Isn't she beautiful????
Andy's car died it's final death a few weeks ago -- the trunk/boot broke and he couldn't drive it anywhere because if the boot/trunk wouldn't close then someone could get into the car through the back seat and steal things like outdated Lowe's flyers etc... (giggling -- I'm teasing Andy because he's always filling the vehicles with store-spam... he can't go into a store without picking up leaflets/flyers/pamphlets... and they all end up in whatever vehicle he arrived at said store in!)... back to seriousness though -- because of work he keeps a number of things that cannot be left in vulnerable situations like that -- data tapes etc. that he'd get into big trouble over if they went missing...
so we were worried about fixing up the dead car to make it appealing to dealers as a trade-in... Andy hasn't exactly had loads of free time and the free time he has had (well read back a few entries -- he's got a list of stuff to work on!!)... so it was a concern...
and when we started to think about getting a new (to us) car... we kind of both arrived on the "we want something unique and kind of fun" page at the same moment... and we both arrived from that page onto the "we want a Bug or a Mini" paragraph on that page... it was kind of neat how we both agreed on what we want (anyone who's been married for longer than a year can attest to how nice and sometimes rare that is)...
so... I know my husband... he loves to research. And I knew, that left to his own devices... he would research for a year and then finally make a move to test drive a car... so I pointed out that there's no point in starting the research until we've actually SAT in both types of cars... because it doesn't matter for beans if a Mini gets the best gas mileage ever and has the coolest cult-following-groups, if it has not enough leg and elbow room for the two of us...
thankfully he agreed. so one evening I dragged him out (in some pretty serious heat -- it was like 92 degrees and it was after 6pm!!) to a local used car dealership that I thought (from my own searches online) would be the one-stop shop place where we could sit in both a Mini and a Bug that evening... but no dice... only a Mini was there. On the website they advertise that they have a Bug, but the sales guy said they haven't had a Bug on their lot for 6 months. (which shows the staying power of the car -- if people don't want to trade it in because they love it!) So we sat in the Mini (it was a cute one too -- bright metallic blue) and it surprisingly had good leg room -- of course the back seat was useless except for luggage etc., but as we don't have kiddos (and probably won't have kiddos) it doesn't matter to us... but the elbow room was close. We weren't touching sitting side by side but there was only maybe an inch or two between our two elbows... it was close. So we thanked the nice sales guy and left.
And focused our attentions on Bugs. We drove from there over to a dealership we know has Bugs (because early on in our life here in Dublin it became disqualified in the "slugbug" game -- no dealerships allowed)... but they had closed for the evening. We just walked around and looked at the different cars they had available -- new and used. We were surprised at how the bugs really held their resale value. We talked about how we'd like it to have a tape deck (because we both have iPods and the cassette converters to be able to play our iPods through the car stereo) and my dream car would be a stick -- I wanted a stick-shift when we bought the Buick but they had none on the lot... So we went back a few days later to sit in one when the dealership was open. A very nice guy came out and helped us... we sat in the showroom models -- a convertible (again a beautiful metallic blue) and the Triple-white Special Edition model... convertible (new) costing $26,000 and spec. ed model costing $25,000 (also new). They had 3 or 4 more new Bugs on the lot ranging from $21,000 to $23,000 depending on features -- the $23,000 had a spoiler and fancy 17inch wheels with fancy hubs...
Then he told us about the bi-color Bug. Only $13,999 -- 2005, all the standard features, special limited edition (you'll have to ask Andy about how many were made etc.) it was to celebrate the older style of Beetle they used to make that had two colors -- one color was the main body and the other was the door panels etc.
So we test drove it -- and found the brakes a bit mooshy and grindy... (yes, those ARE the technical terms for that! :P ) came back from the test drive and he mentioned our options and kind of gave us a deadline because another couple really liked the car too -- but since we'd driven it first we would be given first refusal.
Next day my Dad and I went back over and Dad test drove it, checked it out (yes, he even kicked the tires) and then we put a $500 hold on it for the weekend (to give Andy his time for "research") -- me? I was ready to just buy it, but I knew I had to just be patient.
Then the discussions of whose car it would be began... in the end, it was agreed (amicably without any shouting even!!) that I would drive it during the week and he would drive it evenings and weekends -- because he's really hard on cars that he goes to and from work in -- and there was no way he was gonna trash that beautiful lil car!! Besides... he drives a company car everywhere once he gets to work anyhow.... so she'd just be driven to his office, and then sit there all day looking fun and cute and then get brought home.... no way!
Another fun discussion was what license plate to get for her... Andy wants something with "BUG" in it -- so we were laughing about all the british phrases with the word Bug in them and how his mum would have a coronary if she found out he got something like B*GGERALL as a license plate (not that he ever would -- but the idea of it was hilarious)
so as of now we are still looking for ideas of what plate to get... but she has unofficially been named "BeHelsbyBug" and also "Yady".... (by my dad -- yadybug is how my niece says ladybug)
isn't she funnn????
okay...
so I got two thyrogen shots back in April as part of the 1st anniversary "test" to see if there were any thyroid cells left... the test came back positive... there are cells left...
step two of that is another round of thyrogen shots (did I mention that these shots cost my insurance company $1,000 each!!) and then a week ago thursday I went to the hospital to the Nuclear Meds department -- and swallowed a capsule of radiated iodine...
