Yoo 404 - The Defilement of the Caspercar

I ran to work yesterday. For an evening volleyball game. Carrying my volleyball shoes and sporting my fanny pack.

Whose hip?

Well, maybe not me but I certainly have some. Magnificently outlined while wearing the fanny pack, mind you. Go hips.

The Gregstudent had to go straight to school from work thus leaving me with four options to get to my game: walk, run, bike, or beg someone for a ride.

Walking is too slow, biking seemed like too much effort, and I hate begging.

So off I trotted, ignoring the stares and taking as many shortcuts as were legal.

We won, thanks for asking.

And then, later that evening, there was this:

The Caspercar was defiled!!! It breaks my heart. Hubcaps are a big deal. He looks so...broken now.

At first I wigged out and blamed it on the Gregman and how he drives it all over town and leaves it abandoned in shady places like the UTSA parking lots.

But then I came to my senses and now I just miss it. I miss having a car and I especially miss the days when the Caspercar didn't look like a junker. Even if he behaves like one. Sometimes.

So that's that. Just another episode in the glamorous life of college-attending newlyweds sharing a vehicle. Please keep your envy in check.

I'm telling myself that these are the days we'll look back on with fondness. The building blocks. Nothing good in life comes without a bit of sacrifice, right?

Maybe Sample Saturday at Costco? Nope. It's Costco. On Saturday. Even that requires a bit of brawn.

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 362 - On Bad Days

I don't want this post to sound like a big, complaining whine-fest. Because it's not meant to be so. I just don't want this to be the kind of blog that's always sunshine and ponies and rainbows. Because that's not relatable. (the red dotted underline is telling me i just made that word up...)

So here's to everyone that had a no good, very bad day! Or has ever had a day completely devoid of luck and lollipops! Let's chalk a few more up to experience and the roller coaster of life! We can do this!

("we're all in this together, once we know, that we are, we're all stars...")

Too much? Too much.

Ok, here it is:

• I showered and did my hair to drive into work. And then my car wouldn't start. Not. A. Peep. From the Casperengine.
• Turned to the bicycle. They're doing construction on the main road I travel. And it was already in the 90s. So I arrived at work quite dusty, sweaty, and smelling like outside. I hate smelling like outside.
• The women's locker room was unexpectedly closed for maintenance. No shower.
• Went to my desk, loudly explained/apologized for the stench (better to publicly call it out and let everyone have a good laugh than have it be awkward all day) and my computer crashed.
• Was it the stench?
• WORK
• Workout. Left my engagement ring in the locker room. Noticed an hour later. PANIC. (yes, it's insured).
• Tried to jump-start my car. Still no response. I am not in love with that car today. Or most any day.

Other factors affecting today:

•  It's a tired week. And I skipped my workouts on Monday and Tuesday. I skipped two workouts!! And I cut Wednesday's workout short. To do wedding planning. Ugh.
• I bought a loaf of bread. Which isn't so bad until you realize what a problem this is for me. When there is bread in the Kyoo condo, nothing else gets eaten except for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I feel like this is leaving me with some nutritional deficiencies. Multivitamin?
• At some point last night, I deemed it necessary to remove all the pillowcases from my six pillows. It must have seemed logical to slumbering Kyoo. When I discovered them strewn across the floor this morning, I couldn't remember why that made sense at the time.
• I have spent 5+ hours in the past week trying to find new clothes. And I haven't bought a single thing. Nothing fits right! And even if it did, I couldn't pair an outfit to save my life. There was one point when I thought something was cute, until I sent a picture of it to a friend. And she just responded with "lol".

It might not be the WORST DAY of worst days, but I felt knocked down a few times. And so I complained to the Gregdude all day. Which he loved. (sarcasm). Eventually he made me laugh though and things were jovial again. (minus the car still dead...and no clothes...and there's still another loaf of bread...). Just know, the next time you have a bad day, I feel ya.

Here's a kind of creepy photo so you know I care:

Tomorrow, to lighten things up, there will be a sneak peek at the engagement photos. Blooper-style.

Sound good?

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 337 - It Happened In Oklahoma

It could have happened on a run to the grocery store. It could have happened parked in my driveway. Heck, it would have been quite convenient if it had happened at work.

But it didn't.

It happened in Moore, OK.

At a quick Chick-Fil-A lunch stop while the Gregabond and I were road-trippin' it up to Nebraska for the Smil's graduation this weekend.

