The saga of Dexter, the Xter and the clutch

In May of 2009, we bought Mr. Perfect a fun little SUV to drive that was quickly named Dexter, the Xter. It's lovely blue 2000 Nissan Xterra. To christen Dexter, we dragged him through the beautiful red mud of southern Utah.

We do fully understand that buying a used SUV comes with its issues. We knew that we'd probably need to put some money into him over the next few years. We just didn't realize that he needed all of the following repairs:

• A/C (fixed in May 2010)
• Heater (yeah, completely different issue than A/C) (fixed in October 2010)
• Brand new clutch (fixed in March 2010)

The new clutch came to $1200 because it also needed a new master cylinder. Well, in late November, Mr. Perfect notices that the clutch is acting funny. By the end of the month, it's obvious that something has to be done. And he's thinking that the warranty on the clutch was only for 3 months. I'm thinking, "Well, so much for Christmas. What can we return for a refund instead of store credit?"

Nothing so drastic. The master cylinder was leaking and would to be replaced, but it's still UNDER WARRANTY! Wah hoo! Huzzah huzzah huzzah! Hurray for our side! So, the Grinch doesn't get to steal Christmas, and we don't have to return anything, and Dexter gets to live at least another month...until the next big crisis.

O Tannenbaum O Tannenbaum

We are very exited about the Christmas tree this year. We bought a new tree topper, and were a little frustrated when all Walmart seemed to have were ones with blue lights. Shesh! We found what would seem to be the last one with white lights. We think the guitar adds to the look, too.

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

The Friday after Thanksgiving, we took Game Boy to see Tangled, the new Disney animated movie. Grab one, grab all, and see this movie. Hollywood really needs to make more like this one. Okay, the songs aren't as memorable as Alan Menkin's usually are (this isn't Beauty and Beast by any means), but the animation is wonderful, and the voice cast does a great job. Who knew that Zachary Levi could sing? Apparent, Disney. And I can never resist an intelligent cartoon horse (like Price Phillip's horse from Sleeping Beauty only smarter).

Then on Saturday we headed out for HP7 part 1. I have to admit that the thought of Harry Potter 7 part 1 makes me laugh. I mean, it's really the seventh part of the story, but only the first half of the seventh part. Is your brain hurting yet? Mine is. I think they did a really good job, but there were still things missing from the book I would have liked. My favorite version will always be the book.

Beatles Lover's 17th birthday

Beatles Lover turned 17th in November, and we celebrated by going out to dinner (she chose Chili's). After dinner, we had banana bread at home.

She's not big on cake, but she loves the breads.

She loves hates, so we gave her one she can wear to school (because it's "official" school attire).

And we couldn't resist this picture of Game Boy. He's into hats, too. Or at least this one.

Wordless Wednesday