Crap-tastic VW paperclip that holds in my headlight lamp

I’m no auto mechanic, but 30 minutes to replace a headlight lamp on my Volkswagen Golf is frikin’ ridiculous.

It’s bad enough that you have to completely remove the battery just to have room to open the back of the headlight casing. What really got to me was this flimsy little paperclip holding the actual bulb in place.

After removing the battery – and the other chunks of plastic between me and the headlight – I fiddled with this stupid paperclip and the wires wrapped around it until it finally popped out of place and dropped below the car. It took another 10 minutes to squeeze my hand in far enough to get the paperclip rigging back into its place.

Frustrating as hell!

I remember replacing the headlight in my old Nissan pickup took 5 minutes max. Just a simple twisting plastic lock.

Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of things I love about my VW, but it is so typical of them to over-complicate something as simple as a lightbulb.

The kids had a big Christmas Eve at Grammy Joyce and Grandpa Mike’s house.

This morning, they woke up to their own kitchen. They love all of the doors and pots and pans and noise, “Oh the NOISE NOISE NOISE NOISE!” We all had a blast this morning.

Porter 2008

Focus Face

Porter and Mom have been working with speech therapists the last few months, trying to get him to talk more. He’s been letting Abbey do all the talking for him. He’s been improving lately, but now that he is close to three, they are considering putting him in an actual class for a few hours per week.

I had the day off, so I took him to one of the assessment appointments this morning. We walked in to a huge room full of every toy you could imagine. As soon as bubba saw the train set he was on a mission to play.

We’ll go to another assessment at the beginning of March. Depending on how that goes, Porter will attend his first day of school around mid-April.

While we were there, one of the specialists took this picture of our little buddy.

Nothing says Christmas like cold nights with no heat.

Our heater went out Friday night. If the frigid air doesn’t make you shiver, the price of a new heating unit will.

The shiney new heating unit is being installed on Wednesday.

I do not beleve you have realized love’s full potential until you are able to love your own child.

I am thankful for Abigail and Porter and for Shannon, who has done such an amazing job raising them. Shannon has a great post about the kids on her blog:

Abbey, you are our little half-pint. You are smaller than your brother but only by about 4 pounds. You are dainty and have the softest touch.