The Surprise

It turns out that having a kid who is old enough to drive herself places is great, but the greatness is limited by her access to a car. And not my car.

Look, I definitely have moments of generosity and trust and all of the things it would take to let Alexis drive my car all over the place, but those moments tend to happen when we're not talking about Alexis driving my car. I love my car. I love it in one piece. As much as I really to trust Alexis, I don't trust her THAT much. I kinda don't want anyone ever being the wheel of my preshus. Besides, Mila usually needs to be places at most of the same times that Alexis needs to be places.

Basically, the kid needed her own car in order for us to all be happy.

And that is where things got complicated.

It is absolutely the worst time to try to find a cheap used car. It's also a terrible time to buy a new car, but there was no way I was going there. Which, have I ever mentioned that some of Alexis' friends drive brand new cars? One drives a brand new $80k BMW, even. I do not comprehend this phenomenon, especially right now when there are no good deals on cars.

ANYWAY. Alexis is not that lucky.

Nor does she mind. That child has had her heart set on one thing for about three years. A Mini Cooper. Don't ask why because I don't understand the allure, but Alexis has been obsessed with the barely-bigger-than-a-toy-car things for so long.  She has spent hours and hours researching Mini Coopers, building her dream car online, all of the things. Most annoyingly, she yells, "MINI COOPER!" every time she sees one in the wild, which has led to me nearly smooshing my SUV into the size of a Mini Cooper because it startles me all.the.time.

Given there are no great deals to be found, I started looking for an old Mini Cooper a while ago. I finally found one with relatively low miles and no major issues recently, which led to this most excellent moment.

Y'all, she had no clue. NO CLUE. In fact, one day before I parked a Mini Cooper in our driveway, Alexis went on a whole tirade about how she was going to have to wait until she's 40 and financially independent to get one.

Needless to say, Alexis is having the best week ever. And so am I because I haven't had to drive the kid anywhere this week.

Autumn Corn

Heyo! It's October! That means it is my duty to repost the Autumn Corn recipe because it is indeed candy corn season. We can't have you all eating that stuff straight out of the bag because it is an abomination, but it melts down really well. Like, REALLY well.

Autumn Corn

4 quarts popped popcorn (It doesn't matter how you make it--microwave, stove top, whatever. Separate and discard the unpopped kernels.)
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 cups candy corn

1. Start by making your popcorn. Place it in a large bowl(s) and set aside. (I had to use 2 bowls because I didn't have one that was big enough to hold it all.)

2. In a large saucepan, combine the butter, corn syrup, and candy corn. Simmer over medium heat until completely melted (8-10 minutes), stirring occasionally.

3. Pour the melted candy over the popcorn. Toss to coat evenly.

4. Place the Autumn Corn in a large oven-safe pan and bake at 200 degrees for one hour. Be sure to stir every 15 minutes or so, breaking up any large clumps.

5. Allow to cool before storing in an airtight container.

Candy corn has never been so good.

Plotting

That big age gap thing often works in Mila's favor, but there are some things she just plain missed out on. Like, pet selection. Long before Mila was born, Alexis had already weighed heavily on the decisions to get the two dogs and three cats.

Yeah, I know we have too many pets. Trust me, I KNOW. The fact that there are too many of them happens to be the exact reason why when Mila asked if she could pick out a kitten, I was like OH HELL NOOOOOOO. Like, nope to the no to the nopity nope nooooooo. Three cats is plenty; there will not be a fourth.

And dogs? Don't even ask. At this point, Cody is 400 years old, completely deaf, and mostly incontinent. That combination is just as fantastic as it sounds. Add to that the fact that Penny is still going strong and hasn't changed a bit in all of her years. Basically, she is a jerk in all of the most annoying ways. That means I have a dog that acts like a bratty toddler and a grandpa. I want none of it.

Mila knows all of that, though. That's why she went after the cat angle. I'm firmly on team cat these days. That does not, however, mean I'm going to allow a fourth cat into this house. I explained as much to Mila, which led to the statement that one of the cats is going to have to die before we get another one.

Mila though very long and hard about that data point.

VERY long and hard.

And then she asked, "Which of the cats is the oldest?"

The cats best sleep with one eye open for now on. Especially Ali.