The Caspercar's ignition lock cylinder jammed and the key wouldn't turn.

It'd been functioning almost flawlessly for over four months since that happened last!

Not quite knowing how to respond to the situation, I downed my chicken sandwich in disbelief. Strangely, that didn't solve the problem. So I mindlessly grabbed the Gregdude's chicken sandwich and downed that too, heavily slathered in BBQ sauce.

He kept fiddling with the key until he noticed his sandwich. Or lack thereof. Then I got to fiddle with the key while he went back in for another chicken sandwich.

Fruitless fiddling, it was.

"I want to kick it."

"Don't kick it. You'll break something else."

"But it's broken, it needs to be kicked."

Sound rationalization.

It was at this point I gave into the inevitable and called USAA. Every time I call I'm reminded why I love them. The nice lady commiserated with my woeful situation and the tow truck was there 35 minutes later. The driver had just moved back from New Zealand so the Gregmissionary and him had a grand old time talking Kiwi while the Caspercar got owned.

Then there was the dealership.

4 hours at the dealership.

I was quite the camper for 3.5 of those hours, too. I happily logged into work with my best "life is an adventure!" attitude and passed the afternoon away. The Gregconsumer researched new cars I could buy. His recommendation? The Toyota Highlander Hybrid. And "it's only 40 grand!".

Riiight.

It was 2 hours and 45 minutes after they'd told me that it'd only be 45 more minutes that my patience started wearing a bit thin.

But I kept it contained to audible mumblings to the Gregman!

(it should be noted, he gave me a B overall for my handling of the situation. no yelling and ranting! a markedly drastic improvement from my stolen iphone situation in february....)

The Chevy people finally had the Caspercar all fixed and ready to go a few minutes after closing, and they even let me talk them way down in price!

That's the good news. Want to hear the worst part of the day?? As we were driving off, we discovered this:

We could have been wasting those 4 hours at Chuck-E-Cheese people! Talk about a missed opportunity!!

We lamented and gnashed our teeth as we merged into Oklahoma City rush hour traffic.

And this.

Thankfully the rest of the drive was scenic and uneventful. And we got to the Nebraska home just before 1am. To a rousing welcoming committee, of course.

Everyone was asleep.

But I'm not bitter...

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 314 - April Fools

Dublin and Tory were my surrogate hounds this weekend. Every now and again I get to dogsit them and it's really just the best. It's like ointment for my "I want a dog!" itch. I play with them and love them and talk to them and at the end of the week I go home without having to buy them food and pay vet bills and worry about them being alone all morning, afternoon, and night. And destroying my house whilst they're alone.

Also, I forgot about April Fools. I spent the day all by my lonesome deeply rooted in a spring cleaning trance, occasionally emerging for food and general conference sessions. It was actually just what I wanted out of the day. Strangely relaxing and therapeutic. But later that night, when the realization hit me, I felt this deep, sudden pining for my college days. I mean, at least once a year it's kind of fun to fumble with your pajama shorts for 5 minutes only to realize the legs have been sewn shut. Or see your gallon of milk is now a light, frothy foam green.

Stuff like that makes you feel loved, you know?

It made me all jealous of the Morgansister. I caught wind of her epic April Fools Day via text.

"They stole my keys, moved my car, took the tires off, and then made a CD of them gloating over their April Fools prank which played when I started my car..."

(stolen from facebook)

As Josh Turner would say, "Time Is Love". And that took some time.

I think Tory sensed my aching though. At least she peed on the carpet and then looked at me like this.

But I guess I did kind of prematurely "April Fools!"'d myself when I locked my keys in the Casper car trunk after my bike ride Saturday morning. Oops! Thankfully I had grabbed my running shoes right before that incident so I was able to jog around in a big 1-mile circle while I waited for the locksmith. Over an hour he took. Sure glad my insurance policy covers all that. (i'm also glad i didn't poop my pants but i'll spare you that story...)

If I got a dollar for every time I've locked my keys in the Casper car, I'd have $3 now. Not quite enough to make a living but enough to eat lunch at Costco once a year. Not bad. But I blame this all on Babar. He had a hide-a-key! I just got in the habit of locking the keys inside.

Poor excuse.

So, have any good April Fools stories to share with me?

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 239 - Holiday Travel: Foiled Again!

