I'm up early drinking my new french vanilla blend coffee (que delicioso!) and browsing through blogs. Last night I had an absolute blast at my husband's district dinner. We were at the Winchester Country Club, which is unbelievably beautiful in every way, including the neighborhood. We got there early because he had to help set up, so I struck up a conversation with another non-setter-upper who had arrived early. His name was John, and we had a lot to talk about. In fact, we talked the whole evening, even sat together at dinner (his wife was home with the kids and my husband was running around constantly, so it worked out). About partway through the dinner, after having gushed over how much I liked the club, I said, "Have you ever been here before?" He looked at me strangely and said, "Umm...yes. This is my club. I am here because I am sponsoring this dinner." OOPS! He's also on the board of the local hospital, has a big boat that he invited us out on about ten times, and in addition to being an estate lawyer has multiple side businesses--including sponsoring inventions. He was so incredibly interesting and I can't wait to go out on the boat with him, his wife (if she'll go, he says she hates the boat but might go if I go), and his three boys, the youngest of which is two. After the dinner, I told my husband all that happened, and he began to laugh. Apparently I have an uncanny knack for talking to really, really important people and not having a clue who they are! Believe me, this happens a lot.
Also, I had quite a blessing the other day. Let me copy from an email to my dad:
Just thought you would enjoy the fact that the tow truck guy who came was a crotchety old guy who for some reason took an interest in my plight. He asked how long we had lived there (we’re obviously new), what was wrong with the car, when it happened, what did it sound like, etc. He was a mechanic also. He said another dealership was much better and closer and charged me nine dollars for the tow. He said he’d mention all that I told him about what went wrong to the mechanic and make sure they called me. He also told me it shouldn’t be more than 150 to fix unless something’s really awful. Then he shooed me away and told me he would “take care of everything” and fifteen minutes later I peeked out the window and he had gotten his flashlight out and was looking around in the engine! He did a few test tries turning on the car and seemed to make SURE he knew what was wrong. Then he towed it. I think he wants to make sure we don’t get taken for a ride by the dealer.
It is amazing how nice people are when they figure out that we are just starting out in life.
As you might be able to tell, we now are only driving one car, as my junky Chevy is at the shop. I honestly don't know if 1) it's fixable, and 2) it's fixable on our budget. I'm going to call again to see. Some have quoted me 150, some have said upwards of 1500. We are looking into other options, such as purchasing a used vehicle (high interest rate, but lower written price, questionable history, doesn't lose value terribly quickly) or a new vehicle (low interest rate by about 6%, but higher written price, known perfect history, loses some value when you drive it off the lot.) I don't know what to do. We are praying my Chevy makes it to the end of the summer because we might get better deals on a car then. It might not. I wanted to be able to drive this car into the ground before I got a new one, but everyone who has looked under the hood has said, "Well, (snicker), this car is definitely in the ground, if that's where you wanted it." Excuse me, Mr. Mechanic, I would prefer that this occur later. Tell me it'll be cheap to fix. Tell me it'll go another 50,000 miles. Oh, you think it won't drive another ten miles? I'll have to seek out a seventh opinion here. Please call my tow truck guy again.
In any case, whether we purchase a used car or new one, I don't have the first clue what to buy. I want a four-door smaller sedan, and I don't like the bubble look of a Ford Taurus (doesn't it look like a humpback?). The car I really love is a Jetta, but this might be a bit pricey if bought new. Does anyone have any suggestions of good, safe, smaller sedans that don't cost an arm and a leg? Also, it needs to be all-wheel-drive or 4WD if possible, the hill we live on is a ***** in winter ice.
1 comment:
Well for all wheel drive there's always subaru. They've got some non-wagon cars that might be worth looking into. I know nothing about price, however.
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