I’m really tired as I write this. It’s 7:30 pm after my first day of waking up at 4:30 am to get to my new job. A new job that takes me down to Massachusetts. A new job that is a one hour commute when traffic is good.

The first few days, traffic was not good. And I didn’t want to waste an extra hour a day living in my car. So I made the conscious decision, get to work by 6 am, miss the traffic jam that starts by 6:45 am. So after a few months of sleeping in, I am returning to a schedule I promised I would never follow again. The 4:30 am wake-up call of a rower.

Perhaps waking that early has its advantages?

The new job is closer to the university where I take Master’s degree coursework, so I will hopefully be able to hammer out the classes I need faster. A disadvantage of this, I will be tired, very tired.

I will probably also need a new car at some point soon. I’ll probably be putting 600 miles a week on my current Subaru Outback, a car with 170,000+ miles already.

Speaking of my poor car, last night I decided to go to Target. So I got off the busy highway and took the side road to get to Target without going through major intersections. As I drove on the side road my car suddenly died. It died right in front of the only auto repair shop on that side road. The mechanics were able to repair the car on the spot and I was out of there an hour and a half later.

But I was lucky. Lucky that I got out of work a little early that day so there was less traffic on the way home and that the shop had time before they closed. Lucky that I was on the side road not the highway. And lucky that my car chose to die in front of a very helpful auto shop. Things work out sometimes.

Ever know you that you must have a dozen pictures of a specific object in your archives somewhere yet have no idea where to find the originals? I know I have pictures of Adam’s bike as it was in my external harddrive… somewhere. But I couldn’t find any pictures of only her on my already uploaded pictures. And I only found a single cell phone picture with her circa 2007 in it.

Want to hazard a guess as to why I took this picture? These are my husband’s three current vehicles taken right after he got the forester. From left to right I present you with Rosie the 2007 Subaru Forester XT, Charlene the 1990 Mazda Miata, and Veronica the (2003) Suzuki SV.

Figured out what I found humorous? Obviously the fact that when he’s picky about the vehicle he’s buying a specific colour comes to mind.

Either way this post isn’t about my household’s love for blue, it’s about Veronica the motorcycle.

Adam decided he wanted a naked motorcycle, but he didn’t like how Suzuki made his bike naked (naked means that the bike has less fairings and plastic on it I guess). So as one of his projects this year he rebuilt Veronica to look more like a “cafe racer” motorcycle.

I think she looks meaner now without all the plastic.

He even got himself some shiny new digital gauges.

He even gave the bike something known as droopy handlebars. (I’m sure Jess’ hubby would understand why that is significant more than I do)

By the way, I didn’t take the time to take all these pictures of the motorcycle. Adam did, so he could show off his handy work. I just stole the pictures from my camera’s memory card. I think he is starting to appreciate our SLR though.

So say you are me. You drive the 10 year old payed off car full of dents in your relationship while your husband has a 2 year old car super fast super beautiful car. Normally this works for you. The parking lot at work has a terrible design and is the cause of occasional fenderbenders and dents. On occasion you get to drive the newer car and you are sometimes concerned about getting a speeding ticket when you do.

You do however feel incredibly protective of the beautiful car. You do not fully own it. It’s beautiful and you love it. You don’t feel that anything about the car needs to change.

Like me you might perhaps have a mild reaction when you come home to find this.

Bumper on the ground, my hubby was nowhere to be seen. Was the work being done intentional or had some horror happened to our speedy Forester XT?

It turns out that the modifications were intentional and long delayed. And he had just slipped inside to grab a snack.

Not so sure I like the whole drilling into our car thing, but I guess it’s part of the modification.

This is why we have Manland (aka the detached garage). This way my hubby can enjoy his hobbies. Just like my craft bench downstairs… right?

The final result of all this effort was new driving lights on the front of the car. I’m not nuts about the new lights. But perhaps, someday when we are driving the White Mountains, the driving lights will prevent us from hitting a moose.

*Note* – I am certainly not complaining about my 10 year old car either. I love my Outback. I will probably cry when The Goblin dies someday. I cried for days when my 10 year old Sunfire Bianca was not worth bringing back from the dead. I just think that Rosie the Forester is a mightly swell, really fast, very useful and quite pretty car. More so than our dependable Outback and tiny Miata

I went to college on a full scholarship, my brother didn’t go to college, he did electrician’s training. When I was in college my dad couldn’t wait for me to be done. He wanted to make sure that I didn’t suddenly lose my scholarship and be left with a semester of college and no way to pay for it.  But he couldn’t wait for me to finish because he wanted a Ford Mustang.  Not just any Mustang, a powerful mustang.

I called it his delayed mid-life crisis.

I graduated in 2006.  He bought himself a 2007 Mustang GT California edition, black.  He seems pretty happy with it (not the process of getting it but that’s another story). And at least he was able to think long and hard about it before committing. I’m sure he would thank me for going to a 5 year college if he thought of it that way.

A Chevy Chevelle in Hooksett

Those who know me in real life know that I’m addicted to older muscle cars.  I not only love their classic lines but the love the owners put in to painstakingly restoring the cars to their former glory and the care they put into keeping the cars running and gleaming.

So one of my great joys in Spring is seeing the Classic cars coming back out of storage.  I love the look of pride on the owner’s faces.  And I love looking at my “car porn”.  I can’t wait to go to cruise nights and talk to the owners about their prides and joys.

*Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures, I was just excited and needed to take pictures with the cell phone.

A Chevy Malibu in Hooksett