Oy.

First, a warning... This is not a set of pictures that will have your marveling at my photography prowess. In fact, I lent my walkaround lens to a friend for the weekend, so these were shot with my point-and-shoot using (gasp!) the flash.

Back in January, I asked Jim what he wanted for his birthday (which was earlier in February). I asked him this because he's one of those people who has just about everything he wants, and I wanted to make sure that I got him something that he'd really enjoy. I was expecting an answer like clothes, music, maybe some electronic toy (not that there are many that don't already reside in our house full-time, but still...). So I was a little surprised when he said he wanted a new bumper for his car. Yes, you read that right. He wanted a BUMPER. Um, OK. Now, of course, it was ridiculous of him to tell me that, because he had every intention of purchasing said bumper already, but at least I asked. So order the bumper he did. It took weeks to arrive from God-knows-where, and then he had to drop it off at a body shop in the-middle-of-nowhere-Brea to get it prepped and painted. We picked it up last Friday (which was an adventure and a story all its own, and I'll spare you the gory details), but it was missing a piece. (Bet you didn't even know that was possible with bumpers, did you?) So we had to wait (some of us not quite as patiently as others) for the missing piece to arrive, which it finally did yesterday. Or, one of them did. Apparently it was missing THREE pieces, but Jim decided to live on the wild side and install it without the other pieces (which also means he decided to remove his fog lights in the process, but whatever. It's his car.).

Now, most of my friends and family know that Jim is very, well, attached to his car. He loves doing things to it - things that I usually don't understand but that make it sound loud and go fast. (I sound like a toddler, don't I?) I've occasionally walked out into the garage and been met with sights like this:

That was one of those, "I really don't think I want to know" moments. After seeing him do what I know he's done to that car, I had no doubt that he could replace the bumper relatively easily. And sure enough he did!  I didn't get a before picture, but I caught a glimpse of it with the bumper off completely.

And a few hours later, it was looking brand, spanking new again.

I can hear your Oohs and Ahhs as you admire his fine handiwork.

Just writing this post makes me want to go out and shoot some flowers... But I have to say, I actually think it's pretty cool that he can do all this stuff. Just don't tell him that, OK?