This is to kill/show where the leftover cells are... it meant that there was radiation in my system... enough that I had to be in quarantine... not be around people, not handle my cats, not use regular silverware -- disposable everything... lots of rules about washing hands etc. and then washing out the sink after... etc. etc. etc. a week's worth of not-fun-ness.
I survived... (this helped) cheer me up...
and Monday I go in the morning for an uber-fun 90 minute full body scan... yayyy can't wait for that.
(man my blog entries are getting sarcastic!!!)
So in the meantime I'm enjoying what I'm coming to call "thyrogen brain" -- it could be similarly compared to what some women call "pregnancy brain" ... the cloudy-unable-to-put-thoughts-together-quickly-and-dam-it's-frustrating thing... I think I may have mentioned this before but when you go from being pretty intelligent and coherent and able to carry on conversations and plan something and even WRITE something... (you think I'm kidding?? go back through my blog entries.... you'll see a difference) ...it is terribly frustrating and makes you feel stupid and sad and angry and betrayed by your brain.
and it screws with your sleep schedule again too... just when you were about to be back in a somewhat normal (going to bed at 11:30 getting up at 8/8:30) routine... you're back to the going to bed at 2/2:30/3am getting up at 10:30/11/11:30am thing... which really sucks because you still feel tired pretty much all day...
(thus ends the health whinging hooray!!)
cause that's all it seems to be --- weeks in between postings and then the posts seem to all be whinges about health issues...
lemme tell you that this is not fun. I look back at the past year and a half and think "o my word what the heck has happened to me!!??!"
First the more interesting stuff --
last post (*cough* almost a month ago *cough*) was about DIY here at Chez Helsby -- even as I type this Andy is cutting and nailing down the small wooden trim that goes on top of the floor to hide the tiny gap you have to leave for the floor to float... Why you may ask has it taken so long for this room to be finished? Well, for a number of reasons -- when we took the baseboard off we discovered a moldy area, which Andy peeled back some of the drywall from and sprayed mold killer and worked on that -- but the baseboard that used to be in front of it had deteriorated too much -- it needed to be replaced.
Andy hates the DIY stores as much as I do. I don't know what happened to both of us, but the DIY bug skipped us both entirely. Andy's sister and her hubby and his parents are all about the DIY and they're good at it too! My folks -- not so much all about the DIY, they do it occasionally but if it is a big job, they're more inclined to let someone with more experience do it. My brothers -- it's too soon to tell really -- the one has only been a homeowner for 2 years and the other brother is renting a house because they're not sure where they want to settle just yet and with this market being as it is, it is wiser to rent and wait than to buy and have to sell in the bad market.
So Andy makes many trips to the DIY stores (between needing things for the mower -- which is a whole entire other story which can be summed up as follows... Kristen should never have ever tried to help out by using the riding mower... ever. and from this point forward... WILL never ever try to help out again using the mower...) and he picks up the trim and the new section of baseboard (because the rest of the baseboard seemed fine) and a mitre guide.
Insert lots of time where poor Andy is miserable with allergies and right at the end of May had taken 2 of the MCSE exams (and passed them -- he's full MCSE now!! way to go LOVE!!) and was feeling fairly stressed out/exhausted/miserable/not motivated...
flash forward to last weekend... in a couple hours we're going to head over to Mom and Dad's house for Father's Day dinner on Sunday -- Andy is getting ready to nail down the last of the baseboard and cut and attach the trim... he realizes he might need longer nails... so he heads down to the basement where his workbench is.... only to shout up to me frantically.
There's #*&$#*#$^ water everywhere. In every room of the basement.... water.
I cannot believe it... I mean, we JUST had this waterproofing done!!! HOW can there be water down there....
So I go down and he starts the mopping job (we only have one lousy mop -- make mental note to buy better mop!!) and finds that its better to just mop it up with an old towel and wring out the water into a bucket. I'm wandering around the basement trying to figure out where the water has come from... I mean -- we haven't had much rain lately -- so what in the world is going on!!!?!?
(now you can understand why we both hate DIY and it takes us AGES to complete something!!)
long story short... it's the air conditioner.... AGAIN. Same thing happened 2 years ago and again last year. Basically the tray that catches the condensation drains out into a pipe that goes into the ground... well that pipe clogs... (we have REALLY hard water -- well water) and the tray fills up and fills up and doesn't drain and then just overflows.... out of the unit... onto the floor...
and since the basement guys had been here... (and the hot water hose to the washer which they detatched to move the washer out of the way -- the connection on the hose that attaches to the washer was stripped and would have leaked... I buy new hoses, attach the cold water one myself no problem... the hot water one is basically RUSTED to the hot water spout... I try.... my dad tries.... my dad and I try.... finally I call the plumber (because also the shower is clogged -- 2 birds one trip)... he takes a week and a half to get here b/c of being on vacation and also it's his "spare time" job -- he works full time as something else (plumbing inspector).
So for more than 2 weeks... no one has set foot in that basement. I can't do laundry (thankfully Mom and Dad live nearby and I can go use their machines) ... and there's not many other reasons to go down there...
So for more than 2 weeks... water has been trickling out of the a/c unit... across the floor and across the basement... it was a LOT of water.
Andy got it all mopped up and we headed over to Mom and Dads -- I called the a/c guys the next day -- they can't come out for another 2 1/2 weeks... (thankfully this past week has been very mild and we've had the windows open and been ok).
All of that to say.... so right now Andy is putting finishing touches on the cat room and we can get them back into there and my house will look more like a house and less like one giant cat room..... phew STINKY. swine cats.