Endless Love

I have been chastised for my lack of blogging lately.... My bad.
Life is going wonderfully, school is insane but awesome, I love my life.

One thing that I had not been looking forward to happens next Wednesday. March 21... yup that is my birffday. Don't get me wrong, I love parties, I just dislike having all that attention on me. Call me odd, but it just makes me feel like a selfish brat. I realize this is a huge double standard since I love to celebrate everyone else's birthdays. Get over it.
Turns out, as fate would have it, I was able to meet the love of my life. I've decided is my birthday gift to myself. Being 21 is going to be awesome with this sweet ride! Not only is having a truck awesome, but hanging out with my brother, customizing our trucks is awesome as well. (Ryan has a '94 F150, so our trucks are dang similar. It is so exciting!)

I have fallen in love. I'm committed.
Here's how it happened-
           Step 1: Save money.
           Step 2: Wait until Ryan (the all-knowing, deal-spotting, guru) comes to Idaho.
           Step 3: Stalk Craigslist continuously and drive all over East Idaho looking at glorious Fords.
           Step 4: Meet some awesome grandparents who don't know what is wrong with their seemingly awesome truck.
           Step 5: Bargain them down to half the asking price.
           Step 6: Buy that glorious Ford.
           Step 7: Spend a couple evenings in the shop with Ryan.
           Step 8: Have a perfect running truck for an absolute steal of a price.
           Step 9: All your wildest dreams come true.
           Step 10: Deck the crap out of that beauty.

I am now on step 10.
Long story short, I saved an insane amount of money. When I bought the truck, the tranny was in safe mode and their appeared to be a slight issue with the starter. We bought it for dang cheap, expecting to have to rebuild/replace the transmission. I am the luckiest, most blessed person on the planet, all of the time, so naturally all that turned out to be wrong was a big blown maxi fuse. I now have a glorious 1995 F150 with only 130,000 miles, and loads of potential. Incredible. Seriously, who gets that lucky?! This means that my truck budget is not even close to being maxed out, which means I'm going to have the sickest truck ever.

My plans:
- Take out the plastic bedliner and Monstaline the bed and rocker panels, grill, and light casing either black or charcoal
- Build the custom bumper for the front and rhinoline it and the rear bumper.
- Build the light rack and rhinoline it as well.
- Tint the windows to about 20%.
- Lift it a few inches and big bog tires tires (285s or 33s).
- Line the middle portion of the hood.
- Install a new stereo
- Have the best summer ever!

Basically it is going to be legit.... all white with black/charcoal accents.














I realize that very few females care about this. Call me a white-trash red-neck if you want, but I am so excited. It is funny to me to see who cares about trucks and who definitely does not. All I gotta say, is that come summertime when we are taking my lovely truck to play in the sunshine, you will probably start appreciating it more. Life is better with a truck.

Budget Stress: Good-Better-Best

My return to Idaho is less than a month away.

(Okay, it's 27 days living, but only 20 days of work. Not that I'm counting or anything. Geeze. Happy now?)

I am ecstatic to once again be in the land of sunshine, family, and friends. Unfortunately, I will also be in the predicament of real-life-big-kid stress again. S. T. R. E. S. S. 

Life has recently uncovered some major flaws in the "Mand-o-lin Budget for a Job-Free Semester"... 

1. Airplane tickets to/from Alaska = mucho dinero.

2. Cars cost money even when you don't drive them.

3. Grocery costs nearly triple when you're allergic to gluten.

5. I repel technology. My new laptop has decided to malfunction in the motherboard area.

        AKA- I get to buy myself a new computer! Again! Joy!

4. Spending all of the money I have allotted myself this year would stress me out.
        Stress-free money is saved money.

Simply put- I love to buy things, but spending money stresses me out.
Big time.

Don't worry, I don't understand it either.

I realize I am certifiably insane, but "mental-breakdown-recuperation-fund" is another one of those things missing in my budget.
Let's not go there, my friends.

In working towards a solution to this problem, I have put together some "Good, Better, Best" scenarios.

Enjoy...

GOOD: Sell my body for money. (Otherwise known as donate plasma). If I can shrink my grocery bill to fit to the plasma amount then things would be peachy. I could transfer the 'food' fund to the 'keep-in-my-account-indefinitely-to-make-me-happy' fiund. Lovely. The downside- if I eat more than I sell then I will want to get a job just to make sure I don't run out of money. This would mean remaining a productive member of society, and we all know how dreadful that is.


BETTER: Find some old people that live in castles and such. Adopt them as extra grandparents. Find a gypsy to hypnotize the old people... Badda-bing-badda-boom- money.


BEST: Run away and live in the mountains as a nomad. I just bought a new tent, and am really super duper excited to use it. Why not make it my home?! Seriously though, cheapest house ever. No mortgage, no rent. I would catch my own meat and pick my own berries. This would give me the opportunity to hike all day long, shower in waterfalls, drink natural spring water on the rocks (literally), and sleep under the stars every single night. If I die? Two words: Natural. Selection.


That is my plan to sweet success. *Patent pending.*



<3 Living the Dream,
-MK

REMEMBER:

Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

I am purely ecstatic about the Christmas season that has come once again! This is the time of year that I feel people more openly acknowledge and express their love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, openly. While there will always be some that contest this happy season, I am grateful for all the opportunities that if affords me, personally. Christmas time brings an entire month for the human race to exude love and hope without fear of rejection or ostracism. Another blessing that comes along with this season is Christmas music. I realize there are some haters out there, but I find it incredible that in this day and age it is still socially acceptable to play music revolving around the Lord in public venues. To me, this is an incredible blessing. I hope that as we go throughout this season we can remember the true meaning of Christmas and share it with a smile on our faces and love in our hearts.

While I realize the constant reminder of our mother's inappropriate gestures with Santa can get old, and listening to electronic dogs bark out jingle bells can be obnoxious, it is all just a give and take for me. I will take an occasional Chipmunk serenade in order to hear truly magnificent proclamations of truth, such as the one below.

Some food for thought.... Enjoy!

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth.

Long lay the world, in sin and error pining,

'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, 

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angels' voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by the light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of Kinds lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus rain we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

<3 Living the Dream

-MK