Paxifist: 12/01/2006

Delayed!

No, we're not going anywhere near CO, but our departure has been postponed until tomorrow due to Paul's illness. One of the boys must have passed along the bug. Here's hoping I continue to be healthy!

So after we had decided to postpone our departure, I was just coming down the stairs when Jay announced, "Pink, pink!" I could see something pink on the floor, but was having trouble identifying it. As I approached, I realized that Jay had spilled the "pink stuff" Paul had used. All over the floor. I could also see that he had refilled the little cup, though he clearly didn't know when to stop.

Ah, our "helpful" 2-year old! ;)

- posted by Lenise @ 1:49 PM |

Bobby... ON!

The upside to all the diaper changes and diaper rash treatments is that I finally figured out what "Bobby" is. Somehow, "diaper" comes out "bobby" or "boppy".

In other news, Jay discovered the ties to Paul's sleeping bag sticking out under the closet door and was very anxious that "shoe stuck!" Shoes are very important things, you know! I also caught Jay saying, "Isaac, how are you, Isaac?" (though it sounded more like, "Isaac, Hawaii, Isaac!"

- posted by Lenise @ 4:06 PM |

This Should Make for Fun Travels...

So I came home from a very frustrating day at work to find a disgruntled and harried husband. He had taken Jay's mattress outside to hose it down before I left for work (Jay's new fondness for disrobing isn't a great combination with his diarrhea), and apparently spent much of the afternoon on the receiving end of Isaac's vomit. I subsequently experienced more of the same (that being Isaac's partially digested food). Then we had a fun night of diaper-changing and being vomited near. Really, though, we're lucky it's been Isaac who's been disgorging the contents of his stomach. I'm sure Jay's would be much yuckier.

- posted by Lenise @ 9:36 AM |

It's Here!!!

Though it's not quite as advertised. Paul pointed out to the dealer that the vaunted CD player was a figment of their imagination (though I was fooled when we looked at one of the other vans- the stereo has all the buttons labeled as though it has a CD changer, even if it's only AM/FM/cassette), and they are having one installed Thursday. The DVD player only takes VHS tapes (oddly!), and apparently "all the power equipment" only refers to the standard power equipment, minus the remote keyless entry (we got a solitary key). I was hoping for power driver's seat adjustments. But all in all, I think we still did pretty well. Rear air was an option in 2001, which this van has (much more important than a DVD player, IMHO).

And I get to drive it to work in the morning =]

- posted by Lenise @ 9:16 PM |

From the Request Lines

You probably didn't expect the series of automotive photos on my blog this week to be of a Mustang. But it being Christmas and all, I'm trying to accommodate Grandma and Grandpa G. ;)

- posted by Gary @ 3:25 PM |

Uncle Todd's new wheels
Posted by Picasa

- posted by Lenise @ 3:23 PM |

Something about an anniversary
Posted by Picasa

- posted by Lenise @ 3:23 PM |

Look out!
Posted by Picasa

- posted by Lenise @ 3:22 PM |

What's that country song about the taillights?
Posted by Picasa

- posted by Lenise @ 3:22 PM |

How Beautiful

Are the feet of the mailman on the gravel! The question is, does it do any good to deposit the check in the ATM instead of waiting until Monday?

- posted by Lenise @ 11:37 AM |

Smiley
Posted by Picasa

- posted by Lenise @ 8:47 PM |

Looking out the window
Posted by Picasa

- posted by Lenise @ 8:45 PM |

Green (?) eyes
Posted by Picasa

- posted by Lenise @ 8:44 PM |

Too Little, Too Late

I got a quote today by e-mail on this van. I had requested it back when I thought we were going to buy the Odyssey, and I told them they'd have to beat that price for us to consider the Chevy. So they gave me a very good price, but Paul was already resigned to driving to Clayton and already sold on the Villager/Quests. If you're looking for a van, you could do a lot worse than the price he gave me for that one!

