Fixin’ my Bumble – Fit to be tied, literally

Most of you know (and love) Bumble my 1971 VW Transporter. I love Bumble. I find that when I am driving Bumble I smile a lot. It just makes me happier. But of course with old cars come little problems. Luckily, old cars are also easy to work on if you need to fix little things here or there.

That brings me to this morning...

My morning commute is not bad at all. 15 minutes usually. I start by driving about 2 miles on hilly surface streets. Then I hop on the freeway and drive for about 6 miles, exit and drive a mile or so to my office. Usually on cold mornings Bumble will stall at the bottom of each of the 2 big hills I drive over to get to the freeway. No big deal. I know when it’s going to happen, so if I hear the engine sputter a little I just give it a touch of gas or let it stall and crank it over again when the light turns green. Once I get on the freeway the engine warms up and it won’t stall again.

This morning Bumble didn’t stall at all! I was shocked! Wonderful! Amazing! Then I was idling in neutral at a stop and noticed that the engine was idling higher than normal. The tachometer doesn’t work so I have to listen for when to shift, etc. The idle sounded out of the ordinary. Oh well, at least it’s not stalling! I continued on my way. I got off the freeway and was pulling into my office parking lot when I realized that my gas pedal was stuck about half way down! I put it in neutral and coasted into a spot with the engine revving. I pulled the parking break and reached down and pulled the gas pedal back up.

I think the pedal mechanism just needs to be oiled so I am going to try that. For now I tied a piece of twine around the gas pedal and tied it to my dash board with enough slack that I can floor it on the freeway. Then when the pedal sticks down I can just pull on the twine and that makes it pop back up!

A Very Merry Christmas

Brently emailed this to me and I thought it was soooooo awesome I had to share it. Behold the beer tree...

Cute LOL Cat

moar funny pictures

Gym Update - 11/26/07

I only went to the gym twice last week. What can I say, I was too busy being lazy and eating my way through the holiday weekend. :) I did go for a 2 mile brisk walk on Friday so I think that kind of makes up for not going to the gym 3 times.

The Craft Addict

For some reason I have been feeling really crafty lately. It's like I got brainwashed by Martha Stewart or something.

I have spent $200 on beads (and beading supplies) in the past week. This is more expensive than crack.

I have also been knitting, learning to crochet and I have an extreme desire to start back up on the sock monsters. Seriously I am a compulsive craft addict. I finish something and I just want to make more!

I figured I need to sell this shit or I really can't make any more. How many necklace and earring sets can one person own? I called I Heart Rummage to see if I can get into their 12/16 Seattle show. I am waiting to hear back from them. I don't think I will get in because they limit the amount of jewelry vendors and the deadline was 5 days ago. Plus, 12/16 is the last show until Christmas so I am sure it's full and probably already has a waiting list.

Any other ideas of where I can sell this stuff?

Also, on the off chance that I can get into I Heart Rummage I need a business name. I was thinking the price tags could have a picture of Bumble and I could call it Bumble Beead Works.

Gym Update - 11/16/07

I went to the gym 3 times this week.

Tomorrow I will be a millionaire.

I have 10 tickets for the Washington State Lotto 25 Year Anniversary Raffle. The drawing is tonight. Only 375,000 tickets were sold. This game offers the best odds the lotto has ever offered. They are giving away a total 3.75 million. Since it is a raffle, each ticket number is unique so prizes cannot be split.

The prizes are as follows:
$1 million – 3 winning tickets
$100,000 – 4 winning tickets
$1,000 – 350 winning tickets

The most I can win with my 10 tickets is $3,403,000.

Wish me luck!

Panera breakfast sandwich = crazy delicious

I love Panera. The sandwiches and soup are sooooo good. I skipped dinner last night so I decided to go to Panera this morning to pick up a breakfast sandwich to go. Yummy is the word that comes to mind. Picture two pieces of grilled ciabatta bread with a scrambled egg and white cheddar melted inside. Yum. I recommend pairing the cheese and egg sandwich with a giant fountain Sprite. Everyone knows that fountain Sprite is better than canned or bottled Sprite. I think it has more bubbles. I like bubbles.

