Yes, I know...

Blogger was down all day
If you tried to comment, it probably didn't work
Comments are working again
Happy Monday!

One of the ways we save money is...

We don't take our cars into a shop for every little thing.  We'd rather not pay installation / labor fees.  K thanks.

In fact, when we were dating, I had a fuse go out in my Volvo and I took it in.  A dadgum 32 cent fuse cost me $50 for labor.  When I told him, I think that's when he decided he would marry me just because he felt sorry for me and thought he could at least fix my car and save me some coins.

DC's headlight went out a couple days ago, so he changed it himself.  While I watched, I thought this was way too easy and I'm sure tons of people could do it if they knew how...so here we are

Every car will probably be a little bit different and require different bulbs.  There are tons of websites and forums to help you pick the right ones, and a lot of them have step by step instructions.  Or, you could go to an auto parts store that you trust and ask them what bulb you need.  If they can't tell you, go somewhere else.

The supplies:  Screwdriver, Simple Green (to clean your hands- we use this on everything), some gloves, a headlight...for your head...so you can see, 2 new bulbs (he just decided to replace them both)

The bulbs DC got were Sylvania Xtravision H7.  This chart on the back can basically help you decide how much you want to spend on a bulb.  The one on the far left is a standard bulb, the one on the far right is a high performance bulb.  They compare life, distance, intensity, and width of the beam.

Some cars have combined high and low beams, but DC's has separate ones.  He was changing the low beams this time.

Are you bored yet, ladies?

Like I said, your car may be different than DC's but most of them will have a clip behind the headlight where you can remove a plastic headlight panel like this

Move this metal clip over and remove the panel

Pull the wiring harness plug off, move the 2nd metal clip (I didn't get a great picture of this, but you're smart, you can handle it), and you'll see the bulb.  Remove the old bulb

See the gap in the coil?  No good.

Hold your horses.  These bulbs are made of pressurized quartz and if you get any grease on the bulb, they can explode.

Don't freak.

Just remove everything, then put your gloves on to do the new bulbs.

Screw in the new bulbs, and replace everything.  Badabing.  You just saved yourself $80 in labor costs and it only took you 15 minutes.

Shmiggity Bliggity Bloggity Boo

Today is Friday and that is all that’s on my mind.

Other than this…

My baby brother is coming home next week for a few days and I am spending Thursday with him.  Just like the old days…

 

There is nothing that excites me more than this.  NOTHING.  Does anyone know how to tie a good knot?  I want to try to keep him here.

I put a “followers” thing on the right side bar because 64 people have asked me how to follow my blog.  Instead of explaining how to do it without the gadget, I just put it up there.  But I probably won’t keep it up long; I don’t like how it looks.  Anyway, click it and follow if you like.  I think the only perk of following is that you can read all of your blogs on Google reader.  Am I wrong?  Enough on this.

I have my first long run tomorrow morning with my new running group.  I’m a little nervous.  I don’t want to talk about it.

Happy birthday today to my sweet mother in law.  I am blessed.

Goggle, my grandma, turns 87 years old on Sunday.  I get my humor from her.  And my love of coffee and crosswords.  And my sarcasm.  And my attitude.

 

See what I mean?

She roped the moon, I’m pretty sure.  Happy birthday, Gog.

And happy bizzurthday to Marianne.  I just looked to see what year you were born.  91?  Really?  Why does that weird me out so much?  Happy birthday girlfran.  See you next week for no boys allowed dinner.

So many June birthdays…what was it about the month of September??  Just a question.

Metrolive started last night.  How my soul missed it.  If you’re in Houston, and in your 20s or 30s, come.  Email me.  You can ride with us.  It’s excellent.

My dear friend, who I met on a cruise in 2006, is getting married tomorrow.  And she just finished med school.  Dr.Walsh Cardella, Medicine Woman, I am crushed that I cannot watch you walk down that aisle.  I will be thinking of you tomorrow, beautiful bride!!

We have zero plans this weekend.  Other than DC racing tonight and my long run tomorrow.  Love. That.

Happy Weekend

This may be a dumb post, but I wouldn’t have written it if my girlfriend didn’t bring it up last week

When my best friend from high school got married, we threw her a wedding shower.  And no one ever got a thank you note.  And everyone was asking me why they hadn't received one.  That was fun.

I wouldn’t call it a pet peeve.  More of a feelings hurter.  When you don’t send a Thank You for something major (not everything- that would be annoying), it’s a big feelings hurter.

That person spent their Saturday morning waiting in line at the Bed Bath & Beyond customer service to have your registry list printed out for them.  And when they found the thing on the list in their price range that they wanted to get for you, it was sold out.  Then they spent 35 minutes looking for their second choice only to find that it was the last one they had, and it was broken.  So they picked 4 smaller gifts, spending another 45 minutes looking for all of them.  Then they waited in line to check out where some lady ran into their heel with her cart.  Then they realized they left their coupons in the car, and now it was out of their price range, but they decided they would just go ahead and get it all after all of the frustration.  Then they wait 25 minutes for gift wrapping.  And they lug it to your wedding.

When we got married, DC hated writing these.  He re-thought marriage solely because he may have to write a couple Thank You's.  Note: he wrote 2.  Out of a trillion.  One of the reasons he hates doing it so much is that he doesn't "know how" to write one.  He thinks they're awkward and fake.  And I found out that this is more common than I thought.  And maybe this will help.

For one, it helps to get some cute stock to send out.

I like these

source

and these

 

source

and these

source

and these

source

and these

source

For our wedding, we made up our guest list into an excel spreadsheet and kept track of who was coming, who sent a gift, what it was, and I would mark it as I wrote the notes.  That way it's not overwhelming and you can make sure you get everyone.  This would work for a graduation or shower too.  Most registries have a thank you manager as well.  So easy.

And then, really, this is all you have to do.

Dear So and So McAwesome,

Thank you so much for the ________.  I / We cannot wait to use it in/for / It will go great with  __________.  I / We are really thankful for your generosity.  Thank you so much for thinking of me/us or thank you so much for sharing our day with us.

Regards,

Thankful Person

But I totally get that sometimes you just don't know what you can say.  DC and I got one of these for a wedding gift, and this is the note we wanted to send:

Dear What the Heck,

Thank you so much for the umbrella light.  Perhaps someday when we have a home with a deck and an outdoor table, we will be able to buy an outdoor umbrella and then and only then will we be able to put this to use if people don't think it's weird.  Until then, thank you for the closet space taker-upper.

Did you see our registry,

Us

Naturally, I thought this may not go over well the next time she saw my mother, so we made it work.  Because as cheesy as it is, it really is the thought that counts.  They thought about you and what you might like, they spent their money and cant-get-it-back time to give it to you.  In my case, I spent weeks planning this shower for my girlfriend, cleaning my place, bought food and drinks and flowers and a gift.

That same best friend sent me an email one day with an ultrasound picture.  I threw her a baby shower.  No one got a thank you note even though I addressed the envelopes for her.  Granted, she did have a seizure while on a business trip resulting in an early "birth" but, girl, get your priorities straight.  I can say all of this because she doesn't read my blog.  Oh and because I have already said it all to her face.

6.2.10

Dear Husband,

When we have holidays, I almost forget what day it really is. I wish it was always that way. Remember last week when I said we hit the biggest air ever? So wrong. Thanks for teaching me to jump a jet ski.

Best teacher ever. Don’t tell my mom. We talked about leadership and sacrificial love in church on Sunday and who knew you would be doing that for me that very night. 9 zillion points for going to Wal-Mart at the most inconvenient time ever. You’re a great leader.

High five,

Wife