Had a fun day. Went over to my brother’s house, all the siblings and their families were there. We ate, we drank, we played games and we watched M*A*S*H. My favorite part of these family holidays.
The presents were minimal (for the adults). We each brought one small gift and then did the white-elephant pick a gift or steal a gift thing. I ended up with a small tool kit for the Jeep, and a ton of AA batteries, both things that I can definitely use.
My sister-in-law gave me this shirt that she made for me (she also made the graphics on my Jeep). Not only is it hilarious, but it’s also fitting for me.
The stock bumper on my Jeep has a big shelf in the back that collected a lot of snow when I drove it last winter. That’s why I decided I needed to spend the money to get a new front bumper. (If you’re thinking I’m just rationalizing spending $200 on a bumper I would have wanted even if snow catching wasn’t an issue, then you’re absolutely right.)
I picked it up the middle of last week and today my older brother came over and helped me install it. As he pointed out, the directions were pretty simple: “Take old bumper off, put new bumper on.” Fortunately the actual process wasn’t much harder than that. Unbolt 8 bolts and unclip 2 clips. Get out new brackets and install the new 8 bolts in their proper places. Done in just over an hour.
Here is the Jeep with no grille or front bumper.
With the new bumper, but without the grille replaced.
And a couple of shots with everything back where it belongs.
A few years back my friend ‘Adele’ and I spent one evening looking for the most over-done Christmas display we could find. This is what we found back in 2007, out in the Taylorsville area. We thought this was the most over-done display we would ever see.
Until tonight, when we were cruising the upper Avenues and saw this:
We counted up to 7 nativity scenes, and didn’t even bother counting snowmen – there were too many.
They had several “A Christmas Carole” era figures,
a Christmas Tweety?,
a palm tree,
and a penguin rolling his eyes.
And it seems they were quite anxious to get their Christmas display up, they missed taking down a few of their Halloween decorations.
And I saw my first Christmas commercial.
Thanks K-Mart. I know you’re desperate for those holiday $$$, but this is ridiculous.
2 “Pre-Black Friday” sales and a Sears Christmas commercial.
And it’s the first week of November.
I just wanna scream.
Update, Nordstrom’s is my new favorite place.
If only more places followed suit.
