Ok, so I really don't care to know anything about cars. I just want them to keep me safe while I am driving and to work properly when I start them. Remember the accident that Dave and I had in the snow? Well, we JUST got the car back today, or should I say that we were SUPPOSED to get the car back today.
They have been telling me for weeks that it is ready, but every time I call to pick it up (even organizing someone to drive me there, and it is not close - we had the accident in Big Bear, so it's halfway to there), they tell me it's not ready. FINALLY, we get the thumbs up that it is ready. I leave work early and Dave and I hike out there.
We get there, I pay, and then I get in the car. Why does my car say "Service Engine soon". I call over Dave. He says, I probably need an oil change. I said...no, I just got one the day before the accident and plus the 5 pages of crap that they did to our car would have included an oil change. I ask Dave to call over the mechanic. He says, you probably need an oil change. I tell him the same thing I told Dave, and then I start interrogating him (I was not in a good mood today) - "Did you not change my oil when you changed the oil pan, and whatever else this paper says?". He says that they probably did and for me to hold on as he needs to calls someone. The mechanic comes out and tells me to follow him to another mechanic who will test out my engine and get me on my way. Fine I say, slightly miffed.
As I am driving over to this new mechanic, I notice that my car is pulling to the left. I get out of the car and tell the mechanic that my car is pulling to the left. He then tells me that he wants me to follow him over to ANOTHER mechanic so they can align my car. I am not amused. I say this is not an option for me (with my son and husband in tow). This mechanic has the nerve to get on the phone with his boss and make it sound like I am being unreasonable in not following this man around to different shops so they can fix my car. I am now getting VERY miffed, so I think it best if Dave handles this one - believe it or not, he can sometimes be the calm one. We finally agree that we will follow them back to the original shop (now that we have waited for the 2nd mechanic to fix our engine) and they will then drive my car back to me when it is fixed.
Sigh...why are mechanics so darn untrustworthy and difficult? If I did my job like that I would have been fired a long time ago. Seriously, it is SO much to ask for them to do their job properly. I mean, I have NO knowledge of the internal workings of a car, and I figured out something was wrong. Sigh...Mechanics hate me, and the feeling is mutual. :(
I hope I don't have to wait another month.
About Me
- Mel
- California, United States
- I'm the wife of a firefighter, a mother of two wonderful kids and a full time employee with a crazy busy life. But hey, at least I'm not bored :)
Quick Pool update: Our pool man, Kevin has paid the concrete guy $3,000 to start some work on our pool. Apparently, this pays for very little as Kevin had not paid for some of the work that George's guys had already done. However, George is going to make the wall for our flower beds. I guess that is a start. Apparently, Kevin has some other pool projects, so George thinks that he will be paid additional money soon. Kevin basically needs to pay George $15,000 to finish his part of our backyard – all concrete work, so this means that there is roughly $12,000 more dollars that Kevin needs to pay George until our backyard is no longer dirt.
I told Dave again that I don't want ANY work done on our pool unless Kevin has already paid George for it. I don't want to get into a situation where George is looking for payment from us.
George's men already came (yesterday I guess) and hauled away the cement blocks that they had left on our front yard last time they were here (which was months ago). I have been slowly filling up the trash can with them, so that I could get rid of them. I would take a picture, but it's not that big a deal.
In conclusion: Not much has happened, but hey, at least there is progress. Hopefully, we have a pool by this summer. I want to have the team over for a fun day - you know, pool fun (in the water), we have a pool table, and other fun things. Hopefully, we will win more awards and we can do some fun things. :)
Ok, so I don't understand my kid sometimes. I mean, I know that he is experimenting and all, finding out who he is and testing boundaries, but sometimes I just sigh and say "but why?" to some of the things he does.
For instance, Caiden woke up and had to go to the bathroom (this is what I have deduced from my CSI-style investigation after the fact). He saw this clam shell that I had brought home from my team event last week. Apparently, he thinks...this would be a PERFECT place to go to the bathroom. *As a side note, we have had the discussion on where it is appropriate to go potty, and where it is not. Apparently since I did not cover sea life in my description of where we do NOT go potty, he felt that this was a more than convenient place*
So, he takes the shell from his nightstand, and runs into his bathroom, where he proceeds to undress and then unload onto his shell. He then returns said shell (after he empties it and waters it down) back to his nightstand). So here is how I start my little CSI investigation.
