EV oh EV, why have you forsaken me?

a couple weeks ago i was in some severe negations for a 2009 honda crv. my mom finally decided to pull the trigger... she was going to buy a brand new car. so i came in as the negotiator... something i found myself really enjoying. in the endless hours they make you wait as you negotiate, i would often wander around the showroom and check out some of honda's finest. i guess i was most drawn to the pilot, but i tell you what, that third row seat was kind of a joke. despite it luring me with its leather seats, in house dvd player, and that good ol new car smell, i just couldn't really see myself rockin it. it was then i looked out the window and saw ol EV and thought, i really love, like really love my car. i honestly want for nothing... not a sparkling 09 anything. EV has my heart.

now my unwavering love for EV is no easy feat. we've owned a lot of cars these last six years...

when we met i was driving an 82 volvo, and b had a newer white ford ranger. after ditching the volvo, i decided in this jungle every girl needs a jeep. so i found myself in a lifted green jeep cherokee with black rims... pretty sick. then we decided to go to scotland... so we sold both the cars, and went one whole year without a vehicle- just the good ol double decker- edinburgh's finest. upon returning home, we decided first and foremost we needed a vehicle. after some considerable research we (well b) decided on a toyota t100. we were sooo stoked on this truck. but as time went on, and we discovered that we'd need two cars so i could get to work, we decided on getting b's absolute dream car (ok, so it didn't look exactly like that). this worked okay for awhile, but it had two flaws. one, i thought i was gonna pull a muscle getting the carseat in and out all the time (too low to the ground), and the seats were like a pair of mesh basketball shorts... perfect for cracker crumbs. so off to craigslist this one went, and into our hands we found a 93 toyota 4 runner. this car was pretty sweet for a lotta reasons. since lils was still facing backwards, we could roll down the back window and she could gaze at the scenery. it also was ideal for ol emma lou (back when we actually took her places), and it was old enough that we didn't feel like we were gonna trash it. after much consideration we decided two toyota's were a little much and decided to sell the t100. with that gone, we settled on a great commuter car for b, which to this day he still dutifully rocks... a 97 4 door honda civic. this thing is like the original hybrid... 34 miles to the gallon, but no AC. it def gets the job done. after a brief run with the 4 runner, we decided to get a bigger car, since baby #2 was on the way. on this go we decided to get our real dream car... a 2006 toyota tacoma double cab long bed. black. bad ass. this car was soooo sweet. we were able to camp in it, do lots of home improvement projects and of course help people move. we really loved this car. despite its double cab capabilities, it was pretty difficult to have 2 kids in there. nursing was next to near impossible, and the gas mileage was starting to get to us.

it was then we realized we were destined for a van.

i'm not gonna lie and say that minivans aren't that bad. i have never, ever wanted one. it wasn't hard to convince b. i mean after all, i've got two kids now. put me in a minivan, and these inevitably follow. our pride was at stake here, and there was no way i was going to succumb.

the eurovan was the perfect compromise. it had all the perks of a minivan (minus leather seats, in dash dvd players, and automatic doors on both sides- all features i actually really covet). the eurovan was big like a van, but it was a vw (cool), they are discontinued (rare and vintage), and its like having your own wall to wall carpet condo to drive around in (roomy and comfy). once i stepped into that 02 silver EV with only 50,000 miles on it, i truly had arrived. two years later and i haven't looked back. call me a dude, but i love my car.

b does not exactly share these same sediments. though he likes it for the kids and coolness factor, he does not like how much it sucks like a volkswagon. homey is used to working on anything, and everything. even cars. in college, dude once put a new transmission in his ford ranger over christmas break. however, this is no vanagon. this is vw's german engineering at its worst. so as much as we wanted to be shocked when we found out we needed a new transmission, we kind of knew that it wasn't abnormal. since we can't afford the big dogs (their quote is almost to ridiculous to repeat - just think a down payment on a mobile home), we have found a guy in slo to do it for the price of a decent vanagon.

so here's our dilemma people... after we fix it, do we sell it or keep it? and if you vote sell it...

1) are you interested, and 2) please tell us what car to get.

don't get all facebook on me people--- stay true to the blog!!!

oh yeah... i've got kids

enough about me... i thought i originally started this blog to document the two cutest kids in the world... but lo and behold i got caught up in my big bad ol self.



so whats the happs with lils and oz these days? well i'm glad you asked. first i'll sprinkle this up with some most recent pics... and then i'll fill you in on the nitty gritty.

lil- well she's rapidly approaching 4, and really she couldn't be more un-happy about it. for the last few weeks or so, if you ask her when her birthday is and how old she's gonna be, she promptly replies, "well my bday is may 6, and i'm supposed to be 4, but i'm gonna skip 4 and go straight to 5." methinks a more accurate age would be oh, 16 or so... but what's the rush right? she's still 100% girl... majorly into babies, barbies, polly pockets, my little pony, care bears... you get it right? she's become increasingly demanding about me actually playing with her, which is new, cause forever she'd just play on her own for a good hour or more. i got her number though, now all i gotta do is get her engaged, then sneak out to watch ellen, i mean do laundry. aside from the usual 4 yr old girl activities, lily is still very into fashion. she loves paper dolls- she'll line up outfit after outfit complete with shoes and accessories... she changes her own clothes oh between 3-17 times a day, and still rocks some very edgy ensembles. today she wore a denim mini skirt with leg warmers and play high heels to vons. b was concerned people were judging us... i told him that anyone who has a daughter knows that that outfit was all her. i'm enjoying her to the core... she's like this little bff for me, despite her total drama and crazy frustrating melt downs, she really is growing up... and to be honest, i'm not one bit sad about it. i've always thought i'll be a better mom to older kids.



