Driving 101

Today certainly could have been better. My daughter has been sick with a pretty bad cold since Friday so we planned to stay close to home today. My son and I seem to be coming down with a cold and so neither of us are feeling our best.

Around noon I decided I would put the kids in the car and run to the bank quickly to deposit a few checks. I was hoping that at least my son would fall asleep on the way or way back. Car doesn't start, doesn't turn over, nothing. Totally dead. The good news is that I realized this today as I have a doctor appointment first thing tomorrow morning for both me and my son, dance class on Wednesday for my daughter, and a dentist appointment Thursday for myself. This is not the week to be without a car.

My plan was to push the car out of the garage so that I could get another car close enough to it to jump it, head to the store and have the battery replaced, assuming that it was the battery. Our driveway is on a downward slope and it's short. There's not a lot of room for error getting it out of the garage and secured before rolling into the street. I try to push from inside of the drivers door but am unable to get it to move. So, I keep the door ajar and head to the front of the car to give it a nudge. I realized I'd have to jump back around quickly and hop in to put on the brake. Well, the door got caught on the side of the wall in the garage, practically ripping the door off. Mercifully, it was the only thing that kept the car from rolling into the street. However, it did some damage to the wall and to the car door. From there it wouldn't budge. Couldn't close the door, couldn't move the car, couldn't close the garage as half the car was in and the other out.

My brother was able to come up and help me get the car back in the garage and get the door out of the wall and also jump me. From there we got the battery replaced (which is a whole other story about car dealerships and their service departments).

As a whole it was an aggravating afternoon. However, in retrospect the whole incident, now that it is over, is a bit funny. I am sure anyone watching this probably found great humor in the situation.

This evening I put the kids back in the car to pick up dinner and my daughter says, "Mommy, I hope the car starts this time." I told her that I hoped that it started too. She then said, "Or else you might crash the car again." Funny kid. Not so funny that I am wholly responsible for the body damage on both cars we own.

On the Prowl

My son has an obsession, like most typical boys, with things like dinosaurs, cars, trains, trucks, and motorcycles. To say he likes these things is an understatement. He goes nuts over them, insisting that I follow them. The most recent interest is with trash trucks and motorcycles. Anytime we see one, which is surprisingly quite a bit, he insists I follow until we can get close enough for him to get a good look. I'm becoming very friendly with our neighborhood garbage man. I would not be surprised if he takes out a restraining order.

Recently, we have had the good fortune of ending up at many stop lights right next to motorcycles. The odds of this happening with such frequency would seemingly be against us. Each time I find myself rolling down my son's back window so he can get a closer look. I then feel compelled to roll down either my window or the passenger window and yell at the top of my lungs so I can be heard over the engine, "My son likes your bike" at which point each biker revs his engine, much to my son's delight.

I think I might be getting a reputation around town though as the lady who uses her kids to try to pick up bikers. "Suuuuuure, your son likes my bike lady."

Customer Satisfaction

My husband used to work for a car dealership in town where he was paid on commission only. They frequently messed up his paycheck, sometimes by as little as a hundred, but often closer to a thousand or more. Each time he'd jump through the hoops to request the shorted money and it always took at least a week to get the money he was owed. This annoyed me and infuriated me to no end as they always acted as if it was no big deal and we could just wait until they got around to it.

Last week, we bought a mini-van from this dealership. We wrote out a check for the down payment. I had some incredibly intense second thoughts about this purchase and we ultimately ended up returning the car the next morning. They assured us they cancelled payment on the check; we trusted this to be true.

Well, last night I discovered that they had indeed cashed the check two days ago. This morning my husband called to inform them of the error. They were very apologetic and assured us they would cut a check today. Sure enough we got a call telling us that the check would be ready this afternoon. I made the comment that this was the fastest that they had ever corrected an error in the almost three years my husband worked there. Apparently, according to them, customer satisfaction is more important than employee satisfaction.

Interesting.

