cars

In 2004, I graduated from college. I'd been driving my 1998, 2-door, 4-cylinder Pontiac Sunfire for 5 years. And not only did I graduate from college, I got hired at a nice company, making a nice salary, right out of college. How amazing was I?

So, I decided, in the summer of 2004, that I wanted to buy a new car.

My first thought was an Acura RSX. I was still sporty & cool looking. It was nicer than my Sunfire. It was new! However, then I test drove one and the speedometer and all that jazz was in the middle of the dashboard which I didn't care for...so it was time to find a different car to buy.

I figured out what I wanted...
1) a sunroof
2) stereo controls on the steering wheel
3) a V6
4) and it had to be pretty

And that was about it for my requirements. Now, let's remember, I was 22, just graduated, no husband, no kids, no pets even. Just me. And my only bills at the time were my cell phone, gym membership and whatever crap I bought on my credit card. No rent, no utilities, no day camp, nothing.

I started looking. I really liked the Pontiac Vibe (still do actually), but then my brother called it a station wagon and I was young and something and a station wagon was NOT FOR ME! Then I saw a Saturn that I liked, it was nice, but in the end, wasn't what I wanted. And the saleslady kept calling me at home trying to get me to buy it.

Finally, I found my Mazda6. My beautiful silvery-green Mazda6. With a sunroof. And stereo controls on the steering wheel. And it was even a V6 model. And it had climate control. And power seats. And it was new. And then it was mine!

Good-bye Pontiac Sunfire...Hello Mazda6.

Now fast forward 1.5 years. I'm married, and have a step-daughter and my husband drives an older than dirt (okay okay 1995 or 1996) Chevy Lumina that leaks a little oil, smells of cigarette smoke (because since the previous owner smoked in it, he does too), and has nasty looking carpet. But it does get him from point A to point B. Most of the time. Until it died in an intersection and I had to come and my parents had to come and help move it out of the intersection. Then we charged the battery and took it to a shop and they replaced the alternator and the battery and it was as good as new.

Except it had died. And I didn't have cars that died. I had pretty cars. Therefore Ruben needed a New Car.

We started looking. First we looked at used cars. Cheap used cars. Not previously owned cars. Not certified pre-owned cars. Used Cars. Until Ruben and I figured out that I would buy a Used Car and Ruben wouldn't buy a pre-owned car (because they cost as much as new only without all the benefits of new). On to the new cars we went. Mostly at Fords and Mazdas. We already had my Mazda. And his dad worked for Ford so we could get the family plan to knock a grand or so off of any car. We looked at Focuses. Although I thought it felt like all the entire would break if you so much as looked at it wrong. And we looked at Mazda3s because we didn't necessarily need all the features of a 6 and definitely didn't need the payment on a 6.

But eventually, Mazda was having a Big Sale. And we bought a Brand New 2006 Mazda6. This one is silver, a 4-cylinder, but still has stereo controls on the steering wheel (at least it did until Ruben installed his own cd player and now the controls just sit there and look pretty). But it was New and pretty and didn't die in the middle of intersections.

Now fast forward to late spring & summer 2008, you know to NOW.

My Mazda (The Green Mazda) needed new tires. And the tires were getting quite bald so I started driving the Ruben's Mazda (The Silver Mazda).

And then the Green Mazda got new tires, but they messed up the bumper putting the tires on but we didn't notice until 2 days later so we were SOL because they weren't going to admit to it. Oh and during the spring, I accidentally hit the garage door frame with the front wheel well of the Green Mazda (no one was injured). So, let's say the Green Mazda had seen better days and was no longer quite as shiny and pretty. But it still had my sunroof, and my stereo controls on the steering wheel and a V6 and I could only see the non-prettiness when I wasn't IN the car.

But then Ruben noticed that I got better gas mileage driving the Silver Mazda than he did. And in his opinion the Silver Mazda had breaking issues that I never felt. Not to say he's making them up or they are all in his head, he's just more sensitive to these things than I am. So I started driving the 4-cylinder Mazda6 without a sunroof. And while it still has stereo controls on the steering wheel, they don't actually work since he has his after factory cd player in there.

Saturday the last

So, this past Saturday, I decided that Red and I needed to have some fun. We hadn't done much fun stuff yet this summer (at least not compared to last summer) and it was time to start. Because I guess most of the festivals and such that I took her to were actually in May...and yeah...it's June. So guess we missed that.

However, there are other fun (and fairly cheap) things that we can do.

So on Saturday, we drove to downtown Kansas City and visited one of Red's favorite places - Crown Center.

She loves it because it has the fountains out front (and we bring her bathing suit and she can run around in them), they have fun kids exhibits, it seems like something special because we don't do it often.

I love it because they have FREE parking on the weekend, the kids exhibit is FREE, running through the fountain is FREE and they have tables around the fountain where you can eat a picnic lunch.

After visiting the exhibit and eating our picnic lunch, Red got to run around in the fountains for a little while. Although the girl that insists is it SOOO HOTTT when it is only 75 degrees outside suddenly decided it was cold today. Instead we went inside and Red browsed around the Crayola store (and bought overpriced fabric crayons) and then browsed the toy store. And then we went home.

And all it cost me...was the gas to drive there. Which admittedly isn't cheap. But is better than paying gas money AND money to do stuff.

Busy Busy Busy

This week has been crazy.

We have VBS going on at church this week.

Red was supposed to go to her mom's, but then on Sunday she saw the preview video for VBS and decided she just HAD to go to VBS. So we talked to her mom and she'll be staying with us through Thursday evening and then going to her mom's for a while. Of course, Red still isn't completely happy with that because on Sunday is the VBS Finale during evening church and she'll be at her mom's. But such is life.

In addition to taking Red to VBS, I also volunteered to help with crafts. Then I realized I had tutoring on Tuesday and Thursday during the same exact time as VBS. So now I'm volunteering Monday & Wednesday and then tutoring Tuesday & Thursday. Of course since tutoring and VBS is at the same time and where I tutor is less than 1/2 mile from where VBS is, I have to take Red to VBS and then go tutor and then go pick Red up.

And this is all after working all day (8:30 to 5ish).

So yeah, life is busy.

But maybe tomorrow (or whenever I get around to it) I can tell you about last Saturday.

Hello Internet...

I am exhausted.

Not just a wee bit tired. Exhausted.

The kind where if I were to lay my head on my desk for even 5 seconds, I would be sound asleep bent over in my chair.

And I'm having issues with stuff not working right and that is just tiring me out even more.

And I need some more sleep dang it!

yes yes yes!

Well, Ruben talked to Red's mom today and Red will be going to school with us next year. YAY!

Our formal custody agreement is way different than what really goes on. According to the agreement, her mom gets her. And Ruben gets her every other weekend. The state knows she is with us, but we haven't actually changed the agreement. Which means until Ruben and her mom actually get details worked out, a lot of stuff is just up in the air.

Anyways, Red went to school with us last year. She wanted to go to school here again next year. We live in a good school district. We've lived in the same house the entire time we've been married. Our home life is much more stable than her mom's.

And Ruben talked to her mom and she'll be here again next year. For 3rd grade. She's getting to be such a big girl. :)

Dance

I haven't been able to enroll Red in anything for the summer because I have no clue when she'll be with us versus at her mom's house. On Wednesday, we got a brochure in the mail about a dance school in our city. It talked about their normal schedule, but then there was also a piece of paper in there about their Summer Punch Card program. Basically, you pay for a punch card. The punch card will get you into a certain number of classes. You are not required to attend a class every week, you are not required to always attend the same class. And I'm guessing that you don't get a refund on any punches that you don't use.