We have been pretending we've been wanting to buy a new car since we got married. So two years, now? Finally we got a kick in the ass to get the process going. All it took was his coworker telling him his wife would give him a mad deal on a Ford since it was end of the fiscal year.
Woo. Hoo.
Husband works third shift. His grand plan was to come home Friday morning from work and we'd be on our way. So we did. We head out to Toyota because we want to test drive that before we make any final decisions at Ford. We already decided it'd be one of those two that would end up in our driveway.
We show up at Toyota -- and I always end up laughing at car dealerships because those salesman are like flies on shit. They just stare at you as soon as you pull in the driveway. I always feel like a piece of meat! Anyways, a nice guy named Jason approaches us asking what we're looking for. We don't mess around and cut right to the chase. Soon enough, we're test driving. Awesome. We're hooked on the V6. Silly salesman had us drive the V6 before the 4 cylinder. Of course we love the V6. We were planning on a V6 in the first place, so he really didn't have to twist our arms.
We love the car. Husband pretends that "we don't need this, that or the other thing, but they would be nice for resale." ::chuckle::
My Husband is awesome at a lot of things. Most days, wheeling and dealing doesn't quite make it to the top five. However, he really proved himself at that round table. He literally laughed at some of the offers brought to the table. It was pretty empowering, and I know he felt that. He really got 'em going and eventually he was chatting with Toyota's General Manager. So that was awesome.
We end up loving the Toyota but have to go to Ford since he knows the guy whose wife works there. And she's training, so we wanted to give her some experience.
The first thing I kind of liked was that no one talked to us for, like, 15 minutes! Nice! We fiddle around window shopping and wait another 10 minutes for the woman we came to see. We tell her what we want to drive. She goes to get it.
She pulls up, Husband takes the reigns. A panel is falling off? And there are 65480419840 buttons up front. I'm sure they are useful, but it's a bit overwhelming. Her trainer shows us how to adjust the mirrors and the seatbelt -- because that's just soooooo high-tech -- and then we're on our way. Honestly, not a bad ride. But we still liked the Toyota better. Before we left we let her trainer think that what we really wanted was something smaller and we test drove one more vehicle before we left because Husband "was tired." Which he was. He had officially been awake for 20 hours at this point.
We go back to Toyota. We wait around for 90 minutes. By now Husband has to go back to work so I have to handle the final wheeling and dealing. I fail at that. I ended up calling him in a mild panic over the extended warranty option. And then, when we had to have Husband sign the final papers, we decide to walk to where he works. It was wet and rainy and that was a really bad idea on my part. Oops. That poor sales guy.
But we are o.b.s.e.s.s.e.d with our new Toyota :)
Husband - 1 v. Car Dealerships - 0
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Stacey v. Kitchen: Zucchini Bread!
I've been told by a few male friends that they would offer their left testicle for the trade-off of a lifetime supply of my chocolate chip cookies. Considering a few of them have yet to produce offspring, I take this as quite the compliment.
I'm not a baker by any stretch of the imagination, yet. Even my chocolate chip cookies took about four or five tries to get them just right. Then we moved, meaning I had to change the temperatures with the acquisition of a new stove. We assumed ownership of an outdated stove from the previous homeowner. He built this house in 1959, I believe, and I have no doubt that this is the stove that was used when the house was built. It was probably the best on the market at that time, and it still works, so I use it. I especially love it because it is retro, and it is HUGE. It has a nice big range and even a "work area", as I like to call it; or it's a cooling space, but not really because the heat from the oven keeps the top warm. Regardless of the empty space's purpose, I love my stove.
We have been trying to garden these past two years in our new house, and as a result of our attempts, we have grown quite a few zucchini. I've made zucchini fries, straight-up fried zucchini, snacked on zucchini, did many-a-things to said zucchini. I recently tried my mother-in-law's zucchini bread recipe and found another useful solution for our zucchini production! Hooray!
I had no plans today other than an eye appointment for this evening and regular house cleaning, so I figured I'd give it a try. Luckily I barely had all ingredients on hand. I used the last drop of vegetable oil and was just a hair short of the 1 cup that I needed. I only found one loaf pan of regular size and needed two. Then I stumbled upon three mini loaf pans that I have no idea where they came from. It looks like my baking pan and loaf pan procreated in their spare time. I figured I would just use those and see what happened.
I proceeded to make the batter. I hand-mixed the batter with my trusty wooden spoon. I love hand-mixing because I tricked myself into believing that those few extra calories I burn using my hand I can keep in reserves for tasting the batter; which is my initial test of recipe success. If the batter is good, I all-out assume that the final product will be excellent. I think that is fair.
I also hand-grated the zucchini. Mother-in-law said she used the food processor, but again, whatever calories I can burn using the "hard way" I can later use making sure the batter is up to par.
