My Fit should arrive tomorrow or sometime this weekend! Its driving me crazy! I actually didn’t sleep very well last night because I am so excited. I feel like screaming like the Rabbids from Rayman (which, by the way, is a hilarious game). Bahhhhhhhh!!!!

Being astute as my readers are, you are probably wondering what has prompted me to start blogging more frequently. Well, since you asked, I’ll tell you. About two weeks ago, the ABE crew (and by “crew” I mean the whole clan, not just the techie people) went out for food after the show and met up with some ABE friendlies, including a prolific blogger who goes by the name Aunt. B. She kindly informed me that there is an entire community of Nashville bloggers who actually meet up regularly. I thought that was incredibly cool and made a mental note to check out her blog the next day. Low and behold, she had already accounted our discussion on her blog, plus numerous other postings in the time it took me to remember to even look her up.

Anyway, I was clicking around on her website and found “Nashville is Talking“, a WKRN sponsored website that Jason told me about a while ago, but didn’t look up at the time. It’s managed by a woman named Brittany and is a conglomeration of snippets from blogs by Nashvillians. On the off chance my blog had been quoted, I searched the site for “garden” and, surprisingly enough, got two results. One was in specific reference to my post about the Fit and another was just announcing me as a new site. Pretty cool. And I have to be honest, a little recognition is all it takes to kick me into high gear. I’m just interested to see how long this lasts.

The weather in Nashville is finally back to a reasonable temperature this morning, so I decided to ride my scooter to work. It was still a little chilly, but not bad at all. I did get some interesting looks though, considering I’m wearing a skirt and high boots. I’m just praying it won’t rain today…or if it does, that it is done by the time I leave.

One of my ABE friends is having a reading of a play he’s written at 5:15 tonight, so I may scoot down there after work. “Down there” refers to the Actor’s Bridge space in Germantown called The Neuhoff. Its an old meat-packing-plant turned artistic community and ABE has one of the spaces there. So far, they’ve done one show there each season, last season it was “Metamorphoses” and we all ran around a pool of water every night. Good times. Anyway, its a very interesting and flexible space, and, dare I say, unlike any other in Nashville.

That’s what we were told about an hour ago when the plumbers came back after a long day of work, because our bathroom sink and toilet aren’t working. Apparently, when they turned the water back on, they didn’t let all the junk drain out at the water main, they just let it make its way through all our pipes. Or try at least. Luckily the shower works, which is what I was most concerned about. They’ll be back tomorrow morning to use some high pressure hose thingy that will blow out the debris that’s clogging up those pipes. Then we should be all set.

When we bought an older house, we knew we would have to do some fixes here and there. Of course, we have our dream projects to add on a deck, redo our bathrooms, kitchen, and living room. But we’re never going to get to do those things because of all the necessary crap we have to do in order to live comfortably in our home.

Today, I’ve taken to working at home because we have plumbers here, running new pipe from our water main to our utility closet. We’re replacing what we hope is the last of the galvanized pipe in our house. oh sure, it will dramatically increase our water efficiency and we can get rid of some nasty old pipe, but not before paying the price. We’re actually probably getting a very good deal, but it still hurts. Considering we just had to pay to have our furnace fixed and the fact that I’m buying a new car (see below).

Wentworth Plumbing is doing the work for us and things seem to be going well so far (if nothing else, their website is pretty funny). The workers are very nice and clean (at least they were when they got here) and they don’t seem to be wasting any time (not that it matters cause we’re not paying them by the hour or anything). They do seem to be doing it the hard way by running the pipe through 3 rooms in our basement, when they could just go around the house the other way and go into the house directly into the utility closet. But, they’re the experts. We found them through ServiceMagic.com, which also seems to be a pretty good resource for finding service people in Nashville. Our heating guy came recommended from there too and he was great.

Greatness aside, all the work still sucks, cause, well, we have to pay for it. Sometimes I seriously think about what it would be like to move back into an apartment, or condo at least. Sometimes I think I’d give up a little space to not have to worry about all this stuff. But its an investment, right?

