I went and visited my future camera again today.  It was heart wrenching to leave the Nikon D90 in the store, but it had to be done.

Alas, I have less than no money.  If being in the red is seen as a negative balance, and being in the black means you have money to spend, I’m sooo far in the red that I’m the prettiest baby pink color you’ve ever seen.

Tom had to go back to Best Buy today to return a purchase that didn’t work out the way he had anticipated.  He strongly urged me to stay away from the cameras so I would not leave the store in a mild depression.

But, I could not stay away.  I had to touch it.  I had to caress it.  I had to whisper sweet nothings into its memory card slot.  I tenderly and lovingly played with its settings.  Aah, its like we’re two peas in a pod, this Nikon D90 and I.  It fits my hand like a glove… better yet, it is an extension of my arm!

Tom suggested that I give the other cameras on the display a little loving, also.  How rude would it be to leave them completely untouched?!  So, I picked up each one gently and tried to communicate with them like I talk to the D90.  Sadly, they had no where close to the same feel, or sensation in my hands.  Its like they tried to communicate with me, but I could not hear what they had to say… like an angsty teenager trying to make a point to their parents.

I had to go back to the D90.  It suites me.  I suite it.  We are a magical pair.  We are destined to be together.  One day… one day in the distant distant future… perhaps the day before Armageddon, I hope to own this camera.  And I promise to get some kick butt shots of the end of the world when it happens.

As you all noticed, the van arrived Tuesday evening, just as the sun was going down.  We couldn’t check it out completely in the dark, but definitely loaded Tom into it without breaking a sweat and played with all the buttons, knobs, bells and whistles.

Yesterday, we all loaded up in the van, nearly giddy as a child on Christmas morning, to go for our maiden voyage.  We locked Tom’s chair down and buckled up for safety, and headed on our way — with the boys watching TV the whole way!  (Can’t miss the news, ya know… although I don’t know why.)

First we stopped by Tom’s mom’s craft store where we all did a happy dance together since … well, we were all damned happy.  Duh.  Tom went inside his mom’s shop, which he hadn’t visited since he’d been hurt.  He talked to some of his mom’s customers and just generally hung out for a little while.

Then, we loaded up and headed to my mom’s work and grabbed some lunch.  We didn’t unload there, but everyone came out to check out the van and actually meet Tom.  Most of the employees there haven’t had the chance to actually see Tom before, so it was nice for them all to be able to put faces to names.

After lunch, we stopped by Tom’s sister’s work and made her come outside to see the van also.  She harrassed Tom fairly for not coming in to see her office, but I think Tom was a little sore from being up in his chair and didn’t really feel like moving around too much.

The last stop was going over to my sister’s house where I begged Tom to get out of the van to see about widening the door from their garage to their basement – since that would be Tom’s only point of entry into her house.  Tom made it through the door with no issues, so Angie doesn’t have to go through the trouble of getting her door widened… which makes all of us happy!!

We had called Tom’s dad after leaving Angie’s to see if he wanted to see the van also.  But he and his wife were passing some kind of sickness back and forth to each other, so we all decided that seeing the van could wait until another day.  And, although Tom would happily gone to see his Dad, I think he was probably a little relieved.

This van is 230981408 million times better than our old van.  But, Tom hasn’t been up in his chair much lately because… well… there just hadn’t really been a need to get up with the weather sucking so much and there not being any place to go.  So, Tom was a little sore from all the activities.  It sure didn’t erase the ‘kid in a candy store’ smile from his face.  But, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit his pillows, which shows how exhausted he truly was.

We’ve never made so many stops in one day since Tom’s been hurt.  The old van was not a smooth ride what so ever, which made travel painful for Tom.  We only reserved traveling for necessary things, or when Tom was absolutely going out of his mind from being stuck on our property.

Now, I can see lots of outtings in our future.  Its very very exciting.

Maybe we’ll go to the museum.  Tom wants to go to the new Bass Pro shop a couple towns over.  We haven’t seen a movie in the theaters since Tom’s been hurt… Tom hasn’t gone grocery shopping with me since the accident either.  Heck, maybe we’ll go visit our friends about an hour south of here.

As you can see, weather permitting, I think we may not be around the house a lot here soon.  Spring can’t come soon enough!!

Let me first start this by saying that I have no issue what so ever with motorcycles, or most of the people that ride them.  Honestly.  I have some wonderful friends who are bikers.

I, personally, have never had the priviledge of being on a bike.  I don’t think that I would want to learn to drive one, but had thought I would of been lucky enough to ride one already in my life.

Tom even used to own a bike, back in the day, before I met him.

The point here is that my attention has been directed to the fact that, in the State of Missouri, there are no laws about keeping children off of motorcycles.

