Marching for Their Lives

That's me, last Monday, at our local branch of Bowling Green State University. My friend and I volunteered (begged the powers that be) to have a voter registration table in the "pit" for a day. The student media coordinator made a cute "GIF" of us waving and welcoming future voters, but I am not smart enough to share an action video. I screenshot this from their Instagram account. Which is about as techy as I can get.

I was wavering between attending the March for Our Lives, in support of children not worrying or being shot in schools, either in Washington DC by bus or in a larger, neighboring community, When I heard that some students at our local high school in our small rural community were planning their own march, I was thinking that would be easier. My mind was made up when they contacted us to have a voter registration table prior to the march. 

We were swamped! It was so inspiring to think that these kids, voting for the first time in just a few months, are enthusiastic and willing to step up and make decisions for the benefit of their country. 

The march was planned, organized and led completely by high school students. You won't see them much in my photos because they were leading us and old people like me were in the back of the line.  So lucky these little cuties, children of a friend, walked with me. I think Miss Ava may just change the world. Jonah is going out after dark to find Big Foot tonight. 

Just some of the young women who will change the world!

They were not sure how many to expect. More and more kept arriving! We numbered between 140 and 150! (not counting dogs). 

We marched through residential neighborhoods for over a mile. There were gestures of support and some lovely people who disagreed by driving by yelling profanities, using hand signals and pretending to shot a gun in a hand motion which was a little scary to the tiny people. The adults felt that these people were merely demonstrating the need for mental health certificates prior to gun purchases. 

We ended up in our downtown area, in front of the office of our local congressman. He actually lives almost 100 miles away from our town, the opposite end of our gerrymandered district shaped like a duck. To my knowledge, he has not visited his office here in over 18 months. And I kinda keep track. 

The students read pre-written speeches, so moving that I was almost brought to tears. Unfortunately three young men decided to harass the speakers, crossing the street into our permitted area and demanding their megaphone. Our local law enforcement reminded them that they had every right to get a permit just like the students had and to bring their own megaphone to their event, just like the students did.  A middle schooler near me was trying to find out what was going on. I told him that it was like someone who wasn't invited to your birthday party showed up and you asked them to leave.  One of the girl's dads spoke to the men in the most even, considerate tone (I am not kidding) listened to their concerns and tried to explain the point of the march, while the girls continued their speeches. We don't want children to live in fear and possibly die at school. 

The back of my sign: 

We live in a rural community. I understand that people want firearms for hunting and protection. I even (surprise) understand that people like to use firearms for sport shooting and recreational shooting.  

But I have to register my car every year (we do not have gun registration in Ohio). I have to take tests every three years to renew my driver's license. I have to purchase new license plates for all my vehicles every year. I have to purchase insurance on all my vehicles and sign an affidavit every year that I have purchased this insurance.  Why can't someone come up with SENSIBLE laws to even try to prevent firearms getting into the hands of mass shooters at schools, malls, concerts and other public events? 

We pay our politicians very good salaries to come up with fair solutions. Unfortunately they seem to earn more money in BRIBES by special interest groups to vote in their special interests instead of what is best for the country.  After listening and watching our students across the country, I do have hope that they will change the world!

The 2018 Cleveland Auto Show

It's time for the next adventure of the #RetireeRoadtrip. This time we went to the auto show. We have never been to the auto show, but we are considering a new vehicle and thought it would be nicer to view them indoors instead of the snowy parking lots. Parking was free (paid by auto dealers) and admission was $14.00 each. 

This is mostly what an auto show looks like. It is a lot of men standing in lines and in crowds. Most are much taller than I am. Occasionally there are women and I was surprised at how many people brought children since it was $12.00 admission for children. 

 There was a vintage auto show in one of the side galleries and we actually enjoyed that the most. What I am looking for is a vehicle that can hold multiple (as in more than 2) car seats. These were the only vehicles that met that challenge. But they do not have rear seat belts. Look at that back seat!

 Look at the size of this back seat! I bet I could have two regular car seats and two toddler boosters!

 I guess this is also a very important part of auto shows. These carts were everywhere. Yes, $4 for a bottle of water and $10 for a glass of beer. Everyone was paying $10 for a glass of beer. Yikes!

 They did have some activities for the tall guys. I have no idea what this is. 

 

 There were all kinds of opportunities to drive cars. The lines were unbelievable. And I did not want to attempt this. 

I did measure the back seat of every single sedan and SUV in the IX Center. None of them were large enough for three car seats. Several have three car seat latches, but there is not nearly enough room for standard car seats. The sedan with the widest backseat was the Chevy Impala and the truck with the width backseat (and only one to accommodate three car seats) was a special edition Dodge Ram. It was so high I could never lift the kids and buckle them in. None of the SUVs or vans could accommodate more than two car seats on a bench seat. 

We narrowed the search to what we probably need:

And what we want:

It was an interesting way to spend the day, but I doubt we will attend again. 

My kind husband then took me out for a late lunch and bought me a draft beer for $3.00.

That is not a head on the beer. The glass was so cold that it turned into a beer slushie. It was delicious. I drink about 3 beers in a year and this one will probably be my favorite!

