This is essentially my car. It's this color, officially called "Cashmere". It's basically a pearl colored car (the lighting in this picture is a little dark) and it looks a lot like the Cadillac Escalade color that I fancied. I'm not really a white car person. But this is just really subtle and shiny! My paint job has an extra clear coat on it to make in extra shiny.

It's a Limited edition 2005 Ford Expedition. It's loaded. 6 disc changer, moon roof, factory installed DVD, leather, 2nd row captain's chairs, heated AND air conditioned front seats, tow package, AdvanceTrac with Roll Stability Control, Safety Canopy system (oversized side curtain airbags), Reverse Sensing System (which means it beeps like crazy if I'm going to hit something going in reverse) and power-adjustable pedals, power-folding heated mirrors, and a self adjusting air suspension system for a smoother ride.

Not that some of this matters to you guys. BUT it only has 42k and we got it for 3k cheaper than any dealer in Dayton would give us and got MORE for our money. We bought it over in Columbus on Sunday.

We're having a bit of car drama at this point, but I'm sure it will all be fixed by the weekend or I'll be returning the car. The air suspension system is having some issues on the passenger side, but I made the dealer put in writing that he would fix it if there was a problem. I'm taking it to the Ford dealership in town this week to have them check it out. They'll pay to have it fixed or I'll return the car and walk to work. Because I traded them my old car. :)

I'll try to post a picture of me with MY real car later this week.

My Weekend

We bought a new car.

:)

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've met Larry. Larry and his wife Marla and their 16 year old daughter Kathryn live across the street from us. They're our new neighbors!

I haven't seen Marla or Kathryn yet, but here's what I got from Larry:

1. He's a smoker- I could smell it on his breath. Kinda gross. But I'm trying not to judge.
2. He's already got the goods on the neighborhood because he asked Kendall if he was the pilot on the street. Kendall's repsonse, "No. I'm the doctor." HA!
3. Marla works from home
4. Their daughter just got her driver's license
5. Larry is working in development and research for Cargill Foods in Dayton
6. They're from Iowa
7. He seemed really nice

Jamie was jealous because once again we got the goods before her. She thinks we're too social. She wanted to meet the new neighbors before us, but I'm just good. :) Actually Larry arrived by himself and was looking for a shovel to clean up the snow. Their snowblower and shovels were all in the moving truck. :) So I lent him one. Cause I'm good like that.

People Are Strange....

My idiosyncracies:

1. I LOVE extra sharp cheeses. Sharp cheese are good too, but the sharper, the better. My personal favorite is Cabot Extra Sharp White Cheddar. I can only get it at Trader Joe's and Jungle Jim's but it's always worth the trip.

2. I view my dogs as people. No, seriously. I talk to them like they really understand everything I'm saying. I ask their opinion on things. I even sing to them. And I really believe that they understand about 50% of what I'm saying. True dog lovers most often see their dogs this way, as furry people. My mom does the same thing.

3. I have had sinus problems ever since I moved to Dayton. Before I lived here I hardly ever got a stuffy nose. Now I have one constantly. I've had it for 10 years. I don't even really notice it anymore. But for the last 10 years, I can only breathe out of one nostril at a time.

4. I'm a bibliophile. I can't even tell you the number of books that I own. If you haven't seen our office, it's obscene the number of books I own.

5. I'm a cinephile as well. We own close to 500 DVDs. You can come rent from us. We're free. :)

6. I love day by day tear away calendars. I used to get a new Foxtrot calendar every year. But then Bill Amend had to decide to just go to Sunday comics and now they didn't make one for 2008. I was very disappointed.

7. I love change. If I could rearrange my living room, bedroom, office, classroom every month, I'd be happy. I just love getting a new look and seeing things from different angles. When I was a kid, I changed my bedroom around monthly. I really only had 4 options for arrangement, but I'd rotate them all. It made me happy. :)

Hmmmmm...what type of wine does one serve with Cheetos....maybe Trey can answer this one.....

Nothing. For two days! No moving truck, no cars, nothing!!!!

It's driving me crazy!!!!!

Spygate 2008

Okay,

So today we saw two cars pull into the driveway across the street. One car has out of state plates. So we spy from the second floor windows of our house to see if we can get a glimpse of the people.

What we saw was a dude with salt and pepper hair. Yeah. Not good for our "fun, new, young couple". He only stayed a few minutes, walked around the house and then got in his car and left. We believe the other person was his realtor.

So tonight Kendall sees the old owners cars in the driveway. He suggests we go over and exchange phone numbers. This is really code for, "Let's go find out more dirt." He claims it was really for the numbers. I know better. :) So we ended up chatting for a while about their new place and then casually asked who bought the house. See, that way it doesn't look like we don't care about them leaving. :)

So they gave us the skinny:

A couple in their middle years with a daughter who is a sophomore in high school. They're moving from Iowa. The dad is going to be the head of research for Cargill Foods in Dayton. Sounds like a snooze fest to me. (Aren't I terrible?) I'm sure the kid isn't happy about the move. So maybe that will make for some good drama. I guess they also have a son who is working on his doctorate. So that probably places them in their mid to late 40s. Their son has to be just a shade younger than us. So maybe that will be a plus. When he comes to visit we'll have someone cool to hang with.

But I'm not holding my breath.

So all in all a slightly disappointing moment. But as I said in my last post, we're pretty social people and I'm sure that we'll at least get to know them on a surface level. We'll both be out in our yards mowing grass and wave. Who knows, they could be kick ass. Maybe they'll be our second set of really cool aunt and uncle combo.

But I'll still totally be spying when they move their stuff in. I want to see if they have good taste in furniture! LOL! And I can still use my Cheetos standard if all else fails... ;)