Another is better...or is it? PLUS A GIVEAWAY

This is my 101st post since starting this blog. I've been watching and waiting for the time when the 100th post would come along, not sure when or if it would ever come along. And this morning I was about to post something else when I noticed that I had 101 posts! HUH? 101 posts! how did that slip up on me? I went back to the dashboard and noticed a couple of drafts that I needed to delete (if it doesn't' flow it needs to go, KWIM?) which took me to 100. How cool is that a milestone. I really love milestones because I love nostalgia and sentimentality and now this is no longer just a "thing" I toy with deleting but a real deal sentimental favorite that I'll keep just because I keep things I love.

I'll never forget when my beloved Honda Accord hatchback five speed rolled 100K. I pulled over to the side of the road and sat in my Honda and just soaked up the moment...loved that car. Getting rid of it was the biggest mistake of my adolescent life. Sure the sunroof which had been added after the fact had to share a fuse...sure the seats were getting torn from sun rot and the often leaky after-market sunroof...sure the baby blue paint was starting to show signs of grey...sure it had 100K...sure it was paid for--but I was going away to college and I didn't want it to break down (it hadn't' broken down, except for that one time on my 22nd birthday) on me after all. EVERYONE in my family told me to keep it and get it fixed up (new brakes, clutch, etc.) and it would go for another 100K. New would better, actually in my mind another is better.

Kids don't really know how to be rational or complaisant. It's often times that "another" is better than what they have. It's not that what they have is bad or wouldn't work, but another is better and there needs to be no rationalization or qualification because another is all that is sought. It's a crazy and bizarre syndrome of which I am afflicted and to this day fight (that's why I have 10 coffee mugs and just bought another one Saturday). My grandparents and Dad don't have this affliction, I think there is a generation of folks who don't' have the another is better affliction. My grandmother has sat in the same chair for 30+years. Could she use a new one--yes! Does she want one, NO. There isn't a, another is better, thing with her. Maybe it's because she never had an opportunity or the resources to get another and had to make do with what she had. My Poppa wore the same engineer overalls his entire life (obviously buying a new pair when they wore out), with matching cap. Usually no shirt, just the overalls a t-shirt and his cap, in the winter he would put a flannel shirt over the overalls. He didn't need anything else because he had what he needed and didn't care about another. Is that why appliances are crap now a days? Crap because they know they don't have to make them last 40 years because "we" have the credit resources to replace them....is that it? I may be onto something.

Before I left for school I was determined to get another car. Did I shop around, no. Did I know what I wanted, yes..another! I found myself on a mega car lot and got sucked into a used car salesman's speel. Such a sucker. I purchased a Chevy Corscia four door with a hatchback. It was a bizarre and odd car and the beginning of the downward spiral in my car purchases. If ever in the history of bad cars there as a lemon--this car was it. This car was a piece of junk. I only had it a year and a half and it was a nightmare the entire time. The worst part of this car were the windshield wipers because they would attack one another. If cars have personalities (I think they do) then my car had schizophrenia. Windshield wipers are critical elements to a car that, like the Swiss Guard, need to be always on alert and ready at a moments notice. Who uses their windshield wipers when it's not raining--NO ONE. Wipers are only needed when they are needed! Mine would begin to wipe and do their things for two or three swipes...then the left wiper would just swing over and smack the right wiper and the brawl was on. Nothing like a windshield wiper cat fight! I hated this car the entire time I drove it, except the first month because it was new and, after all, another is better, or is it?

My next car was a Nissan Stanza, rolled in some negative equity on it from the lemon. Drove that a little bit and grew tired of it's blahness, so I traded it in on a Plymouth, rolling in even more negative equity, which raised the bar of bad cars, traded that one in on an Altima (negative equity mounting even more) and drove it happily for five years until we traded it in on a Taurus (negative equity? You bet)--bad car. The Taurus was traded for an Expedition, loved that car, we drove it until it fell apart, traded that one in on another Altima and had planned to drive it until Teensy decided to be created and come into the world. Which brings us to the Quest (still carrying the negative equity from the 75 cars I traded) we drive now.

I've had a bad car karma and it's all because I thought another is better. How can I get away from thinking that another is better? I don't know...I just don't know. Maybe someday Oprah will do a show, "Another Isn't Better, next Oprah" (love when she says, "next Oprah). She always seems to take these things on and just make sense of them and work them out to where you can wrap your brain around something that was millstone around your neck for years and conquer it. Oprah is the veritable snip to your millstone. One show and SNIP gone move on. She's amazing, isn't she. Just ask Mildred about how Oprah snipped her millstone. AND ask her how Oprah's show called her...OPRAH'S SHOW CALLED HER!

Now...for some fun stuff. To celebrate the 101st post of this blog: I'm going to have a giveaway! What will I give away--a coffee mug? NO, just kidding. I wrote a cookbook to benefit my 2nd child's adoption and I will give away a signed copy to a lucky winner. I only have 8 copies left, so quantities are limited. All you have to do is leave a comment and a lucky winner will be selected. Good luck.