as for the boss, he's been a total blast. he seems to finally have chilled out. he is one chatty kathy and always has an earful. he really loves jumping on the tramp, being extremely off task at gymnastics, and eating next to nothing. although the food thing isn't getting any better, we have no reason to worry, cause he's coming in at 3 ft tall and 30 lbs.... dr b went so far to say he'd be 6ft tall someday... heh. not bad for a dude who was literally starving at 3 months old. he's also got some great catch phrases like, "you funny bunny," or "sup dude?" he still likes a good ceiling fan, but the obsession has seemed to evolved. automatic doors, or electric windows are now a fan fave, but really if you sit down and show him how anything works, he will tweak on it for a good 15 mins or so. he seems to be enjoying his sister more... as in they aren't constantly fighting. i can actually leave them outside or in their room alone without screaming after about 5 mins. most things in our house have been transformed into some type of jumping apparatus, despite the new trampoline outside. who knew jumping was so fun anyway? i been diggin my alone time with oz as well, i've even been known to get in on some matchbox cars or train table action or some good ball throwing... i must say i'm surprised at how much i'm enjoying this boy energy.

in other news i re-vamped the kids room... for those of you who haven't been to our house, we had lily's room downstairs, and oz slept upstairs in a crib. but after much thought we decided to take the bunk beds apart and made to separate beds upstairs, and turn lils old room downstairs into a hard core play room with both the kids stuff. as you can see their sleep room couldn't be cuter thanks to my mother in law hookin up the world's cutest matching duvet covers (go ikea!).

enough about us right, here's where you come in. i'm curious what your kid's "safe place" is. like to they love a good paci, a special blanket, a baby, a bear, or playing with yours or their hair? as my kids grow older, i thought some of their quirky little behaviours would diminish... but my kids still got their little things. although lils does love baby josie, her utmost favorite thing is "holding my button." this began when i was pregnant with oz and my belly button started to pop out. she was only 1, so she was exploring her own b-button, but found mine much more enticing. to this day when she 's tired, or fussy or just wants to cuddle, she holds my button. as for oz, their would be no competition for the button, so he came up with his own thing... strange as it is, he likes to tweak out on our fingernails. same thing, when he's tired or fussy or just wants a cuddle, he'll sit on our lap and basically start flicking our fingernail with his. so strange... but really typical rodgers kid...

so lemme know, can your kid top this strange behaviour?

guilty pleasure

my husband loves a good magazine. since i've known him (11 blissful years), he's had subscriptions 0ff and on, including surfer, surfing, surfers journal, this old house, dwell, good housekeeping (just kidding), and most recently sunset (not kidding, but still a bit queer). when these arrive i typically toss them aside, or find myself flipping through them once in a great while.




b on the other hand devours them.




some people just really get into it.




i'll never forget when my dad told me that he spends $1200 a year on magazine subscriptions (yeah that's US dollars, and he's kind of a bad ass architect and they like expensive things). i guess i like to think of myself as above magazines- i reserve these eyes for only great works of fiction... yet whenever i find myself at erin or lealah's house i'm hot on their copy of us weekly or people. i know i'm a bit of an information junkie. i look forward to thursdays... i get to lil's preschool about 10 mins early, let oz out of his car seat to wander around the van and crack open the new new times. if there's a newspaper lying around, i'll get goin on it, i breeze through blogs like vodka tonics and i've even been known to read my bible without ceasing (i'm really striving to get back to that place).





yet i just can't seem to 'subscribe' to a magazine. last year i somehow started getting parents or parenting magazine (i guess cause i ordered diapers or something). anyhow all it was was a bunch of fear mongering. 'influenza H- what your family needs to know,' 'what's lurking under your toddlers fingernails?' b loathed tuesdays when they'd come, cause he knew that night i'd be overcome with fear about hep b or whatever they threw at me.

when i started getting that white flap on my last six magazines saying, 'renew now! this is your last one!' i obviously never did.

yet there was one magazine i'd been wanting for awhile.



cookie.




the few i'd seen had some really good articles. not your typical panic stuff, but really insightful, interesting articles. so this christmas i asked for it, and lo and behold yesterday my first one came. like any good mom, i turned on charlie and lola for the kids and started reading. suddenly i found myself in a new level of enlightenment. having thoughts like, 'spending $200 for a date night is totally normal,' or 'i really think a club med vacation would be a great fit for our family,' or 'perhaps the mercedes GL450 really is the safer choice.'




what?




no, no, no! how far i have fallen. i don't live in a manhatten peit-tere (sp?). i'm not coveting my bf's nanny, and i can't afford madonna and gwenyth's trainer.



i live in los osos.
i drive a eurovan.
MDO is my gym.

yet every time i pick it up, i fall prey.



so i'm curious, what do you wait at your mailbox for with baited breath?