Sunday, April 18, 2010

More is more and LFG Bought a Mini Cooper

My seasonal allergies got the best of me last week and turned into a bit of a bad cold but we soldiered on. My cocktail for dealing with it is a trifecta-hat trick of NyQuil-DayQuil and Cheetos. Being half sick and working from home allows some latitude so my plan the other morning involved sitting in my orange bean bag chair eating Cheetos and waiting for respiratorial mercy. 
No plan survives first contact with reality and my plan to eat Cheetos naked and work/lounge at home unimpeded was blown. Had to pick up LFG from school and take her to the Orthodontist-her retainer broke. Now I’m not feeling like a million bucks and there’s Cheeto dust everywhere. 
A quick shower and a perusal of clothes on the bedroom floor and I’m good to go. No use in wearing clean clothes when you are sick. I found the shirt on the floor. The Flamingo pocket square-it's silk you know-in a navy linen blazer on the kitchen floor and the old Ralph off the peg linen/wool sportcoat behind the television. BAM!
This ten year old jacket is a favorite. I had this one modeled in a quirky way. Surprise I know. Besom pockets but a flap on the ticket pocket. Yes Toad.
I'd like to say that this was a deliberate contrivance. One intended to piss off the sartorial gods but it ain't. I just forgot to button the second of two cowboy barrel buttons and hark...we have a style thang. More is more...more color-texture-pattern-wrinkles-Cheetos. Shut up.
 Then I found some Flusser linen/silk top pocket flat front things under the couch. Gotta wear britches when you sign your child out of school. You can go commando though...It's the little things that make you feel defiant when walking into an elementary school and when I'm commando-I'm "little thing" personified. Blue ostrich waist pageantry from Flusser and I think I'm ready to roll. This shot's for the ladies. And Maurice.
We're still sporting some scary ass white meat over here. Shhhh....
I picked up the tiniest Hello Kittie for LFG at Penn Station the other day and since she was feeling bad about breaking her retainer I thought I'd have a surprise waiting on her when I picked her up.

Retainer repaired. Lunch with LFG and she’s back to school. But that’s only half of the story…LFG bought a Mini Cooper over the weekend.
 Well not actually. But what we did do was build one online at Mini USA. It’s great fun - you oughta try it. Just click away till you design the Mini of your dreams. After all of LFG’s clicks the final sticker price came in at $42,044.00. Her version is evidenced above. “Daddy can we get it?” to which I replied “You need to ask Uncle Toad”. And she said …“but daddy I don’t have an Uncle Toad” and I said… “yes you do baby, he’s replaced that sorry ass Uncle Tintin who never calls you-never writes you-never sends you anything”.
Now we’ve had a hankering for the Mini over here for quite some time. As my buddy out in Worthing, C.R. says…Minis were the V.W. Bugs of England. Every starving kid learned how to work on them-keep them patched up and rigged for travel. Makes sense to me. Their quirkiness is more show stopping than the eccentricities of the V.W. Beetle though.
LFG and I watched Mr. Bean episodes recently-her instigation. She’s the one who had the DVDs in her backpack. I love this child for a score of reasons but the fact that she’s developing an appreciation for things like Rowan Atkinson makes me happy. I forgot about him as the priest in Four Weddings and a Funeral until I watched recently a clip over at Easy and Elegant Life….great. Mr. Bean drives a yellow Mini Cooper…the old traditional version of the Mini from the UK. You know, the one that has the go kart sized wheels…about the size of a bagel.
 And there couldn’t be a better car for Road Rallies no? The driver and navigator look like they are sitting in a pack of gum. Chiclets I say.
Do you really need a helmet during this event? The car is a helmet. You are driving a helmet boys.
How many times was this me? But not in a Rally but on the side of the road in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. Working on an old MG or a Beetle.
And who could forget the Minis in the Italian Job? That had to hurt.
LFG and I became so intrigued a few years ago that we built the quintessential Rally Car-The 1967 Rallye Monte Carlo winner. LFG reveled in gunking it up to look like an actual competition weary rig. Easy to do. Spray parts of the car with 3M adhesive and sprinkle dirt on it. Fog the windows with glue paste.
We're sloppy model builders over here so it's just as well that we make dirty ones. Nerds? Yes indeed. Proud nerds. Shut up.
The Kilim Chaise leg of the Rallye LF-Minimus is known as the most daunting. Many a worthy competitor lost their standing in this-the most treacherous endavour of our Rallye Course. The next most difficult is the Clothes on the Floor leg. Shut up.
Here are the actual 1967 Monte winners, Rauno Aaltonen and Henry Liddon celebrating in Monaco. If you have some time, you might enjoy hearing Rauno talk about the perils of the Rallye. Click here.

