Friday, May 30, 2014

Friday Fragments: books, money, shopping, church



Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. It's been quite a week so I have more than usual this week:

Favorite Reads


Gerard's favorite read in May is Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline.

Karen's favorite read in May is Now You See Her by James Patterson.
Click the links for our reviews.

 

Money

This must be the year of spending for us. So far:
$ 500 dental cleaning for our cat (Manny) close to $500
$ 1,000 New computer, 3 yr. virus protection & 3 yr. technical support (used tax refund and money gifts for this though)
$ 600 Car Repairs
$20,000 2012 Ford Escape (paid from savings so that's what we were saving for)
When is it going to be a year for savings again?

New Class

I've been teaching just the 5th grade boys in Sunday School but for the summer, I will have the 5th grade girls too! Should be interesting. Sort of looking forward to it but a bit anxious because I will be using material I haven't used before so will have to start from scratch every week.

Sports Camp

Last year I volunteered to be a head basketball coach and blue shirt worker for the Parma Heights Baptist Church FOCUS Sports Camp (Focus on Christ Using Sports) and this year I volunteered again to be a basketball coach for both morning and afternoon sessions. I requested being an assistant coach but will be a head coach if needed. We'll see what happens--trusting God to give me the stamina and strength I'll need. We are still short of volunteers for all the sports: flag football, cheerleading, volleyball, soccer and basketball. Registration ends June 5.



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Thursday, May 29, 2014

Thankful Thursday: Pay Attention To The Noise


While driving our Kia


Me:  What is that noise? 

Hubby:  What noise?

Me:  That spinning sound when you brake.

Hubby:  I don't hear anything.

Another day when I'm driving:

Me:  You don't hear that?  (noise again when I brake)

Hubby:  No, I don't hear anything.

Me:  We better get the brakes checked--I know this noise isn't normal and something must be wrong.  It will only get worse the longer we wait.

Hubby:  OK, I'll take it up on Wednesday when I'm off, but I don't hear anything.

Wednesday:

Hubby:  (calls me at work)  The guy said our brakes are very bad and it will cost over $500 to fix! 

Me:  OK, we have to get them fixed.  (I refrained from saying "told you so.")

I am so thankful for that stupid noise that I heard so we could get them fixed before we got in an accident.  I just wonder why that BRAKE light didn't come on. 

Maybe the next thing we'll have to get is a hearing aid for my hubby.  What do you think?

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Monday, May 26, 2014

How Long Does It Take To Buy A Car?

Goodbye my '98 Olds
We finally parted with our 1998 Olds Silhouette after putting in $300 dollars more to fix the gas leak.  Apparently, the fuel line was rusted out.  We got a whole $250 trade-in for it which is exactly what I expected.  There was a lot of things wrong with it.

2012 Ford Escape EXT
We first scouted three different dealerships beginning at 8:30 a.m.  The cars we had in mind were a 2014 Jeep Patriot, 2012 Ford Explorer or a purple 2011 Hyundai I happened to see yesterday.  The Jeep Patriot cost a little more than I wanted to spend and that dealership was about 25 min. drive from our house.  I liked the red one and Gerard liked the blue one.  It wasn't open and we weren't sure if it would open later or not so we went back to the Spitzer KIA dealer close to our house and test drove the purple Hyundai.  Neither of us liked it though once we drove it--we just weren't comfortable with it. 

Then the salesman suggested perhaps a Ford Explorer.  I perked up and we took the black Ford Escape for a drive.  We both liked it much better although it wasn't new, it only had 12,000 miles on it and was priced under the maximum I had planned to spend:  $20,012.18.  We were there almost 4 and a half hours--the paperwork took forever!  

I'm going to miss my big Olds van but am happy with our Ford Escape.  Do you find it hard to part with your cars?

Related Posts:  A Birthday Present For Himself (Background story of our '98 Olds van)

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Saturday, May 24, 2014

Memorial Weekend is off to a Good Start!


I finally got my hair cut short for summer!  (Pay no attention to the date on the pic, I look the same.)
We bought flowers for our flower pots on our porch.  Were able to use a coupon and gave a $5 one we didn't use to a lady to use.  I stopped in the hardware store there and bought a staple gun and fixed the loose rubber grips on our basement stairs with plans to use it when I recover our dining room chairs too.


We stocked up on Breyers ice cream, 4 for $10.  We are expecting some warmer weather to stick around next week!  Which flavor would you like?



We did some rearranging in our living room and dining room to make it less crowded and easier to get to the big window.  Watching "Sell This House" is inspiring me to make some changes.  I even am considering painting some rooms--just don't know what colors to choose.


 At first we thought it was a little dog walking on a leash at Snow Road Park but then I saw . . .



 it was a ferret!  Abby did noses with it and didn't scare it at all.


Had some porch time and brushed Abby--shedding season has arrived!


Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and thanks to all our servicemen and women!


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Thursday, May 22, 2014

Thankful Thursday: Indians Swept Detroit and We Were There!

My husband and I were both off work yesterday and went to the Indians game, seeing them sweep the Tigers in 13 innings, winning 11-10 with a walk-off balk ending the game.  Never saw one end like that before!

Although the forecast was horrible:  Predicted Thunder storms for the morning and scattered thunder storms all afternoon, God answered my prayer for not having it rain on us or during the ballgame.  It was in the 70s and sunny!  Gorgeous day!

We had very good seats, free food as much as we wanted and a wonderful day in the middle of the week!  I did not over stuff, having 4 slices of the vege pizza, one of the cherry dessert pizza and five cups of ice cream.  What a treat it was.

Our pets were wondering where we were because their supper was later than usual, but fortunately they did not starve.  We went on a nice walk with Abby after she ate, enjoying the beautiful day, stretching our legs after sitting all afternoon.

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