Now if only they would put the Schlotzsky's back I could have Panera for breakfast and Schlotzsky's for lunch. 3 words that make me happy: spicy ranch sauce. Freaking delicious! I miss Schlotzsky's so much. The closest one is 149 miles away in Aloha, OR. Sad.

P.S. I think this loaf of bread is so cool! I want to buy one and bring it to a Christmas dinner party or something. If you invite me over for a Christmas party you may get one of these. But no promises!

Masked Bandit

Last week I was sitting on my front porch around 10:00 pm reading a book. I heard a few noises in the bushes but didn't think anything of it. Our neighborhood has lots of outdoor cats and lots of strays. Then I heard a noise in the grass right in front of me. I look up and there is a cocker spaniel-sized raccoon standing right by my foot, staring at me.

OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG! OMFG!

It was so close I could have kicked it. I love animals but I DO NOT like raccoons. I don't want to hurt them, but they are dangerous and volatile** and I don’t want them anywhere near me. Unfortunately, the ones in our neighborhood are supersized and not the least bit frightened of humans.

I let out a shriek and froze like one of those creepy living statues. It looked surprised and took a step back. In a split second different scenarios were running through my head.
Should I not move and hope it moves away?
Should I grab my pet rock on the table next to me and whack it over the head?
Should I try to kick it?
Should I throw my book at it?
Should I throw my bottle of water at it?
Should I scream and wave my arms around like a maniac?
Are raccoons even scared of maniacs?

I went with option one, stay still and hope it moves away while silently repeating “get away” to myself. That worked. He backed away from me a few feet and then he turned and scurried off into the bushes. Yikes – It took over an hour for me to start breathing normally again and for the adrenaline to die down. It scared me so bad that it made me nauseous.

Do not let a raccoon’s adorable little face and chubby body fool you! They are finely tuned killing machines! They lure you in with their cuteness or sneak up on you when you are minding your own business reading a book and then BAM – they attack! I was lucky to avoid the attack.

**I used to work at this web dev place and one of my co-workers told me that his grandpa was killed by a raccoon! Kind of a strange fluke thing, but he said that a raccoon got into his grandpa’s cabin. The grandpa was a mountain man – no phone, no electricity, no neighbors, etc. He tried to swat the raccoon out the front door with a broom or something. The raccoon bit him on the wrist and latched on. The old man’s first and only instinct was to shake it off. In the process his wrist really got torn up and he ended up bleeding to death because there was no way to get help. I realize that story may not even be true (although I think it is) and it’s a really strange and rare sequence of events, but I am not taking any chances!

Gym update and weigh in - 11/12/07

Call CNN!!! I went to the gym 3 times last week.

I also got weighed and measured on Friday. In the past 6 weeks I have lost 2.75 inches! Yay! Update: I read the report wrong - I actually lost 4.25 inches in the past 6 weeks!!!

I have lost a total of 16 inches since January.

I am now more motivated to go to the gym 3 times a week. My slacker self is gone now that I have made more progress. I rewarded myself with an hour long deep tissue massage.

Gym update - 11/5/07

October = Bad gym month.

I only went to the gym twice last week. I was going to go a third time, but I spent 2 hours on Friday taking down and packing away the Halloween decorations. I figured 2 hours of manual labor made up for missing the third gym visit. I need to get back on track. It's just so hard when the weather sucks. It makes me want to curl up on the couch in my PJs and watch Murder She Wrote and knit. That's what I did yesterday.

Joke: Calmness in our lives

By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished."

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a bottle of Kalhua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now.

November Announcements

Happy Birthday to:
GW - 11/10
TG - 11/17
CM - 11/21
SB - 11/21
KG - 11/32

Happy Anniversary to:
C & BA - 11/19 - Together since 1999!