Handy Woman

Yesterday I took our Corolla in to get a safety inspection in preparation to get our cars registered in state (booo!!).  Unfortunately it failed, but I kinda assumed it would. Luckily to get it reinspected, I don't have to pay more. The good news is, it wasn't because of anything too terrible.  two reasons:
1) They couldn't find the middle seat belt buckle in the back
2) the window tinting in the back is "too dark" (hmm, I guess AZ and MD are slightly different in tinting allowance? I wonder why...)

They so kindly offered to take the back seat out to retrieve the seat belt buckle for $50, and I so kindly said NO.  So after almost 30 minutes of digging, leaning, grunting, I finally got it out!

Uno: DOS!

So then I started researching "DIY removing car window tinting."  After googling and advice via facebook, I finally marched on out to the car, with blow dryer in hand.  Look at me GO!

Revlon product placement. Want to pay me?

I was decently successful, but it's somewhat harder than what the youtube people made it look. Yesterday I successfully removed tinting from one full side back window, and two mini windows.  One of the back side windows is being a brat, so once it was getting a little too dark and cold, I gave up and went inside.  Today I wasn't quite in the mood for picking and peeling and saying bad things, so I'll be at it again tomorrow.  Our newer car is getting inspected on Saturday, and I'm pretty sure it's going to fail the tinting too.  

After more annoying things and more money than I want to think of (don't get me going, my blood might boil or I might start crying, depending on the day) our cars will finally be registered! 

Saturday-Baltimore

I wasn't joking when I said we wanted to see a different a bigger harbor; so we did this past Saturday.

Wolfgang came here for an interview a couple months prior to getting his current job and loved it, and wanted to show it to me. Indeed the Baltimore harbor is much bigger than Annapolis harbor, and of course the ships/boats are bigger too, but I do have to say that Annapolis had more boats.

We took a stroll around the harbor, ate at Potbelly where Wolfgang's love for the place all began, and even went in a ridiculous candy store.

The National Aquarium is also there, and I do have plans of going back and touring it. If you know me, you know I love me some marine animals and plants (yes, plants too).  After going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I vowed to go to any worth-while aquarium that I have the chance to.

Believe it or not, the water in Baltimore is not pixely. I used my panoramic function, and must have moved too much.

Worst idea ever.

Day Light Savings is lame. Super lame.

Clearly Arizona and Hawaii (isn't there a third state?) are the superior states, because they don't observe such nonsense.

I guess it was nice because we got to sleep and extra hour, but that wasn't worth the fact that it is only 5:30pm, and it's dark outside. Like really dark. BOO!

Bah humbug.

Sunday recipe

After buying some needed ingredients for this recipe a few days ago, I finally cooked up this butternut squash stew recipe tonight, inspired by Pinterest, of course.  You can find the recipe and a better picture here. It actually turned out surprisingly well, and husband approved.

To be honest though, the chances of me making it again are pretty slim, or at least not something I would do often, because it took FOR.E.VER.  At least for my standards, and maybe I'm just slow when it comes to cooking.

Today my neck is still a little messed up, but it has definitely approved in some ways.  It makes me grateful for medical insurance...that I currently don't have.  It kind of freaks me out to look at myself in the mirror, because I think my neck is a little crooked b/c of how I have to hold my head...or am I just imagining it? Who knows.  I'm sure I'll be 100% straight-neck-free within a few days. Today I wore a scarf to church b/c I'm self conscious about it, and because it's cold of course.

Have a fantastic week!

**added note: I'm sorry that the word "here" is an eye piercing color...I'll figure out how to change it...later.

Things to be grateful for- like candy.

Well, Halloween was a fail this year, or a win, however you want to look at it.  Since this is our first Halloween in this area, we weren't sure if we were going to get trick-or-treaters or not, but I bought some candy, just in case.  And of course, I only bought candy I liked, in case no one came because someone would have to eat it in the end, right? It's the least I could do.

In the end, we didn't get one single kid at our door. More candy for us! We're trying to be responsible and not eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so we've put it out of sight, so that way we don't go into a sugar coma.  'Out of sight, out of mind,' right? So far it's actually working pretty good.  Not to mention we still have a stack from my cousin, who works for Hersheys (yesssss)

 We didn't dress up for the holiday, nor did we go to a haunted house like we kinda wanted to.  But that's ok, we still did my family's tradition:

Jack-o-lantern Sloppy Joes!

their before shots

...and after

And since it is November, which is usually a month to remember the things that you are grateful for, I have to tell you about why today was particularly so great.

Well, it didn't start out so great.  This morning I woke up with really bad neck pain.  (How old am I?) I literally had never experienced that before, and made me grateful that I don't have chronic day-to-day pain. Anyway, I'm not sure what I did to myself, maybe just slept weird, but it was super painful.  I babied it for about an hour, and it got a little better.  It's still not 100% pain-free, but much much better than it was this morning.  I just kind of have to awkwardly hold it to the side a little, or so that's what it feels like.

Moving on, I'm suppose to be telling you why today was great.  For over a year now, our "check engine" light has been on in our Corolla.  Not to responsible for having it on that long, right? Well, we knew what needed to be fixed, and no one made it sound like it was that urgent, so we put it off.  Not to mention, our "trusted" (mechanic shops can only be trusted so much, right?) car garage place was quoting us at $1,200.  Yeah, we weren't going to pay that.

Coming here to Maryland, we knew we were going to have to get it fixed, and fairly quickly, before getting emissions testing and before registering it in state, which all has to be done within 60 day to not be charged any fines.

Last Sunday a couple kindly invited us over for lunch, and somehow our car came up, so I asked them if they had a go-to person for car maintenance. Sure enough they did, Wolfgang got his info and today our car was finally fixed for...$180 !!!  Isn't that a miracle?! I almost cried (well, may have cried, I'm easily on edge at times) We were so happy.  It literally took him only about 30 minutes, and we were outta there, even with a warranty.  This was such a HUGE blessing at a time that we really needed it.  We tried to express to him how grateful we were for him, but I don't think he'll really understand how much it helped us.

And you know why else today was awesome?  We got to eat at Pei Wei.  It doesn't take much, people.  Oh, and the fact that I had TWO fortunes in my ONE fortune cookie.

This is going to be a good month.

Is it over yet?

I feel your pain, little girl.

Can the nonsense be over yet? I'm tired of both of them. Between pestering from my dad (love you dad!) and all these malicious commercials, I'm just ready for one of them to get the job, and get going on being a leader for this country.

pre and post hurricane

 I'm happy to report, that Sandy is gone, and all is well, here at least.  Monday was the "worst" day, where it rained the whole day, and it got really windy at night. As I mentioned in my last post, the lights flickered several times Monday night, but luckily our power never went out.

It is such a tragedy what has happened to many, due to the hurricane.  My heart and prayers go out to them as they move forward and try to rebuild their communities and their lives. It make it much more real when things like this happen not too far away from where you live.  I feel incredibly blessed that nothing happened to us or our belongings.

I think now on since the storm, the weather is going to stay cool (nooo!!) We're talking in the 40s-50s.  I don't want to talk about it...

Rewind a few days- this past weekend before Sandy moved in, we headed to Annapolis for an afternoon trip.  It was my first time being at a part of the Atlantic Ocean!  It was a cloudy day but we enjoyed walking around.  It wasn't as exciting of a harbor that we may have expected (maybe because people were preparing for the next few days), so we're hoping to get our next harbor fix in the near future in Baltimore; Wolfgang says it's "much better."   Here are just a few shots of Annapolis.

 

My cute husband :)