Alas LFG is growing up. Our car modeling days are over. Any ladies interested in coming over to Casa Minimus to uncork a bottle of Blush and build a model?

Onward. Nerdishly. ADG and former modeler LFG.
Ps...Stay tuned for news on this baby........

22 comments:

NCJack said...

LFG's rallye Mini is killer, I love it. As for the full size model, see if Uncle Giuseppe can't thrift one...if it can be done, he can do it.

Anonymous said...

Try jalapeno-flavored Cheetos. You'll recover faster.

heavy tweed jacket said...

Is that Cheetos dust all over that model Mini? Hope you feel better.

James said...

To arise ,albeit naked,from your sick bed and rush to your daughters aid is the true sign of fatherly devotion.Great post on the minis, both real and model. I do hope you remembered the warning about cheetos and adult movies.

ADG said...

NCJack...The Mini is small enough for Uncle G. to actually shoplift it if necessary.

Anon...Jalapeno flavored? Is the orange powder the same color? I'm digging the Barbecue Fritos man.

HeavyTweed...thanks. I'm back on track.

James..no adult movies here!

Pigtown*Design said...

CHEETOS AND OLD BAY!®

Our invention of several summers ago. If you're living on the shores of the Chesapeake (or Potomac), I am sure you've got the obligatory tin of Old Bay in the kitchen cabinet.

Laguna Beach Fogey said...

Thanks for the laughs on this Monday morning.

Those Belgians are beautiful. I really ought to get a pair...

ilovelimegreen said...

ADG - If you are going to talk about Cheetos, dust, just don't show an unopened package of Cheetos.
I'm OK with UK Minis, but I'll pass on US Minis - they seem too plasticky to me.

tintin said...

Rich guys are cheap. About time LFG learns that.

JDB said...

Cheetos to cure allergies? I've been suffering with mine for two weeks now and no one mentioned Cheetos. Damn.

My father always carried a warm beer on his golf cart. Swore it nipped allergies at the first sign.

Kathie Truitt said...

I owned a Min-Cooper when I lived in England. Over there they are made so lightweight that one morning when it didn't start I pushed it down the street, hopped in and popped the clutch. Voila! AND I was five months pregnant.

I have a dress that is the same exact pattern as your paisley-print shirt. Do you have any sisters? Maybe we were separated at birth.

Mrs. Blandings said...

Just watched the Italian Job and was going to mention it, but you beat me to it. Btw, your instincts are good; Mr. B tells me that on the Cheeto bag they claim a trace amount of vitamin C. Feel better.

Anonymous English Female said...

ADG - Forget about the crotch shots... I want an Uncle Toad!

Summer is a Verb said...

That darn belgian cat got outta the bag. I played the ole, "they just showed up" card. Please, please, PLEASE let the fuzzy velvets arrive under the threat of darkness...XXOO

ADG said...

Mrs. B. I made up for the overindulgence of Cheetos. Tonight I had for dinner eleven Oreos and three glasses of milk. 2%.

Anon.Eng.Fem. ... You'll have to take that up with Uncle Toad.

AllieVonDropShipment...You gonna be ya own undoing.

Sandra said...

NyQuil SchmyQuil - Here's what you need with those cheetos:

Hot Toddy
1½ ounces Whiskey
1 ounce Honey
⅓ ounce Lemon Juice
3 ounces Water (Hot)
Stir honey and lemon in hot water. Allow to cool slightly; add Whiskey.
Aaaah.

This will do the trick!
xoxo
P.S. You're such an awesome daddy.

Anonymous said...

You are a wonderful father.

For me at first it was the crunchy Cheetos that you pictured. Then it was the spiral Cheetos. Now, its just the simple curved Cheetos that fit the front of my mouth. I love to suck on them. They should be a controlled substance. Perhaps we could start a chapter of C.A. (Cheetos Anonymous.

I suspect that you are going to end up with a real Mini sooner or later.

As always, love your posts.

DAG said...

Great kit - even if it was thrown together. Lovin' the horizontal stripes - but we have that in common. What did LFG get on her retainer this time? I won't comment on the Cheetos - never really cared for 'em.

ADG said...

DAG...thanks man. Can't believe you don't like Cheetos.

Anoymous...here's another one for you. Open the Cheetos bag and find all of the "Cave Man Clubs". Eat them first.

Preppy 101...I'd double the whisky allocation in the recipe. Thanks.

Toad said...

Believe it or no my navy linen blazer was ordered with just such a pocket arrangement. Now I am changing it back. I couldn't bear the thought of us each showing up somewhere with that same detail. curse you red baron

ADG said...

Toad...I hear you boss. We'd probably both wear said get-up in the same night at Raffles.

Easy and Elegant Life said...

OK, whatever it is/was/shall be that you've done to make that model of LFG ... bottle it, I'm buyin'.