Okay, car in shop. Preliminary estimate in. I am not worried, it was just a deer - not a moose. How bad can it be? Oh bad. $6500 bad. The insurance company estimate and the body shop estimate were off by a few hundred dollars, but abra-cadabra! That difference is going poof! And Wendy & Chizz are only responsible for the deductible. As I have said many, many, many times before (but for many, many, many other reasons) - "Thank God for insurance!" Because of the holiday, my baby will not be home for Thanksgiving. In the meantime I have to make due with the rental "car". I use the word cautiously because it is pretty awful. When was the last time you saw roll up windows in a car? I didn't even know you could get roll up windows still!! I am thankful I wasn't in this car when the deer hit me. I am fairly certain this car would have disintegrated.
For those of you keeping score, Wendy - 1, Deer 1.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Take That, Bambi!!
I hit a deer. Well not me exactly, my car. And to be precise, the deer hit me. I was picking Kiki up from school at about 6 p.m. and we were driving on a road very close to our home, when 2 small female deer ran in front of me. I wasn't going that fast so I was able to stop in time and didn't hit them. I was stopped for about 2 seconds when a third deer, a buck, came crashing out of the bushes and ran right into my stopped car. He bounced off my headlight and ran off in the same direction he came from. No one was hurt, except my car. Apparently a deer crashing against the headlight is not good for it. Who knew?
So I spent yesterday driving back and forth from my dealer to the auto body shop. At first, I thought the damage was relatively minor and the dealer that I bought the car at (only a few short months ago!) told me that they thought they could do it. But once I got there I was told there was too much body work that needed to be done. Like I haven't heard that before! Oh well, so my car is now at a body shop waiting to be worked on. The insurance adjuster has to go by and hopefully they will agree with the body shop as to the extent and cost of the damage. But I am fearful, you know how stubborn insurance adjusters can be! At least I know how stubborn they can be.
Karma may be a bitch in this case. I will let you know.
So I spent yesterday driving back and forth from my dealer to the auto body shop. At first, I thought the damage was relatively minor and the dealer that I bought the car at (only a few short months ago!) told me that they thought they could do it. But once I got there I was told there was too much body work that needed to be done. Like I haven't heard that before! Oh well, so my car is now at a body shop waiting to be worked on. The insurance adjuster has to go by and hopefully they will agree with the body shop as to the extent and cost of the damage. But I am fearful, you know how stubborn insurance adjusters can be! At least I know how stubborn they can be.
Karma may be a bitch in this case. I will let you know.
Friday, November 07, 2008
So Close
I have quite a bit to report on (Halloween, the breakup of the commune, the great college touring road trip) but not today. I am in a bit of a hurry because we are leaving on the aforementioned road trip in about 3 hours and as usual, I am running behind.
But I wanted to drop a quick line about the recent elections. It is interesting to me that in one election we show how far we have come as a nation, where we are able to judge other people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin (hmmmm where have we heard that before?) but in the same election, we show how far we have yet to go. I was hoping that Prop 8 in California (and other similar ballot items in other states) would be defeated but I was disappointed. It saddens me that in this day and age, after all we have been through as a nation and the crises we are in the midst of currently, we still have the energy to discriminate so blatantly. I was hopeful that I would see this end in my life time but I am beginning to lose faith in my fellow human beings. I am not quite sure they are smart enough, kind enough, Christian enough to do the right thing.
In Europe and many other countries, the government has gotten out of the "marriage" business. Every person , regardless of skin color, religious affiliation, social status, sexual orientation, goes to the local government agency and "registers" their union or their partnership. After a few words by the local government official (like a justice of the peace) in charge in the jurisdiction, the couple is considered legally "hitched". If after this exercise, the couple wishes a religious ceremony of some kind they go to their church, synagogue or temple, and have another ceremony. It would be up to the religious group to decide if the couple met whatever criteria the group has set up in order to sanctify or bless the relationship. The end.
I don't understand why we don't do something like this in the United States. We profess to be a country in which government and church are separate but that is not the case, in reality. Our government needs to get out of this issue. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of marriage. Been married for almost 25 years. My marriage is not threatened by 2 loving, committed, consenting adults who want to legalize their union. I have known gay couples who have been together for 30 or more years. They only want the same legal rights and benefits that I have. Straight people have had the institution for thousands of years, and we haven't done that well with it. What is the current statistic of marriages that end in divorce, 40% or so? We need gay people to help our numbers a bit. Marriage isn't threatened by gay people, we straight people are threatening it. As long as we continue to let stupid straight people get married as a "joke" (i.e. Britney Spears), get married and divorced within 4 months (Renee Zelleweger), have 107 day marriages (Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage), or a 9 day marriage (Cher & Greg Allman), apply for a marriage license while still married to your first wife (John McCain), I don't think we have any place to keep gay people from the tradition. In fact, given the mess we have made of the institution, I am surprised any self-respecting gay person would want to be affiliated with it.
