Halloween Costumes and Magic Auto Repair

I was excited when I thought the girls had decided what they wanted to be for Halloween when we were in Orange Beach this summer. Magnolia was going to be Alice, our standard poodle, and Cora was going to be a kitty cat. Easy and themed, yes! It stuck for about a month....then it all changed.

Last year Cora was a "flying princess unicorn." I made her costume in the likes of Princess Celestia. She was white, and I made her a rainbow mane. What does she want to be this year? A white pony with rainbow "hair." So basically she wants to be what she was last year minus the horn and wings. I've got that.

Magnolia, however, has been consistently telling people what she would now like to be, and it's so funny and random. What is it, you ask?

A shower.

I think it will be pretty easy. I'm thinking a hoop with a shower curtain hanging from it. I'll put some sort of shoulder straps onto keep it in place, but I don't want it to hang too low - I want the hoop to be about level with her shoulders. I was worried about how she'd move her arms out to trick-or-treat, but I'll just make sure the opening to the shower curtain is in the front. And then I'm going to make some sort of headband with a shower head coming up and over. I think it's going to be awesome.

Last year, I had to work really hard on Cora's costume. Magnolia was an elephant, and I got that costume on sale at Carter's. Easy. This year, Cora is easy and Magnolia's will require the extra work. I hope they can keep on keepin' on in this fashion, unless they decide to both go they easy route (your know, like Alice and a kitty cat). I wouldn't mind that either. I seriously love making their costumes though.

In other news...

I went and switched cars with Jake at work yesterday. I wanted to get the Prius washed, plus I want to see how much money we can save in gas if I drive the Prius for the next few weeks. I drive way more than Jake, so it makes sense. I had a coupon for a carwash, took it there, and decided to call a local body shop to see if they could fix the under-thingy that protects against scrapes. I noticed it was coming detached the other day. They person told me to expect about an hour and for it to cost $85. Eh...

I took it around the block to Magic Auto Repair. This place really is magic. They have the best prices anywhere, and are super kind. One time, many moons ago, our car just completely lost it out of nowhere. We took it to MAR and it was the timing belt. I'd been on the phone with my dad who told me we'd be looking at $500-600 for the timing belt (and he'd been telling me to make sure htey look at everything else before the timing belt because that would set us back quite a bit). He charged us $200. Awesome. I wish there was a super amazing grant they could get to spruce up their shop. It's a father/son team. The dad mostly changes oil, the son takes care of things like timing belts. When we were there for our timing belt, it was pouring down rain for hours and hours. Jake and "the son" talked most of the time, and he is so smart. You wish you could pick him up and put him in a mechanical engineering program. The family is from Persia (they always just say Iran), and "the dad" was always so adamant the first time we were there, "I don't cheat people. I'm Muslim. It's not our way." They've proven that many times to us.

So, I took the Prius to Magic Auto Repair, asked "the son" if he could fix it, and he said yes, he would just need to raise it up a bit so he could see. I asked him how much it would cost and he waived his hand at me, and motioned me around. It took him about 5 minutes. When he was done, he removed the jack and waived goodbye. I got out with all the cash I had in my wallet. $9.15. I actually had a $10, too, but it wasn't mine, it was Magnolia's. I held it up to him, and he said, "No, it's okay."

I told him to please take it. He smiled and grabbed the $5. $5 and 5 minutes vs. an hour and $85. That's better than any groupon I've ever seen. Magic Auto Repair. 23rd and Mckinley. Don't you forget it.

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