Caiden wakes up, he runs into my room crying, and tells me he wants to watch "TDD" aka TV with me. I ask him if he went potty in his pants because he has a smell about him. He proudly says no. I check his clothes and he's dry. Hmm, I think - something is not right, either that or I am going crazy. I prefer the former.
I go to the scene of the crime (the bathroom) and promptly step in water, or at least that is what I thought. Well, I quickly realize that it is NOT water, and thus I start asking questions. The entire roll of toilet paper (or what is now left of it) is streaming from the holder into the toilet and over onto the floor. There are puddles of wetness, but not enough to be EVERYTHING. I am confused, so I start questioning him. Eventually he breaks down and then comes running up to me with a shell (see exhibit A and B - pictures above). He proudly hands me the shell. I am confused, until I notice the smell...I think look at Caiden and ask him if he peed in his shell. He proudly says yes. Confused again, I ask the same question thinking he may have misunderstood me. He proudly states "yes, I peed in my shell". I call for back-up (Dave).
Dave: "Caiden, did you pee in your shell"
Caiden: "yes"
Me: *trying not to smile, but still very much confused* "Why?"
Caiden: "because I had to go pee pee"
Me: Caiden where do we go pee pee"
Caiden: "in the potty"
Me: Is your shell a potty?"
Caiden: "No"
Me: Then why did you go pee pee in your shell"
Caiden: "because I had to go pee pee".
Still I can't believe this is what happened, so I ask him to recreate the scene. He tells me that he needs to drink more water first. Trying VERY hard not to laugh, I tell him that I don't want him to ACTUALLY pee pee in his shell again, I just want to know what he did. Can he show me? He tells me that he took his shell, came into the bathroom and peed on his shell on the floor. I tell him that we don't do that, and he looks at me innocently and says "It's not funny?" He thought he was very clever. I can't control my laughter anymore and tell him "no, it is not funny".
Honestly, who ever thought to do that? I mean, when I look at the above shell, I think...cool, I wonder if an animal lived there? Where is the other half? Not once have I thought, that's a great place to go to the bathroom. I mean, really? I guess I should be thankful for his creativity and vivid imagination. That and that I have a lot of cleaning supplies.
Sigh....and people wonder why I am so accurate. I have to be...I mean, now my list of places that we don't go to the bathroom now includes shells. :) I swear, my kid is a regular comedian.
After a day of fun in the sun at the beach, we decided to take a break and grab a bite to eat. Now I wanted Ruby's on the pier, but apparently SOMEONE on the team who shall remain nameless (SARA) campaigned for BJ's restaurant.
The gang at BJ's
It was good. The food took a bit too long to get there, and by the time you received something that you asked for you didn't need it anymore. For example, Jim asked for a lemon for his drink, but by the time he got it his drink was gone. 
Mel, Nicole, Juan
Wendy and Teri looking sweet
Shannon, Sara, Michael chowing down
Josh and Wendy...hmm...why is Wendy looking at Josh like this?
Juan (again on the phone), Jim "Muscles", Shannon
After looking at some of the pictures that we took, it almost looks like we were playing a game of charades or something. We weren't, I tell you...we are just a quirky little group I suppose.
Umm...I have NO idea
I was doing my best "Wilson" Impression from Home Improvement
Hmm,..again. I'm lost...maybe re-enacting a movie?
Sara, Michael and William striking a pose.
I learned a lot about the team today, as well as certain members of the team. For example, I learned that William and Sara cannot be trusted to EVER pick a movie for the team again. They campaigned for this movie called “Hot Fuzz”. I think it may have been one of the worst movies I have seen. I actually think that I am dumber for having seen it…brain cells have been irreparably damaged, there are 2 hours and 15 minutes or so of my life that I will NEVER get back.
It was SO bad that towards the end of it, Josh started pleading…”Please…the credits, please, let’s just have the credits now”. It was the strangest, most pointless movie I have ever seen. I am not sure who made it or why someone ever thought that this might be a good idea, but however this movie came to fruition I believe it must have been dreamt up over a very bad acid trip of sorts. Either that or Sara and William are trying to torture me and the team by making us watch such a mind numbing movie. Regardless they are banned from picking movies for the team for awhile…either that or I get executive decision rights. J
So today was a VERY difficult day at work...yeah right. Today was so much fun. My team has been working very hard and hard work results in well...results. They worked so hard that they won an award thus enabling us to go out on a team event. Now democracy rules here, so our agenda was as follows:
1) Beach
2) Lunch
3) Movie
I was ok with the above agenda, however I was out voted on the lunch and the movie. This posting will purely be about the beach portion of the adventure. It started out pretty well, or so I thought.
