Artsy Fartsy

Don’t get excited Mom, this isn’t a hint. It seems like everywhere I turn these days, someone else I know is telling me they’re pregnant. My friend, The Optimistic Diva, seems to be in the same situation. Well, for all of you newly knocked-up ladies out there, I thought I’d finally make up a few of the t-shirts I always think about whenever I hear about a new baby on the way.

Welcome to my new Spreadshirt shop. Here you can buy yourself a booby billboard. A way to announce to the world that you’re in a family way, but with a creative spin. There’s the straight forward Knocked Up, the old-fashioned Bun in the Oven, and my favorite thanks to Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life, On the Nest. For those of you already feeling the need for maternity pants, there’s also the lovely, Does This Baby Make Me Look Fat?. None of the custom online shops seem to offer maternity tees, so order early and order large. And have fun - congratulations mommies-to-be!

That licence plate has been with me for thirteen years. Almost as long as Luke has been with me. It’s been on the back of a Hyundai, an Audi, a Subaru, a Kia, an Isuzu, and now, it finally gets to sit on the back of a brand spanking new 2007 Toyota Yaris. I’m still in shock.

I went to a Toyota dealership in Manchester with my friends Paula and Karlo on Saturday because they said that they wanted to test drive a Yaris. Well, sneaky Paula tricked me into test driving it and I was pleasantly surprised. It was very roomy inside and seriously peppy to drive. It has a sporty little shifter and low clutch pedal that made it really fun to drive. I loved it, Paula and Karlo loved it, but Luke still hadn’t seen it. I told the salesgirl that I’d bring Luke back later and then we could decide.

I left there with that skeevy, slightly violated feeling you get after sitting in close proximity to a car salesperson. I was driving home and figured, heck, I already feel icky, why not go to another dealership and see what they have to say.

I drove out to Toyota of Colchester and was greeted by a friendly guy named Joe. He took some information from me and went to see what they had for Yarises that matched my requirements. He came out with the cutest little silver one - how did he know I wanted a silver one? He didn’t even ask about color. I test drove it and again and loved it. I had it out on route 2 and was speeding before I knew it. It’s got a lot of get-up-and-go for a little 4-cylinder! Again I went back and said that Luke needed to test drive it and maybe we could come back next weekend. Seeing as how it’s the end of the month, they were anxious to make me a deal so they said that most amazing words I never expected from a car dealership - “Why don’t you take it home? Bring it back on Monday”. And so began my 42-hour test drive.

I was able to see how it did driving up my slushy, muddy driveway, how well my scrapbooking stuff fit in the hatchback area, how the headlights and dash lights looked at night, how easily I could reach the ATM from the driver’s seat, how groceries fit in the back, and most importantly, how it looked sitting in the driveway. Then the test of all tests - Monday morning I had to bring it back before work and we had 4″ of new snow on the ground. I got to see how it drove in the snow. It was the ideal test drive. I knew I loved it and I wanted it.

I went back to the dealership last night to try an work a deal. My Rodeo still had a loan on it so I needed some money for it and when they offered me $1,000 I grabbed my stuff and said “thank you, good-bye”. I managed to negotiate up another $2,000 which I thought was pretty darn good form someone who usually responds to any type of struggle by bursting into tears.

So my Rodeo is gone, I do feel a little sad about that, and a new little car has taken it’s place. Meet my new Yaris. She still doesn’t have a name yet. I’ve always called my cars “Bessie” because they were all heaps of junk, but the Yaris is perky and new so she needs a good name. Some cute, Japanese name, maybe. For now, she’s just my Yaris.

Since all I am thinking about these days is getting a new car and trying not to get sick, I thought I’d spare you the lame stories and instead share some pictures. Above is a shot of my back yard view this morning. And below are some beautiful trees in my front yard. Ahh, so pretty you almost forget it’s nasty cold and your shoes are filled with slush.
And this is my mighty dog playing in the snow last week as some sweet sledding was taking place in the back yard. Molly does like to sled, but she’s suffering from a little cabin fever and needed to burn some puppy energy by chasing the sled, and sticks, and squirrels, and her tail…And finally, our fearless guard dog watching over us as the sun goes down on another cold winter day.

Everyone I know who has kids seems to be suffering with some nasty little stomach bug at the moment. My sister’s kids were sick this weekend, my boss’s visiting grandkids were sick, a boy at the grocery store got sick in the aisle right next to me - almost ON me. Then yesterday my boss was home sick and I woke up early this morning to a restless Luke who thought he was going to throw up. Great. I’m trying to hold my breath, not touch anything, and use Clorox wipes on everything. I really don’t want this.

