My crazy life!

Today was supposed to be a day that I got back on track. I kind of took a break from running during the summer and haven't really gotten back into it. So today I was starting again, finishing some errands, and hopefully getting a massage.

When I started the car this morning it sounded a little different. And an extra light came on, on the dashboard. After I dropped off the kids I couldn't make the car go. It didn't seem to have any power. Now another light was on. I pulled out of the school road onto the highway and almost wrecked. The car wouldn't go faster than 20 MPH. The cars were going about 60 MPH. I gunned it and nothing happened so I took my foot off the gas and a few seconds later the car accelerated. Almost rear ended someone. So I put on my flashers and watched the dashboard alternate between lighting up like a Christmas tree and going completely dark. The fasten your seat belt alarm was going off and my radio wouldn't come on. I drove home very slowly, almost not making it up some tiny hills.

The alternator is dead and the car ran home on the battery, so now that is dead too. My dear sweet husband came home on his lunch break and is replacing it for me so I can have a vehicle to drive. Love that man and his many, many talents. Just imagine the expense and time that it would take if I had to take my car to the mechanic.

Sorry for the blur. He didn't know I was taking the picture and wouldn't have posed if I'd asked. =)

New truck

Jon and I have been talking for almost two years about wanting to get either a truck or an SUV. We had finally decided on a Honda Pilot. We are Honda people, through and through. We'd decided to sell the Accord since it had the most miles on it and also had a problem with the airbags that was making me nervous. We had priced them and figured it would be late spring or early summer (of 2012) before we could purchase one. About a week ago I was driving home and passed a small dealership. I saw this beautiful black Pilot sitting there. I knew it was not time to get one yet, but it drew me in. I talked to the owner for a few minutes and then blew it off. I even forgot to mention it to Jon right away. But I finally remembered to mention it and Jon acted way more interested than I thought he would.

To make a long story short we were able to get a really good deal on the truck and sold our Accord for more than we'd planned. So I now have this beautiful truck sitting in my carport.What makes it even more beautiful is that it's paid for. We didn't have to go into debt. A very lovely feeling!

 I am having to get used to driving an automatic. But it's worth it for the heated seats. Before you laugh - I'm ALWAYS cold. And these seats heat up almost instantly. They are warm long before the heat in the car warms me up. This is making me a VERY happy person right now. =)

Jon joked that we now have a pilot in the house and a Pilot outside too.

On another note - Jon and I always name our cars. Okay, it's mostly me.

My first car was a tiny Honda Civic that Jon (my then fiance) purchased for me. I named her Lucy.

All of the rest have been named. But I'm stuck with a name for my Pilot. He's a boy, just in case you decide to help me out. =)

This post may seem random, but the point is - I'm very, very thankful! We needed a larger vehicle to transport kids, dogs, motorcycles and house renovation stuff in and now we have one. And God has blessed us so that we were able to purchase it without going into debt. It's has everything on my wishlist, even the color is one of the three preferred colors.

I'm blessed and thankful for that!

What a wreck!

Several weeks ago a very dear friend of mine backed into my car (Actually Jon's Integra). She felt terrible about it. It wasn't bad, but it did need to be fixed. We were given a rental car while we waited. The time estimate in the beginning was five days. We finally got our car last night after 2 1/2 weeks.

But the main thing that I was frustrated with was the rental car. It was a Chevy Cobalt. Once again I was very unimpressed with Chevy. The car was terrible to drive, had blind spots, got horrible gas mileage for how small the car was, and couldn't accelerate.

I'm the driver who puts the most miles on a car in a week and since it was only going to be for about five days we figured I'd put the miles on the rental car. We had no idea it would take so long.

I posted a comment on the fact that I was hating driving an automatic and couldn't wait to get my car back with standard transmission. I couldn't believe how many people responded to the comment. It wasn't just the comments, but the strong opinions on standard vs. automatic.

I've always preferred driving a "stick". I can accelerate better and it's just plain more fun. Someday I might have to buy an automatic to save my knees. But I won't like it for two reasons. I don't like driving one and it will mean that I'm old (in my opinion). =)

It seems that my memory is not great - shocker, I know.
I found yet another draft in my posts and so here is another blog that I wrote several weeks ago. I'm going to go ahead and post it because I have an update of sorts.

When we got the car back from the shop the guy was nervous and wanted to explain something before I went out to look at it. Our car is was red. Over the years parts of it that received more sun have faded to a pale red pinkish color. But since the other parts are red it's easy to trick the eye and believe that the color is still red. The poor body shop just wasn't sure how to match the paint. So instead of painting one side of the car the original red they tried to match it with the top of the car that was pinkish. The problem is the bumpers were still red. It is an obvious color change no matter how or where you look at it. And sadly this had prompted Jon to finally admit that he's ready to trade in the Integra when we go to buy a new vehicle. He'd always said before that he'd trade whatever I was driving, but not his Integra. Now that it's pink I think he's ready to let go. It's sad, but also probably a good thing. His car just wasn't practical for our family anymore and we really need to get an SUV or truck. It's just sad to see him let go of his baby.