Monday, August 20, 2012

10 Things...

This week's Monday Listicle over at Stasha's awesome blog is 10 things about a car. She just bought a new Toyota Minivan (totally jealous!) and  wrote a super funny list about buying a new car. Me...I'm driving a 2003 Honda Minivan. And most of the time, getting into this lovely vehicle makes me feel about like...well, like Max looks in that picture above where we'd made him ride in the car for two days to get to California. It's not that I hate my car...but there are many things about it that frustrate and annoy me.Combined with a complete inability of me to ever get to the carwash or clean it out lately, the van kind of looks like a small family of weird raisin-eating, diaper-wearing, coffee-addicted weirdos actually reside inside of it 24/7. So in honor of my sadly uncleaned out van, here's my listicle... 

Ten things I can see on the floor of my van but have not yet bothered to pick up. 
1. Six empty Starbucks cups. With three small boys, we believe strongly in having empty "emergency cups" in the van, but seriously...

2. Three half empty water bottles...which is probably why we need emergency cups.

3. One banana peel, because my four year old insists on peeling his own banana and then I can never find the peels until later. Much later. Hopefully never in this case...maybe John will "find it first"...

Not thrilled at the new jacket performance.
4.  6 hoodie jackets, assorted sizes. When we were in Seattle at the end of July my hubby learned why there's always an assortment of jackets in the car. You NEVER know when you'll need a jacket in the Pacific Northwest. Who cares that the day before was a lovely balmy 80 degrees? he took all the jackets out of the car to make room for the tent, and the next day we ended up at Target buying jackets for the whole family including my visiting 12 year old nephew from California who probably never even needs a jacket down in Bakershellfield because we woke up to a full on torrential downpour thunderstorm. Did I mention it was the end of July?

5. 1 pair of designer sunglasses belonging to said 12 year old nephew, which he left behind when he ran screaming home from our weird hippie-crunchy, Thomas-the-Tank-Engine-in-a-thunderstorm-visiting, only-whole-food-gluten-free-eating family of five. He probably ate three cheeseburgers and an entire pepperoni pizza when he got home. Maybe I'll keep those...you never know, I might need sunglasses up here in the PacNW someday!

6. Twenty-five diapers left over from our camping adventure. Those will stay until they run out as my husband believes there should always be diapering supplies in the van so that he won't have to carry a diaper/supply bag when he takes the Terrific Trio out... especially since I refuse to pack one for him anymore. It's been 6 years. Pack you own bag! And stop texting me!

7. A single pair of Lego StarWars underpants. Hopefully clean, since I don't know why they are there...

8. About a zillion raisins, which are the only snack of choice of my oldest child. The other two are not quite as fond of the raisins, so they eat half and use the rest for projectiles and gravity based science experiments. Do I know that I could just not feed them in the car (see banana peel issue above)? Yes, yes I do...but vacuuming up inch thick raisins from the floor seems a small price to pay for the ten minutes of silence that snack-on-the-go seems to induce.

9. A really old women's group cookbook (we're talking 1920s) that I got from my friend Tina's awesome used book store where they measure things in vague terms and discuss cooking techniques that even google can't explain. If I ever get to understand the recipes, they sound delicious! I'm sure that studying them only in the car is super helpful.

10. A five pack of Spring Summer 2011 catalogs still in the wrapper. The boys are using it as a mini step stool to mess around with the non-functioning video player and air vents. I should just recycle them...but who can recycle such a cute baby?

So that's it...ok, if I'm being truthful, that doesn't even scratch the surface of what's on the floor (and in the back) of my van. Thank goodness Ben's preschool is coming to visit out HOME on Thursday and not our car, which I may park around the corner just to be safe! Maybe I'm not so jealous of your new ride, Stasha...I wouldn't want to mess up such a pretty vehicle. I figure I'll get my revenge on the boys by making them drive this when they are old enough. when they whine about driving a stinky, dirty old minivan, I can pull up this list and refresh their memories on how our poor old van got that way!

Don't forget I'm giving away that fab NEW Love Blooms stamp set this week - did ya enter yet? If not, what are you waiting for? You need to click into the Rafflecopter for each week's giveaway, even if you entered last week, so come on over and sign up to win! Remember, you get extra bonus entries if you PIN my infographic from my tutorial on easy alcohol marker coloring onto your Pinterest. And if you aren't on Pinterest yet...what are you waiting for? You're only going to love it and be totally addicted!


Thanks for stopping by to read my Listicle - don't forget to go check out the other bloggers at Stasha's site - hysterical!

13 comments:

Nuts 4 Scrappin' said...

Wendy - it's just funny to me that you can make a dirty van so fun to hear stories about! I'm going to give it a try, but I'm sure it won't flow as smoothly! :O)

Wendy Coffman said...

I can't wait to read yours...and I'm just glad that so far the response has been "That's funny" and not "That's disgusting! I'm never coming over again." Although I may not be the number one choice for carpooling now, lol...

Stasha said...

Ain't that something! You always make me laugh Wendy!And I never leave the house without an assortment of jackets, hoodies and sometimes hats. It is PNW after all. In fact I wore my body warmer on the hike today.
If those underpants are there long enough all three boys will outgrow them ;)

Brandee said...

Such a funny list! Where did you find StarWars underpants? My kiddo would go nuts for those. We have half full water bottles in my car too, and lots of jackets. Sadly, there is never water when you actually need it, and the jackets always belong to the person that doesn't need them. I think I also have some clothes that belong to Q and some of mine as well, so don't feel bad. ;)

Jennifer Worrell said...

Um...The stuff in your car is lots like what's in mine. Did you come clean mine out or something? Funny list!!!

Peneeeee said...

THat was great! :) LOL THanks for the chance to win!

Christy George said...

Great post! Sounds like my car!

Wendy Coffman said...

We got the Lego StarWars underpants at Target - Thomas underpants for Kindergarten were not acceptable! And, just to clarify, I did not clean any of this out of my car...yet.

Anonymous said...

always enjoy your blog. am sure life is like a box of chocolates at your house!!!! good luck on the new job.
mom of muffie

Josie (Joanne Barnes) said...

You are hilarious! I raised 3 boys, so I can feel your pain. However God has since blessed me with the most adorable granddaughter...a gift for all that parenting. P.S. sadly, my car is still just as messy!

LauraLee said...

To funny! mine is grown now. so glad I do not have to go through that anymore. Wish I had thought of emergency cups for my son when he was little. It was always last min. I have to go now...pull over or have an accident in his seat type scene.

Recovering Supermom said...

This is hilarious and only because I can feel your pain. We took trail mix on our last road trip to California and my four year old could not keep the container upright, so we had trail mix all over the floor for quite a while...in addition to all of the other stuff down there.

Ruth G said...

Wendy, you totally cracked me up! Love your Listicle! And just FYI animals can do a lot of cleaning up. Drive to Yosemite with that vanload of food on the floor, make sure to leave the doors and possibly back hatch open and take all the seats out and let the wild beasts have at it! Of course, if a bear finds a raisin in a small crevice it could become a crevasse with the aid of the bear's claws, but at least you wouldn't be tracking the raisins around everywhere you went;-)! I know, I'm so helpful!

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