A Look Back At April 2014...

"All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person's (or thing's) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt."

~Susan Sontag

April was a busy month from day one! Joey spent a couple days in the hospital to be neutered, we made the decision to buy a car, and while the actual purchase went smoothly enough, there was some elements of the whole thing that brought about some unnecessary stress! But, as of today, we are at the end of the month and all that is behind us. That's why I enjoy doing these monthly retrospectives so much! It gives me one last chance to look back, and then let go! Each month, like each day, is a new start to do it all again, and get it right! You don't have to wait until January 1st to begin anew!

Let's Take A Look Back Shall We?

April 2014 Gallery...













April was certainly yellow... wasn't it? LOL. That's okay, May is getting off to a decidedly PINK start. LOL. What can I say... it's the middle of spring! 

:)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

A Week Of Pink Day Two: Pink Butterfly Car Magnets...

"Pink is a beautiful color, because it is one of the colors that the sun makes at twilight and in the down."

~C. JoyBell C.

Isn't She Lovely... 



My new car is silver. And I love silver, but I thought my car could use a tiny bit of color... just a splash! So, last week I decided to order some butterfly car magnets. They came in a package of 4. One Yellow. One Green. One Blue. And one Pink. They pink one is my favorite. In 2013, when we went car shopping for our first Chevy Spark, we narrowed it down to two colors... Denim Blue, and Techno Pink. There was NO WAY I was going to make Alan drive around in a pink car, but boy was I ever in love with that color! Alan means more to me, so off into the sunset we went in the Denim colored 2013 Chevy Spark! It was okay, I liked blue.

When we went shopping for a Spark this time around, there was NO 2013 Chevy Spark in Techno Pink to be found. Sigh. Bye, Bye girlie colored car... HELLO pretty, shiny, Silver Ice! One of my favorite cars from years gone by was a silver car that I affectionately nicknamed TINFOIL. It was a 1996 KIA. Terrible car as far as the brakes went, honestly, we replaced the brakes, pads and drums 3 times in 2 years, but it was a comfortable ride, and got amazing gas mileage. Her name was Sophie. 

A person makes a lot of memories in a car. The places you drive a car comes to mean a lot to you. Work. The hospital. Your parents funeral. One HELL of a Girl's Day. Dates with your husband. Simple chores. Sometimes when you just need to close the windows and turn the music up as high as you can, so you can sing without scaring the cats... THAT is what your car is there for! So why not give it a little personality above and beyond it's initial first impression?

Now I just hope no one steals them, but I know there is a good chance they will. Sigh. But maybe they won't. Fingers crossed. 

SHRUG!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

ART FOR YOUR CAR (Amazon.com)

Finally! My Blair Is Coming Home!

Car Hospital Waiting Room
April 14th 2014

"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead."

~Mac McCleary

Blair... (Her Baby Photo) ;)
 

Finally... Blair comes home a little later today! It is ridiculous how long it has taken to fix the dashboard, and I am very unhappy about how the whole situation was handled. But, the situation is almost behind us, so it's time to let go of all the negativity. I probably won't go back to the Chevy service department in Fremont ever again, and I am sure they won't miss me. In the week my car has been there I have spent a little time looking at Yelp and found that not many people have been happy with that particular service department, and pretty much for the same reasons I am not. So, what have I learned from the situation? A lot! 

Next time, consult Yelp and see which dealership has the best service department rating! Trust me when I say, there was a lot more to this story, but I will save those details for Yelp, and another day here on the blog. For now, I am just ready to drive off into the sunset, with it all... hopefully... behind me! Behind us! Now I have to move on to finding out how to get the refund for the work we had to pay for on our 2007 Saturns, for which we shouldn't have had to pay! So far, it's been like getting teeth pulled without benefit of anesthesia! We'll see how the refund goes, I want to hope for the best, but I am not really expecting it!

"I feel like I am diagonally parked in a parallel universe."

~Unknown

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Round Robin Challenge: Dress Up

"I think if human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween. Wouldn't life be more interesting that way? And now that I think about it, why the heck don't they? Who made the rule that everybody has to dress like sheep 364 days a year? Think of all the people you'd meet if they were in costume every day. People would be so much easier to talk to... like talking to dogs."

