Just My Rambling

On this vacation, I noticed that cars here are very expensive, especially imported cars. I really don’t know how people pay for their cars here. Even a simple Toyota costs more than $100K. Granted that if I convert that to USD, it is not that expensive but if a person is earning local currency, it is definitely very expensive. I wonder if car parts are expensive too. I won’t be surprised if Ferrari parts cost as much as a car here. After this trip, I am so appreciative of my car and not complain about it again.

That’s what I feel these few days. Eveyone is rushing here and there. The roads have been so jammed with cars these 2 days. I am sure that everyone is out there trying to finish shopping for the holidays. I know that everyone is trying to get to their destination as soon as possible but I really wish that some people would drive more carefully. Yesterday I saw a car almost hit some construction worker because they were driving too fast. Luckily the construction workers were wearing safety vests, so the driver saw the bright colored vests and managed to stop at the nick of time. It is such a crazy time out on the roads. I think I will just stick to online shopping this year.

It looks like we are back to the normal Pacific Northwest weather this week. Wet and cold! Last week was an unusual week because it was freezing cold and no rain. I remember one day the temperature even dropped down to 13 degrees. While that might be normal for some states, it is definitely not normal for this area to be that cold. It was so cold that my outdoor cushions got frozen. I think it might be good idea to bring in my outdoor furniture just in case this freeze decides to visit us again.

This whole week I have been monitoring the weather forecast for this weekend. Tomorrow we have the Salmon Day Festival. Lil’ C has been waiting for a year for the Salmon Day Parade ever since she saw it a year ago. She has been looking forward to checking out the Princess floats again this year. So that is why I have been closely monitoring the weather hoping that it will be a sunny weekend. It was originally forecasted as a rainy weekend but as of today, it seems like it might just be cloudy. Oh, I really hope that the weather forecast is accurate or we might just end up staying at home and rearranging office furniture. I will also have a grumpy kid on hand. So Mr. Rain, please stay away this weekend!

It is almost the end of summer and it seems like there are sales going on everywhere. Besides the usual back-to-school sales, there are also summer clearance sales and stock clearance sales. One of my favorite stores has their annual toy clearance sales and I managed to snag a few great deals. I even bought some really cheap party invitations that will come in really handy for birthday parties. I also bought some summer clothes for Lil’ C for next year because they were so cheap. They were less than $2 each down from their regular price of $12! It’s definitely worth stocking up. I am planning to go to more stores next week to stock up on birthday gifts in preparation for lots of birthday parties end of the year.

The swine flu has hit Washington. Yesterday it was reported in the news that there are 6 probable swine flu cases in the state, including 3 in this county. The 3 in this county includes an 11 year old boy and a pediatrician. The school that the boy attends is now temporarily closed till next week. What makes me scared is that you can’t differentiate swine flu from regular flu. With flu season and allergy season at its peak now, everyone seems to be coughing or sniffling. So we won’t know if they are having regular flu, swine flu or just bad allergies. We can’t stay in isolation and avoid every single person, right. This morning I went to Target to buy some Purell hand sanitizer and discovered that they have been completely sold out. Three shelves were completely empty! No masks either. I ended up just buying some hand soap and Dansko shoes. Luckily I still have some Purell at home but I will have to find some more because I will be using it a lot especially on Lil’ C!

This week I have been busy making summer plans. Lil’ C will be out of school in the beginning of June. I was planning to send her to summer camps but after checking out the prices, I am having second thoughts. I can’t believe how expensive some of those summer camps are. It looks like she will end up attending mommy camp this summer instead. So now I am planning all the activities for mommy camp. So far it includes lots of visits to the parks, children museums, art museums, berry picking, playdates and maybe even wholesale auctions. I am also checking out some vacation bible schools too. Mommy camp is looking exciting so far. I hope she will think so too.

My neighbor just put up his house for sale last weekend. That must be the reason why he has been checking out the Wilmington NC real estate market lately. He must have finally made up his mind to permanently move back to his hometown. Actually he did put his house up for sale 6 months ago but due to the lack of response, he took it off the market and decided to postpone his move. Unfortunately it seems like it will be a long time before we see the light at the end of the real estate tunnel. It might just be wiser to sell his house at a loss than to wait for the real market estate to turn around. I really hope that he will be able to sell his house soon.

Seriously I think the weather has just gone crazy! In the past 24 hours, we’ve had heavy snow, snow flurries, hail, sleet, rain and even a tiny peek of blue skies. The funny thing is that it comes in random order. It would hail for a while, then snow, then sleet and so on. The weather is definitely too fickle-minded for my liking!!