Guaranteed to bring a smile....

I drive a yellow Beetle.... bright, sunny.... which suits me rather well.  

Daisy Jane came to me with a black bra attached and I saw no reason to remove it.  It adds a certain "who is that masked car?" flair, and with all the yellow Beetles on the road, it helps me to identify her in the parking lot.

This is not Daisy Jane, but it looks pretty close to her.  Image shamelessly borrowed from the internet.

My brother-in-law kindly offered to replace my headlight bulbs for me (basically I think he noticed the "deer-in-the-headlights" look I was sporting when I thought I was going to have to do it myself) and, while my sisters and I were visiting, he went out to go do the task.

My sister happened to glance out the window to see how her husband was doing, and made a comment about the state of my car.... one that, while humorous, I wasn't sure if I could believe it.  Sure enough, checking later, she was right.

Flash forward a few days later.

I was climbing out of my car at a local grocery store when the gal parked across from me called out, "That is the brightest, yellowest, cheeriest thing I have seen in a long time". 

I smiled, thought back to my sister's comment the other day, and replied, "Yes, but she has a dark secret.  You see, she doesn't like to go out without her bra on, and now she has tan lines."

This stranger looked at me, looked back at Daisy Jane and then burst out with the wildest laughter I have ever heard.  We're talking head thrown back, and the noise levels high enough that half of the parking lot probably could hear.  

Smiling, and happy that I made someone laugh, I wished her a good day and went inside the store to run my brief errand.

It was only about five minutes later that I came back out and found that she was still there, glancing at my car, shaking her head and still chuckling.

"I just had to let you know", she told me, "that I will be laughing about this all day."  With that she thanked me, and then watched me drive away... still chuckling.

Its been nearly a week since that day, and I wonder about that woman... while I am happy that a random comment brightened her day, I hope that she is doing well and that her life is happy.  You can never tell with people what will lift their hearts from whatever troubles them in life, and I hope that I keep this simple lesson in mind and never fail to do my part to be kind to those around me.

Even if it is only one small, shared joke between strangers.

Comic courtesy of halfbaked.com

Watch what you advertise...

photo courtesy of tombricks on Flickr

I was stuck behind a flower delivery van on my way home tonight, waiting for the flow of cars to slow down enough so we could turn.  The onslaught of oncoming cars stopped and still the van failed to pull forward.  We sat there for a few moments with nothing coming towards us before they finally deemed it safe and they made the turn.  I was following along behind as they slowly drove up the street and pulled into a driveway.  Maybe it was a delivery, maybe they were just getting home for the night....

 

I passed by and couldn't help but think to myself that with as slow as that van had been moving that this was certainly not a service that I would be calling on in the future.  Speedy delivery was definitely not their game.

It just had me thinking once again about how people should really pay attention to their actions when they have their business name plastered all over their vehicle.  If you are the thoughtless idiot who speeds past me in the morning, weaving from lane to lane in a school zone without the use of your blinkers (true story), I can guarantee you that I will not be calling on your services... ever.  If you show me you are rude (flipping me the bird because was in your way and going the posted speed limit - another true story).  If you are reckless (see above comment about speeding and lack of blinkers) or if you are a red light runner then why should I want to support keeping you on the road?

Are people really not aware that everything they do is either a reflection of themselves or the company that they are representing?  Whether you are off the clock or not, driving around in a so-called "company vehicle" (yes, I include moms in minivans with the name of their online scrapbooking service on the back window as a company car) your every move is still under observation. 

So to the guy throwing a shopping cart full of Bud in the back of his construction truck... as an FYI, I'm going to be hesitant about hiring someone who obviously likes to par-tay.  And for the moms whose logos are peeling and faded, and the dashboard of the car full of baby wipes and action figures, your claims that you 'put the special in a gal's special day' seems a bit too shabby for me to want to take a chance on.  Well, that and I think its a pretty safe bet that your hands will be full handling your own brood and not focused on my special moment.  

Maybe this is why I haven't splurged yet on vinyl sides for my own car just yet....

My head is still spinning....

This will certainly be an odd post, given the type of girl that I am, but I have come to learn that you really can have too much of a good thing.

Two summers ago I bought a gas can....you know the type, red, plastic....boring. I was stocking up on a few "for the car" things and figured it was always good to have a nice gas can on hand.

