The dining room muligan

What started out as a conversation about our tastes, likes and common interest lead the Paisley and I to a more in depth discussion about how to decorate our home.

We have been going through our belongings and donating the things that we just don't believe we can sell and setting aside the things that we can sell on line for a bit of cash to aid in pulling ourselves out of the consumer driven credit card debt we've amassed.

In the process of all this we have found out a few things about ourselves. We don't need "stuff" to fill our lives. We now have more rooms in our rooms because of the lack of "stuff". It's amazing how much "stuff" we were able to get into an 812 sq ft condo. Weird. Where were we putting it all?!

With more room in our rooms, that allowed us to view these rooms in a different manner and really take a look at how they are currently decorated.

The dining room is by far the emptiest of the rooms and the easiest to work in. After some discussion and some purussing through some Halloween literature, we came to the conclusion that our decorating style could be Halloween-like in some respect year round and still be everyday presentable.

With such an agreeable decision between us we decided on grey walls and keep our baseboard and crown molding white. 

The furniture will be repainted in all black to offset the look of the room and then the Paisley will add a few colour items to the room with a few things here and there. Look for some photos of the dining room furniture in the coming week or so with it's new look.

1967 Thunderbird: Rat Rod nation is calling

So this friend of mine has this car sitting in her driveway.

It came to her through unfortunate circumstances: the death of her dad. She can't sell it the way it sits. No one seems to want it. She doesn't know it's value. So there it sits. It is complete. What's not attached to the car is in the trunk.

So for a few Saturday's we have been going to her home after dark and sitting around the fire in the backyard and chatting and drinking and just enjoying summer. Through all this I have met a very cool man who has a very strong interest in cars as well. Especially Fords.

One night I recently asked my friend if we could rat rod her Thunderbird. She very quickly said "sure go for it". Wow that was a quick answer. Of course I had to ask her again the following day, post alcohol just to make sure the OK still stood. After all it's human nature to do and say dumb-ass things when one's been drinking and then regretted it the following day.

Not the case here. We still have our OK.

So without any further drivel from me, here it is. The winter project. Our rat rod.

I can't really tell if that is blue or if it's primer. Hard to say. I think it's primer.

The hideaway headlight covers still work!! Those can be expensive to replace.

That solid taillight piece could be a bugger to find. There is a small crack in the bottom of the lens where the top of the bumper is pushed in at the center.

I just can't believe what great shape it's in considering what it looks like right now. I can't wait to get going on this one and show it next year. Don't get me wrong, I do love having the 944, but there's just something about a big, heavy American car made before emissions controls and catalytic converters and fuel mileage.

This one will be close to home for me in a few ways. I really got along with and enjoyed her dad's company alot. He loved making hot rods. The other is that my grandfather that passed earlier this year was very much a Ford man and owned a lot of Thunderbirds in his life. In fact, he owned a 1967 Thunderbird 4 door. That one was a one a of a kind. The rear doors on the 1967-1969 Thunderbirds were suicide doors. My grandfather also ordered his with the 429 Thunderjet engine. This one is not as large at only 390 cu.in.

Don't look for too many updates anytime soon on this one. This project will be spread out over the winter, but I promise to revisit this one and show the progress.

Loaning things to family

It always happens. You have something in your possession that a relative wants to borrow.

Just about everyone who's anybody knows that I'm a movie whore and I have quite a few of them. I actually don't mind loaning out as long as my stuff is cared for. Movies are not cheap these days. Especially the BluRay discs.

On Easter my BIL finally had his computer center finished that would control his entertainment center and the disc drive is a BluRay player. He asked to borrow a couple and I'm more than happy to do so.

Angels and Demons and Death Race were the request. Little did I know that this would be the last time I would see Death Race.

The computer my BIL has in the rack lays on it's side so the DVD drive is on it's side as well. Well somewhere along the way, my disc had magically jumped out of the DVD drive and rolled into the back of the computer.

I finally got it back two weeks ago, minus the DVD case, and with with two spots that are now frozen and making the disc unwatchable.

It would have been nice to know that the case had been lost. There was no word of that.

Then it freezes 36 minutes in and again just over the hour mark. This is critical dialogue people!!!

What made the situation bad, was when it was mentioned to my BIL and SIL, they reacted poorly. We received a very confrontational response stating that "fine we just won't ask to borrow anything from you again".

I let them know what version I had........I always by the deluxe edition and with the iTunes copy for my iTouch. What they brought me was the deluxe without the iTunes. Grrr.

This is just the second run in I've had in a month with the BIL/SIL over the treatment of my belongings. See blog post from Enuff Stuff. I've stopped holding my breathe for an apology and have resigned myself to the fact that they will not be making my nephew be accountable for his actions.

I've never ruined a friendship over goods being returned broken, but relatives (even if by marriage) is another story.

PNW PCA Picnic: Jake attends a show and shine gathering

So Jake and the Paisley and I crashed a picnic last month.

OK not really. We were invited by my father in law who (unlike me) joined the Porsche Club America (PCA) and had an invite about the member picnic locally at one of the county parks and all were invited to bring the cars, garage queens or not.

Apparently that last part is aimed at Jake. He's no garage queen. In fact he was the roughest boy there. I made him uncomfortable and parked him right up front where he could be seen from the picnic shelter by everyone. I was actually surprised at how many people asked me about him.

The other great thing was that everyone was really nice and didn't look down on me for having a "work in progress" car.

Sure all the other cars there were in pristine order and look like they have their own caretakers, but this one thing was bringing us all together. This was the kind of camaraderie I had been seeking with the BMWCCA for 4 years and had not found. Apparently Bavarian Motour Works loosely translated means "car snob".

We saw some really nice cars and met some nice folks while we were at it.

This is one very nice 914-6

Two 968's: the model after the 944. Jake's younger siblings.

The always elusive 968 Cabriolet

That white GT RS on the end is one mean car!

Jake was one of only two 944's that showed that day, as it was mostly 911's and Boxsters. We still had fun and I can't wait to do a PCA weekend drive.