Putting the "No" in November

Hey, at least I didn't put the "burrrr" in November, right?

Right now it's all about No. As in No more problemos... knock on something. Sunday Mike successfully removed the cab from Dodge #3. (See incredibly insane removal device below.)


And when I returned home from work on Monday, the remainder of Dodge #3 was gone. (That's a No as in No more excess vehicles.) Now you would think the next step would be to install the cab onto Dodge #2. But no (there's that No again), nothing is ever that simple. Dodge #2 needs a new transfer case first.

I'd love for Mike to have the transfer case for this Sunday - but I doubt that's going to happen. I told him he needs to sell some of this junkola he's been bringing home and promising to sell for big bucks and then never does. (No more junkola in November!) So I suppose we'll see what happens. There's less than a week to finish putting the No in this month.

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The Pride of the Neighborhood

You know you have way too much junk when you're disgusted by merely pulling in to your own driveway. Hiding your head in shame from other drivers... no this isn't my house, I'm just making a U-turn. Yeah, that's it.

That's about how I felt when I came home from a trip to the post office yesterday morning. Grossed out. And yeah, all the vehicles and boats and trailers and lawn tractors... that's one thing. But boy did we have a stack of god-knows-what alongside the garage, the new entertainment center and old lawn chairs borrowed from my parents for the halloween party on the porch, just junk junk everywhere.

So yesterday I managed to prepare the living room for the arrival of the new entertainment center. (Turns out, it's really nice - wood, good condition, plenty of storage and doors and drawers - much better than our previous particle board hand-me-down.) And last night after much wrestling, we were able to disassemble the old and bring in the new.

And here it is! (Look at how stoopid our TV looks.) When we finally get around to doing those wood floors in this room... hopefully just another month or so, we'll probably re-arrange the furniture, but for now, this is much better then what we had.

Plus, with the old entertainment system apart and ready for the dump, it seemed a great time to clean out the rest of the junk. Or, at least as much as we could possibly part with at the moment.

This morning Mike and I took a walk around the yard and decided what to chuck. Come to think of it, I should have taken some before and after pics, because before I knew it, the Dodge was loaded to the brim. Mike's at the dump now and may make a second trip!

And to think... this is the highlight of my week?! (Question mark exclamation point) Seriously, it makes me feel like something was accomplished... and listen, I hear Mike backing back into the driveway even as I type, back from his first trip. I can't wait to go and have a look at the yard.

Today he'll hopefully do that Dodge #2 and #3 cab switch too - and you know what that means - bu-bye Dodge #3!!! Fortunately for me, I'll be attending a luncheon with a couple girl friends. (How many Sundays in a row now have I been stuck at home babysitting? Two months? Good god.)

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Truckpdate

It's fixed! Yes, we've finally made it over the big yello hurdle! And if you missed all the drama, let me bring you up to speed...

The Vehicle Fiasco of 2009 began I suppose when I purchased yet another first gen 4Runner and around the same time my husband picked up yet another Dodge diesel and a for-parts-only Dodge to go along with it. This gave us a grand total of 5 trucks, two 4Runners and three Dodges.

The plan was to take Dodge #1 off the road and sell it to pay for repairs to Dodge #2 and the purchase of 4Runner #2. During the Dodge #2 repair downtime, Mike would drive 4Runner #1 and I'd drive 4Runner #2, the cheapest vehicles in terms of insurance. Once Dodge #2 was fixed and on the road, Dodge #3 could be junked and 4Runner #1 could be sold.

Well, problems arose with this plan right off the bat. Mike had no time whatsoever to fix Dodge #2 and Dodge #1 was not selling out on our lawn and craigslist. We were mere days away from just putting it on Ebay when 4Runner #1 began having major issues, rendering it "undrivable" as Mike put it.

Despite my protest, he took off the For Sale sign and put Dodge #1 back on the road. Almost immediately after, 4Runner #2 broke and I was stuck driving 4Runner #1... yes, "undrivable" or not, there I was, driving it every day.

Unfortunately a small issue became a big problem when we couldn't figure out what was causing the issue with 4Runner #2. Mike and our neighbors across the street spent a month of Sundays changing out parts between the two 4Runners until FINALLY just this past Sunday, they discovered it had been a bad distributor the entire time. (Always something stoopid, right?)

So after finally fixing 4Runner #2, Mike returned to working on Dodge #2. At this point he's pretty much ready to do the Dodge #2 and 3 cab switch. He painted Dodge #2's frame on Monday. Hopefully we'll have some good weather so he can finally complete this project. Then plan now is to fix Dodge #2, get Dodge #3 outta here, sell Dodge #1, and then fix and sell 4Runner #1.

Time is of the essence. We're both eager to get to work on that living room floor, the wood for which has been hanging out in our hallway since last year. And speaking of which, apparently, Mike just picked up a new wood entertainment center today... and when I say "new" I mean someone came into his work with the thing in the back of their truck on the way to the dump with it and he nabbed it.

So we'll see what kind of thing comes home. I hope someday to have a nice flat screen over a nice fireplace in the living room....

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Another Fiesta

Me 'n Mike

The Creeps - Ghosts last year, Vampires This Year

Mummy Bread

The Girls

Mouths

Ahhh, the annual Halloween party is officially over. And may I be the first to say, thank god. I really do enjoy throwing this party - we only have one party a year and this is it - and I love it. But this year with the baby plus my co-hostess bowing out last minute due to swine flu, conflicts with my friend Anya's wedding, half the guests attending the wedding, three weeks of decorating and cleaning.... I'm just glad it's over and everyone had a fabulous time, including myself.

Of course now comes time for cleaning the house.... or, I should say unhalloweening. Such a pain! I have to neatly put away all the decorations, wash all the spooky dishware, and throw out anything broken, ripped, or otherwise unusable for next year.

After that I wish I could say we could return to our normal madness, however this whole vehicle thing is still looming over us. My yello truck is still hurting and the reason is still unknown. Mike has changed the spark plugs, the vacuum lines, the fuel pump, the fuel filter... checked the timing, switched computers with the green 4runner, switched the coil and various other electrical components trying to find the culprit. But still it's acting up - specifically, like it's getting no fuel - you put the petal to the metal and you're still only going about 30mph and not accelerating.

What is this, the 4th weekend he's been working on it? So frustrating for both of us. Mike's eager to move on to his other Dodge to Dodge project and I'm just eager to make progress of any kind. With only a few weeks until the start of the holiday madness, I'm hoping for a bit of good luck. Because you all know I have a big winter to-do list....

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