The Ford Fiesta.   I may have liked the Honda a bit more, but the people at Hutcheson Ford were nicer and more “transparent”.  When I said I wanted a used car and told them what I could afford, the salesman showed me what he considered my best option, which was the “program” Fiesta.  With the price tag written right there on the windshield.  

After buying the car, it was time to dash off to the Fun Family Day at the library.  Free hot dogs (and they were really good grilled hot dogs too), beverages, home baked cookies, games, books, and a chance to chat with other people checking out the new and improved library.  It was hot and humid when the fun began at 1 PM.  Then it clouded up and there was a bit of a breeze.  So it wasn’t unbearably hot.  

After helping with clean-up, I was happy to come home and take a cool shower.  The A/C felt great.  I’m going to sleep good tonight.

Today we looked at used cars.  I’m exhausted and a little sunburned.  Nothing like 90+ heat standing/walking around a car lot.  But we have 2 contenders.  Both the same price and very similar qualities.

A 2012 Ford Fiesta.  It is a “program” or whatever they call it car.  Guaranteed just like a new car.  31,000 miles.  A few more bells and whistles than I “need”.  Nice ride. Handled well on the interstate and I could also parallel park it without a problem.  Felt comfortable with the size. A little better MPG than the Honda Fit.  American car…but I’ve heard rumors that it’s built in Mexico City…

Very similar in size.  This is a 2011 and has 47,000 miles.  Was a little zippier, but MPG not quite as good.  I think it is also a little cuter than the Fiesta.  Warranty not quite as good…but it’s a Honda.  They are “easy” to work on and I’ve only heard good things from people who have owned or worked on them.   Japanese brand…except Honda has factories here in the USA.  

It’s a decision I will have to sleep on…and hopefully I will be able to sleep

the VW is totaled.  I got the call today.  I am sad.  At some point the insurance company will decide how much to give me for the deceased car.  So now, due to no fault of my own, I am looking for a different car.  I may sound whiney, but damn it, I really like that VW.  It was cute, dependable, zippy, and got good gas mileage. ARG.

Last night Dennis & I attended a fun dinner…the James Foundation thanked the library board members, and others,  for hard work done (and hard work that will continue) to keep the library running.  the James Foundation originally funded the library, as well as the pool and park, here in St. James.  It is gradually turning over all it’s responsibilities to the city/people of St. James.  It was a fun dinner…lots of chatting during the meal,and only positive comments were made in the “speeches” afterwards.  The woman on the left in the white shirt is a representative of the James foundation, the back row on left is our city manager.  the man in red on right is our mayor and next to him is our STJ head person for the James Foundation.  I know he has a proper title, but I’m not sure what it is.  :)   The rest of us are board members.  I’m 2nd left in the green shirt.  We are a motley crew. 

Summer is here.  90′s, high humidity and lots of mosquitoes.

This afternoon I volunteered in the library.  It was summer reading program day.  Lots of people.  Checked books in. Checked books out.  Put books on shelves.  Learned how to do the summer reading “tickets”…the more time spent reading, the more tickets a kid gets.  There are different “boxes” for various prizes.  The person puts tickets in the boxes he/she is most interested in winning.  I didn’t get to see the program, but I know it was a clown who entertained them this afternoon.  

tonight I am grateful for A/C.  I am also glad that over-ripe bananas can be made into muffins.  

I’m not sure how much more productive today was than yesterday, but at least I got out of the house.  

Dennis called in sick…he was up all night with a stomach virus.  

When I got back from doing a bit of stitching with the quilting ladies, my VW was being towed off. Now I just have to wait and see if it is totaled or can be repaired Not sure if I will see it again or not.  My daughters friends named the VW “Melvin” when they were in high school.  Sometimes I’d let Hannah borrow the VW when she wanted to go somewhere with friends.  It’s been a part of the family for many years.

The high point of my day was lunch with a couple of fellow school nurses.   We ate at Panera.  I decided to do the “pick 2″.  I had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich.  This evening, Dennis was up and about.  He was feeling much better, so I asked him what he wanted for supper.  Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich.  I didn’t tell him that was what I had for lunch.  LOL   Panera served better soup & sandwich than I did.

I suppose no day is really wasted…  The insurance co. was supposed to have the VW towed today…so I stayed at home to see that got taken care of.  No tow trucks showed up.  No one called.  sigh.  The mailman didn’t pick up the letters I had on the porch or deliver our mail either.  

