A Car for the Collegiate?

Hey Miss Car-owner T-

I'm a collegiate and I'm on a car search. This search has consumed much of the past week for both me, and B-town and Papa. The road has been rough, because our price range is cheap. We are looking for a used car, and when you look to buy a used car you are also committing to buy problems. Used cars are just going to have problems attached at the hip, so when you buy the car, you buy the problems. So we've been trying to figure out which problems to buy. Here are some we've encountered:

-A 94 Toyota Corolla (love that car because Toyota Corollas are the cars missionaries drive!): DIRTY, cracked windshield, grumbling and arthritic gears, 5 spd, maybe smoked in?
-A 95 Ford Taurus: Gold, Ugly, Clean, large (very wide, which makes parking for people like you and I questionable), Transmission becoming unreliable after 100,000 miles (it was at 117,000)
-A 2003 Dodge Neon: Cute, DIRTY, bad track record for reliability, giant ding in the back right passenger door, great gas mileage, did I mention cute?
-A 97 Nissan Altima: DIRTY, bald tires, no radio, 5 spd, great gas mileage

Which problems would you buy? Tough choice, no? We almost purchased a 99 Mazda Protege.

It's name was Marcos. Why this car was even in our price range is because it had previously been wrecked. The owner was an awesome Mexican man who had decked Marcos out with flaming skull seat covers and window stickers. Totally my kind of car. Also, while driving, you would gently bob up and down, sort of like when you are cruising a lake in a little boat (needed new struts). And last but not at all in the least, the 14 inch tires made for the car had been replaced by 17 inch tires with flashy hubcaps. Sweet looking, but with the interference this would cause with the odometer and speedometer, I felt uneasy about having a deceiving car. How awful would that be to think you are going the speed limit, but get pulled over because you aren't and it's because of your flashy huge tires? So, I guess it's ok that we didn't get that car.

All of this car talk and search made me remember my childhood dream car. A purple limousine.

Now wouldn't that make a sweet college commuter?

Well, hopefully I'll find a good college car, but until then I'll be patient, enjoy the savings on auto insurance, gas, and repairs. Remember how you used to want a red BMW convertible with a sun roof?

Wish I could buy this for you!

Love, Car-seeking KK

"Alright!"

Aloha KK -


Today was a little rough.  I locked T Bear in the car with my keys (and cell phone) on a hot summer day.  After some tears and prayers, everything turned out ok.  A big THANK YOU to the Kohagens, the police officer, Big D, and my Heavenly Father.


Needless to say, I have still been a little shaken up (and embarrassed) about the whole experience.  Then I watched this video and it cheered me up.  If you have had a rough day, I hope this cheers you up as well.


"ABCs - Alright!"


-Miss T

Musing on Love Part II

Aloha Miss-in-love-for-the-long-haul-T,

I began with Aloha, because do you remember how I lived in Hawaii and I miss that warm place? Also do you remember that Aloha means hello, and goodbye, and LOVE? Awesome. Well Aloha is entirely appropriate for this second musing on love.

We got our new sister. Isn't she lovely?



Because I caught the bouquet at the wedding (Good aim B! No worries that I had to do a swooping knee dive to catch, the dramatic suspense was totally worth it!), I was doubly inspired to think some more about love. Not only could I tell that this couple, my twin and his new bride, are in love, but that many of the other couples in attendance were in love as well. What do you think?

Miss T in love...with Big D and T-bear

Miga and Papa, true love's kiss.

Cam-man in love with water...and his two loving parents still also very much in love.

Might I say working on the "ing" of falling in love? Maybe, maybe not, but they are picturesque at looking the part.



Love is real and love is good. Romantic love leads people to make promises, as in marriage, and to live up to and beyond their potential for goodness because two people in love help each other do it. I was so inspired by all of this love, that when I happened upon the "Life's Little Treasure Book On Marriage and Family," instead of instantly tossing the tiny book aside I opened it up. Here are some of the delightful things I found:


"Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come ninety percent of all your happiness or misery."

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." -Mignon McLaughlin

"If you've had a hard day at the office, save the complaining until after dinner."

"Grow old along with me, The best is yet to be." -Robert Browning

"An archeologist is the best husband any woman could have. The older she gets, the more interested he is in her." -Agatha Christie

"Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later."

"Judge your success by the happiness of your wife and the respect given to you by your children."

"All good marriages have this in common: courtesy."

"Marriage resembles a pair of shears - so joined that they cannot be separated, often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them." -Sydney Smith

"When you know that someone has gone to a lot of trouble to get dressed up, tell them they look terrific!"

"Remember the observation of William James that the deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated."

"Marriage is an empty box. It remains empty unless you put in more than you take out."

"I would like to have engraved inside every wedding band, 'Be kind to one another.' This is the golden rule of marriage and the secret of making love last through the years." -Rudolph Ray

"A good husband should be deaf, and a good wife should be blind!" Hahah.

Do you agree with any of these timeless adages or pieces of advice? I sure do, and I love that. Love is a wonderful thing. Thank you B for inspiring me to think and muse and ponder about all of this. Have you told someone that you love them today? Go on. Do it. It is worth it.

Love, Love, Love, Searching-for-love-very-slowly-KK

We're off to get a new sister-in-law! Be back soon.

We are off to Jose & B's wedding in Utah.  We are getting ourselves a new sister-in-law.  Wish us luck!  Luckily we already know that she is so sweet and nice.  

The only sad part about going means that KK is leaving Seattle for good.  We will miss her dearly, especially her roommate T Bear will be heartbroken.

We'll be back soon!

