Land Cruiser
Sequoia
Range Rover
Ooooh Ahhhhhh
Tuesday he took the day off to drop the transmission with a friend. The friend got otherwise engaged, and I got an extended afternoon with Hannah. She had a sewing class in the morning then helped me pick out frames and mattes for a client. Then we had lunch together. By the time I got home Jared had pulled the drive shaft off by himself. He waited until 6:30, by then our friend cancelled. Frustrating that Jared took the day off, frustrating we didn't just use the time to take it in somewhere and have it dealt with while Jared had his schedule freed up. BUT-Jared and Noah spent the morning together, Hannah and I had a fun day together, I was able to complete my job and he was available to help me hang the pictures that evening.
Wed. Jared went to work and that evening for sure our friend was going to come over-but no dice. Jared missed mutual...frustrating.
Thursday, I drove him to work and ran some errands, since I was already on the east side of town, I was able to spend the day with my brother and sister in law. We had so much fun hanging out with them. I practiced up on Guitar Hero and am now up to 85% accuracy on the easy level... I would have never been able to do that unless I had time to kill before picking Jared back up from work.
This morning the tow truck arrived and hopefully we'll be back in business before Girls Camp. Bottom line-car trouble stinks, waiting around stinks, extra family time is really great.
In the mean time we have been evaluating and reevaluating our summer plans and whether or not we stick it out with the suburban.
Summer plans= No long road trips- Transmission has drained our vacation funds, and we're beginning to question it's reliability.
Now the moment of sucky truth. We have had this goal to pay off our vehicles-(we are so close). Save what we would have spent on a car loan and buy with cash. I am beginning to realize that really we will be forking over fist fulls of cash every month just to keep it up and running. Nickels and dimes are one thing hundreds and thousands of dollars are another. We are concluding after much deliberation to cut our losses and start over. Which means having to start all over with the plan. BUT on the flip side we'll buy a really great vehicle that we love and actually want to keep for the long haul. I found a 2006 Range Rover today on auto trader listed at $18,000-fully loaded, and super low miles...I'm convinced it's a pipe dream. That's about 20,000 less that low blue book. If it wasn't a type-o I'm thinking it must have recently been involved in a heinous crime. We'll see...
Once I have a plan it is somewhat difficult for me to deviate from it's course. When I do it becomes all or nothing. I tend to see plan A or Z and skip B-Y options. I really hate thinking about buying a car, and having another long term car payment. YUCK YUCK YUCK. But I'm glad we can, and it will be nice to have something newer, more reliable, and yes...more fun! Hmmm. Will I be able to do it? Should we do it? Jared is really excited-whenever I go back to let's just hang onto the Suburban his whole face just falls. Is it worth the frustration... Also-SUV's are getting pretty cheap right now. A friend recently suggested we look at minivans... See this is when I realize how truly vain I am. I say, well we need something more truck like-to throw our bikes in, camping gear, towing capability etc... but really- I just don't want a mini van. I try to be practical. I want to be practical. But when it comes to somethings I just can't- or won't. So SILLY!
A Range Rover is not practical-at all. In fact it doesn't even have all that we are looking for, and the reviews are just fair. But it sure is pretty... I feel like a bug being attracted to the light of a zapper. Look away! Look away!
-Mel
7 comments:
No car payment is AWESOME...but it only makes sense if you aren't spending it on car repairs. Otherwise, what is the difference?
That is just my humble opinion. It took us a while to be able to get there, and I don't think we could have until we got rid of the cars that drained us with repairs. But, that is what is great about life, everyone gets to try it the way they want too! Good luck with your decision...
You didn't finish your story. Are you still doing summer plans or just waiting to see? I hate car payments and repairs. It is a tough spot. We still have the suburban if your interested. And I am totally with you on the van thing.
Linette
No car payment would be AWESOME!!!!Last night we were hanging out with with a friend who happens to be a bankruptcy lawyer. He talked about how long he and his family held onto thier beaters after law school etc... I love stories like that. I came away with a renewed attitude. Long term we will be better off just sticking it out. I "think" we are going to stick with THE PLAN for now.
As far as our summer plans- OHH I don't know. It really depends on the cost of this transmission fiasco. Right now we are for sure going up for the 4th of July. As far as the reunion, we're up in the air. What are your plans Linette?
-Mel
Good for you!! Not only is it fun to hear stories like that , but be able to tell them later yourself. Michael and I were going through some old papers a few weeks ago and it was fun to see how much I had contributed financially while he was in school and I had two babies to take care of. Together we were cleaning a preschool at night and I remember discussing the offers he was receiving at graduation time! I am proud of our "pay our dues" stories. A wonderful thing to pass to our children.
As far as summer plans we are going to the reunion and will be in Utah till about the middle of July. Back home for a couple of weeks and the kids start school around the 5th I think.
I hope everything works out, Linette
I admire you discipline...I don't think I could give up my vacation.
We are so much older than you all, that we don't go through the same stuff at the same time, but... I remember what it was like. Both of us with two jobs, working and going to school with babies. We moved to Florida with not one penny to our name...
And when we moved to Tucson, married almost 20 years it was still a little rough. I don't know if you remember the cars we moved to tucson with...talk about beaters. Our toyota which was a great car because it didn't need many repairs but was definately ready to be retired and then Kellys blue truck, that was rusted through so far you could see the road beneath you...
Fun times and memories, but I am thankful that we get to move to different stages!
Thanks for all your comments, advice and support. I feel slightly ashamed having publicly deliberated all this... I suppose that shows the blessings of our time.
-Mel
I appreciate everything that has been said except for the van bashing... all I have to say is...Respect the van.
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