I don’t know what to do. I really can’t stop thinking about trading in my car now. It’s all Paula’s fault. I’ve had my eye on the Yaris for a while now, I have hatchback envy, so last weekend when Paula mentioned that she might get a Yaris to commute to work in, seeing as how the price tag was less than $12,000, I was immediately intrigued. Really, $12,000? For a new car? And it gets 30-45 MPG? Interesting.

I did some math and figured that I could continue making payments at the same amount I’m paying now for my Rodeo, just extend the time I have to pay them another three years, and have a brand new car. A brand new car with a 5-year warranty which would also save me $100 a month in gas.

OK, let’s recap: I get a brand new car (a cute one) and continue spending the same for the payment as I am currently, so there’s no extra cost to me, I wouldn’t have to worry about check engine lights or weird noises coming from the engine, AND I would save myself $100 a month in gas. Oh, and the earth, I’d be polluting less of the earth with my small, fuel-efficient economy car. That’s nice, too.

So what am I missing? What are the cons? I’ve tried to make my list and I can’t come up with any cons other than: having to listen to Luke complain that I have an ugly car.

I asked Luke to be honest and tell me what he thought about me getting a Yaris and he didn’t really have much to say. Of course he thinks they’re ugly, I can’t really say anything about that, but all of his other gut reactions can be talked through. He thinks I should maybe look for a comparable car that’s not a Yaris. That leaves the Honda Fit (too expensive), the Mazda 6 (too expensive), a Scion (too expensive), and some Suzuki model, but he doesn’t want to get a Suzuki for some reason. OK… so it doesn’t have side air bags. Neither does my Rodeo. Yes, my Rodeo is bigger, but the Yaris is 10 years newer with more safety engineering and I’m sure it must be safer, although smaller.

I’ve read the reviews and it gets pretty good ones. Edmunds liked it a lot, they called it cute and peppy. The owner reviews were great. The only negative reviews mentioned the lack of side air bags, the lack of an ashtray, and the awkward emergency break location. Big whoop.

So tell me, what am I missing? Anybody own a Yaris or know someone who does who can give me their feedback, and not just tell me that it’s funny-looking?

So much went on this weekend, but I got absolutely nothing done, and my head is still spinning.

Between Saturday and Sunday, we planned out our new deck and shopped for materials, shopped for a new motorcycle, shopped for a new truck for Luke, went to see Amanda in Love Letters - it was fantastic - settled on buying a new motorcycle, spent about an hour sitting on said motorcycle at the dealership, decided not to buy said motorcycle from the dealership, shopped for new aquarium supplies, made a lasagna, went to Paula’s for dinner, and decided that now I want to trade in my car for a new Yaris. What is going on?

See what happens when you pay off your credit card? As I wrote to one friend, I’m feeling a little too unburdened by debt, so I thought I should buy something new. I’m kind of sad about the motorcycle, but fear not! I’m still shopping. Anyone out there looking to sell a used Buell XB12SS?

Have you ever seen a pack of wild turkeys? It’s actually pretty funny. They’re weird, jerky things that have amazing eyesight and are really uglier in person than you’d imagine. A few years back there was a big pack (flock?) of them that made a circuit through the neighborhood and would always stop in our back yard. Their clucks and gobbles would wake us up some mornings and Luke counted almost 40 one day. Since that winter, we haven’t seen them in the neighborhood so it was an exciting surprise to come home to this lovely pattern all over my yard yesterday. Turkeys! They visited all of my bird feeders and wandered around the garden. We threw out some cracked corn this morning to see if they’ll come back again. Gobble gobble!

One of the things I like most about myself is my ability to completely ignore the things that I can’t stand. Like sleet and snow, for example. Some might call it denial, I prefer to think of it as selective observance.

Yesterday, while at home because the campus where I work closed due to the weather, I sat by the warm wood stove and looked through gardening magazines, happily imagining that spring had arrived. In honor of the springtime in my mind, I started painting some pretty, warm weather pictures.

The birdie on the left is the finished product that I showed in progress here, and the iris-to-be on the right was started yesterday. These are both painted in acrylic on small squares of clayboard, something new I’m playing with. It’s been fun and it gives me something else to shop for at the art supply store.

Happy Valentine’s Day to my honey who had to go to work today despite the fact that it’s nasty hail/snow/rain/sleeting out and the rest of the state seems to be closed down. If you get a UPS package delivered today, hug your delivery guy. Unless he looks like this - in which case, back off! He’s mine.

Single ladies of the world, find yourself a handy man and marry him. Seriously. Those clean-cut, business suit, office-working types are nice. They’re clean and neat, they know where the good restaurants are, you can share hair products with them, but when your car stops producing heat, are they going to crawl around on the snow-covered ground in mid-February to fix it for you? I don’t think so.

My handy man fixed the heat in my car yesterday and never have I been so glad I married him. This morning my toes were toasty, I didn’t see my frosty breath on the ride to work, I can use my defroster. It was heaven. Once again, the heat is on.