Having Second Thoughts

This could be a really long post with a lot of explanation, however since I got no more than a few hours sleep and as a result am dragging I'll keep it short. My husband and I have been looking for a mini-van for a year. I have been hesitant because nothing screams mom-mobile like a mini-van. Plus I am partial to my current car. There are a variety of reasons we were looking at a mini van, more room being the primary reason. The fact that our current car couldn't hold a third kid down the road is a concern.

A few days ago we found the perfect mini-van. Leather interior, navigation, DVD, 6 disc changer, power everything, dual power sliding doors, and a ton of other bells and whistles that aren't necessary, but are nice to have. Plus the price was a great deal. Great deal! Well, we bought it yesterday. I drove it around a bit, ran a few errands and it was great. I like it, the kids like it; it's convenient.

However, all day yesterday I had this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Like this unrelenting nervousness that only intensified as the day went on. Regret? Buyer's remorse? I don't know. I couldn't put my finger on it. My husband and I talked it over repeatedly. I think we gave new meaning to "beating a dead horse." We spent hours listing all the pros and cons and every single time we ended up with more pros than cons.

But my gut. I just couldn't discount my gut. I have this spot-on intuition and when something doesn't feel right, it usually isn't. I have managed to avoid some potentially devastating (in a variety of ways) situations based on gut alone. I couldn't sleep last night, I've made lists, and graphs, and budgets. On paper this van is perfect. However, the moment I verbalized my desire to return the car very very late last night, or I guess really it was very early this morning, the knot that had been in my stomach all day unclenched. I could breathe. I felt settled again.

The car is going back.

** On a related note, the first thing my daughter said when she saw the new car was, "It's nice, but I'm sure going to miss our old car."

In Need of A Nap

My husband was home for three straight days over the weekend. This rarely happens. Many things became evident during the course of these 72 hours.

One is how many things I was able to get done. Just having someone else entertain the kids for a while opens up a whole new world. I finished a handful of articles I had been working on and got one major piece done and sent off to the editor five entire days ahead of schedule. I was able to finish, fold, and put away all the laundry which admittedly I have been slacking on lately. I was also able to run some errands sans kids.

The second observation I made was how much easier everything becomes with two parents. I have just learned how to do most daily (and nightly most of the time) things on my own with the kids because that is the way it is. Having someone else help me was heaven and took us half the time to do it.

The third thing I noticed was how it seemed that we had so much more time. I normally feel like I hardly have any time to do anything, maybe because I am trying to do everything. This weekend we were able to do so much. We are probably getting a new car this week so we went to look at it Saturday. We also did some yard work so guests no longer have to walk through the jungle that was our tree trying to get to our front door.

Sunday we went to church, out for lunch, and then had some friends come over. They just started a spice and marinade business and got picked up by most of the major grocery stores so they brought over a ton of stuff for us to try before it hits the shelves late next month. Then Monday we went to an outdoor mall, had a picnic, and spent the afternoon at home relaxing. It would be nice if we had more of these three day weekends.

So, how was your weekend and what did you spend it doing?

Vroom Vroom Vespa

I want a Vespa. I mean, I really want a Vespa. I do realize that I have 2 children and a Vespa is not exactly conducive to transporting a family. Not to mention the fact that I pretty much go nowhere without my children and thus would rarely have the opportunity to actually drive said Vespa. However, that doesn't stop my obsession with wanting to own one.

My husband currently drives my old Sentra, a car that is now 8 years old. Heaven forbid it break down, but if it does I have suggested to my hubby that maybe we should get him a Vespa. He's not too keen on the idea considering he works on the opposite side of town now and a 45 minute drive in July when it's 120 degrees outside is not looking too appealing to him. I told him that if he drives fast enough the wind could function as free AC.

The primary reason for my suggestion is a selfish one. If he has a Vespa then I can drive it on weekends when he is home with the kids. Quick trips to the grocery store, post office, mall, visits with friends.....I could just hop on the Vespa and be off.

If you had no one else to consider what is something you would buy or wish to buy just for yourself?