I am convinced it will happen someday. And I hope when future generations look back on us, they aren't too embarrassed by our ignorance. I don't know though, I sure am.
But I wanted to drop a quick line about the recent elections. It is interesting to me that in one election we show how far we have come as a nation, where we are able to judge other people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin (hmmmm where have we heard that before?) but in the same election, we show how far we have yet to go. I was hoping that Prop 8 in California (and other similar ballot items in other states) would be defeated but I was disappointed. It saddens me that in this day and age, after all we have been through as a nation and the crises we are in the midst of currently, we still have the energy to discriminate so blatantly. I was hopeful that I would see this end in my life time but I am beginning to lose faith in my fellow human beings. I am not quite sure they are smart enough, kind enough, Christian enough to do the right thing.
In Europe and many other countries, the government has gotten out of the "marriage" business. Every person , regardless of skin color, religious affiliation, social status, sexual orientation, goes to the local government agency and "registers" their union or their partnership. After a few words by the local government official (like a justice of the peace) in charge in the jurisdiction, the couple is considered legally "hitched". If after this exercise, the couple wishes a religious ceremony of some kind they go to their church, synagogue or temple, and have another ceremony. It would be up to the religious group to decide if the couple met whatever criteria the group has set up in order to sanctify or bless the relationship. The end.
I don't understand why we don't do something like this in the United States. We profess to be a country in which government and church are separate but that is not the case, in reality. Our government needs to get out of this issue. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of marriage. Been married for almost 25 years. My marriage is not threatened by 2 loving, committed, consenting adults who want to legalize their union. I have known gay couples who have been together for 30 or more years. They only want the same legal rights and benefits that I have. Straight people have had the institution for thousands of years, and we haven't done that well with it. What is the current statistic of marriages that end in divorce, 40% or so? We need gay people to help our numbers a bit. Marriage isn't threatened by gay people, we straight people are threatening it. As long as we continue to let stupid straight people get married as a "joke" (i.e. Britney Spears), get married and divorced within 4 months (Renee Zelleweger), have 107 day marriages (Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage), or a 9 day marriage (Cher & Greg Allman), apply for a marriage license while still married to your first wife (John McCain), I don't think we have any place to keep gay people from the tradition. In fact, given the mess we have made of the institution, I am surprised any self-respecting gay person would want to be affiliated with it.
I am convinced it will happen someday. And I hope when future generations look back on us, they aren't too embarrassed by our ignorance. I don't know though, I sure am.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Life in the Commune, Part III
One of the best things about living with a 3 year old is all of the fun things they do and getting them to repeat them over and over again. A sign of the season, Zabba has discovered candy in a BIG way. We have a little dish on the entry way table with candy corn in it and she found out she loves candy corn. She has a ritual now where she takes one candy corn in the morning before she goes to school (because 2 would be wrong) and puts in her hand and holds it almost the entire way to preschool. Then when the car goes up a particular hill, she pops the candy corn in her mouth. Every single day.
So she was discussing her love of candy with her mom the other day, and her mom, Auntie K., felt the need to counter balance the candy talk and start talking about "healthy" things to eat, like vegetables. So she said, "You know Zabba, I like vegetables. Peas are a vegetable, I like peas". Then she asked "What kind of vegetables do you like?" Zabba thought for a moment and said "Corn, Corn is a "wedgetable" - I like corn". Wedgetable!!!! Isn't that great? So Auntie K. just kept trying to get her to say it over and over again. "What else, what else do you like?" Zabba: "I like broccoli, broccoli is a wedgetable." What else? "Zucchini, Zuchini is a wedgetable, I like Zucchini."
You could play for hours.
So she was discussing her love of candy with her mom the other day, and her mom, Auntie K., felt the need to counter balance the candy talk and start talking about "healthy" things to eat, like vegetables. So she said, "You know Zabba, I like vegetables. Peas are a vegetable, I like peas". Then she asked "What kind of vegetables do you like?" Zabba thought for a moment and said "Corn, Corn is a "wedgetable" - I like corn". Wedgetable!!!! Isn't that great? So Auntie K. just kept trying to get her to say it over and over again. "What else, what else do you like?" Zabba: "I like broccoli, broccoli is a wedgetable." What else? "Zucchini, Zuchini is a wedgetable, I like Zucchini."
You could play for hours.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Life in the Commune, Part II
Several days a week, Chizz and Uncle D commute into together. It is about a 4 minute car ride to the train station and it takes about 40 minutes by train to get into the city. We often joke that they must seem like an old married couple, commuting in together, sharing the paper, sometimes wearing almost the exact same outfit (khakis - check, button down blue shirt - check, ipod - check!), wishing the other one have a good day when they part and the occasional "See you at home". We live in a suburb of San Francisco where couples of all makeups are seen and accepted. The joke is at home that their fellow commuters on their route probably think they are a gay couple.