Batter was to die for, so into the three mini loaf pans, and then oven, the bread went. Note: I'd like to take this time to thank my younger sister for leaving her PAM Baking Spray in my spice cabinet. I thought today would be the perfect day to bust it out.
Overall, the recipe was quite easy to make, so that means I will make it again in the future. My house smells amazing, too. I think Husband will be very impressed when he wakes up from his slumber. Unfortunately he doesn't really eat baked goods, so I will have to find some volunteers to take my creations.
I'm not a baker by any stretch of the imagination, yet. Even my chocolate chip cookies took about four or five tries to get them just right. Then we moved, meaning I had to change the temperatures with the acquisition of a new stove. We assumed ownership of an outdated stove from the previous homeowner. He built this house in 1959, I believe, and I have no doubt that this is the stove that was used when the house was built. It was probably the best on the market at that time, and it still works, so I use it. I especially love it because it is retro, and it is HUGE. It has a nice big range and even a "work area", as I like to call it; or it's a cooling space, but not really because the heat from the oven keeps the top warm. Regardless of the empty space's purpose, I love my stove.
We have been trying to garden these past two years in our new house, and as a result of our attempts, we have grown quite a few zucchini. I've made zucchini fries, straight-up fried zucchini, snacked on zucchini, did many-a-things to said zucchini. I recently tried my mother-in-law's zucchini bread recipe and found another useful solution for our zucchini production! Hooray!
I had no plans today other than an eye appointment for this evening and regular house cleaning, so I figured I'd give it a try. Luckily I barely had all ingredients on hand. I used the last drop of vegetable oil and was just a hair short of the 1 cup that I needed. I only found one loaf pan of regular size and needed two. Then I stumbled upon three mini loaf pans that I have no idea where they came from. It looks like my baking pan and loaf pan procreated in their spare time. I figured I would just use those and see what happened.
I proceeded to make the batter. I hand-mixed the batter with my trusty wooden spoon. I love hand-mixing because I tricked myself into believing that those few extra calories I burn using my hand I can keep in reserves for tasting the batter; which is my initial test of recipe success. If the batter is good, I all-out assume that the final product will be excellent. I think that is fair.
I also hand-grated the zucchini. Mother-in-law said she used the food processor, but again, whatever calories I can burn using the "hard way" I can later use making sure the batter is up to par.
Batter was to die for, so into the three mini loaf pans, and then oven, the bread went. Note: I'd like to take this time to thank my younger sister for leaving her PAM Baking Spray in my spice cabinet. I thought today would be the perfect day to bust it out.
Overall, the recipe was quite easy to make, so that means I will make it again in the future. My house smells amazing, too. I think Husband will be very impressed when he wakes up from his slumber. Unfortunately he doesn't really eat baked goods, so I will have to find some volunteers to take my creations.
 |
| Enjoy! |
Stacey: 1 v. Kitchen: 0
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Stacey v. Technology: Google Maps
Of all things I learn quickly, one of the few is technology. I don't often lose battles with computer issues unless the computer crashes entirely.
Husband bought us new Androids last fall. Very exciting times for us as we were both upgrading from standard flip phones. It didn't take too long for me to adjust to the touch screen and figure out which apps would be most useful for my every day life. I was a proud owner of a smart phone, and I knew how to operate it.
One of my favorite apps on my smart phone is Google Maps. I get lost in parking lots so having the navigation system integrated into my phone was a godsend. I try not to rely on it more than I need to and have even gotten into the habit lately of just reading the directions in my driveway and trying to find my way to my destination with as least interference from Google Maps as possible. It's been fun.
Today I had to travel a ways south. I knew it wouldn't be a tough drive. Annoying because of traffic and never-ending construction that goes on in Cleveland, but nothing crazy. I pull up Google Maps: 1 HR. 03 MIN. it is telling me. Off I go. I end up seeing a ridiculous back-up on 271N while I'm headed down 271S. I thought to myself, Man, sucks to be those people. I hear on the radio that there was a car fire and one lane was closed. Ick. I continue on and successfully only use Google Maps when I get closer because I was driving through streets of houses while looking for an office building, which is very misleading. Google Maps clearly pointed me in the right direction, which I was actually on, and I was early, as always. I love Google Maps.
I have a one-hour long deposition that goes well. I go back to my car, and just to be safe I check trusty old Google Maps for my route home: 1 HR. 34 MIN. Are you out of your mind, Google Maps?, I think. Why in the world would I be sent on a route 30 minutes longer than the original route? Insanity. So I just head back the way I came. Easy enough, right? I am sitting at a stop light and update my map. Only 1 HR. 24 MIN. to go. I check and it seems the route is the same I came. I mean, there is NO WAY the car fire mess is still an issue. It had been a solid two and a half hours since I passed it, and much more time since it actually happened!! No. Google Maps is on crack.
