Bella the Beautiful

It's not okay that my hair cuts cost $30 and Bella's cost $50. But damn it she's worth it.

She looks like the flying dog from Never Ending Story, right?!

PET RULES
To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other
dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in
the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming
your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the
slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating
me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I
fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry
about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to
ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when
they sleep.. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other
stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking
tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to
maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by
some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not
necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw
under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the
same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years
--canine or feline attendance is not required.


The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt.
I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our
front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.

2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.
(That's why they call it "fur-niture .)

3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who
is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less
2. Don't ask for money all the time
3 Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to drive the car
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don't smoke or drink
8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions
9. Don't want to wear your clothes
10. Don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and...

11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

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 :)