Grand Prix GTP

I've put a deposit on my new car, and will be picking it up very soon!
It's a 2000 Grand Prix GTP... it's supercharged, and so nice! It's fast, and comfortable, and exactly what I was looking for.





and of course Chris gives it two thumbs up!
I may have to create a second blog just for the car... so I can document the upgrades and modifications and even normal maintenance that we do to the car. I have a camera and the Internet... that's all I need!!

Little girls in costumes

My niece Drew is almost three, and is beautiful and smart and a complete joy.

She can be smiley and sneaky, or just cute and sweet. Well I spoiled her for Christmas, of course, and got her loads of educational toys and girly dolls and other silly toys.

The hit of the loot was a fairy costume. It is a little leotard outfit with wings and a wand. When she opened it she immediately loved it and wanted to put it on. She wouldn't put it on over her clothes, but insisted on undressing then putting the costume on. After dancing and prancing around the living room for a while she started to ask to go outside. Well, it is Houston, but it was still too cold and windy for her to go out there in the fairy outfit. She was told no, she couldn't go out there, and in her little two year old language she explained, with passion in her voice, that she needed to go outside so she could fly. She couldn't fly inside, and that's why she wanted to go outside.

She was pissed, then very sad when her mom was able to explain that she won't really be flying, and that it's just a costume. Isn't that the sweetest and saddest thing you've ever heard?

Well, she still loves the costume and wore it yesterday too. She uses her hands to move the wings (trying to jump start them I think). And she can't just walk in the costume... she has to dance and do her little fairy hop. Oh... and she just can't leave the room without her wand. The universe would fall apart.

Derion, my nephew, got a Wii for Christmas. The poor kid was breathless when he opened it. They don't have a lot of money, and he's old enough now to understand he won't always get the most expensive toys. He ripped the paper on the box, then his eyes bulged out and his jaw dropped. This is where he stopped breathing for a minute. We could also tell that he was in shock, and even considered that the box had been used to wrap something else (who would be that mean?!). But he continued to take the paper off, and opened the still sealed box. He was ecstatic.

"I got a REAL Wii for Christmas! Wait till I tell all my friends!"

And he won't even shoot his eye out :)

I love my niece and nephew and am very glad to have them so close to me.

1990 Mazda Miata

Oh... what good times we've had. I've had my Miata for 4 years now, and I just finally did it the justice of taking pictures... beautiful pictures... Crispix pictures. And now I'm going to sell it. I'll have fun for the next few weeks, or how ever long it takes to go.



Even though my car is small, it's taken me so many places. I've driven this car to the hill country, and of course up to East Texas many, many times. Hit a skunk once. That wasn't fun. Been given a few tickets before. That wasn't fun either. And I could shop for normal groceries with this car, but I couldn't go to Sams and stock up in bulk. So everything except for hitting skunks, getting tickets, and shopping at Sams is really fun in this car.



Okay... I'm exhausted now. From taking lots of pictures, to editing then posting those pictures. Tomorrow I'll type up all the details and post this baby for sale on Auto Trader, the Miata forum and Craigs List. Yeah.

Check out all the pics here... and the best way to view is with the fast slideshow.

Click here for lots of miata pictures!


http://houston.craigslist.org/car/519755419.html

1990 Mazda MX-5 Miata $2,500 OBO
Red with Black cloth interior
5 Speed
4 Cylinder
16-valve 116-hp DOHC engine
2100 lbs
Rear Wheel Drive
Here is a link the 1990 Mazda Miata Brochure:
http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/paloma/Miata/miata_90.html

165,107 miles

AM/FM Stereo
Air Conditioning
Cassette
Power Steering
Power Windows

VIN: JM1NA3512L0153702

For LOTS more pictures see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellemcfierce/sets/72157603516265646

I've had this Miata since early 2004. It had two previous owners who took very good care of the car. It was garaged kept until I've owned it, and I've kept it under a carport.

This has been my daily driver for the past 4 years. I'm a professional woman working downtown Houston. The car has not been smoked in, and driven a lot of highway miles. I visit my family in Longview often.

The transmission and clutch were replaced in November of 2004, at 128,622 miles. I just replaced the shifter seals and installed a new leather shifter cover.

Last summer the A/C was converted to new type. It does blow cold, but there is some type of slow leak that causes me to have to get the Freon refilled once each summer. I took it to get diagnosed in July. They added Freon and the blue dye. They wanted me to drive it until I could tell it had leaked out so they could check where the blue dye came out. Well, it's still blowing cold right now so I haven't taken it back.

Everything works great. The windows, the radio, and the cassette deck. The map/interior lights don't come on all the time though.

