Year 3 - Day 126 - May 5

One of my biggest annoyances in life is trying to keep the inside of my windshield clean. The outside is pretty easy because of the squeegee (Wow, that word is in the dictionary because it's not saying I spelled it wrong!) but the inside is a giant pain in the butt. I keep napkins and paper towels in the door, but in my current car it's hopeless because I can't actually reach 1/2 the stupid thing because of the deep console. Finally, after thinking about it for awhile, I got this washable microfiber pad tool at Target this weekend. It is going to make me the happiest person alive. It has a point so it gets in the corners and the handle is long enough to reach the parts I can't reach on my own! Happiness sure changes as I age. :)

So I got talked into seeing the Avengers tonight (with half of Baltimore, seeing as how we had to wait in line even though we had tickets from Fandango.) It was fine, had some funny one liners and didn't completely bore me. However, I felt like the action sequences were too long and just turned into "Hey look at the cool CGI tricks we can do!" I prefer storyline.

Year 3 - Day 49 - February 18

Depending on the channel or source, we are either having a beautiful day tomorrow or getting some snow. I'm leaning towards beautiful day because it's 52 degrees right now!

Year 3 - Day 12 - January 12

I'm driving my very own car to work today! How exciting! It's been in the shop since last Thursday with some mysterious symptoms. (Like owner, like car?) ;) We picked it up last night which is great because my carpool mate has been shuffling me around all week and we had to be different places today. Perfect timing! I'm a little worried that this whole "collector's edition" version of car ownership (since they don't make Saturns anymore) may begin to be a pain in the butt as the car gets a little older...

Year 3 - Day 5 - January 5

Mike offered to take my car today so that he could drop it off at the car place on the way home from work and talk to them, and then I grabbed him after my dentist appointment. Luckily, the owner was still there when I got there because (OF COURSE! Did I not tell you?!) the car didn't make the sound in the morning OR afternoon for Mike.

Enter my phone recording. Lloyd (that's the owner) thought it was a great idea, and he knew what to look for. Since Mike is off tomorrow, it's ok that we are down a car. Since I had the recording, they know what to look for & that will save us money because they won't have to guess 10 other things before finding the problem.

Then, just as I pulled into the garage, I noticed that Mike's car hit 111111 miles!

Year 3 - Day 4 - January 4

Today, I solved a problem that has been plaguing car owners since the beginning of car ownership. You know what I'm talking about. You wake up one day, and your car makes a noise. It happens intermittently until eventually it's a 24/7 issue. Since you're a busy person, you wait until that moment to call the car place. By the time you get there, it's a couple days later. You pull into the shop, (I'm sure you know where this is going), and the noise magically stops. The mechanic pulls everything apart but finds nothing wrong. You stand there, trying your best with your limited human noises to recreate the sound to no avail. So of course, you go home- where the noise stops again. :)

I'm not at the 24/7 stage yet, not by a long shot. But when I start my car in the cold (like the 14 degree weather this morning) it makes a terrible sound for 10-20 seconds. Once the car is on though, it takes hours for the car to cool enough to make it happen again. The car place is far enough away that the car will be warm by when I get there, so .... I made a recordng with my cell phone when I turned it on this morning.

Maybe you're thinking "duh" because you've thought of this plan before, but I was happy to think of a way to solve my problem. :)

Year 2 - Day 345 - December 2

This was my week to drive. While we both prefer the weeks that the OTHER one drives, we do both agree that my car has 1 great advantage - heated seats. I don't leave mine on all the time, but I love it for that time before the heater kicks in!

Year 2 - Day 258 - September 16

Yesterday at 7:30am when I had to run home & get some stuff for my husband, I walked out & saw the mystery machine by our car.

Today at 7am, it passed the park and ride while I was getting ready to meet my ride. Unfortunately, I had to pull over in the parking lot, grab my phone, and wait for the photo app to load. In that time, the light changed and the van started driving away so all you see is that speck. But trust me, it's the mystery machine again!

Year 2 - Day 257 - September 15

Let's talk about sleep.

How I haven't had any since 5:45 yesterday morning, other than a 5 minute nap sitting straight up earlier this morning.

I spent the night in the ER with my hubby ... we now know that he's fine, but it was a long long long 14 hours. Are you aware of the terrible TV that is on in the middle of the night? We are very glad that he is fine, because not everyone around us got that news.

