Bright and early this morning I had to make the 1 hour drive to Frankfurt to pick up my new victim co-cotton picker. After 26+ years of living in the 49th state, she thought it was time for a change, and decided to come to Germany. If the first impression is a lasting impression, who better to pick her up from the airport than moi? I spent most of the day showing her around the Largest American Community Outside the US. Although she was jet lagged, she held up until P and I dropped her at her hotel at about 1600 (4pm for you civilians). I'm sure that as soon as we left her, she crashed.
So, all week, I'll be playing chauffer, which I don't mind because the more I chauffer, the less cotton I'll have to pick.
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P and I went to the bookstore on base, and she was looking at the books about animals:
P: Mommy, look, a book about porkchops.
Me: A book about what? Let me see it.
Nosey Shopping Guy: Ma'am, I think she means porcupines.
Me: *looking at the book, then at Nosey Shopping Guy* This isn't a book about porkchops or porcupines, it's about armadillos.
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I registered for class today. I'll be taking 2 classes, one in the evenings 2 nights a week at the World's Busiest Airbase, and the other on weekends, at the Baby Busy Airbase, about 1.5 hours away, which means I'll be staying overnight. I hope P will survive without me on those weekends
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I think I'm going to buy a new car. I stopped by the Folks That Won't Bargain With You that sells cars on the World's Busiest Airbase just to ask about the car, and in about 10 minutes they rambled off $4,906 in rebates and incentives (they will even give me $500 off because I'm in school) for a $24K car. With my downpayment, and what I would get for Bruce, my payments would be around $300/month. Although there is nothing wrong with my beloved Bruce, it has European specifications, which means that if I ship it to the US, it would cost about $7K to convert it to US specs. If I buy a car here, and have it in my possession for at least 6 months before I ship it, I pay no sales taxes on it. Since I am about 1 year from leaving, now is a great time for me to buy. Why not buy, you ask? Because I am DEBT FREE!! Other than my month to month living expenses, I HAVE NO BILLS! I cringe at the thought of getting in debt again, even if it is for a car. My original idea was to pay cash for a car, which I could do in the spring/fall 2006, but I won't own it for 6 months before I leave, so I'd have to pay the taxes on it once it touches US soil.
To buy or not to buy, that is the question...