There is one not noticeable dent on the car, above the passenger side wheel, you can barely see it in a few of the pictures in the flickr set. Someone bumped me years ago, and said she would pay for it to be fixed herself, but never did. I've learned to live with it.

It gets good gas mileage. The last time I tested it was around 25 miles per gallon.

I've got the key lock for tire nuts. I also have the detachable sun visors, and the optional window protector. In the trunk there is a jack, spare tire, canvas top cover, plastic window cleaner, and battery :)

The Miata is a lot of fun to drive. Come test drive it and you'll agree!

What I really want for christmas.

I <3 William Shatner




The Shatner Book



My next big art project is going to be a painting of Shatner. I hope I can do the legend justice.

Merry Holidays!

Happpy Christmas and Merry Holidays! I feel like the holidays are going to fly by way too quickly! We're going to San Antonio for Xmas this year to be with Chris' sister Shanon. I'm excited about that... I love San Antonio and we always have fun with Shanon.



I finished wrapping all the gifts, and amazingly the dogs decided they wanted to be in the picture. Aren't they the cutest doggies eva!! All those gifts are for my cousins and mostly kids gifts... I put a candy cane on each present. I think it looks cute, and that makes me happy :)

I have tomorrow off... I'll be shopping for a dress for my company christmas party tomorrow night. So far this Christmas is kicking last Christmas' ass.

Ending the new year on a good note

Sometimes I feel like everything is dragging... time is sluggish and nothing is getting done. But not lately. Lately so much is getting done.

Chris helped me with my Miata over the weekend. I thought about taking some pictures and posting the before and after... but it gets dark so early that all the pictures would be dark. I'm fixing the glove box, the panel under the steering wheel, the one place it leaks at the top of the drivers side door, and all the shift boot parts (including a new leather shifter cover). I'm going to be sad to see it go, especially now that all the little broken things are being fixed. But I'm looking forward to a new car even more. We test drove a lot of cars (went to a small used lot in Pasadena- Emmons... highly recommend it... we weren't pressured at all and all the cars were in great condition). I think I've set my heart on a Pontiac GTP... nice and sport, and still bigger than the Miata.

I went shopping on Friday... 7 hours of shopping. Hobby Lobby has almost everything 50% off. I bought most of the gifts there, believe it or not. Then I went home and wrapped them... there is something very pretty about wrapped packages under a tree.

I thought of what to get Chris for christmas... and he's going to love it.

The company I work for will pay for school. They reimburse 100% of tuition, fees, and even books. Now that I'm retired from derby I can finally go back to school (I don't know how some of the girls work full time, skate and go to school... I just could not do it). So I've registered for two online classes. I'm going to work towards a degree... one class at a time. I was doing good back in 05 when I stopped going. Now I have more confidence about going back, and am in a better situation than before (job, house, money, boyfriend... everything is working for me).

I've enjoyed my Google Calendar ever since I started using it. Now I have even MORE reason to like it! I just added Houston Community College's Acedemic Calendar to mine... so I can see all the dates pertaining to school! Plus I added Movie Releases... so I'll know ahead of time what movies are out each weekend! I can't wait to see I Am Legend.

I got to work at 7 this morning instead of 8. I like getting to work early. Starts the day off right, and I get to go home earlier. I want to keep it up.

Thursday night we're going to see the Toadies (my favorite band)... And I have off Friday, and Friday night is my company christmas party. I need to buy a new dress still.

So much is going on. I'm catching up and it feels great.

I even had time to help Goldie and Audio by making them a flyer for their birthday party... Karoke birthday party!! It's not the best, but I'm still a novice and I'm proud of it :)

Book Club

We read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
http://www.threecupsoftea.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Three-Cups-Tea-Mission-Promote/dp/0143038257

It is a great book. I'm not finished, but that's okay. Only one of the women had finished it. The women were awesome! I was excited to be there, and probably talked too much, like normal.

I had planned on stopping by Specs to grab a bottle of wine, then swing by Borders to get In the Line of Fire: a Memoir by Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan.
http://www.amazon.com/Line-Fire-Memoir-Pervez-Musharraf/dp/0743283449/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197045256&sr=1-1

Because Three Cups of Tea is about a man who builds schools in Pakistan, and In the Line of Fire is an autobiography of the President of Pakistan I thought it would be perfect to bring to the book club for the Christmas book exchange.

Well apparently Specs has a wine tasting every Tuesday and it took me twenty minutes just to navigate the parking lot and eventually leave the parking lot... I never even went inside. Then I drove over to Borders, where again I drove around the parking lot for close to ten minutes before parking illegally and running inside. They didn't have In the Line of Fire (I didn't have time to get my copy from the house). So I was stressed about all the traffic, running late, and not getting the book I wanted.