The Great Cleveland Home and Garden Show III

 Well, since tomorrow morning we will again make the trek to Cleveland on another Retiree Road Trip, I thought I would finally finish the tour of the Great Cleveland Home and Garden Show. The seating area above was in between two little houses. One of the things I was really looking forward to was the dream house they construct inside the IX Center. 

This was a TINY house. We are standing in line because only four people could walk in at once. Then we pivoted and walked out. The mattress was in a loft, the size of a mattress. 

 Here is the one on the left. It was empty inside which made it look even smaller. They both cost around twice what we originally paid for our house in 1979 and then you would need property to put them on. We were not impressed. They seemed smaller than most campers!

 I just thought this was neat.

 Then we got in line to see what we thought was a house sized house. It actually had a bathroom, great room with kitchen and a "media room" which would be a bedroom.

 I plan to remodel our bathroom (well, I started planning at least 3 years ago).  My mother suffered from elderly onset ALS and my dad suffered a stroke. Both needed a wheelchair accessible bathroom which was impossible in their home. I plan to be safe, not sorry and try to install a wheel chair (different from handicap accessible) shower before I need one.

 Tile ideas.

 Meandering through the great room.

An expresso machine built into a granite wall in the kitchen. My husband is a retired plumber. He was wild about this. You would have to take the wall down to fix the water line. How much damage to replace the machine? Yes, I must design for easy repairs over style.

 This was one wall of the media/bedroom. The screen was about 8' x 6'. We were thinking we could watch tv without our glasses!

 Home number 3 was a cabin.

 Tiny, but the high ceilings helped.

 A tiny stairway lead upstairs. We had to duck to enter the loft. Then we stood there because there was no room to go down. We all had to leave at once.

 Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny kitchen. My purse would not fit in the sink. I am sorry I did not get a photo of the bathroom with the composting toilet.

 I would love to have this in my backyard!

This was the fancy house. The line was actually longer than it looks. We thought about it and decided we did not have the patience to go through it. You could see through the windows on the sides and it looked like most houses. 

So that's it. I did see a video tour of the house on a Cleveland morning show. It looked like most of the houses I remember on House Hunters. 

I was hoping for some killer bathroom ideas and other decorating and remodeling ideas to knock me off my feet. Most of the booths for bathrooms were those covers for bathtubs. There were booths for window manufactures, etc.  I was a little let down. 

One of my two favorite exhibits was this booth from Habitat for Humanity. I don't know if you have a Habitat Re-Store by your house, but they sell everything from building supplies (I found Armstrong peel n stick tile at mine for a temporary bathroom spruce up) to furniture and everything in between. I am in LOVE with this desk and it was very affordable. If I could have thought of anywhere I could have placed it, I would have purchased it in a heartbeat. 

I cannot believe I did not take any photos of the booth that VNTG Home from Cleveland showcased. They go into estates or those who downsize and take it all for a price. They reupholster vintage furniture, and have a warehouse showroom of treasures. For the show they had several items of furniture and several tables of mismatched china. I found the two plates first and was willing to mismatch cups, but the clerk found their mates! Each piece was $2 for the entire cost for both pairs was $8.00. As soon as Spring really truly arrives, my husband is taking me for a visit as the lady assured me they have a huge room of dishes waiting for me!

My husband loves to tell people he paid $30 for tickets, $10 to park and took me to a garage sale.  

This weekend the Retiree Road Trip will be visiting the The Great Cleveland Auto Show. There will be 859 vehicles for us to view, sit in and compare. We have been looking for a new vehicle for maybe 18 months now and are taking odds on whether there will be one there we can agree on. My husband is looking for either a new truck with a crew cab or a large sedan.  I have narrowed my choices to either a sports car or a small yellow bus to transport all my grandchildren. It should be an interesting day! 

The Great Big Home and Garden Show in Cleveland II

Is this an elegant restaurant? No, it is a "Bistro" located in the IX Center at the Home and Garden Show. We arrived the minute the doors opened so it was a little early for lunch. There is, of course, a cocktail bar located in the center. The menu was posted on a large poster at the entrance and included nothing that would entice Mr Merry whatsoever. 

There were several food trucks located through out the IX Center, too. Unfortunately this one wasn't open yet. Looks interesting! 

Of course we stopped at an amazing bakery. Can you believe this wedding cake on display? Here are the ingredients. 

A second outstanding wedding cake. 

We did not purchase one of the cakes, but did go home with two Paczkis, two pepperoni breads and a huge Russian Tea cookie which we split for an after dinner treat. 

There were plenty of cocktail bars and beer counters located through out the facility. We thought it was interesting. Luckily they weren't too busy at 11:00 in the morning. A neighboring city just built a new Krogers and they also have a bar in the middle of the grocery store.

I did not take a picture of the long food court along one wall. We had thought about lunch since there were many types of foods we both might like, but the prices were a little high for us. A can of Coke was $6! We thought we would get on the highway and stop for a bite at the next exit towards home. 

After waiting through several light changes, we were only about eight cars away from a left hand turn on to the on ramp. Well, something happened necessitating an ambulance and two fire trucks. We drove into a small village and Google Maps was no help as it kept steering us back to the accident site. We finally enjoyed a long ride home on some back country roads, landing in a small town about an hour away where we had previously discovered a great little diner by the railroad tracks. It was cozy and warm and we enjoyed a great, late lunch.  

I still have more photos! I will be back with post 3.