I will admit it up front, this is a sob story. So get your violins warmed up! And maybe grab a Kleenex or two.

It might still be too early but I'm hoping to find the humor in this by typing it all up...so here goes.

This adventure begins on Wednesday night, shortly after realizing I was going to need to postpone my Christmas travel plans due to winter weather. (and also several texts from the Kyoo family with terms such as "wuss" and "Texan" being thrown around).

I realized there was a problem as the Gregsinger and I were heading to "Caroling on the Riverwalk". It's an annual tradition with the Institute here and another one of my favorite Christmas activities!



The Riverwalk at Christmas rivals Temple Square's light magic in my book. I mean, look at the detail on those trees! And they're not short!



And you can ride around and take it all in on a boat. While singing Christmas carols. Kind of a trump...



And there's donuts and hot chocolate after. FTW! I was feeling quite chipper and festive at that moment.

But back to the problem.

We had to take the Gregmobile downtown because Casper was being stubborn! Which really was uncalled for because he received a full service, wheel alignment, brake cleaning, and other sorts just on Monday. But for some reason, we could put the key in the ignition but it wouldn't turn. We jiggled the steering wheel, tapped on the key with a screwdriver, directed stern words its way, (ok, mostly I directed stern words its way...), and ultimately accomplished a whole lot of nothing.

Except realizing there was something else preventing me from getting home besides the weather.

I was able to put it out of my mind while caroling but the problem pretty much consumed me all night. I had to fix it! I tossed and turned trying to decide what to do. At 5:30 I called it morning and got to work. (it was actually 5:29, and the financial nerd in me giggled just a bit).

After a few hours at work, I stepped outside to face the Casper car. There was a challenge to tackle!

Sleeves rolled up, tools laid out, and battery cables disconnected, I turned to a do-it-yourselfers best friend: You Tube tutorials.

But I really had no idea what I was doing. All the videos said the "ignition lock cylinder" is just supposed to slide out and you can put a new one in. Except to release it, you have to be able to turn the key to the "run" position.

Which wasn't an option because the problem was the key not turning in the first place! Hardly helpful. I did some more googling and quite a few people said they "drilled" out the key hole until they could turn it to the run position.

That seemed a little drastic. And I decided it'd be best to check at an auto parts store for the replacement cylinder first.

Three different stores. No one had it. I may have cried a bit.

I even checked at a dealership and nothing. They did give me a quote to do the work themselves but they couldn't get to it until Monday.

I felt so frustrated and defeated! This is about the point I really let the tears go (while telling myself I was so dumb for crying) and texted my family that I probably wouldn't be making it home.

And then I took a nap. It's a really good way to procrastinate facing a problem.

I felt better after the nap. But I was in a really stubborn mood. My family was full of ideas on how I could still make it to Nebraska but I had already accepted a Christmas weekend alone in my condo eating a pan of brownies and watching Netflix. I couldn't get up there my way so I wasn't going to get there at all!

Pathetic, right? Don't judge. It was a low point. And that's about when the Gregrescue stepped in. He took me to Pasha and a movie (Mission Impossible, recommend it). Can I say again that that boy is a champ? I enjoyed our little date but after I slipped right back into a mood when I had to think about the situation again and was so determined to not let anything make me happy. But then he started singing "Pedro the Banana Stand" and, I tried to fight it off, but it broke right thru the wall and made me smile. And I told him he was dumb and tried to hide it but he wasn't fooled. Darn it Greg, I was trying to be mad!

I finally bucked it up, coughed up the 200 bucks, and picked up a rental car. I thought my horrible day was over too, but as I pulled up to my condo, I realized I had left my keys in the Gregmobile. And, NO JOKE, a black cat walked in front of my car right then.

Silent prayer. Please let this not be an omen of more bad luck!

I called the Gregman and there was nothing else we could do at that point except laugh exhaustively as we both drove back across town to meet and exchange keys. And also get ice-cream. (way overdue at that point, realize that).

It was such an emotional day. I hate emotional days.

At least it makes for a good story, right?

.......

Yeah, I could have gone without it too. But it doesn't seem so bad now that I'm finally en route to Nebraska with my Gregman in the saddles of Jetta Jean. (Greg gets partial name creds for that one).



We'll see how I feel when I get my credit card bill next month. Ha!

I hope y'all are having better holiday travel luck than me! Just get with all your peoples, ok? Almost Christmas Eve!

Have a great day :-)