Cash for Clunkers

I am not going to use this as a vent for all of the political nonsense that is going on these days, BUT it's Friday, and another plan that the super government has put together is costing me and all my law abiding, bill paying, tax paying friends more money. Thanks! No, I really mean it. I enjoy going to work, busting my rear, and then giving someone part of my paycheck to help them purchase a new vehicle. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH

Car Salesmen

Soooo, we have been looking for a larger vehicle for Cherie. I have been doing a lot of research on the vehicle that we want to get. I have talked with dealers from as far away as California trying to find the best deal. We have gone to Dallas to look and no luck, we have been to Baton Rouge and no luck. I was going back in forth on a vehicle with a manager at a dealership in Houston. He finally got to a number, but it was not the right number, so I told him thanks for trying. Not having another thought about it, 2 days later I get a call from a salesman from the Houston dealership. He is all excited, saying that his manager is willing to come down on the price some more. This guy called me about 5 times in two hours. We were on our way back from BR at the time, and it was late in the afternoon. These cats even offered to put us up in hotel room (the whole fam)if we would come to Houston right then to work out the details on the vehicle.Of course they gave us the line that, "If you were here in person, then we could work out and get you exactly what you want." We declined at the moment, but told them we would try to come down the following Monday. That did not work out, and I was under the influence that the vehicle would be gone. Based on the numbers, that I wanted to get to, and what the salesman was seemingly agreeing to, this was a heck of a deal. After talking to the salesman for another couple of days, we decided to rent a car and go to Houston, thinking we would be getting the deal worked out and come home in the newer vehicle. No such luck....they were very unprofessional, Cherie and I were left at a desk, by ourselves, for over 2 hours staring at each other. When the salesman and the manager came to close the deal, the numbers were out of the park...not even close...So, to save the drama, we got up and left...We have received a few voicemails and emails from these guys, with the "good" price that was discussed with the salesman prior to us going to the dealership. Needless to say, we do not plan to deal with the G____man Auto Group in Houston again anytime soon.

Where does all the time go?

Riley is now 8 1/2 months old, and growing up fast. He started saying "DaDa" a few days ago, and he will probably be walking in a few weeks. He has been pulling up on things for a while now, and has the "Jake Leg" scoot going.....you know the one where one foot is on the ground and one knee is on the ground, and it is not quite a crawl but a scoot. He has gotten big. Riley and Jax get to making faces and noises at each other, and it is pretty funny. He and his big brother already play well together, most of the time. Seems like just yesterday that Jax was just starting to walk.

It has rained more in the last few hours than it has all year. The thunder has been loud with plenty of lightning. I asked Jax if he was going to call Jesus, and he said maybe later. He said that he liked thunder, until one loud clap came about, and he jumped and ran into the room we were in. The rain is suppose to be here for a while, so he might get use to the thunder.

Boots, Belt, and a Wallet.....

That's what it takes to get an almost 3 year old to poop on the potty. We have been working on the potty training thing for a little while now. The pee thing is going well, but the poop thing is needing some bribing. So, Jax saw his buddy a while back that had just gotten new boots, a new belt, and a big boy wallet. These were all added to the list of things that he gets if he poops on the potty. Earlier entries to this list were a toy weedeater and a milkshake. Well, it happened...we were very proud. The kid got an upset stomach from something, and this forced him to go numerous times one night. He really had no choice. He got the weedeater a couple of days later. He went again and got to go pick out boots and a belt. We went to the boot store and he was excited. He was very proud of his belt and boots. He was specific in asking for a Snoopy wallet, so we are still working on finding one. This is getting expensive......It's like a Goldman Sachs compensation plan. I can only imagine what Riley will ask for. Live and learn....

I feel like I need to leave some deep thought that is reflective of a life lesson learned in the latest episode. You know, like the way one of the first ever noted bloggers (Doogie Howser) did.

So we've entered the world of online social networking, outside of the weekly email that I put out for work. (You can find them at http://www.pedatacenter.com/). Yep that was a cheesy plug, but I'll take it. No, we do not have a Facebook or MySpace account, but we now have a Blog. A little late in the game, maybe, but better late than never (or we will see). Anyway, contrary to what Adam Carroll says in "Ol' Milwaukee's Best", apparently you can get Jesus on the phone. My oldest son, Jax who is not quite 3, is a little scared of the thunder. Not sure where he gets it from yet, but we will soon find out. So it was raining the other day and thundering quite loud. Jax came running, scared of the thunder.
"Daddy stop the thunder", he said.
"I can't, but God can", I said.
"Jesus can?" He asked with his eyes squinting as if he were contemplating if he could get Jesus on the phone or not.
"Yes Jesus can", I said.
"I call Jesus on the phone", he asked?
I told him that "no, you can just ask Jesus to stop the thunder, and he will hear you."
I went on with what I was doing. About 3 minutes later I heard him calling for me in his room. He was trying to get a plastic container full of toys out from under his bed. I got it out for him and asked what he wanted out of the box. He grabbed his toy cell phone and ran out of the room.
"Who you gonna call?"
"Jesus", he exclaimed.
So, here he is walking around dialing numbers, puts the phone to his ear....."Jesus! Oh, wrong number." He hangs it up, and runs to the kitchen.
"Jax what are you doing", his mom asks.
"I need to go get phonebook."
So out comes the phonebook, and here is the almost 3 year old looking up Jesus' phone number.
Apparently he finds the number, opens the phone, and starts dialing. Phone to the ear, hand on the hip, and pacing around living room and into his brother's room...."Jesus, whatchadoin there??? Uh huh..Can you stop the thunder? Uh huh...really?? OK!" He hangs up the phone and walks out of his brother's room and back into the living room. (This toy phone he has rings approx 5 seconds after it is hung up)so it rings. He looks at the toy cell phone as if he is checking the caller ID, "it's Jesus. Jesus why you calling me." a short conversation goes on about what everybody in the house is doing and of course the thunder and rain outside.
"OK, ByeBye", as he hangs up.
What can I say, the kid is sharp. He has a memory like I've never seen. His attention to detail amazes me all the time. This is just one of many stories that we have experienced from "The JaxMan".