A few weeks later I ran myself out of gas and had to use the can....see, good purchase, I told myself.

Shortly afterwards my roommate bought a lawn mower and, as she had no gas can, I offered mine as a temporary fix....that wound up being not so temporary. No biggie really since gas cans are cheap...but I always forgot to grab a new one whenever I was at the store.

A few weeks ago I was heading off to work, when I noticed my poor gas can mostly buried in the snow. I pulled it out, wiped if off and decided to just put it in the trunk of my car...there was a little bit of gas in the bottom, but that didn't worry me any. Its not like we have any sort of outdoor storage units to have stuffed it into.

Over the next few days I started noticing a slight whiff of gas....wow, I thought...guess those things aren't as fume-proof as I thought....and kept on driving. (I should probably point out that I really do love the smell of gasoline....)

Well this morning I opened the door and you'd swear fumes were literally streaming out of the car. What the heck? I thought (okay, it may have been a little more strongly phrased than that) I opened the trunk of my car and found the gas can lying on its side...and that no one had screwed the reversible funnel back under the cap....instead it has been left sitting loose, and I had failed to notice when I stuck it in my car.

Luckily I have a bag of cat litter in the trunk of my car, so I opened it and sprinkled it liberally on the affected area. I also have my sunroof open and my windows cracked to help let out some of the smell.....it was a cold ride into work this morning.....lets just say, good things are often better in smaller packages!

Biggest bummer? We haven't seen snow in a few weeks and I just looked out the window to see a serious amount of snow starting to swirl down from the sky.....

Guess I should go roll up the windows....and hope the litter works!

Procrastination and "snooze control"

Nothing like waiting until the absolute last day to get your vehicle tabs.

The sad thing is that I had my safety and emmissions test a week before February ended so I could be sure to get my tabs with plenty of time to spare.

Maybe that was my problem......I knew I had plenty of time and promptly forgot that I needed to do it until the end of last week. Unfortunately the DMV is no longer open on Fridays. I'd planned to be there yesterday bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7 in the morning but I elected instead to hit snooze a couple times and didn't want to be late for work.

Anyway, this morning I ran down to my local Jiffy Lube, showed them my test results and then shelled out an extra ten bucks for them to issue me my tabs. I figure I deserve it for putting it off for so long. Sure I could have driven to the DMV over in Provo and been at their doors at 7, but, as I am sure you guessed....the snooze button won again.

I need to keep my alarm across the room from my bed...out of easy reach.

Extra Coverage

Turns out buying a little "extra protection" can be a good thing. Case in point: my tires.

I purchased a set of winter tires a little over a year ago...and of course left them on my car all year long. I wanted all-season (which they didn't have in stock in my size) and I didn't think too much of it. Besides, having them on the car only in the winter means they'd last for years, I'd have to store them 9 months out of the year and my car is older...who knows how many years it has left anyway?

But I digress....

I typically do not spring for the "extra options" package whenever it is offered, no matter what the item is as it is usually not worth it to me. For some reason, however, the tire protection plan was offered and I accepted. Hmmmm....probably because the tires cost less than I had budgeted for in the first place.

A year and a few months go by without incident...until yesterday.

Sunday afternoon I hop in my car and pull out of the driveway to drive to my brother's house (I was scheduled to make fajitas for our weekly dinner/get-together). As I pulled onto my street the car felt funny and I could hear this strange sound. The guy behind me started honking and flashing his lights...it felt like I had a flat tire and this guy confirmed it. I pulled over, got out and looked. Sure enough, my back driver's side tire was flat as a pancake. I must have picked something up on Friday because I didn't drive my car Saturday (maybe there is something to this "Friday the 13th" thing after all?)

I drove a few blocks to a gas station, filled up the tire, and got a hold of the tire center where my warranty was(thankfully they were open on Sundays!) Going slow I drove across town and pulled up at my local Sam's Club. There were a few customers ahead of me but within 40 minutes I was driving away with a repaired tire at no cost to me. The culprit? A shiny silver roofing nail and I have no idea where I picked it up.

Hmmmm.....I still don't see myself buying additional protection on everything, but I guess, in some situations, coverage can be a good thing.