I continue on my way. I am headed 8N and I pass 77N. I think for a split second that I know how to get home via 77N, maybe I should just jump on 77N. No, no. Google Maps always picks the shortest route. Even if it was the car fire mess, I would just keep updating my map because it could just be slow and behind the times.
All of a sudden, as soon as I start to merge onto 271N. BRAKES. Nothing but brake lights. I have nowhere to turn! Nowhere to go but foward. Dammit. There must be traffic or an accident. It's now been about three hours since I initially passed the back-up from before.
So now I am the a-hole creeping into the left lane because the right lanes keep ending because, like, 16 freeways merge onto 271N at this point. We're going a whopping 10 mph at best. I'm fiddling on Facebook and cursing Google Maps for sending me this way. I decide to update my route with no freeways! Genius!! 1 HR. 56 MIN. Seriously?? I've been travelling for 45 minutes already and I'd have another two hours if I took the next exit? Screw that.
Then I started people-watching. Some guy is weaving back and forth in one lane. Weird-o. Must have been trying to see what the hold-up was. Good luck, buddy. Then he swerves back and forth for a little longer and just shoots into the shoulder lane! Really?! And I thought I was being a dick! Whatever. I see another car, then a motorcycle drive down the shoulder to pass the time.
I finally get to the hold-up. Car fire? No. SEMI-TRUCK FIRE. How did they mix up a car and a SEMI?!
When I finally got home, I checked to see how long it took to return.
1 HR. 34 MIN.
Stacey: 0 v. Technology: 1
Husband bought us new Androids last fall. Very exciting times for us as we were both upgrading from standard flip phones. It didn't take too long for me to adjust to the touch screen and figure out which apps would be most useful for my every day life. I was a proud owner of a smart phone, and I knew how to operate it.
One of my favorite apps on my smart phone is Google Maps. I get lost in parking lots so having the navigation system integrated into my phone was a godsend. I try not to rely on it more than I need to and have even gotten into the habit lately of just reading the directions in my driveway and trying to find my way to my destination with as least interference from Google Maps as possible. It's been fun.
Today I had to travel a ways south. I knew it wouldn't be a tough drive. Annoying because of traffic and never-ending construction that goes on in Cleveland, but nothing crazy. I pull up Google Maps: 1 HR. 03 MIN. it is telling me. Off I go. I end up seeing a ridiculous back-up on 271N while I'm headed down 271S. I thought to myself, Man, sucks to be those people. I hear on the radio that there was a car fire and one lane was closed. Ick. I continue on and successfully only use Google Maps when I get closer because I was driving through streets of houses while looking for an office building, which is very misleading. Google Maps clearly pointed me in the right direction, which I was actually on, and I was early, as always. I love Google Maps.
I have a one-hour long deposition that goes well. I go back to my car, and just to be safe I check trusty old Google Maps for my route home: 1 HR. 34 MIN. Are you out of your mind, Google Maps?, I think. Why in the world would I be sent on a route 30 minutes longer than the original route? Insanity. So I just head back the way I came. Easy enough, right? I am sitting at a stop light and update my map. Only 1 HR. 24 MIN. to go. I check and it seems the route is the same I came. I mean, there is NO WAY the car fire mess is still an issue. It had been a solid two and a half hours since I passed it, and much more time since it actually happened!! No. Google Maps is on crack.
I continue on my way. I am headed 8N and I pass 77N. I think for a split second that I know how to get home via 77N, maybe I should just jump on 77N. No, no. Google Maps always picks the shortest route. Even if it was the car fire mess, I would just keep updating my map because it could just be slow and behind the times.
All of a sudden, as soon as I start to merge onto 271N. BRAKES. Nothing but brake lights. I have nowhere to turn! Nowhere to go but foward. Dammit. There must be traffic or an accident. It's now been about three hours since I initially passed the back-up from before.
So now I am the a-hole creeping into the left lane because the right lanes keep ending because, like, 16 freeways merge onto 271N at this point. We're going a whopping 10 mph at best. I'm fiddling on Facebook and cursing Google Maps for sending me this way. I decide to update my route with no freeways! Genius!! 1 HR. 56 MIN. Seriously?? I've been travelling for 45 minutes already and I'd have another two hours if I took the next exit? Screw that.
Then I started people-watching. Some guy is weaving back and forth in one lane. Weird-o. Must have been trying to see what the hold-up was. Good luck, buddy. Then he swerves back and forth for a little longer and just shoots into the shoulder lane! Really?! And I thought I was being a dick! Whatever. I see another car, then a motorcycle drive down the shoulder to pass the time.
I finally get to the hold-up. Car fire? No. SEMI-TRUCK FIRE. How did they mix up a car and a SEMI?!
When I finally got home, I checked to see how long it took to return.
1 HR. 34 MIN.
Stacey: 0 v. Technology: 1
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