Meantime, the dealership with the Villager called me today and wanted to know if I had thought more about that van. Well, naturally I have, but that's not really what they wanted to know. So I told them my husband had gone to Clayton and bought the Quest (I had forwarded the listing to pressure them into lowering their price). Too bad for them!

- posted by Lenise @ 8:19 PM |

By the Way

If you hang out in junkyards and would like to get us a Christmas present, you can buy us a replacement pop-out ceiling-mounted spying on the kids mirror. Paul says ours is missing. As is the manual. 2001 Quest GXE. Just in case anyone out there is stumped.

- posted by Lenise @ 6:44 PM |

Don't Look Now, Mom and Dad,

But we just bought a Nissan! It's OK, though, because it was built in Ohio just like the Villagers. It was $2,500 cheaper than the one I saw last night, which is a good enough reason to live without leather upholstery.

- posted by Lenise @ 1:17 PM |

Nice Cars Are For the Rich

So I went to look at the Villager in Durham. Beautiful car, nice leather, excellent condition all around. If it weren't for taxes, tags, etc (which came to nearly $800), I'd have done it. I'm a little bit disgruntled, as I was led to believe the price was negotiable, but when my salesperson came back from the inevitable chat with the manager, I was told that "The price is the price." I still wanted it, but I knew Paul wasn't going to be happy with that, and as I said, I was not expecting a flat-out no for an answer, so I left after calling Paul to confirm my suspicions.

I miss that car already.

But, Paul has been browbeaten into going to give this one the once-over in the morning. Otherwise, we're back to 130k mile vans.

Villager update: They just raised the list price by $1k. See title.

- posted by Lenise @ 9:31 PM |

The Latest Candidate

I'm going by after work to see if I can't get a deal. This is complicated a little bit by the fact that we won't have the cash for another 2 weeks. I can probably put a deposit down on my credit card while we work out the details, though. Folks're usually happy to take our money...

- posted by Lenise @ 4:19 PM |

Car Bleg

So we saw a pretty blue Quest with all the fun toys (though the radio part of the stereo was not working well, the fellow promised that the CD changer works and demonstrated the VCR and power sunroof).

It was kind of overwhelming- the leather upholstery, the CD changer, the sparkly blue paint. At the same time, the more we looked at the van the more little dents were apparent. Paul's theory is that dents are good, since they lower the value while only having a cosmetic impact. Being cheap myself, I sympathize with this point of view, but on the other hand, as many dents as there were signifies to me that the previous owner didn't treat the car very well (It's a one-owner according to our free Carfax report, but I think it was classified as a corporate lease).

Anyone have any advice?

- posted by Lenise @ 4:59 PM |

Quick Thinking I Shouldn't Have Had to Do and Other Happenings

So Friday morning I had an offsite meeting with a woman whose company is a vendor for one of our big customers. I had it in my mind for some time that I had to drive straight to Durham/RTP that morning, though I forgot to print out directions and finally realized as I was turning onto the street where our building is located that it was Friday and I was supposed to be continuing eastward. Had I had directions, I would have had plenty of time to get to my meeting, but as I had made a little detour, and walking into the building from the parking lot takes a while, I was going to be late if I had to go inside. I had my work laptop with me, and our building has a wireless network, so it made sense to see if I could login to my e-mail (where I had stored the directions) from the parking lot. I booted my computer up from a fairly out-of-the-way area of the parking lot, but had no signal. OK then, I had to move closer. Two stops later, I was at the nearest corner of the parking lot to the building, ecstatically thankful for my signal as I penned the directions onto a napkin. And I made it on time!

Sunday morning, Paul and I were supposed to sing some cantata pieces for the service (as part of the choir). As we had had a miserable night trying to get poor Isaac to sleep, there was just no way we were getting out of here that early, so Paul went by himself and I pondered how the boys and I should spend our Sunday morning. I thought about walking the kids down to our local Presbyterian church or across the street to the Wesleyan church, but then it occurred to me that we could possibly get a ride with our friend Sonja who goes to our church. She agreed to give us a ride, I managed to get everybody ready, and between us, Sonja and I even figured out how to get the spare carseats installed in time to get to the 11 AM service. Then we got Jay to the nursery and found Daddy so we could watch football with him after church while eating lunch. Isaac had a great time sitting with Aunt Sonja, Aunt ADR, Daddy and Mama, and was probably making faces at Aunt ESM after the choir was dismissed. I just hope the aunts escape Isaac contagion!

