Happy New Bus, er, Year.

San Francisco
December 30

The big news is, we have jumped the stick, bought the bullet, closed our eyes and bungee jumped ourselves into a new, bigger, better and way too expensive coach to replace our Beaver and make our current lives so much more worthwhile.  It has better brakes, better acceleration and a stronger, more reliable chassis.  It also has granite counter tops, a ceramic slate floor with the most adorable little black squares, almond leather all around with black piping, a breakfast banquette and a super duper oven, plus washer and dryer, bigger shower and electric toilet.   But I am not one to be swayed by the decor of a thing, as you well know.

Are you LOL yet?

Here's the really LOL part.  We bought this baby in Newport Beach CA, the very  day I wrote my family and said that I was in financial straits and couldn't afford the big Christmas checks I like to write for all the kids.  It was a coincidence, but a poor one, so I haven't told anybody in my family about this ridiculous purchase.  I haven't written about this because they read the blog religiously and would then question my sanity, if not my penury, or my stinginess.

Rest easy, dear one, for I did send the original amount.  Guilt?  Yes, definitely.  But they're great kids and I reasoned that this could be the last hurrah for us.  When we start working at Walmart, we'll cheap out, but until then ...

So that's why I haven't written in the blog until today.   Plus:

The new bus, a Country Coach, was to be prepped and ready on my return from a quick trip to NY for a business reunion of 200 former Young & Rubicam employees.

That meant I had to pack up the Beaver before I left.  Turns out, the new bus wasn't ready on time for our trip north to San Francisco for Christmas with our son, so John unpacked a lot of stuff and stored our other stuff in the new coach -- including some Christmas presents that Jeff never got. 

Oh, men.  Amen. We went to SF in the Beaver. I spent the next two weeks in the clothes I went to NY with, plus a few odd odds and ends I'd left on hangers.  Nevertheless,  Christmas with Jeff was fabulous as always.

The  Monday after Christmas, John flew to Vegas (are you following this?) to pick up the new coach out of state (and save taxes.)  Then he drove back the same day, arriving here in SF at 2:30 in the morning. 

Tuesday we got up at the crack of civilization, and proceeded to throw everything from the Beaver into the new coach.  We had to be done by noon because the salesman was driving the Beaver back to Newport Beach, where a buyer was waiting.  This is one hell of a salesman, let me tell you, and it didn't hurt that he was totally cute and a real ladies' man.  We both liked him immensely.  And John's not gay, as far as I know.

Today we spent the day trying to stuff fifteen pounds of doo-doo into a ten pound bag.  We mostly rearranged things and found that organization does make quite a difference.  Right now, instead of a movie, we are going to Bed Bath and Better Write a Big Check for all the storage items, soap dishes, etc that we cannot live without.  Then we'll have a quick dinner out, and flop into bed to get ready for the New Year. 

My hair isn't exactly blonde to the roots, my nails are like claws so I keep making typos, and I have no idea what to wear to dinner tomorrow night -- perhaps something from the New York trip? -- but all is (almost) put away and I can see that we made the new almond tile floor kind of muddy -- but hey, I can see the floor!   It's pretty.  Call me Pollyanna, but I'm happy.  Poor.  But happy.