None.

No age requirements.

No specific safety standards.

Nothing.

And, although I believe nearly every biker out there that would consider putting their child (or someone elses child) on their bike, has no intention of letting the child get hurt… accidents do happen.  All.the.time.

A child, again – in the State of Missouri, is required by law to be in a car seat or booster seat until they are … 60 pounds?  I believe.  Most children are in boosters until they are … (guessing here) … seven years old?

But, on a motorcycle, the child only has to be wearing a helmet, according to Missouri law.

Uhm.

Do you see the issue here?

In a car, which has a ‘protective casing’ all the way around it, the child must be restrained in a safety seat.  But, heck, if wanna take your infant on a motorcycle… thats cool?

Ya know, since they make helmets for infants and all…. (okay, I don’tknow that to be true, but you get my point, ya?)

I definitely think there should be an age restriction for passengers on motorcycles.  Maybe, under the age of 10 shouldn’t be allowed on bikes?

What are you’re feeling on this?

I’m sorry that I didn’t post this news right away, but I’ve been busy sorting out details. That, and before I mentioned it, I wanted to make sure it was truly possible.

I am jumping the gun a little bit, but I believe this just might work out.

We’re getting a better van!

It was all very unintentional, and still slightly unbelievable.

Remember a couple posts back when I mentioned finding a van that we believe will suite Tom’s needs perfectly?  And, how I said that I was applying for their financing with little real hope of qualifying for the full amount?

Well, I didn’t qualify for the full amount of the van.

The financing company accepted my application, and is allowing the loan to be paid off over 84 months.  I wasn’t able to make the cut for the full amount the van was listed for, so the company dropped the price $3000 to help out.

I’m freaked out.  I mean, we’ll be able to afford the payment.  But, we’ll be watching our budget very very carefully for a long time.  Loooooong time.

And, of course, I have to figure out how to pay for the licensing, the sales tax, and the inspection.

So, we’re not out of the woods yet.

But, hopefully, by the end of this month, we’ll have the van in our custody and will be continuing to make positive steps to keep and maintain the van.

I will be keeping the ChipIn for the van on the page.  If anyone has any spare change they want to throw in the jar, we’d appreciate it.  Every penny donated to our ChipIn fund will go towards paying off the long running loan.

Wanna see the van?  You can access the company’s page by clicking here.  I don’t know how long they’ll keep our van listed there.  But, hopefully by the time they take their photos of the van down, we’ll have our own photos to share!

Finally, the propane company that made the mistake of delivering me all that glorious propane and I came to an agreement regarding which path to travel to correct the error.

I had called them shortly after Fowler Fest ‘08 and explained that I nearly had enough money saved to pay off the unexpected bill. They had said they were extremely busy, due to an unexpected cold snap, with people running out of propane and they would contact me again soon.

Nearly a week and a half passed before my phone rang on Election Day showing their number on the caller ID. I was about to believe they had forgotten about me with all their chaos, and I had slipped under the radar with some free propane. Of course, I knew it was too good to be true. But, I had to hope!

Anyhow, after offering up the billed amount to be paid in full, the company agreed to allow me to keep the propane. But, since I was technically a new customer, they legally had to do a leak test and check the quality and age of the connections on the tank and into my house. This process should have some fee, but it was explained to me that the company would eat the cost since this was their mistake.
more…

I want to be a Guitar Hero.

I neeeeeed to be a Guitar Hero.

I have, of course, gone through the entire Easy level.  I’m not a constant five star kinda girl.  But, I get the job done.  And, c’mon, I was learning!

So, I get motivated and move up to the next level.  Medium isn’t too bad there until the last section.  Then, suddenly, my fingers start getting tied in knots.  After several fits of cursing, yelling and threatening the television with its life, I’ve finally gotten three stars or better on the last section.

Except that blasted last song, Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne.

O.M.G.

I will go insane.

I will never ever never be able to listen to that song again without mumbling curse words under my breath.

I have gone back and practiced all the songs in that section.  I have moved forward to the Hard level and worked on the first couple songs from there.  I have gone through the tutorial, again, just in case I’m missing something.

I have attempted to play Bark at the Moon more times than a priest has crossed himself.

True Story.

And, I cannot get past flipping 70% in that song.

O.

M.

G.

I can see it now.  It will be the death of me.

And, dammit, if someone plays that song at my funeral, I will come back and haunt your ass.

… your regularly scheduled programming to announce:

The Box has arrived.

Repeat: The Box has arrived.

Rubber chickens are in hand and lip gloss has been applied.

More to come after these important messages from your Sponsors:

Order your Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake now!

(thats code for Sheila has to go to work, like, NOW. Will post more later.)