~Douglas Coupland, The Gum Thief

RRC: Dress Up

Dress Up... I loved playing dress up as a child! If it wasn't me putting on the fancy dress, then it was me putting the fancy clothes on my Barbie doll. I had a pretty extensive wardrobe for her! Shoes, coats, blouses, pants... you name it, she had it hanging in her well organized closet! Sometimes, when I think about how all her clothes were always put back in the correct places in her closet, I think that might have been the beginning of the organizational skills I pride myself on today! LOL. In the 80's, when I was working, I always took a couple hours on Sunday afternoons to prepare 5 complete outfits for the coming work week, complete with accessories.

 At the time I thought it was so I could grab just a little extra sleep, but looking back, I think it might have been me being just a little bit obsessive compulsive about being ready for work! LOL. Either way... I did have a little extra time to sleep, and I was never late for work, so it all worked out. And today, I still embrace those skills, but I am not O/C about it! LOL. Well, not much!

Anyway, about the challenge, I decided to embrace my love for Halloween, and my love of costumes, both for me and for the kitties. Elvis was very fond of wearing hats, and costumes, and little tank tops, but Dylan and Hendrix not so much! Hendrix doesn't mind, but Dylan is his own person! If a cat person is reading this, you know exactly what I mean! I just let my kids be who they are. Simple as that! Next Halloween, I might try a costume on Joey, just to see how it goes, we'll see. Like I said, I let them be who they are. I have enough love of the holiday for all of us!

My Dress Up Gallery...

Halloween 2008
Hendrix The Clown



Halloween 2009
Dylan The Hot Dog



Halloween 2013
Carly The Rubber Duck



April 4th 2014
Blair The 2014 Chevrolet Spark
The Sock Monkey



Oh yeah, about the sock monkey photos, yep, that is a sock monkey seat cover. I purchased it for the driver's side of my new car. I bought it last Wednesday, and in keeping with tradition, I some seat covers to keep my car as nice as possible! It helps when the inevitable day comes for trading it in on a new one! I chose the sock monkey seat cover for two reasons. First, I own another Chevy Spark and I love it, all except for the fact that the head rest doesn't quite hit the back of my head the way it does others, so I end up with a strained neck from no support.

The stuffed sock monkey head on this seat cover provides the perfect support for me. NO MORE NECK ACHES! It's not easy being short! LOL. And the second reason... simple... I love stuffed animals. LOL. Yes, even as I toddle off to the tomb, I still love and collect stuffed animals, mostly teddy bears, but the occasional sock monkey is a good too!

Okay, that's my post, now go see what everyone else came up with! Just click the link at the top of the post to be redirected to the Round Robin blog, where you can find the list of participants, and their links, and all the information you need to join in the photo challenge!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

A Look Into The Improbable History Of The Future

"I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle. He's bigger than that."

-George W. Bush, referring to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, published in the Sun Newspaper, June 27th, 2007

I don't know. Lately, when I hear George Bush speak, I hear the theme from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show as his background music. Odd, very odd. It all began one day, when I heard him speaking on the evening news, about how history would portray him as a good president. How history would see his motives as pure. My head began to spin, and I got all dizzy, and then, as if I had been possessed by some kind of evil, lame musical demon, I could hear, as plain as day, the theme to the Rocky and Bullwinkile show. You don't suppose George has a... gulp... wayback machine... do you?

Two things that really scare me, the fact that he could indeed have one, and if he does, he might one day hop inside it, and comeback and do this crap all over again, and two, that one day I will get my own wayback machine by way of Alzheimer's, and I will choose right now to relive. LOL. I guess the probability of either happening is pretty slim, but then again, stranger things have happened. Oh wait... is that what's happening now? God, how the mind does reel. Fret. Oh well, I'm going to take 5 with the above YouTube clip. It's the very first episode of Mr. Peabody's Improbable History. So much fun. And it doesn't contain the theme to Rocky and Bullwinkle. LOL. Enjoy!

-OndineMonet