Odds and Ends

The last few weeks have flown by. We packed a lot into those weeks and there were certainly a few things that happened that we want to remember. So I thought I would jot down a few of the highlights we may have missed.

Taking down Christmas

Shortly after the new year, we took down Christmas. It is always a little bit sad to take it down, but it is also nice for things to get back to normal. It is amazing how big our living room feels without a Christmas tree in the corner. I really enjoyed our Christmas decorations this year. This year Alison did a silver and gold theme for our tree and it was easily the best yet. It took a very long time to decorate because she kept decorating and un-decorating it. She tried deco mesh and just wasn't feeling it. Instead, we went to the store and got a bunch of gold flowers. They looked awesome.




It took a few days of rearranging before she truly felt like it was the way she wanted it this year. As we were taking it down Alison was already planning what she wants to add to next year's tree. Alison loves Christmas trees and I am sure she misses having them up. CC also always misses the Christmas tree. She spent a good amount of the holiday season hiding under our tree.


Alison always takes special care when taking down her nativity from Jerusalem. She carefully wraps each piece before placing them in a box that has fragile written all over it. This is our most prized Christmas decoration.



We were also a little sad to take down our Christmas cards. It is such a delight to receive Christmas cards from friends and family. We love reading and seeing what everyone has been up to. Connecting with family and friends is one of the best things about the holidays.


Buying a new car

We leased a new car between Christmas and New Year. It all happened a lot faster than we were expecting. Before we got this new vehicle I was driving a 2004 Honda Accord that Alison's parents got her while she was in college. It has been a very reliable vehicle. Recently it has started to show signs of its age and we had to take care of a few repairs. After I started work we discussed getting a different vehicle, but the timeframe we were looking at was more summer of 2016. Right before Christmas, we moved our timetable up. We decided to post the Accord on KSL. We priced it at the high end of the range we felt was fair and decided we would be patient as we waited for a buyer who would meet our asking price. We got a little interest over the Christmas weekend, but it wasn't until right before New Year that we were contacted by a serious buyer. The morning they wanted to see the car I got it all cleaned up and ready. After they arrived I walked around the car with answering questions. While we were inspecting the vehicle I noticed one of the tires looked a little low. I suggested we drive over to Smith's to put some air in the tire. By the time we got there, it was completely flat. It was terrible. I could not believe my bad luck. I had to put on the spare right there in the Smith's parking lot. I thought there was no way they would still buy the vehicle. Once I got the spare on they wanted to drive a little bit more. That was fine with me. They made a quick loop out the freeway before returning to my apartment. When we got back they decided they wanted the car and said for a slightly reduced price they would even take care of the tire. They made our decision to sell very easy.

With the Accord gone, we needed another vehicle right away. We had been looking a little bit and were fairly sure we wanted to lease a 2016 Honda Civic. We went to Stockton 12 Honda to get our vehicle since we had such a good experience last time we needed a new car. Unfortunately, this experience wasn't nearly as good as the last one. We ended up getting the car we wanted at the price we wanted, but it took forever. Seriously we got there around 4:30 and we weren't done until around 9:30. It was unbelievable considering we knew what we wanted and the price we wanted at 4:30. The car buying experience is very broken. I don't know if we would go back there to get another vehicle. Despite the bad sales experience, we are very happy about with our new car. It has met our expectations perfectly.


Joe Torre Baseball

For Christmas Alison got me a baseball signed by Joe Torre. We love Joe Torre and it was an awesome baseball to add to our collection. It was a great gift. It ended up being really funny that Alison decided to get me that particular baseball. A few days after Christmas I go out to get the mail and find I have a package...from Joe Torre. I open it up only to find a signed baseball. I was amazed. A couple of years ago when we started collecting signed baseballs I would mail baseballs to some of our favorite players. Many of them came back signed. A few did not. That was part of the calculus in sending out these baseballs. There was a significant chance they would not send them back. After a while, I stopped sending them out and I wrote off any that didn't come back. Amazingly a baseball I sent to Joe Torre in August 2013 got mailed back to me in December 2015 a few days after Alison gave me the same one for Christmas. What are the chances?


Beau Jest

Last night Alison and I went to the Hale Center Theater's performance of Beau Jest. It was such a funny play. We had pretty low expectations going in, and they were exceeded. We decided to buy HCT season tickets. They have a pretty good lineup this year. We really enjoy the HCT productions. It is a fun date night activity we have scheduled months in advance. We are really looking forward to several more fun shows this year.

Comments

Popular Posts