So what did I do? I bought Sphere by Michael Crichton instead (one of my all time favorite sci fi books) and bought a six pack of beer at the gas station. Perfect. I was so happy I was whistling.

I had such a great time. I could tell these women have known each other for years. They were funny and smart and we talked more about our favorite reality shows than the book, but that's perfectly fine. It was nice to meet someone as attached as I am to Kid Nation.

Next month we will be discussing Love in the Time of Chloera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I hope to finish it all by that time, but if not it's okay. Ah... no stress... no worries... I could do this for a long time!

Be more green

I just watched this: http://cwtv.com/thecw/free2begreen

It lists a few simple things we can do to be more green. I'm thinking of giving these energy savings CFL light bulbs as gifts this year. My family will save money and I'll be doing my part to help the environment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp

And my family would completely understand... this is totally my kind of gift. They probably expect something like this. Very practical. Hehe... they'd be disappointed in me if I didn't get them these lights. Yep.

The kids are probably getting some type of game, or arts and crafts thing, or a jigsaw puzzle.

JC Penney is having a big sale in the morning from 6am until noon. I was thinking of going, but mainly all the stuff on sale is stuff I want for myself... so that'll have to wait until after Christmas.

I get off work at noon on Fridays. Today I'm heading straight to Hobby Lobby (I've got the coupons) to get Christmas stuff (it's all 50% off, even without coupon!) and look for gifts, then to Walmart, then Target, and finally the Memorial City Mall. I want to try to get all the remaining gifts purchased today.

I also will be looking for a dress for next week's company Christmas party. I want something a little dressy. Usually I look for something that will show off my back tattoo really nice... but not at this party.

I've got my list of who to buy for, and some ideas of what to buy... and I have a spending limit... I just hope I don't go over, and that I can refrain from buying stuff for myself and the house that can wait until the sales that happen after Christmas.

I've been working with the Merchandise committee lately... and I made this display for the bouts in Dallas:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellemcfierce/sets/72157603330969899/

I know I'm a dork... but it's been fun. Sorting and organizing. I created an awesome spreadsheet of the full inventory, then rolled and bagged all the merch (Chew's idea, thankyouverymuch), labeled them (Holly's idea, thankyouverymuch), then boxed them, then labeled the boxes... it's all really neat and tidy now.

And that display (Wreckhell's idea, thankyouverymuch)... well it took a few of us a lot of man hours... and glue... but it's beautiful! And the pictures with the prices on them... they are attached with velcro (Mia's idea, thankyouverymuch), so we can change them and update them easily.

And the numbering system is new (Blindside's idea, thankyouverymuch), and Shirt #1: HRD Logo Babydoll, is marked on the display, on the merch bin, and on the inventory sheet.

I really hope they have a great time selling merch this weekend, and find the system we put in place to work well and make merch less stressful and more effective. That's the goal anyway.

I test drove a VW GTI on Wednesday. It was awesome! Turbocharged! Good price, good mileage, exactly the kind of car I want, sporty yet roomy. I need to get my bonus first (I hope next Thursday!)... and test drive a few more cars... so I am not going to jump on this car just yet... it is the first car I've test drove since my search began... well the first one that didn't die while I was test driving it. It is awesome... but I'd like to check out my options first. I'm very thorough with everything I do... especially something like this. Plus I kind of challenged myself to get the Miata up to selling standards before looking for a new car. Kind of like when I make myself hang up all my clean clothes and do laundry and give away what I don't wear before going shopping for a lot more clothes.

It's weird how much time I've gained since retiring from derby... and how much I still feel like I don't have enough time to get anything done!

I watched the end of Beauty and the Geek last night. Awesome. I <3>

Cool sites

I've recently stumbled upon random cool sites, and I want to share them with the three people who happen to read my blog :)

http://www.cartoondollemporium.com/
- check out the political characters.

http://www.freerice.com/
This site donates rice when you play the word game. Very very addictive. And educational.

http://www.children.org/
I am now the proud sponsor of a little boy in India. For only $22 a month I feel like I'm doing a good thing. Hopefully they are really helping.

http://www.autotrader.com/
I'm looking for a new car. Well, newer than my 1990 Mazda Miata (soon to be for sale). This site is awesome.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
For checking the gas mileage of the vehicles before test driving them.

http://www.rottenneighbor.com/
This is really cool, and at the same time pretty scary.

http://www.marketscenter.net/ext/houstondowntown/
I work downtown and this map is awesome!


Check it out. I just Scrooged myself. Have a look by clicking on the link below.
http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1203491509
This holiday greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

That's all for now!