I had preceded the destination (where I was going to carpool) without an accident and/or a ticket (told you it started out well). Then I had the brilliant idea to get a cup of coffee. Josh and Jim (my carpool buddies) thought that was just swell with them, so off we went.
Of course I was cold, I mean it was like 9am or something and somewhere around 60-something degrees out. I was wearing a bathing suit with a tank top and pair of shorts. I had brought a sweater, but it was light considering it has been SCORCHING lately. Josh, being the gentleman that he is (occasionally :P ) offered to let me borrow his thicker, warmer sweater. I promptly put my coffee on top of Jim's beloved car and moved to take Josh's sweater. (Well, I am sure that you can almost sense a klutzy move coming on). That's right, with one foul swoop I managed to knock my coffee all over the warm, comfy sweatshirt rendering it completely unavailable and unusable, but also managed to cover the side of Jim's car *did I mention it was his BELOVED car* in coffee.
Jim attempting to clean his car
Josh trying to clean his shirt
After a million "I'm sorries" and a pathetic attempt at cleaning it up, Jim thought it best to give his car a quick bath. During this time, Josh thought he might be able to clean the sweatshirt. Both were mistaken. The gas station we stopped at got upset that we were using the water to clean the car, and Josh was trying to clean his sweatshirt with Evian.
Josh, Me, and Shannon
James and Michael S (aka "The Future")
Anyway, we FINALLY made it to the beach, albeit late, and proceeded to have a great time. Besides the fact that Shannon and Sara had a rather strange aversion to sand (something about it sticking to their feet and being dry or something), we had a good time.
There was a game of volleyball, Josh and I went rollerblading, I collected shells for Caiden, and Josh even made a somewhat brave attempt to be a UFC wrestler or something by trying to tackle me and throw me into the water. I went along with it because I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the team. This just proceeded in me collecting a bit of sand in my bathing suit and sweatshirt so that when I stood up gravity did it's thing and I was covered in sand.
Josh rollerblading
Me Rollerblading
Here are a few shots of the fun times:
Josh chillin'
Jim (AKA "Muscles") and Sara
Shannon
Mel & Shannon
Always taking a picture
Teri and Wendy looking cute
The GQ boys...do they think this is a photo shoot? I mean, I know I have a camera, but REALLY. :)
Nicole, Teri and Wendy kicking back
Josh and Mel
Shannon and Nicole
Wi
William, Shannon and Sara
Dave and I actually went on a date this past weekend. I mean, like a real date. We made plans and everything.
We started off by going to breakfast...Caiden, Dave and I. It was fun, and so yummy. I think I must have gained 10 lbs just from the breakfast alone. I had chocolate chip pancakes, eggs sunny side up, hash browns, bacon, orange juice, and I am sure that I stuffed something else in my mouth that I can't remember. Good think I did too, because we skipped lunch.
Dave and I dropped Caiden off with my father-in-law and then proceeded to go to see Spiderman. It was ok. I personally thought it was a bit slow. We then got a Jamba Juice, and walked around the Block for a little bit until Dave got this brilliant idea to go down to the beach and hang out.
We went and bought Caiden, Dave and myself cute outfits. I actually got a bathing suit, and I like it. I guess that breakfast hasn't hit me quite yet. :) Dave picked it out. I would post a picture, but...yea...I am not that confident about how I look, so...I will say it was an O’Neil bathing suit.
We then picked up Caiden and booked it to the beach. It was so much fun.
It was so cute, when we got to the sand, Dave put his shoes down in the sand. Caiden carefully took his off and placed them right next to Dave's. So cute. 
We took turns burying each other (except for me) and played in the sand for a few hours. 
We walked on the pier and watched the remnants of the Volleyball competition that was there. There were also a few families getting pictures taken (wedding and family pictures) so we watched that for a bit too.
It was a wonderful day. One of those days that you wish would never end, but of course like all good things, they must run thier course.
Yeah, right...like I would eat a clown. Seriously. Ok, it is late and I am a little punchy. At this point I am forcing myself to blog because I feel guilty that I have taken such a long break. 
It was REALLY hot this weekend. Caiden and I actually CONSIDERED actual plain ice cream, but really where is the fun in that.
Caiden is SO my child. He went straight for the frosting, and didn't look back. In fact, he left most of the ice cream...mmmm...frosting... :)