Well it’s taken. He found the same exact car with a blown engine. Purchase price $1,900.

For the past few months Sam and his friend Jason (and some other friends) have been transplanting the engine from the flattened BMW into his new purchase. It’s been quite a production and I’ve spent many lonely weekends while he’s off tinkering, but in the end it was worth it.

The chore was a huge project but thanks to his friend Jason he learned a lot throughout the past few months. They both have way more patience than me. Not to mention Sam has two cars parked in his driveway and one is taking up most of the space in Jason’s one-car garage! (God bless his wife because those aren’t the only toys he has parked in the driveway).

This past weekend they actually started it up and took it for a test drive. It needs a few tweaks before he can drive it home, like apparently the steering wheel isn’t on straight (oops).

More photos after the jump.

Getting ready to take it apart.

Good engine or bad? I don't know.

Ready to drive.

And thank you for all the other times I forgot to mention it. There are a hundred reasons why I’m grateful that God made you my father. Everything I have in my life is because of you and mom, and I thank you for giving me so many things that other kids only dream of. Thank you for working so hard to provide for your family. You and mom are so special to me and I love you with everything that I have. Happy Father’s Day!

It’s about 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon and I’m at work, which means I’m hardly working. It also means I’m hungry and sleepy.

I found this on Sweden’s tourist website Sweden.se and I want one. How delicious goes this look?

Semla with almond paste and whipped cream dates back to the 16th century

Now doesn’t that sound like fun?  Being a grown-up is oh so much fun.  At least now that I live with my parents I can get my mommy and daddy to make my bed (just kidding).
 
Maybe you have to take one step backward before you can take two steps forward or something like that.
 
To be continued….
 

But that is not what the post is about…

Sam was storing his BMW in a garage around the corner from us on Jefferson, and a few weeks ago the roof collapsed from the snow (a recurring theme this winter). Good thing he kept the insurance on it. The garage owner didn’t have the same luck.

To add salt to his wounds the building was deemed “unsafe” by the Albany Police and fire department, so Sam and I had to stand and watch as the building was demolished with his car inside.

Garage housing Sam's BMW collapses - car inside

As you can see the damage can’t exactly be buffed out. The body of the car took the worst hit, but pretty much all of the interior, engine, and other important parts can be salvaged. Sam being the crazy guy he is bought the car back from the insurance company so he could part out the pieces.

Unfortunately while the car was at the tow garage some butt head saw his sad looking BMW and figured no one was going to claim it, so they stole his $1400 wheels with brand new tires and replaced them with crappy cheap wheels and worn out tires. The insurance company doesn’t think they will be retrievable (even though he has pictures to prove what his original wheels looked like).

Luckily he posted his story on this “bimmer forum” and is well on his way to making a good profit on his sad looking bimmer.

Anyone want to buy a BMW engine?

P.S. Sam has the worst luck with cars. Like when he was getting his truck inspected by a Jiffy Lube in Delmar, and they forgot to tighten the front wheel and while he was driving away the wheel fell off. Or how about the time he was filling his old Audi up with gas and as he pulled away the car stopped. Apparently the gas station had several law suites against them because they were selling bad gas. When he had the gas pumped out half the tank was filled with water. Those are just to name a few….

One of these things is not like the other.

I visited my Aunt in in the the old Victorian town of Cape May, NJ with my mom and Mor-mor for the third year in a row:

Sam and I spent a lovely weekend in the Adirondacks with one of Sam’s best friends from high school, his wife and their two kids:

It was a very busy summer, and I will try not to leave you unattended for such an extended amount of time.

While we were driving we saw a ton of funny moose crossing signs. I don’t know why I thought they were funny, but they were. They read “Break for Moose. It could save your life.” We were hoping to see a moose and we did. And it wasn’t so funny when it darted across the road in front of a motor cycle that lead one of our caravans Fast little buggers for such a giant mammoth.

Liz and I saw Chelsea Handler at the Palace Theater while she was on her book tour promoting her new book “Chelsea, Chelsea Bang Bang.” We bought her book at the show, and it came with a wrist band, which meant she would sign our book. However Chelsea being the ass that she is comes out and says “Don’t listen to what they said. I will sign everyone’s book even if you didn’t buy it here.” Needless to say there was a zillion people scrambling to get in line for the book signing. We waited in a very long line that winded up a ton of stairs in what felt like a sauna with hundreds of people. As we were standing in line we wrote our names on sticky notes ithat were in the front cover, so she would know what to write. When we got to the signing table she opened by book and said “Hey Melissa” and I said “Hi Chelsea.” I think we had a moment. Check out Liz’s version of the story.

I spent a week in Cape Cod, MA with my family. We stayed at a house seconds from the beach and hop skip and a jump to the center of Harwich Port. It was one of the most relaxing vacations I have ever had. We went shopping; watched a Chatham A’s game; sun bathed on the beach every day; went kayaking through the salt marshes; read books (plural); and played board games. (The girls beat the boys at scrabble. Double word score for “Quiet.” – Yeaahh Baby!) We had ap pretty cool victory dance, and the boys weren’t so happy.

Sam and I celebrated our FIVE YEAR anniversary. I made some banana smoothies for breakfast, and we went house hunting. We stopped at the Troy Brew Pub for lunch and stuffed our faces with whiskey barrel wings and a lamb burger, and we drank lots of heffen weiser. Later that night we had reservations at McGuire’s later, but we were so full from out late lunch and had a hard time getting off the couch. We cancelled the reservation and decided to stroll down Lark St – ending at Elda’s for some wine and appetizers. It was a perfect day.

Summer To be continued…