Well someone apparently does. Chizz and Uncle D got a piece of mail addressed to them together, one singular piece. It was a political ad that we are all seeing in our mailboxes this past few weeks, addressed to C. Whineberg and Uncle D. It would have only been better if it were a "No on 8" card!
Sadly, their marriage and the commune will be breaking up soon. Uncle D. and Auntie K. found a cute little house, not far from us that they will be moving into soon. Now I just have to talk them into leaving Zabba with us. Strangely enough, Auntie K. has moments where she says it can be arranged.
P.S. NO on 8.
Well someone apparently does. Chizz and Uncle D got a piece of mail addressed to them together, one singular piece. It was a political ad that we are all seeing in our mailboxes this past few weeks, addressed to C. Whineberg and Uncle D. It would have only been better if it were a "No on 8" card!
Sadly, their marriage and the commune will be breaking up soon. Uncle D. and Auntie K. found a cute little house, not far from us that they will be moving into soon. Now I just have to talk them into leaving Zabba with us. Strangely enough, Auntie K. has moments where she says it can be arranged.
P.S. NO on 8.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Life in the Commune
While we were in London, Auntie K, Uncle D and their adorable almost 3 year old little girl, Zabba, moved into our house. It was a great deal for us, because someone we knew was keeping an eye on our stuff and we could come back summers to our own home and kind of step back into our routine each summer with very little effort. Truthfully, it made our experience in London so easy (not having to worry about our house back home) and we are indebted to them for helping us make it work.
Now that we are back, we are all living in the house together while they search for a new place to live. People ask us all the time "how is that working?", expecting I think to get some kind of dirt or a litany of complaints. Frankly, it has been pretty easy. We have been affectionately referring to our situation as "the Commune". It is fun in a way. There is always someone to hang out with, someone to watch the game with, someone to talk with. There are extra hands to load or empty the dishwasher, pick up the mail, grab the newspaper, make the morning coffee, take out the trash. I think it is helpful for Auntie K & Uncle D to have 4 built in sitters. I think the highlight of Chizz's night is when he comes in the door, Zabba runs to him, screaming his name and asking if he would like to play "baskieball". Which of course, he always does.
In fact having Zabba around is one of the highlights (not that K & D aren't cute in their own special way, it is not the same). She is always full of fun little comments. Like the time I was joking around with her about not walking on my white couches with her shoes on and a full juice cup. I asked her to jump off and like most kids her age, she asked why. Under my breath (I thought) I replied, "because I am going to kill you if you get something on them". But she just repeated "Cause you gonna kill me??" which she repeated quite often that day. "You gonna kill me?". Yikes. It reminds you that you have to be careful of what you say around little ones, they don't really get it. And who knows what she would repeat at preschool. "My auntie says she is going to kill me."
So the other night Snake and Zabba had a little confrontation. Sometimes she likes to exert her will and Snake likes to egg her on. So they were having a little stare down, finally Snake says to her "I am going to beat you in this battle of wills, Zabba". She thinks about it for a minute and says "I am going to beat you with this bottle of wine, Snake". Oh, Zabba. . . . Like we all haven't thought that about Snake!!
Now that we are back, we are all living in the house together while they search for a new place to live. People ask us all the time "how is that working?", expecting I think to get some kind of dirt or a litany of complaints. Frankly, it has been pretty easy. We have been affectionately referring to our situation as "the Commune". It is fun in a way. There is always someone to hang out with, someone to watch the game with, someone to talk with. There are extra hands to load or empty the dishwasher, pick up the mail, grab the newspaper, make the morning coffee, take out the trash. I think it is helpful for Auntie K & Uncle D to have 4 built in sitters. I think the highlight of Chizz's night is when he comes in the door, Zabba runs to him, screaming his name and asking if he would like to play "baskieball". Which of course, he always does.
In fact having Zabba around is one of the highlights (not that K & D aren't cute in their own special way, it is not the same). She is always full of fun little comments. Like the time I was joking around with her about not walking on my white couches with her shoes on and a full juice cup. I asked her to jump off and like most kids her age, she asked why. Under my breath (I thought) I replied, "because I am going to kill you if you get something on them". But she just repeated "Cause you gonna kill me??" which she repeated quite often that day. "You gonna kill me?". Yikes. It reminds you that you have to be careful of what you say around little ones, they don't really get it. And who knows what she would repeat at preschool. "My auntie says she is going to kill me."
So the other night Snake and Zabba had a little confrontation. Sometimes she likes to exert her will and Snake likes to egg her on. So they were having a little stare down, finally Snake says to her "I am going to beat you in this battle of wills, Zabba". She thinks about it for a minute and says "I am going to beat you with this bottle of wine, Snake". Oh, Zabba. . . . Like we all haven't thought that about Snake!!
