Haunted

Today I made a ghost. I started with a roll of wire fencing, six feet long.

(FYI, real chicken wire would be easier to work with- this was harder to bend and cut because there were so many pieces of wire.)

The roll was three feet wide, so I started by building the skirt. I cut an appropriate length, then joined the two edges together and crumpled the top.

I did the same for the torso, and joined the two pieces together. 

I made one arm, then found something to help me shape the head.

I attached the head and had two pieces of wire left - enough for an arm, and the piece I cut off the head. (It's the neck in the picture above.)

I added the second arm, and then used the last piece to make hair.

And there she is.

Napping

Wednesday is circuit class at the gym. In July, the instructir changed, and every single time I've gone to class since then, I have tried to convince the instructor that we needed a nap station,

Today, I walked into the gym and one of the other regulars said "you're going to like today's class". 

I walked into the group fitness room to see that five of the eight stations were:

- nap station

- breathing

- easy walk

- sit down and relax

- skip this station

We all laughed ... until we found out what they really were.

Still, it was well done.

The car is fine (but my brain is broken)

The old car had keyless entry, but at some point over the past 13 years, the remote had broken off the keyring, so I carried it separately.

Here's how every trip in the new car has gone:

1. Walk towards car, use key fob to unlock the vehicle.
2. Open the back and put bags, etc. inside, keeping keys in hand.
3. Reach into pocket to get the key fob to unlock the door.
4. Remember the key fob is in my hand, and the door is already unlocked.
5. Get into driver's seat.
6. Drive to desination.
7. Turn off lights.
8. Remember the car has automatic lights, and turn them back to "auto" position.
9. Reach down to pop the trunk.
10. Remember there is no trunk.
11. Wonder what side the gas tank is on. Decide to check immediately upon getting out of the car.
12. Get out of car.
13. Use the key fob to lock the car.
14. Go to the back to get bag out. 
15. Realize it's locked. 
16. Unlock the car.
17. Get bag.
18. Lock the car.

 I can't wait until I need to get gas, because I still have no idea where the gas tank is.

Goodbyes

Today, I got rid of my 13 year old car.

I cleared out years of poppies from above the sun visor. (Why? What do you do with them?) I took the tiles from my kitchen reno out of the trunk. I even emptied the maps out if the door pockets.

This car has made numerous trips to Montreal, and has been to Quebec City, Toronto, and Niagara Falls. And during one not-so-good year, it also went to Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and New York City (twice).

It's the car I couldn't find in the airport parking lot at midnight the first time my niece came to visit me, and the car we were in a few years later when she announced "if my mom was here, she'd say that guy is a dumbass." 

That is the car CAA came to unlock on the camping trip where I gave in to complaints about how paranoid I was about my keys and let someone else unlock the trunk.

There's a scratch on the hood, and one of my former coworkers helpfully demonstrated how it could have happened by rolling across the hood pretending he had a box in his hands. (It was actually from digging it out of the snow.)

It has a parking sticker in the window from when I worked at the formerly big telecom company, and a dent in the side from some drunk idiot at Wanda's work.

It's the car we triumphantly fit Wanda's new ikea shelf into, right before we realized there was no longer room for Wanda.

I drove home from my last day at four jobs in that car, and drove to my first day at four jobs as well.

The first time I went to boxing, it was in that car, and the last time I went to Irish dancing was in that car. (I really need to sell those shoes.)

That car has hauled camping equipment, bags of soil, bikes, and dozens of boxes of cookies. 

It was a good car.

Where I've been

Remember this? A week and a half after my car stopped in the middle of the road, the check engine light came on.

Again.

It was time to start car shopping.

I've been saying for about a year that I want a Mazda 5. No, it's not the SUV or the cute little lime green car - it's the shrunken minivan that looks kind of like a station wagon.

A couple of weeks ago - on a Tuesday night, immediately before 2 days where I worked from 3 am to noon, and three days before Pathfinder camp - I dragged Wanda out to a Mazda dealership. We both drove a Mazda 5, and the salesman ran some numbers (that came in at $6000 more than I got from going to their website to price it out). He came down to a final number that was only $2000 more, and I walked away.

And then I had no time to do anything about it, due to the crazy work hours and Pathfinder camp.

(Camp was lovely, BTW - we managed to pick the nice weekend in between 2 rainy weekends, and the wandering bear we were warned about must have moved on.)

I was off last week, and one of the things I wanted to do was go car shopping.  (Actually, the list of things I wanted to do but didn't do could fill a ... well, a list. It's on my fridge.)

On Friday, I decided I should do something so that I didn't waste the entire week, and I went to one used car dealership.

I pick up my new car on Tuesday.

Yes, it's a Mazda 5.