I AM LOSING MY MIND!

I will leave the thought provoking and witty blogs to KK because I AM LOSING MY MIND!


Example #1
In the spirit of generosity, I decided to purchase some school supplies to donate to Deseret Industries during their "Back to School" drive.  With a flier from the Sunday newspaper in hand, I dragged T Bear into Office Depot promising him a thrilling experience.  We started filling our cart with paper, glue, scissors, crayons and more.  I was having a hard time finding the advertised 20-cent bag of pens and pencils and some of the other promotional items.  I went to the front desk to ask for help.


The lady looked at me with a slightly irritated face and said, "This if Office Depot, you have Office's Max's advertisement."  Then she handed me their flier and turned away.  


Wow!  I felt dumb, but to top it off, when I went to check out, I realized I did not have my purse on me.  I had to run to the car and borrow KK's wallet to pay for my Office Depot school supplies.  I don't even want to think about what those employees were saying after I left the store.


Example #2
Receiving my Costco coupons in the mail is one of my highlights during the month.  After reviewing the most recent coupon book, we decided to hit up Costco yesterday.  I was extremely over due for an eye exam, so I gave KK the coupon book with instructions to load up on the most important coupon items.  When my eye exam finished, I met KK and T Bear at the front of the store to check out.  I handed the cashier my coupons and with a stone cold face she said,"Coupons don't start until Thursday."


What! We only had coupon items (and a lot of them)!  We had to ask her to put all our items away and we walked out of Costco empty handed.  It was terribly embarrassing.  


I AM LOSING MY MIND!  To make myself feel better, I will blame it on pregnancy and try to avoid unnecessary retail shopping trips.  


-Miss T

Theme songs for Life.

Hey Love-Shack Lady,

Do you ever walk out you front door and get a quick aerial view of your life at that moment and hear a song playing? The song that is the theme of your day, week, month or year?

I distinctly remember walking out of Heritage Halls my freshman year at BYU, feeling the crispness of the air at 7:50 in the morning, seeing my breath puff out of my mouth and fogging up my glasses a little, and looking around to see if anyone could hear "California Dreamin'" playing, because I sure could. The song starts with "All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray. I've been for a walk, on a winter's day. I'd be safe and warm if I was in LA. " It's not that I love California, and always dream of that. In fact, I never really dream of it, unless it is to go to Disneyland, but in that moment, and for that whole month, and for the whole semester, that was the theme song for my life. The beat, the tempo, the idea of being cold and stopping in a church to pray. California dreaming represented other dreams. Dreams and hopes for my future that would push me to work hard, give all I had, and believe that it would get me somewhere that I really wanted to be. I wish there had been cameras there on that day, to record me walking, because I know that my steps were in sync (not n'sync) with the music, my hair had to have looked great in the wind, and I was just the perfect image of a college girl walking to early morning class. Can you picture it? But more importantly, can you hear it?

This moment in time when a song plays in your mind, and it's as if your life were a movie, it's a magical moment. If viewers were watching you in that moment, what would be the song playing along? The exciting thing is that just like the movies, the songs change. For example, when I think of a theme song for you and Big D, it depends on what you are doing. After a day of keeping T-Bear happy and mischief-free, teaching stroller strides even when you are pregnant, successfully shopping and getting good bargains, and coming up with a good dessert for the day, then I hear "Amazed" by Lonestar, because Big D can really be amazed at how you pull off some awesome things. But if it's after dinner on a hot day, and all Big D can do is make silly comments and obvious statements that are on the verge, if not completely there, of obnoxiousness, then I think a more accurate song would be "Get Out of My Car" by Cary Judd, though of course it's not real that you want Big D out of your car and life. Along another vein of things, a fitting theme song for Seattle's weather the past few days is the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun," as I have not ever seen so much sun (nor felt so much warmth) here in Seattle before. When I see T-Bear running over to dump some toys, and after the tremendous crash of it all, run to dump another bin, I hear the song "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith, as if T-Bear were just going crazy to get us to walk his way and love his toy dumping phase. When I see you teaching Stroller Strides, "No Limit" plays in my mind from Jock Jams. Oh yes. I said it. Jock Jams. But the theme song for you and your life will always be "Love Shack" by the B-52's because, nobody can dance like you can to that song. That song is your song.

It's a fun activity to match songs up with life episodes, wouldn't you say? Think on it. What song ran through you mind the last time you were sitting in traffic? Eating an ice cream cone? Walking along the beach? Buying groceries? Sitting at your computer 10 minutes longer than planned because you chose to read this blog? Why don't you try it, and let me know where you end up.

From California-Dreamin' Lady

Am I really old-fashioned?

Youthful KK -


Am I really old-fashioned?


Last Saturday I went into a maternity clothing store to get a dress for Jose's wedding. I asked the very young looking sales girl if they had any nylons. She looked at me slightly confused and said, "Umm.. we have tights."


I said "Ok, Do you have nylons?"


She said, "We have tights, I guess I don't know what nylons are."


I tried to not look at her like she was an idiot and said "Well tights are thicker than nylons and I am looking for nude nylons."


She said "Ok," and led me over to a different part of the store. She then showed me all of the tights and leggings they had for sale. I looked carefully to see if there were any nylons there, but there were not. So I told her again, "These are tights which are thicker than nylons, and leggings are thicker than tights, so it looks like you do NOT have any nylons for sale."


"I guess not," she said and walked back to the counter.


It didn't bother me so much that they did not have nylons. I really was astounded that this young girl did not even know what nylons are!!! Am I really old-fashioned?


-Your aging-quickly Miss T