The Postman Cometh:

OMG, ok, so i'm going to switch my laundry from the washer to the dryer (and i'm walking to do it!) and the complex housecleaning lady (geez, i suck at names, i don't know hers, but i talk to her all the time...i'm so bad) sees me from across the street and waves me over.

she asks me "are you alright?" and i tell her yeah.

she goes onto say that i hadn't checked my mail in a while and the postman came over and asked if i still lived there. everyone tells him yes.

i explain, look, my mail is either bills or junk mail. i had gotten my bills at the end of last month and didn't expect anything spectacular in my mail so i just hadn't checked it in awhile (strangely enough i've been thinking the last few days i should check my mail) there's never any good news in my mail, there's never any surprises, so what's the difference.

of course she's a nice lady, and because i don't pass her every day or every other day walking to the store, she hadn't seen me in awhile, so she was concerned if everything was alright (isn't that nice? isn't that what community is supposed to be?)

so i assure her i am indeed alright and on the way back from the laundry i will check my mail.

when i do, i don't have mail in the box but a notice to inform the post office who lives there now. so i have to go through the pain of filling out the form (again) and trying to retrieve the mail that has been sent back. apparently another neighbor has gone through the same hassle (only his paycheck was sent back....oooo, that smarts.)

Black Men Love My Car:

I was first apprised of this when i was having my brakes done in Charlotte. The very nice (black) man who helped me was gobsmacked by my car. especially when he found out (at the time) that the 55,000 miles was original and not a turn over of the odometer, that lots of brothers would want my car. The interior is immaculate and the air-con works like a dream. he said i could just about name my price. i kind of laughed it off. i thought it was funny.

so several weeks ago, i was waiting to pull out of a store parking lot. i see a black guy go by in the same car, around the same year, make and model. this dude nearly broke his neck looking at me as he drove by. ok, i know lots of you are thinking it was a national lampoon christie brinkly in the sports car moment, but he was looking at the car. probably more to the point, he couldn't believe a white chick was driving such a car.

to prove my point. i had told sam that black guys love my car, not telling her the parking lot story, but telling her what the brake guy said. we laughed about. i don't think she believed it either. so this last week i've been letting sam borrow my car to go to work (too early for me to get up and take her, so have at it) she told me yesterday that she's had at least 3 offers from black guys for my car! the offers range from $1000 to $1200. well, i paid $1000 (yes, i had to buy it from my grandmother's trust)but i've put probably close to $500 more into it.

when she told me that, i said, well, let me talk to z, because he loves this car. why? i don't know (this is a kid whose dream car is an El Camino.) but i would like to have something more economical on gas.

i guess i'm debating because a. the original miles now stand at 64,000 b. they made cars better back then c. my step grandfather before his death was a chevy mechanic and took exception care of it d. can i find something comparable that i won't have to sink a lot of money into? and e. i'm at a point where i will have to sink a lot of money into this regardless.

i might tell her to tell all the players interested that i'm considering it and to let the bidding begin.

Dumpter Diving/Curb Alert:

Well, sam and nick are the most proficient dumpster divers i've ever seen.

see when z was a child and we were poor, z would go out to our apartment dumpster and look for things. iceback was incensed by this! how dare his kid dumpster dive! usually z would find bits and pieces scattered around and he actually made his own toys from it. i think that was a sign of his artistic side.

well here, dumpster diving takes on a whole new meaning. people leave perfectly (or slightly flawed) things at the dumpster. sam and nick are vigilant. they have found some wonderful finds out there (and they check once or twice a day) they've found bikes that just need new tires, or tires and repainting (z is now using one of those bikes to ride back and forth to work) they've found grills (two to be exact, one gas, one smoker although the smoker need one new part or a clever simple fix to the broken part) tonight, they found a new sleeper sofa, better than the sleeper sofa they had. they ditched the mattress and kept their own, but snapped it up.

now we'll talk about curb side alert. some folks here just haul their stuff out to the curb. just this week there was a pleather couch out there. the cushions were crap but eventually someone took it. and someone took the chest of drawers that had one or two drawers missing. last night i saw a couple of rot-iron patio chairs and i thought about snatching them up. all the needed was cushions. but before i could get back to get them, they were gone.

here's the thing...on craigslist you can find these "curbside alerts" from people.

however i found something just a little more cooler. in my area there is a yahoo group of people who post what they have they want to give away. so you log into the group and find items you need because others don't want them anymore.

this is kind of a green thing. you guys know i love thrift stores (omg, i just got some nifty clothes from two thrift stores. one was cheaper than i could get in a regular store, but the other, a mission store, i got a dress, a skirt and a pair of shorts for two dollars!)and you know i like flea markets.

my point...one man's junk is another man's treasure.