Everything Is A Story, It Seems

For a while now we've been having a bit of a car issue. We've had our car since The Boy was a baby and it has served us well, with its well over 100,000 miles. It's been having hot flashes, over heating just a bit now and then until it got to the point where I couldn't even turn on the A/C. Which caused us a bit of a dilemma in the very hot humid weather that we live in. Driving around in a hot car only heightened Miss Thing's "car ride" issue. We kept saying to each other, "we've got to take the car in." But other things always seemed to get in the way.

Finally, Friday morning David called me and suggested a few cars for me to look at online. Then on his lunch break we met at a dealership in town to sit in one of the cars we had been looking at. All they had was an orange one. Since orange is not considered my "signature color" we sat it in, measured the back seat and thanked the man then moved on our merry way. David said he would call around during the afternoon but that I should be ready to go when he got off of work.

When he did get off he decided to call his parents to see if they would watch the kids for us. Thankfully they said yes. Then we started our drive to Topeka, having found out that they had what we were looking for. So we thought. Once we got there we learned, from the salesman that can only give one word answers, that they had none left nor would they for quite some time. Also didn't know of anyone else in the area. He was about as helpful as, well, I don't know. He just wasn't.

So we continued driving on thinking we might find something in Lawrence. Do I need to remind you that we're driving in 90 something degree weather with no air conditioning (oh and the passenger side window doesn't roll down either, it's time for a new car I think). We drove through Lawrence not really sure where we were going and not seeing anything on our way. It was slightly discouraging. Finally David called his mom to tell her we had found nothing and we were frustrated (and very very hot). As a side note, just as he was about to hang up, he said that had we had the kids with us we might move on to Kansas City and stay the night there as he knew of a dealership that had what we were looking for but that wasn't an option right now and so we were headed home. It was then she suggested that we should just do that and she would take care of the kids and everything else. We were a bit shocked, incredibly grateful but also felt a bit guilty.

So began a little adventure. One that was completely unplanned and we were completely unprepared for. By the time we got to the car dealership it was closed, which we knew it would be, but we wanted to scope things out. There were lots of them in this area so we walked up and down all the rows of cars in all of them. We thought we would be getting a new car but also found some used that might be a better fit for us.

After this we went to dinner, a very yummy dinner. Then went to see Julia & Julie (or is it Julie & Julia?), which was fabulous!! We had a little time to kill before the moving started and conveniently there was a Barnes and Noble right next store. That is a very dangerous place to kill time. I restrained myself and only got three books. It was very difficult, but I did it.

The next morning we were back at the dealership when it opened. We looked we drove, we looked some more and drove some more. We finally settled on a used Dodge Caliber, black with grey interior. Then the forever long process of paper work began. Hours and hours later we finally drove away, happily, in an air conditioned car. I always thought we would get a van next, David was not sold on the idea in the least bit. Miles per gallon, is all I would hear him talk about. I think this was a good compromise. It's a "crossover" so it looks like it might almost be more than what it really is. Which, in my head, makes me feel better. Makes no sense, whatsoever, but it works in my head.



My mom is a car lover. By the time she could talk her father had trained her to be able to name cars at random on the road. That was how she was raised. This gene seemed to skip me, which we are all trying very hard to live with. Even so I think I like having a new car. I've started taking the "long" route to get places just so we can hang out in the car a little bit longer. We are now in the process, but please don't tell David, of finding a name for the car. Any thoughts?

What's even better, and a little unexpected, is that Miss Thing loves the new car. On our way home for our marathon car buying experience we decided to stop and get her a new booster seat. It's pink. It was love at first sight. She tells me daily that she "loves my car." On Sunday while I was searching through my bag for keys all she could say to me was, "unlock my car, mama." I'm not sure how I felt about being bossed by a 3 year old, I do have hope that this will help her "issue" with driving in cars.

Black probably isn't my first choice, but it is shiny and pretty I must admit.

I do wish it could always stay so clean. David has evoked a "no eating" rule as he promptly waded up a piece of paper and threw it in the cup holder. I immediately evoked a "no garbage" rule. We'll see how these rules last.

If they were always so willing to do what I ask.

I'm not sure if it gives us that must more room, but it feels like it so I'm going with that.

And we have a CD player now. I think it's beginning to sound like I was living in the dark ages. Even so we are enjoying this added bonus. Although it's one more thing for Miss Thing to get bossy about. Each pause between songs she starts demanding for another song. When will her patience kick in?

I just like the shiny-ness, can you tell?

And finally I tried to get The Boy to take my picture in front of it. I even set the timer so all he really had to do was point the camera in my general direction. This is as good as it gets.

I think we'll take it.