Alex Mangled
Posted on September 1, 2015 by Ching under Babies, Life.
In case you were wondering what $1200 in damage looks like. Here it is.
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Murphy’s Law
Posted on August 28, 2015 by Ching under Life, Things to Do.
Figures. I finally pay off my car and I mess it up. In my defense, it wasn’t my fault. It was because of the poorly finished parking lot at the Hill.
The parking stalls right next to the restaurant have these cement parking blocks. Most of them have been properly constructed/finished except for a couple that still have rebar sticking up out of them.
There’s one in a handicapped parking stall. The other is in the very first parking stall, which is the one that snagged my car.
I was paying attention to Brian’s car that was already parked and I was just relieved to find a parking spot right by the entrance so I didn’t notice the rebar. Plus, it wasn’t really noticeable. I mean, who leaves rebar sticking out of a parking block like that?
I didn’t want people who were pulling into the tight parking lot to hit the back bumper of my car so I pulled in all the way. Normally I have no problem clearing those concrete parking blocks so I typically pull in all the way until I feel the block against my front tires. Anyway, the front fender has some give so I didn’t feel the rebar going in. I didn’t realize what had happened until I was pulling out of the parking spot after lunch and I heard a crunching sound.
I called Brian who was taking grandma home first. I told him to please check my car when he got home because I thought I messed up my front bumper. I was hoping for the best but prepared for the worst, which is sadly the case. Brian confirmed it as soon he got home and was able to inspect the car. I messed up the clips so the front bumper needs to be replaced in order to get Alex back to normal.
Half a dozen quotes later from various body shops around town, we found out that it’s going to cost at least $1,000 to effectively fix the damage. Cheapest quote was Auto Paint Repair at $855. The most expensive quote was $1140 from Carstar. I initially wanted to go with the lowest price because I didn’t want to file an insurance claim and risk losing my good driver discount; however, Brian really had his heart set on Carstar. They fixed Bebot after our rear-end collision last year and they did a really good job.
Twelve hundred dollars is a lot of money so I decided to sleep on it. A friend at work (Derek) told me that the front end doesn’t look too bad so I could probably wait to get it fixed. It’s just that I’m afraid to wash the car or nudge the front bumper in some way because I don’t want the bumper to fall off or worsen the damage. Lately we’ve been trying to drive around in Bebot more and not use Alex as much so we don’t make things worse, except on days when we’re both working because then I don’t have a choice but to drive Alex.
I’ll eventually need to get Alex fixed but hopefully I can postpone it long enough to where I have enough money saved up so I won’t have to settle for the least expensive quote and I can get it done by Carstar (Brian’s first choice). Getting Alex fixed may just have to be my birthday present this year. Sigh.
If you have some spare change and would like to donate to the Alex repair fund, clickity click the donate button on the right. Thanks in advance for your generous donation. I really appreciate it.
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Labor Run 2015
Posted on August 26, 2015 by Ching under Events, Things to Do.
Looking for something fun to do on Labor Day? Come join us at Sedgwick County Park for Labor Run 2015. It’s a fun run/walk event that benefits The Treehouse, an organization that offers mothers and babies a brighter future through sharing God’s love, basic necessities, education, and genuine personal care. Please help us make this event a success by participating. Brian and I are helping with the run again this year so we hope to see you guys there!
Click below to see pictures from Labor Run 2014.
Click below to see pictures from Labor Run 2013.
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Lost Sock II Laundromat
Posted on August 23, 2015 by Ching under Things to Do.
There are laundromats and then there are laundromats.
We learned about this holy grail of laundromats from our friends Reby and Aaron after seeing some posts about the place on their Facebook. This laundromat has several old school pinball machines and classic arcade games and most of the games only take a quarter to operate.
I’ve never really been fond of laundromats except when we need to wash our comforters. We’re generally in and out and don’t really have a desire to linger. This is the first laundromat we’ve ever visited without needing to do any laundry. We specifically went for the games. Lost Sock is kind of a strange place to take a date but, if you’ve been with your boyfriend or girlfriend awhile, this would be a great place for a cheap date.
It’s a lot of fun and, the best part is, they’re open 24/7. If you ever need to wash anything, I highly recommend checking out Lost Sock. Or you could go just for the games like we did. Here are some photos…
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Saturdates with Grandma
Posted on August 23, 2015 by Ching under Family, Games, Things to Do.
Brian and I hung out with grandma two Saturdays in a row. Last Saturday we took her bowling with us at Derby Bowl. For months now she’d been asking to watch us bowl. We talked about taking her on league night one evening but it’s just so late for her and there’s way too many people. We finally just decided to hold a bowling match up between the two of us and grandma could come and watch us compete.
Here are a couple of pictures of Brian explaining the contest rules to grandma.
The contest rules are as follows: One point for each game won and two points for the highest total overall for a total of five points. Theoretically someone could lose two games but if they got a high enough lead in one game to take the total then they could get one point for winning the game and two points for the total for three points to the other person’s two points and effectively steal the match.
It seems complicated than just competing for the best two out of three games but we like making things more interesting. Sometimes with the other scoring the player who has won two games already feels like they can slack off in the final game. With our scoring you still have to be on your toes the final game because the other player could steal the whole match by winning with a high enough score.
Brian who has been bowling twice a week all summer long had an advantage on me. I was so rusty. I bowled terribly. The scores were close but he easily won the first two games. I was hoping to recover in the third game for the win but he stepped up his game for an even more decisive game victory. It was a sweep. He took all five points that day. I’m gunning for a rematch, though.
While we were at the bowling alley we ran into dad and the Cannadys. Our nephews have started getting into bowling and are actually started to get quite good at it. Eli (middle child) really enjoys bowling.
Anyway, it was nice running into them specially since we were with grandma. She doesn’t get to see them as often as we do. I found out later that mom came to the bowling alley too but she arrived after we left so we just missed her.
After bowling we took grandma to Los Cocos, one of our favorite restaurants in Derby.
While there we ran into a couple of my coworkers who were nice enough to stop and say hello. Grandma loves meeting our friends and coworkers so that was great.
We had churros for dessert and they were delicious!
Grandma would agree. We had a fantastic Saturday!
Yesterday we took grandma to another one of our favorite restaurants, The Hill Bar and Grill. She got to try Brian’s favorite starter: chicharonnes.
For lunch grandma got chicken tacos. Brian had them before and really like them.
Brian had the meatball sub this time.
I had crab eggs benedict from the Saturday brunch menu. It was pretty good. I messed up and ended up with hashbrowns instead of the asparagus, though.
Brian and grandma had a productive day shopping for groceries and we had a wonderful brunch together. Overall it was a great day except for the mishap with my car in the parking lot. I will tell you guys more after I find out how bad the damage is on Monday.
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