It made me smile though, when I came out this morning and saw this car parked next to ours. :)

Year 2 - Day 75 - March 16

To celebrate my ability to drive today, I was useful and brought Mike's car in to be looked at.  It's been making a squealing sound for the last several days, but of course it wouldn't make it once I got there.  They hunted around and think they solved the problem, so that was good.  This is the picture that hangs in our shop.  It's an old old ad for the station when it first opened.  Even though it's been a long time and different people own it now, you can see the basic original building in the shop.  The current owner found this poster somewhere and decided he had to have it. It's hard to see in the cell phone picture, but there is a family standing next to the car on the left.  One day, the current owner met the little girl (Now a grown up) that is standing in the picture in the family, so he had the picture framed and put in the shop so that he could tell the cool story. 

Day 351 - December 17

My car got covered in snow yesterday since it happened while we were at work.  I drove home and put the car in the garage ... that was more than 12 hours ago, and there is STILL snow on the roof of my car.  That's how cold it is!!!

Day 330 - November 26

Last night on the way home from dinner, we stopped for our 3rd annual Thanksgiving Day Michael's shopping fun.  Then, the car wouldn't start.  The anti theft system locked us out for some reason.  The computer needs to be reset.  Joy!  So we left the car there late last night with all the people who were sleeping out for black Friday.  This morning, we went back to wait for the Tow truck.  What an experience...I'm glad it's (almost) over. :) 

Day 255 - September 12

When I got in the car after getting gas today, I noticed the triple 0's on my odometer.  When I got this car last August, it was a few miles over 35k.  I drive too much.

(And as you can see, the car is turned off - so this picture is legal.) :)

Day 229 - August 17

My poor car.  It just recently had it's bumper all nice and fixed due to the parking lot scrape, and now the ladder in the garage falls and does this.  But now I know how much it costs to fix a stupid scrape, so since this one is my fault, it will stay like that forever. :)

Day 226 - August 14

Earlier today, I drove my mother to the airport for her flight home.  As we were driving, a Prowler passed us before changing lanes and getting in front of us in the slow lane.  It caught my eye because it was silver, and most of those cars are purple.  But then we noticed that the license plate was "ORIOLES."  I am seriously interested in who managed to get that plate.  They've probably had it for a long, long time.

Of course, my mother had never used an iphone and I was driving, so i was just verbalizing directions.  I forgot to mention that you have to hold the phone still after taking the picture.  I can only imagine that movement is the reason for the interesting curve/arc of the picture...

Day 187 - July 6

My brother is here for the night, so of course we took him where we take everyone ... the ice cream place!  I finally got a close up look at the new license plate on a car in the lot.  I will admit, it isn't as ugly in person as the picture I saw when they were first released.  I'm surprised how many I've seen in just a couple weeks.  I'm wondering if they are all numbers with the MD like this one???

Day 186 - July 5

I couldn't get this person's attention - trust me, I tried.  Sadly, we were in traffic and couldn't get close enough to the window to make her realize it was her we wanted.  Her purse handle was in the way when she tried to close the trunk, and the trunk hadn't latched.  When she went over bumps, the trunk would open slightly.  I hope she didn't lose her purse ...

Don't worry, this picture was taken from the passenger seat. :)

Day 182 - July 1

Imagine my surprise when I got to the car place today to get my brakes done, and there was my old car!  You may be thinking that I'm crazy for thinking that, but I know my car.  It had the telltale very specific bumper scratches from the summer I worked at JoAnns.  Plus, my car place bought my car from me and then sold it.

I didn't ask the people there who bought it, because I assumed a mechanic or the secretary bought it. But when I showed the picture to my husband, he said they talked about it on Monday when he was there to get my oil change.  Apparently, it's there because something broke.  Luckily it isn't anything I did - it's a problem that lots of that model are having with the head gasket.

So I'm glad that we sold it when we did. :)  And I'm glad it's not our fault that one is broken. :)

Day 178 - June 27

Spotted in Walmart's parking lot today.  In case you can't read it due to the size, it proclaims the driver's daugher's wedding from the day before.  The side window says "I have the best son in law ever." 

I guess my parents just don't love my husband as much as these people love their new son in law, because I don't remember their car being that decorated! ;)  I'm curious to know how the kids felt about this display of emotion.

Day 150 - May 30

It's in! My car has a home now.  It is happy.  Just in time to make room for visitors in the driveway, too.  :)

Day 141 - May 21

I must confess, I did not take this picture.  My husband did.  He saw this car when out and about.  This is just the side.  The top of the trunk has a photograph, and there are lyrics painted on it too.  If you look at the ground, you can see just how shiny the letters are - because they make a shiny shadow. :)