I got through after 4 more minutes. Not too bad. Unfortunately they can’t do anything. Once the bank rejects the transaction, the IRS will have to cut a check that will be sent to my house in 2-3 weeks. Hmm…what to do now….

That’s how long I’ve been holding with the IRS trying to get through and talk to someone about my refund. I tried at home this morning as well…still no luck. Man, this is going to suck!

I was expecting my tax return to go directly into my bank account yesterday, but still nothing had arrived when I checked my account this morning. I called the automated IRS number and it said the amount was deposited into my account! That made me panic a little and, looking at my Turbo Tax paperwork, I realized my account number was 1 digit off. :(

I called my bank, who could do nothing, although they were able to tell me that that account number does not exist, so at least my money wasn’t deposited into some shmuck’s account. Now, I have to wait until Tuesday to call the IRS (joy joy) and explain the situation. Surely it will take even longer to get my return now.

What really stinks is that I was depending on that refund for the down payment on my car. So, this means I’ll have to charge that amount, if that’s even allowed, and then wait for the deposit to go through. Although, who knows, maybe they’ll get it sorted out right away and it will be in my account by the time my car arrives (around 2/23). Right.

Anyway, I’m kinda bummed…but I’m sure it’ll get worked out. Just maybe not exactly how I had planned it.

During the first weekend of “Ordinary Heroes”, the Actor’s Bridge/Amun Ra show I’m running lights for, some members of the Nashville Civil Rights Movement came to one of the shows and stayed to answer some questions. Most of them were actually quoted in the play, so it was interesting to meet them.

So, during the discussion, one of the more prominent speakers said that racism is still very present today, and that its even more prevalent than it was in the 60′s and 70′s. The problem with it now is that no one acknowledges the issue and we go about our lives thinking everything is hunky dory. He continued to say that it is up to the adults to lead their children in the right direction away from racism

That got me thinking about my own views on race and racism and I came to a startling conclusion. Sometimes I don’t even know if my own thoughts are racist or not. I mean, I can recognize acts of hatred against members of a different race, but when it comes to my own thoughts, its like I’m not sure if I’m being racist or just sensitive to the other race.

For instance, a great example came about during the Super Bowl festivities. As you are probably well aware, this was the first year that not only one, but both of the head coaches were African American. Now, I didn’t really even think about that until the media made a big deal about it. So then I started thinking, “Is it more or less racist for me to recognize them as the first African American head coaches to reach the Super Bowl, or to just recognize them as two men who have accomplished a great thing? Am I hindering or bettering the passage to anti-racism by acknowledging their race?”

I actually asked my question to one of the members present, after the main panel discussion was over, and I wasn’t very satisfied with his response. He didn’t really seem to grasp that I was asking him to help me make sense of my own perceptions. He just kept saying how the event of 2 black coaches was a big deal because of the strides African Americans have made to be a part of the NFL. So was he saying it is okay for me to recognize their race? If my children are going to learn values from me, and I don’t even know what I’m supposed to think, what happens then?

Okay, so the title is a little deceiving, but it has its merits.

In 2 short weeks, I should be the owner of a brand new Honda Fit (“The Fit is Go”). I say “should” because there is still a slight chance it could be sold out from underneath me. Here’s the deal.

The Fit is the newest in Honda’s lineup and boasts itself as a small silver bullet with a surprisingly roomy interior. That said, it is only made in Japan and the US is just now getting their hands on it. Europe and Japan have been able to purchase it for a few years (under the name of “Jazz”), but its said that only 60,000 will make it to the US this year. So, the one I have my eye on should arrive the week of Feb. 22nd.

Now, I’ve signed an agreement with Honda that I will pay the price we agreed to, but I have not signed any financial paperwork (even though they were more than willing to let me sign it two weeks before I even have the car). So, technically, the sale is not complete and they could, as underhanded and cruel as it would be, sell it to someone else who is willing to pay more and be suckered into their “extra costs”. In that case, I would throw a fit and do my best to make them regret it. :) Hopefully it won’t come to that.

I’m trying not to get too excited, though. I will definitely keep you updated.