station wagons, including the lovely brown one with wood trim. With 4 kids, my parents would be up front and the rest of us would fight over where to sit, either the 'middle' or the 'far back.' And of course everyone wanted to sit in the same place. We'd also take the station wagon on the yearly trip to Wisconsin. This was fun because my parents would sometimes put down all the seats and lay out sleeping bags and we'd have a big area to play in. This was way before child safety laws were invented, obviously.

Anyway, I've looked at the following so far:

Malibu Maxx: This was fun to drive, easy to maneuver and it had plenty of room in the back seat so I don't bump my head all of the time and tall people fit in there too. The ones I drove even had window roofing for the back seat.The downside seems to be it has a bigger engine than I would need, so it would use lots of gas.Pontiac Vibe: I drove this one a couple of days ago and loved it. Again, easy to handle, gas and brakes were great. Again, lots of head room and leg room in the back seat. And the engine is actually smaller than what I am used to but it still worked great for me. It's not like I'm going to be hot rodding with Peanut in the back seat. Unless some punk is just needing a beat down.I would still like to try a Mazda Protege5 and a Toyota Matrix.

And for some reason people keep pointing out Ford Taurus wagons to me. I shudder. I think it's just too wagon-esque and I'd feel like I was in 1985 again.

The tough part is that the cars I like are just a bit out of price range. But since we don't need it for a couple of months yet, I have local used car lots bookmarked and will be keeping an eagle eye out for a good deal. Hopefully it will all work out.

Suggestions and input welcome in the comments!

Vacation is over

I had a great weekend to end my vacation before becoming acting CFO. Friday night we went to see an improv show with Ikkin and Ukie (thanks for the tickets, Ikkin). The show was called FFN in Space at Madlab Theater. It was improv meets sci-fi, so I was amused the whole time, especially by Ikkin's friend Josh who got to wear the red t-shirt (Star Trek fans know what that's about). The only thing I didn't care for was whoever suggested the hero's power be a Bill Cosby impersonation. Because no one does a good Bill Cosby impersonation.

Sunday we had a little cookout here for Father's Day. My parents, grandma and siblings made the trip as well as Chris's grandmother and the Ukie. My brothers pointed at me and laughed, my dad had to take pictures of me to show my other grandma and it got really hot out. But it was an awesome time and we ended up with lots of leftovers, most of which are cookies and cake.

Today I woke up fully prepared to start CFOing and impressing everyone with my housewife abilities. That lasted all of 10 minutes because someone forgot to wash jeans for her kind and understanding husband. So I told Chris to wear a pleated skirt and tell everyone it was a kilt and the breeze was a blessing in the heat. He didn't go for it.

But after that I went for a brisk 30 minute walk and lifted weights. I also ran errands in the truck. Did I mention sitting in my car for more then 15 minutes causes my back to spaz out? Yeah. So I drove his truck downtown and registered us for our new church and inadvertently volunteered Chris to mulch later this week. Then I went to the library and registered there. They have a coffee shop attached to the library! And a really good selection; I was nervous about that since it is a smaller town not affiliated with the Columbus library. In fact I found Buffy season 7 on DVD and had to restrain myself a little. Then it was off to the Post Office to buy stamps and send a package. Then back home for lunch and laundry.

I'm off to get more done!

Shots!

I'm enjoying my 'vacation' and to share in that enjoyment, here is a variety of movie screen shots. Begin the guessing, let's see how smart you are!

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Hammer Time

For those of you who have not glanced at the calender recently, Father's day is coming up. I saw this commercial today and thought it was hilarious.



School is now done, finished, complete, stick a fork in it. I will now assume the position CFO (Chief Family Officer) of the household. I was actually interviewed for this position, so you know it must be serious. While this includes things like budgets, cleaning and cooking, I'm actually on a power trip and keep telling Chris how things are going to be around here. Because I say so.

But first I get a one week vacation.

I did sign up for class at Jo-Ann Fabric called 'Getting to Know Your Sewing Machine'. I was all excited and bought thread and a magnetic pin cushion. But they canceled it due to low registration. Apparently I am the only person in northern Columbus who does not know my sewing machine. A friendly teacher at school did offer to teach me, so I'll be giving her a call. After vacation.

Our Yard, Illustrated

First, it did occur to me to just put all of these pictures in an on-line photo album and post a link. But I like to do things the hard way, what can I say. So our new home was professionally landscaped by the gardener who originally lived here and maintained by the previous occupants. Now that spring is here, we get to see what surprises there are growing in our yard. There will be more and I will update, so don't be surprised and bear with me as I struggle with what plant is what.

First, on the side of our house are three bushes. If you look closely you can see they are flowering bushes of some type. The bushes are fairly dense so the flowers are just kind of peeking out in little bunches.

Next in the front of our house, but kind of hidden behind everything is azaleas. It didn't come in too well this year, likely due to the late frost, but I do like azaleas :)

This is one tree in the front of the house, I think my knowledgeable husband said it was a weeping cherry tree. I'm not posting the picture of it, but from one angle you could see a broken limb with cherry-size gray pods growing on it. Chris managed to cut it out yesterday. Also notice all of the shrubbery. Shrubbery, I tell you! The bald patch was where some plant was but it apparently died because it was not growing back in.


Here's the other tree in front of our house. This has since been trimmed because it hangs right in your face as you walk up the sidewalk. Not good for us tall-ies. The bush on the right somehow offended Chris and he chopped off at least half of it. Actually, he thinks it's supposed to trimmed and it was hanging on the driveway scratching up my car, so it deserved to get whacked.


This tall grass in the backyard turned out to be some type of orchid. At least it had this nice purple orchid-like blooms. Unfortunately they have already died, so no pictures.


The coniferous trees along the back fence. They make a nice barrier so it doesn't feel like we are sharing our yard with the whole neighborhood. But they do have a LOT of pine cones. I will have to find some craft that incorporates pine cones so I can make money off of this. Or at least put peanut butter on them and use them as bird feeders.


I'm not sure what kind of tree this is, it has mystified both myself and my mom. It started out with pods like it was a magnolia, then it spread out like a regular tree, then it got all of these beautiful pink flowers on it (see next picture) and now that the flowers have died it has developed what I think look the beginnings of buckeyes. Clueless I tell you.

The backyard has more ornamental shrubbery. We aren't sure what they all are, but the first one has mini pine cones, the second is slightly lopsided and the last is apparently expensive to buy.



And there is a lilac bush/tree! It smelled great and it's right by the kitchen window. But alas, it has lost its blooms.


We also have irises, some type of bushy wildflower that came out of nowhere and is bigger than the bushes, lazy eyed suzannes, some other type of weedy looking thing that is growing small but tall flowers, chickpeas, vines (that I am trying to pull up because they are already killing two plants), a holly bush, more coniferous pine-cone-bearing trees and a rose bush.