<p>Are you turning fifty or already passed that marker? </p>
<p>Walked down to see one of DH’s new projects and almost left my shoes. He had the ceiling, walls and floors painted in a wild, bright yellow, red and dark purple psychedelic pattern! I mean psycheldelic!</p>
<p>No signs of the swansong girlie yet, but now I have my eyes peeled! :eek:</p>
<p>When he buys the hot red sports car…j/k!</p>
<p>At least he’s not wearing those colors! 
<em>pictures plaid pants in yellow/purple/red</em></p>
<p>I have a crisis and I’m 21.</p>
<p>Bluealien:</p>
<p>I suspect that crisis goes with the territory when you major in anthropology :)</p>
<p>Me to S: “You’re father is having a mid-life ciris”.</p>
<p>S: “What’s he gonna buy?”</p>
<p>zagat: Fess up. You have the sports car, don’t you? ;)</p>
<p>My H has the little red sports car in the carport, but the hood, seats, roof, transmission, and other assorted parts are in the barn. </p>
<p>I asked him a while back how long he thought it would be before he had it put together and running. </p>
<p>I suggested he might want to get to work on it before we get too much older, because I’d like to ride in it someday; but it’s probably going to be too small for a walker or a wheelchair. ;)</p>
<p>ROTFLOL, Lhasa. You’re obviously married to a man with self-containment strategies.</p>
<p>So, my H did indeed buy the little red sports car this year. He claims he has always had a sports car in his life, but gave it up for the red minivan to transport the soccer/tennis/girlscouts/“fill-in-child’s-activity-here” team many, many moons ago. D is off at college;van is now used to transport wheel chair for my dad and plants/home improvement supplies. </p>
<p>He loves his sports car, but it is funny listening to him groan as he tries to “lithely” exit the vehicle (he, he). Maybe I can install a lift assist for him!</p>
<p>My H is an engineer – way too methodical and logical for a little red sports car. “Too high gas milage! No luggage space!” I have already told him, though, that when we return to the states next year, I am getting one. 
And it will be a convertible. </p>
<p>“But the safety…!”</p>
<p>Cheers, what room did he paint? That is toooo funny! Is it really in a psychedelic pattern? Is your H an artist or does this fall under the category of “home improvement”?</p>
<p>This stuff must last well beyond the 50s. My mom swears she’s afraid to leave my dad alone in the house for a few days because she never knows what she’ll come back to. She recently had her hip replaced and this was all she talked about…“please stop over and check on your father - and ask him not to change the color of ANY of my walls!”. </p>
<p>Lhasa, we have one of those “sports cars” in the garage…the one with no tires, steering wheel, seats, windshield, etc. H bought it the week after we met…and it’s been in this condition ever since. Though, he’ll swear he’s been doing little things to it and such things take time;) It’s a 1969 convertible GTO (Goat). I think he just likes having the right to say “I own a Goat”. And, when he tells guys he’s “restoring” it, they always nod with understanding. It’s a guy thing, for sure.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LOL, momsdream! A guy thing, for sure. </p>
<p>My older S moved back home when he finished school in FL, but he had to take a Greyhound back down there to drive up the 1983 Volvo 245 he’d bought at an auction while he was there. It was running then. Now, it’s in pieces on the drive; he had to move it out of the carport to make room for dad’s sports car. </p>
<p>The sports car in our case is a Triumph Spitfire. It was a “gift” from a fellow H worked with who’d begun the restoration and then moved to MI and didn’t want to pay to move it. We paid to move it here instead. ;)</p>
<p>I’ve always said that even though we lived in the country, I did NOT want to have old junkers parked out in the yard around the house. </p>
<p>I’m beginning to be thankful we have no front porch; at least there’s no where to put an old couch or refrigerator out by the front door!</p>
<p>“I’m beginning to be thankful we have no front porch; at least there’s no where to put an old couch or refrigerator out by the front door!”</p>
<p>I’ve seen that! I always wonder if those “porch couches” get wet. </p>
<p>I do make my H keep the Goat in the garage…and pulled ALL the way over to the side so that my car doesn’t get too close to it. It looks like it might blow up at any moment. </p>
<p>By the time I turn 50, I’ll have one kid though college and the other almost through (maybe I can get her to graduate early and get her out of college by the time I turn 50!) and might have some money to blow on myself! I’m scared to think what I might do/buy…a sailboat, a convertible, plastic surgery, a bungalow on the beach…ahhhhh…so much to look forward to.</p>
<p>
There must be significant variation in the engineer gene, as my H is an engineer and he HAS the little red sports car. I call it our “half” car, as it is not allowed on the road in winter (might get salt or sand on it), not allowed to be eaten in (the horror of crumbs), has to be parked in Siberia (the agony of dings). Of course, my H was at peak mid-life crisis age when he bought it; perhaps yours hasn’t gotten there yet?</p>
<p>Oh, it’s a convertible, of course.</p>
<p>Signs (for men). (1). Motorcycle. I’ve seen a couple of my colleagues go in for this death-defying vehicle. Fortunately, insurance keeps them from driving in icy and snowy weather. (2) Wardrobe make-over perhaps linked to body make-over, i.e., working out where there are all those babalicious bodies to ogle. (3) Discovery of fine wine. A great interest in the labels, may take a wine-tasting course.</p>
<p>my H already has his sports car- except it is not a two seater- it does take the whole family- but the engine is really too big to just be running back and forth to work everyday ( it is a V-6 thunderbird super coupe)
I am looking into racing schools in california though for his 50’th birthday.</p>
<p>No, we don’t have the little red car but my ears will perk up if DH even tries!</p>
<p>Mackinaw, I’m not sure your description is of a mid life crisis, rather, it’s what would have a lot of people guessing affair.</p>
<p>Another sign, in academic setting. Sudden interest in committee and administrative assignments. This is an individual who may have burned out of either research ideas or interest, or teaching interest, or both. Organizing other people’s lives instead of one’s own. But far too young to retire.</p>
<p>Zagat: could be, but the timing is right for either, especially regarding #2. Well past the age of the “7-year itch,” however.</p>
<p>Lhasa - Junkers in the yard with a frig and couch on the porch (toss in a BBQ too) are not just found in the country. Check out the student housing in Ann Arbor, MI and Madison, WI.</p>
<p>jmmom - You’re probably right – 50 is still a few years away for H. Maybe his day will come. I really think if I get “my” little red convertible, he will think of plenty of excuses to drive it. Then he can still blame all the silliness on me, but still get some benefits. Your H still does sound like an engineer, though, with every well thought-out, rational detail addressed. I do see my H as more the type to go for a pick-up truck, though.</p>