Meantime, it looks like we really are going to replace the Saturn with the Taurus and the Taurus with a minivan... if we can ever find the time to go carshopping, that is! I testdrove this vehicle today on my lunchbreak (it was easier to walk to the car lot than to drive- it is that close to our building). It wasn't anything like love at first drive, but I know Paul likes Odysseys, and it does have the power sliding doors, rear air, good cargo space, and good mileage. I'd like to see this one, too, though it might take some doing to get it down to our price range. It's got those three bucket seats in the second row, a built-in child safety seat, a video system, and much lower mileage than the Honda, which is plenty to recommend it in my book!

- posted by Lenise @ 10:13 PM |

Much Better Now

Well, Isaac seems to be over the fever he came down with the night after his MD appointment. He had been really not feeling well, and at one point his fever was up to 103F, though he cheered up pretty quickly with ibuprofen drops. I'm thankful he was feeling back to his normal temp when I got home tonight. He was still kind of grouchy. Ever since I had to change to 3 full days in the office, the kids have really been letting me know I was missed. Usually this means Isaac cries until I pick him up, and then when I sit down with him, Jay tries to pull him off my lap and take his place. Not terribly subtle, that one!

- posted by Lenise @ 10:08 PM |

Urban (?) Hiking

We walked to the pediatricians' office today. Paul had to work, and I sent our second car back to Fort Bragg with my younger brother, so we didn't have a car of our own to take. One of the sweet ladies from our Bible study offered us a ride, but I decided this morning to take advantage of the nice weather and hoof it. It took a while to get the boys packed up with their diaper bags, snacks, Jay's juice, etc., and then we had to find some picnicky food downtown to take with us (we were out of bread!), since Isaac's appointment was noonish, and it would take a while to walk out there. I don't have a watch right now, which is unfortunate, because I had no idea how long things were taking. We ended up eating too leisurely a lunch, and were a little bit late for the appointment. Our kind nurse said we were right on time.

Anyway, here are Isaac's 9-month numbers: 29.5 inches tall, 21 lbs, 4 oz, which puts him in the 70s for both numbers. Not too shabby! Unfortunately, the doc says he has a slight ear infection, so it's back onto antibiotics for poor Isaac =[ He was impressed that Isaac was pulling up and cruising. He even has been doing a little bopping to music just the past couple of days. He doesn't seem to mind that Jay won't share (I remember when Jay was that way! How time does fly...), and he uses his eight little teeth for biting all sorts of things- even for eating, upon occasion (he tried whole peas the other night- they were a hit!)

Both the boys were really well-behaved, which is no surprise, as they love their stroller trips. Isaac got some napping in, and Jay enjoyed a Jello cup with mandarin orange slices and some ham salad on crackers. We swung by the library on the way home to return the Thomas video we borrowed last week and picked up a Very Silly Sing Along (VeggieTales) and The Scarlet Letter. Jay was not especially impressed with the sing along video, but he was a little grumpy from having just awoken and not having gotten a snack (it was already dinnertime). I liked the home improvement segments of the video, though there wasn't much of that.

Anyway, things at work have been keeping me busy and stressed out, so I haven't had much time for extracurriculars. Meanwhile, Jay's been making great strides with his language, including singing more things, and learning about counting. He's starting to identify his numbers, too. Oh- the other day he put together a sort of sentence, and one that was informative, at that! We were driving to church (Paul was in the other car with my brother), and Jay said "Isaac seep!" The boy's a genius, I tell you ;) Well, it IS exciting, for me, anyway!

- posted by Lenise @ 9:25 PM |