Oops, we did it again…

My name is Lisa. I am a recovering car buying addict. I have been sober for 10 days...
This one I can blame on Jeff. Ever since the commercials started coming out about the new G37, he would spend every waking minute talking about it. After about 3 weeks of engine-cyclinder-pistons-mumbo-jumbo, I reluctantly agreed…similar to the tattoo…just to quiet him. For me and my car buying addiction, it is less about the car and more about the car buying process. Some people hate it…I personally love it. Spending a Saturday with a car salesman is a great way to make you feel smarter than when you walked in the door. I love negotiating. I love pitting two dealerships against each other. I love to win. This car salesman in particular was a little different than most, in that we were friends by the end. I think I earned his respect. I am even trying to convince Kellie she needs one too, just so I can help him out. Kellie is actually partially to blame for all of this. She asks us to help her out buying a new car…we start to research cars…fall in love with one… she is working too hard to focus on car buying…and in the meantime, we have bought 2 cars. We’ll help her next though. I promise, because we are keeping these cars FOREVER! Seriously, of the 13 cars we have had between us over our driving lifetime, this one is by far the coolest.

Speaking of work, I was able to accomplish one of my major work goals this week…to fly on the corporate jet. I must say there is no other way to travel. First of all, I parked about 50 feet from where I boarded the plane. Then, I handed someone my luggage and they didn’t even ask if “at any point it had been left unattended.” I boarded the plane without taking my shoes off and carried on my purse without anyone ever rummaging through it. For all they know, I could have had a container of lotion over 3oz. in there! The plane sat eight and the chairs were each as big as a recliner. After takeoff, the flight attendant offered us cocktails and appetizers…move over airplane shaped crackers…pass me the artichokes and fancy-shmancy olives. Eventually we landed in Salt Lake City and ate a good dinner…I am happy to report that I managed to use the correct utensils and everything….which is a big step for me (about a month ago, Matt, Mel, Jeff and I went to a fancy steakhouse, and not only did I pick up the wrong fork, I picked up Jeff’s fork by mistake…good thing it wasn’t our first date). But I digress…the next day in Salt Lake, we listened to a few presentations…blah, blah, blah…and back to the plane it was. On the way back, my boss urged me to ask if I could sit in the cockpit for the landing. I acted like that would be silly and unprofessional for about half a second but after a second urging, I was knocking on the cockpit door. The pilots were so nice and attempted to explain every button they pushed. They seemed to know their right-downwind from their left-downwind…which was comforting, since I have once flown with a pilot…not naming names…who was 60% sure he knew the difference. All in all, it was such a cool experience, and even if I get to ride on it once a month for the rest of my career (fat chance), it will never get old.

Speaking of getting old…(have you noticed the good transitions in this blog?)…anyway, speaking of getting old, Hayden and Davis’ birthday party is officially scheduled. They are having another dual birthday party. Don’t gasp yet. I am not a terrible mom. They will each have their own birthday cake, there will be a piñata present, and…drum roll please….I successfully persuaded Jeff into dressing like Spiderman…so bring your camera. Hayden “needs a thousand transformers…just like Reed” and Davis wants a hot air balloon... I mean really, is that too much to ask? Such well balanced kids if you ask me. We are really struggling with the need vs. want lessons, since Hayden “needs” everything he sees on the commercials. I know the birthday party isn’t necessarily the right place to teach that lesson, but if we don’t get a handle on it soon, we’ll be planning his 16th birthday party to be hosted by MTV, and Jeff and I have a theory about that. If MTV comes knocking on your door to do a reality show about your kid, you’ve screwed up somewhere along the way.

What else is new? Hmm…
I got shingles for the second time in my life (ouch!).
Jeff is turning into a workaholic (not by choice).
Hayden loves peanut butter straight off a spoon, asks about three times per day how much he has grown, and can now climb to the top of the McDonalds play-center.
Davis is talking up a storm and starting to combine words. The combination usually has “Hayden” somewhere in the phrase… “Hayden pushed”… “Hayden share”… “My turn Hayden”… it is really more about tattle telling than actual conversing, but that’s okay. He has his sweet moments too as you can see in this video.