Ugh.
As in UGH.
And yuck.
So real life is going to intrude for a moment here, but instead of tales of our newest fishy friend's escape from certain death, this has to do with another tale of certain death.
As in it will happen. Thank goodness I'm not referring to people! Don't get me wrong.
I'm talking about my car. If all I had to worry about was the good captain and the black pearl and having enough rum, boy would life be so much simpler. But it's not. Of course, I would most likely have to worry about terrible beasties and sea godesses, so perhaps that would have its own trials.
I've felt my car has been weird for a while now, and I was almost positive it was the transmission. Long story short, I was right. To the tune of $2500 for a new trannie. And no, the one I currently have cannot be serviced. Never mind the new rear brakes that should cost me $400 in September. My car is old. It has almost 97,000 on it. We are outgrowing it. And I don't mean that in the sense of I feel entitled to something "better," I mean quite literally, my son's feet touch the back of the front seat when he's in his car seat. Now, I know he won't be a car seat forever but still. I've had my car for 8 years, and it's probably time.
The problem is that the only car that I really want is pricey.
Actually, it's really reasonable for what it is, but it's the sticker shock of putting that much money down on one item at one time. It means not buying a house. It means having to rebuild the whole savings before we can have another baby. Or if we decide to take the plunge and have another little pirate (because what we need in this world is some more chaos, I swear
), it means putting school for me on hold.
My mother says I think too much. That I need to stop thinking about everything and focus on one thing. And in some senses, she's right. I did write a whole chapter not too long ago about not worrying anymore.
Hardee har har. I have been trying, I really have. Trying to let go, but it's so hard! My type A personality keeps fighting my creative brain and it's not pretty.
Well, DH and I have been good little savers, and we knew our money would be going to something. The ultimate hope was that it would pay off the student loan.
Which sadly, is roughly the amount of the down payment I'll need to put down on this car to make it affordable. Fortunately, student loan interest is tax deductible, so that's something.
I still haven't committed to buying it. Actually, I went through QUITE a rigomarole which the "business manager" at a dealership and I ended up calling the general manager to complain about him. I won't go into detail but suffice it to say he was walking a very fine line with his treatment of me as a woman and I wouldn't stand for it. It disgusted me. So now I have the general manager bending over backwards, begging me to come back, telling me he'll take a look at my car and see if he can give me more in a trade in value for it than what they'd previously estimated.
I know, I know. It's a good position to be in, right?
And look:
Green Tea Metallic
Royal Blue Pearl
Glaciar Blue Metallic
It's pretty, no? Yes, dear friends. It's a Honda CR-V. And their marketing is quite apt. I've been craving this car for a couple of years now. Ever since they changed the body style. I love it. I love the room it has, I love the way it drives, I love the way it looks, I love the room it has, I love the way it looks...
But what is such a kicker for me in addition to all the little fun things about this compact SUV? I love the safety ratings. I love the fact that it's a Honda. I love the fact that it's durable and built to last. That I'll most likely have this car up to 100,000 with little to no maintenance required.
By the by, those are the colors I'm between. I'm leaning towards the Green Tea Metallic, but I'm really worried I won't love it in a few years. I don't know if any of you have ever seen it in person, but it's just such a pretty color, and it's different. I'm also very attracted to the Royal Blue Pearl. The fact that it has pearl in the name is already a plus.
But I think it looks classy. Very classy. And I know I'll like it. The Glaciar Blue Metallic is very pretty, but it's virtually the same color car I have now. I really don't want the same color I have now. I'd like to make a break from that car, and enter into a new world with this one. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like a new beginning. What I have now is what I had when I got out of college, so it almost feels like this is really my first adult car. My first family car. Whereas I picked my car before solely based on me, I'm now picking based on me and my pirate crew.
So we'll see what happens. Where the chips fall.
And to draw this into the trip, well, heck it relates anyway. I can tell you right now that if I buy a car you can say goodbye to all my shopping chapters. Goodbye to my bargain hunting at Kohl's, goodbye to my search for Veras, goodbye to trip shopping in general. Good thing I was mostly done anyway!
But honestly, if we do this, I'll have a monthly car payment now, and although we can afford it, money will start to get very tight. Between a car payment and having put DS in preschool two days a week, we can just kiss my paycheck goodbye. Fortunately, we've been banking it, and that's one of the reasons we can do such a good down payment, so, yay us. But it still hurts. It hurts for me to spend that much. I don't know how to do it. I feel like my heart is palpitating just thinking about it.
I need to calm down. One step at a time. Take my car back to the dealership, only deal with the general manager, and see what he can do for me. If it's not good, it's not good.
Then what will I drive?
So, in light of the fact that there may be no more shopping chapters, I proudly bring to you my first and possibly only Vera purchase for this trip.
It's cute.
It's little.
And it's practical.
It's the Euro Wallet. And I'm really excited about it for a lot of reasons. I got it for an excellent price on Ebay. This retails for around $27, and I paid under $16 with shipping. It's a cute print, it has a ton of card slots, two slots for money (sized big enough for Euros, hence the name), the id slot, and a zippered coin pouch. And the fact of the matter is, I really needed a new wallet. I've had the same Winnie the Pooh wallet for many, many years, and it is adorable and cute and in a sad state of disrepair.
So suffice it to say I was quite excited when my Vera arrived.
So there you have it. A whole lot of angst, a little Vera, and hopefully some kind of happy ending.
Whatever that may be.
...I'm giving a 2-thumbs up to Green Tea Metallic.
