I’ve really been unable to blog or read much of our buddies’ blogs out there during work hours. Work is busy and it’s not the sort of job where I can goof off too much.
I don’t want my friends out there to think I’m not paying attention, I’m just doing most of my catching up on nights or weekends!
In our news, Andrew is getting better.
The pediatrician (who we really like) didn’t want to put him on Zantac or anything, so she suggested we do a heavy mixture of the breast milk with rice cereal. It seems to be working like a charm!
He’s getting to be a little porker now. Not sure what the current weight it, but we are much more aware of how much he’s eating.
Last night, in one feeding, he ate 6.5 ounces of the breast milk with the cereal in it!
He wasn’t going down in the crib, so we put him back in the bassinet in our room for a little while and he had 3 nights in a row where he slept for 5 or 6 hours straight! Last night, he even put himself to sleep in the bassinet!
The first night he did it, we looked at the clock when we woke up and wondered if he was still breathing!
And for one more update….(sorry the post is so long)
I’m buying a car.
It was pretty much down to my brother’s WRX, a used Mazda 3 and a new Toyota Yaris.
The Yaris bombed in Consumer Reports and the used Mazda was almost $14k.
I need a car that will go 16-20k miles a year. And I don’t want to buy something used without a warranty (I gave up on ebay searches).
Plus, the funny thing is that one of car dealers who was a Volvo/Subaru dealer basically talked me out of buying a car from him and into buying my brother’s car. He said I can probably drive it for 2 years, then trade it in and get pretty close to the same amount I paid for it. Furthermore, it’s AWD, which will be super nice to not leave Lois stranded when I go to work in a snow storm.
The car shopping experience was horrendous.
I went into a Toyota dealership to buy a Yaris. The guy kept trying to sell me the top of the line Corolla. He wouldn’t listen to me and he kept calling me “Molly.”
His follow up letter said “thank you for your interest in a Corolla Sport.” I wanted a bottom-of-the-line Yaris, you ass!
I got tired of the question “How much money can you put down on a car?”
None. Nothing. Zilch. We bought a condo a year ago, bought a car for Lois in September, I switched jobs, Lois was on bed rest then lost her job (no income since Thanksgiving), we just had a kid who only can keep down the most expensive formula. The timing sucks.
No one has in stock that car on autobytel.com that’s the manual transmission, no options $11k car. They do, however, have a much better deal for $3,000 more.
The Honda Fit is expensive once you price it out. And the gas tank is located under the driver seat. That’s scary.
The Nissan Versa is one of the better options but you can’t get one for under $15,000.
These cars with great gas mileage have 1.6 or 1.8 Liter engines that don’t go faster than 65 mph and have no side curtain air bags.
I want a $10,000 car that lasts me at least 100,000 miles. I must be asking for the world.
I’m still bitter about the Hyundai. I bought the car because it was $10k off the lot with no money down. It had a 100k mile warranty and I was a law student making $100/week.
When the engine blew, the mileage was 100,530.
I tried calling service departments, Hyundai dealership managers, the corporate headquarters, consumer affairs divisions, etc.
“Don’t you guys have some good faith policy to fix something when the warranty just expired? Don’t you want to avoid the bad PR that a Hyundai car will only last through the week it hits the warranty?”
Nope. It’s not worth it. The car isn’t worth it.
It’s amazing how much value your car has to you (when it’s functioning). 2 weeks ago, my car was invaluable to me, getting me to and from work without hassle. Then, (POOF) just like that, it’s worth shit.
No, it’s worth less than shit.
It’s a car worth less than shit that I still owe the bank $1,800 on.
It is currently sitting in Bill’s driveway. I cleaned it out (which was very sad) this weekend and there it sits. It sits until I can pay off the lien through Chrysler Financial, get the title to it, then donate it to someone who will come tow it (i.e. kidney foundation, local tech school, etc.)
This is what my ride is now worth.
I am buying the Subaru WRX. It’s a hot rod with a rear spoiler, turbo hood, white exterior, 5-speed manual transmission and leather interior. And the leather is custom – black and royal blue with baseball stitching.
Ok, the car’s not really screaming suburban-mom-lawyer-professional. But it works.
Hell, I’m lucky that my brother is totally hooking me up – for under $10k. I’m taking a used car loan from USAA that will cover the taxes and registration, with an extra $500 to put towards paying off the Hyundai. (YES, I LOVE USAA – the interest rate on USED cars is less than some new car financing available other places!)
I just want this ordeal to be done and over with.
I feel better putting my son in the Subaru than some of the other cars I test drove.
The only down side is that I need to get all of my local cop stickers and shields onto the car ASAP. With an engine like this, I am going to get into trouble on the highway! (LOL, I’m not known for being a slow, patient driver).
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Oh yeah, and our baby shower is on Sunday. I can’t wait!
We have the perfect outfit for Andrew all picked out!