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Not So Sweet Anymore??
Kiki turned 17 last week and we had a little party here last weekend. Actually, it was a joint birthday party with one of her friends whose birthday was 2 days after hers. Her mom & I figured out that we were in the same hospital at the same time. Kiki was born by C-section so I was able to stay - I think 3 but even still probably 2 nights. Kiki's friend was born after her mom had spent quite a few hours in delivery, so their paths crossed somewhere on October 4th and 5th. Pretty cool, shows what a small world it is.
So we had about twenty 17 & 18 years old over, and we had to think of a way to amuse them that was safe, legal and wouldn't end us up in jail. I specifically warned Kiki & friends, no intoxicating substances of any kind and spoke of dire consequences should I find any. It was a pretty idle threat, these are pretty good kids and while I am not naive enough to say that I don't think any of them have had any experience in this area, I don't think they have gotten to the stage where they believe that they can't have fun without something of an intoxicating nature or in others words - 45. We just had to think of something to keep 'em busy. So we devised a scavenger hunt, by car. We had a list of some 40 things that they either had to bring back with or take photos of. The limit was 12 photos and the items had various point values assigned to them, which the kids didn't know in advance. There were no bonus points for finishing or coming back first and we had a flexible return time. We didn't want young teenage drivers rushing to try and get back for some kind of time limit. The other rules? They couldn't buy anything, they couldn't go to their homes or anyone's homes, they had to obey all driving laws, they couldn't steal or take any item without permission. They did a good job. We didn't have an expectation that they would get all of the items but they came back with quite a few. Some of the items they had to get? A McCain Sign (tougher than you think in this Obama neighborhood), California state quarter, a house for sale flyer, picture of the team with a waiter, a pumpkin, and the list goes on. It was a good way to start the evening, a good icebreaker and the kids had a good time seeing some of the creative ways the other teams obtained items and they all had stories to tell. We are a bit fearful that their classmate that works at the local grocery store might be in trouble at work since all 4 of the teams went there and apparently he was quite helpful to all of the teams. Not sure how much work he got done that night though!
Afterwards Mexican food, pin the tail on the donkey (hard to believe but the kids enjoyed it), cake, ice cream, pinatas and hot tubbing and swimming. The boys left at midnight and the girls spent the night. As far as parties go, it was pretty easy. My only job was the aforementioned liquor watch, staying out of the way when the food was served (people could get hurt!) and being invisible in a visible kind of way.
Next year, Kiki will celebrate her birthday at college. I am fairly certain I won't be invited to that party so it was nice to share this one with her. And yes, she is still pretty sweet!!
So we had about twenty 17 & 18 years old over, and we had to think of a way to amuse them that was safe, legal and wouldn't end us up in jail. I specifically warned Kiki & friends, no intoxicating substances of any kind and spoke of dire consequences should I find any. It was a pretty idle threat, these are pretty good kids and while I am not naive enough to say that I don't think any of them have had any experience in this area, I don't think they have gotten to the stage where they believe that they can't have fun without something of an intoxicating nature or in others words - 45. We just had to think of something to keep 'em busy. So we devised a scavenger hunt, by car. We had a list of some 40 things that they either had to bring back with or take photos of. The limit was 12 photos and the items had various point values assigned to them, which the kids didn't know in advance. There were no bonus points for finishing or coming back first and we had a flexible return time. We didn't want young teenage drivers rushing to try and get back for some kind of time limit. The other rules? They couldn't buy anything, they couldn't go to their homes or anyone's homes, they had to obey all driving laws, they couldn't steal or take any item without permission. They did a good job. We didn't have an expectation that they would get all of the items but they came back with quite a few. Some of the items they had to get? A McCain Sign (tougher than you think in this Obama neighborhood), California state quarter, a house for sale flyer, picture of the team with a waiter, a pumpkin, and the list goes on. It was a good way to start the evening, a good icebreaker and the kids had a good time seeing some of the creative ways the other teams obtained items and they all had stories to tell. We are a bit fearful that their classmate that works at the local grocery store might be in trouble at work since all 4 of the teams went there and apparently he was quite helpful to all of the teams. Not sure how much work he got done that night though!
Afterwards Mexican food, pin the tail on the donkey (hard to believe but the kids enjoyed it), cake, ice cream, pinatas and hot tubbing and swimming. The boys left at midnight and the girls spent the night. As far as parties go, it was pretty easy. My only job was the aforementioned liquor watch, staying out of the way when the food was served (people could get hurt!) and being invisible in a visible kind of way.
Next year, Kiki will celebrate her birthday at college. I am fairly certain I won't be invited to that party so it was nice to share this one with her. And yes, she is still pretty sweet!!
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