I had all my scrapping stuff out from the craft “weekend”, so I did several pages in the Spring Break 2013 album.  I plan to keep working on it whenever I can, over the next few days.  At some point I will have to pack everything up and put it away for the 4th of July party.  Maybe I can have the album finished before that. 

It was a very humid day.  there were thunderstorms and rain that went to the north and east of us…flooded areas of St. Louis.  Too damp to paint on the mailbox. 

Tomorrow is a busy day.  I’ll just have to leave the keys under the floormat and the door on the VW unlocked in case they come to tow it while I’m taking care of appointments and obligations. sigh.  

Right now I’m also making a duplicate blog on WordPress.

http://jobethbrady.wordpress.com/ 

Hopefully that works to get anyone to the right place.

Our surviving artichoke plant is producing this year. 

Our lilies are also blooming. 

It’s been a quiet father’s day.  We got .3″ of rain last night/this morning.  Thunder is rumbling again, so we might get more rain.  I picked the rest of the turnips.  I’ll cook them tomorrow.  I also picked some radishes to eat.  Looks like I’ll be doing the brats in a skillet with saurkraut in the skillet on the stove instead of on the grill.  Potato salad and assorted pickles to go with.

Hannah is moving into her new apartment (along with Kait) today.  They are renting a u-haul and doing it all in one big trip.  A new chapter in her life begins.

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!

Friday night I went to our church craft night as planned.  I managed to finish (by about 10 PM) my 2011 vacation to Colonial Williamsburg and surrounding areas album.  This morning I decided to go ahead and start working on our Spring Break 2013 album.  I got the title page made and photos sorted into “daily events” before I had to dash off to volunteer at the library.  Since I’m an “older” volunteer, instead of cleaning, I was put to work on a typewriter…typing out index cards for the paperback books that are donated.  They are not in circulation with the regular books that are all bar-coded and done on the computer.  It took a few minutes, but I got the hang of it. This was a fancy electric typewriter, no the manual upright Underwood I learned on. I had 2 years of high school typing, a year of short-hand (about which I remember NOTHING) and office machines. None of the office machines I learned about are still in use…like the mimeograph, or how to make transparencies for an overhead projector.  Unfortunately I did NOT have the personality to have been a secretary. Still don’t. But I do appreciate them.  And know that secretaries really rule the world.  The bosses just THINK they do.  

After volunteering, I returned to scrapbooking and got a couple pages done.  It’s lots of fun to see the photos and think about what a great time we had.

This is what I saw about 9 this morning. A white Explorer hit my parked VW and pushed it over a car length back along the curb.  The driver wasn’t hurt, which is the most important thing.  Her SUV also suffered less damage than my car. She had no reason for why she went wide around the corner and plowed into my car, totally on the wrong side of the road…and then some.  No insurance either.      As bad as it looked with the front of the SUV on top of the VW left bumper, it was worse when it was removed.  Since it is a 2000 VW with over 100,000 miles, if there is more than cosmetic damage, it might be considered “totaled”.  Since it’s a manual and in 1st gear and was pushed backwards (with black tire skid marks from the force of impact), there might be some transmission/drive shaft issues.  But no fluids are leaking and the driver’s door opened without any problem, so that is good.  This is what it looks like inside the left wheel space.  

After all the reports were made and the police left, I went to my eye appt.  I’m keeping my same frames because I like them a lot, but with my new lenses I will have 20/20 vision again.  Which I do NOT have, even with my glasses right now.

It was very pleasant and only in the 80′s today.  I spent a bit of time working on the mailbox. It’s coming together pretty much as I imagined.  The front of the mailbox is harder to work on because I have to squat down to paint.  

Tonight we had Awful Annie’s Breakfast Mess.  It’s not low calorie but it’s tasty and filling.  We had chopped ham, grated potato, chopped red pepper, onion, garlic, mushrooms, eggs and cheese in ours tonight.  

Today was delivery and errands day.  I bought mostly fresh vegetables and fruit, since I’m trying to empty the freezer.  It’s slow going but progress is being made.

This morning I checked out WordPress to see if it is a site I would be comfortable moving my blog to…in case Xanga does close down. I think it has potential.  I have a couple other sites I am also considering.  I will post a link to my future blog (when I get it figured out)…and hope other Xangans do the same, so we can stay connected.