Icy Hot-lanta

First, a quick update on my parents. They are still in possession of all four of their rims, so the bandits did not return. I forgot to ask if they went for the locking lugnuts or not. It's still one of the strangest things I've ever heard.

Next, there will be no get-together today. :( I really wanted to see everyone, but that simply won't happen in this city with over an inch of sleet in most areas. There's no way I could even get up our driveway. ::sigh:: Oh Weather Goddess Glenda, what did we do to annoy you? LOL So instead of sitting and eating all kinds of yummies and chatting and stitching, I will be making spaghetti for dinner (may as well, it takes hours to make but I have nothing else to do at the moment). Oh, and we took Luke outside to experience his first "winter weather event." See, it's the Abominable Snow Luke! :D

what all gophers need....

You gotta love ThinkGeek.com. They always have the coolest stuff (spoken as a true geek, no doubt). Now they have Cubicle Playsets; just what all cube-dwelling gophers need! LOL These are too funny. If I was still in the working world, I just might have to have one. Too many little pieces to have around the house at the moment. (We have more than enough Legos for Luke to choke on; we don't need any help. :p)

My poor parents!

This is the email my mother sent me today. I swear, they have the *strangest* things happen to them.

We have had quite an eventful AM. When Dad went out to his car this morning around 5:30, he saw something round and shiny on the driveway near the back of the Cutlass. He thought it was a frisbee. Instead, it was the hubcap off of the right rear tire - that had been stolen!! The car was up on a jack, and the lugnuts and hubcap were strewn on the driveway. He came back inside and woke me up. I sent him on to work, got dressed and called the police. When she arrived, she said it was very unusual for just one tire to be gone! Evidently, something/someone scared off the thief(s). We made a police report, but she didn't offer much that could be done. I called AAA to come put the little donut tire on (I wasn't about to try to figure it out in 30 degrees and that's what we pay AAA to do!) An 1 hour 45 minutes later when he finally arrived, he said, "Is that your jack the car is on?" I said, "It is now!!" It is a new jack too! I got the car over to Duckworth's to have another tire put on it (you know we just put 4 new tires on that car two weeks ago, right?). I'm thinking, OK, probably another $100, we can do that. The guy came back inside after looking in the trunk (I couldn't figure out what he was looking for) and said, very gently, "Um, Ma'am, you have to have a wheel for me to put the tire on. We don't have wheels." I'm sure the guys at Duckworth think I'm as dumb as a post!

So, off to Vaden Chevrolet/Oldsmobile I go on my little donut tire. At Vaden, the guy in the parts department took the VIN number, looks in the computer and says, "Oooo, those are aluminum." I asked, "Is that good or bad?" He said, "They're good wheels, but they're bad on the pocketbook." At this point, I'm struggling inside to keep it together, so I asked him, "Am I going to need a Kleenex?" Without looking up or cracking a smile he said, "You might." The wheels, as it turns out, only fit 1997, 1998 and 1999 Oldsmobile Cutlasses. Someone was after that specific wheel, not the tire. So with a $150 DISCOUNT, he ordered a wheel for $430 which should be delivered tomorrow. Then I'll take to to Duckworth and get the tire. I guess we will be buying some of those locking lugnuts to see if we can hang onto our tires, excuse me, our wheels. I can't help but wonder if they will come back for the other three tonight. I may dump everything out of the garage into the yard so we can put at least two vehicles in the garage!

The war hits home

I won't go into my feelings about what is going on in Iraq. Most of you know that I keep my political opinions very close to the vest. But none of that is really important now. It was always there, and I've always had at least a vague opinion on what's going on, but it was still far away and rather abstract. No longer.

My cousin left Ft. Benning on Saturday, headed for Iraq. "They" say his unit will be 50 miles from heaviest action. I now join the hundreds of thousands of other people who are not only concerned for the lives of our troups in general, but who add to that the worry for a specific soldier. I pray he comes home soon, alive and in one piece, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Darth Tater?

Yep, a Darth Vader Mr. Potato Head! Check it out. And no, this is not a joke. I read something about it a few weeks ago somewhere (don't recall where), but there was no photo available at the time. Should become available in February as they start hyping Revenge of the Sith.

An unexpected laugh

Today's Mutts comic made me laugh out loud; it just caught me off guard. Thought I would post it in case the rest of you could use a laugh today.

25% of a year

It's just so hard to believe. Happy three month birthday to my baby! How has he grown up so fast? And it will only get faster, I'm sure. Mommy and Daddy love you, Luke.

Everything wrong with this country today (RANT)

I was reading this article about the dip in sales for Kobe Bryant's jersey since the middle of the year, though the most serious drop has occurred in the last couple of months. However, that is not the point here. I really don't care, I was just curious as to the reasons they were giving for the drop. And then I read what is absolutely THE most appalling sentence I have ever read. Now, you know me, and you know I don't usually post things like this anywhere, but especially in my blog. But this just burns me up so bad, I can't stand it. *How* on EARTH can this be a true statement? (Even though I know it to be true.) This is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with this country.

"Industry insiders say that while fans may have been willing to look the other way during the rape scandal, they seem far less willing to forgive him now for what they see as the breakup of a championship team."

GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! And the fans should all have their heads beaten in for that. Yes, I know all about innocent until proven guilty and everything like that, but people! The man was accused of rape, and regardless of whether that was the case or not, he still admitted to sleeping with her (as in cheating on his wife!). But that's okay. You know, he's a guy, a famous one at that, and these things happen. (Please note the *dripping* sarcasm.) But how DARE he be on a losing team?! That is simply unforgivable. Breaking laws and trust is fine, but paying a full grown man more money than God to play a game for a living and then have him mess up a team because he's a raging egomaniac, as are all of his other teammates? Well, we *simply* can't have that, now can we?

I am in no way saying that he hasn't been acting like a jerk or that the fans don't have every right to be upset with him. I do know what has been going on with him, Shaq, Malone, etc. But for jersey sales to go down due only to legal trades and not to breaking laws and/or vows is just... just... words fail me. Rediculous and idiotic just don't seem to cut it. I'll have to settle for this:


/rant

Happy New Year!

From the Gastons. Here's Luke's official Christmas snapshot. We hope you are enjoying the new year so far. I was going to post a rant about something I read, and I still will, but I didn't want that to be the first post of the year. I wanted it to be something happy and pleasant, and what could be better than "Baby's first Christmas"? Tune in tomorrow for the rant. :-p