Just in Time

Our yearly car registrations just arrived. We are lucky enough to have them due after the increase that the California lawmakers enacted. Lucky us. We have a few cars; my minivan, Stuntman's work car and his pickup truck. The RV registration should arrive any day. I estimate that it'll cost us $500-800 more this year. They say it's based on the value of the vehicle. I need to find out how they are calculating that value.
PLUS we just received the first of the off-road registrations. The fee DOUBLED. yes, DOUBLED... FOR EACH OFF-ROAD VEHICLE. An old dirt-bike that has a yearly registration that is the same amount that it is worth. Great. We can afford to pay the increases, I'll cut back somewhere. Can't be my clothing budget, that is already at about $10/month.
The off-road thing really ticks me off... it's not as if there isn't a fee from the government when you ride on public land as well. ugh.

Still ringing

I can still hear the honking in my ears. This is just a 13 second video of our time at one of the local Tea Parties today.
I have no idea how many people were there. All I know is that I was surprised at how many there were.
I only saw one person drive by with the thumbs down (a young blonde chick). Almost every driver had their thumbs up and their horn honking when driving by the demonstration. Male, female, white, black, hispanic, asian, old, or young... it didn't matter.
I don't object to paying taxes. I have never failed to pay them and I don't take any "questionable" deductions. (unlike so many politicians) The demonstrations were about more than just taxes. They were about the current direction that the government is heading and the waste of our tax dollars.
Here in California people are very upset about the sales tax hike (9.25% in LA) and the car registration fee increase.
We had a conversation with E2 today regarding taxes and she just didn't get it. Why would someone take some of your money just because you worked for it? We tried to explain it... just a blank stare is what we received.

Decisions

Three choices for the accent color in the kitchen;
1. Armored Steel
2. Greenland
3. Windrock

The main color of the dining area and living room is called Desert Suede.
I'll give you one guess... what was Stuntman's choice for the accent color?

HE IS RISEN

Happy

Easter

Everyone!

May everyone have a joyous Easter. This is the first time in three years that Stuntman has been home on Easter, so it will be a joyous one here.

Dreams and Ice Cream

Yesterday, the cabinetmaker and his guys installed most of the doors and the crown moulding. It is now officially my dream kitchen. It would be fine with me as is... but I'm sure that it will be even nicer with the walls smooth and painted and the floors something other than old vinyl or sub-floor.
E1 and I were admiring the kitchen when I said that I must be dreaming. She reminded me that if I was dreaming, everything would be back into the cabinets. Soooooo, I spent a few hours deciding where everything belonged and filling the cabinets.

During our hail storm yesterday, just after all of the workers left, the contractor stopped by with a few quarts of ice cream from Mashti Malone's. He had told us before of their rose water ice cream, so he decided to bring us a gift for Easter. Seriously, what a nice guy. The ice cream was delicious. I had never heard of the place before, but I'm sure that I will be visiting in the future. He brought rose water ice cream and also faloudeh. The two flavors together along with a splash of lemon juice on top was delicious. I think the faloudeh is a sorbet, it doesn't say on the package, and it isn't on their website. It tastes a bit like tapioca pudding.

Stuntman is home. Life is good.

I needed google maps

You know those "Live Traffic Feed" things on some blogs? These are pretty interesting to see a live shot of who is looking at your site, but I always wonder how they peg me coming from somewhere not even near where I live. Yes, it's in California, but not that close. Probably 20 million people between me and there. huh.

I almost cried a little

Now my kitchen, although it has no running water, is officially nicer than any kitchen that I thought that I would ever have.
The fabricators arrived today with my countertops and they are gorgeous. I am so glad that I didn't listen to everyone... and I mean everyone, when they said "why don't you just get granite?" The soapstone is perfect. I love the feel of it. The top photo is what it looks like dry, and the bottom photo is after a coat of oil. No nasty, toxic sealant needed. Just an occasional coat of food grade mineral oil to bring out the color and hasten the natural darkening of the stone.

The garden is full of tiny sprouts. E3 assisted me with transplanting the baby radishes today. The seeds sprout in clumps and need to be spread out in order to grow, so we did that today with dozens of tiny little radishes. All the while, E3 talking to the little plants, putting them in their "dirt bed" with a "dirt pillow".

Yesterday, E2 spent a couple hours sobbing and missing her daddy. E1 was a wreck the night before he left, but it took a few days for it to hit E2. E3 just thinks that daddy is in his office on the other side of the house half of the time. This is the first time Stuntman has been gone for more than a day since he redeployed and it's breaking his heart to be away from us, even though it's only for two weeks. One down, one to go.