On the bright side

Dan said my last post was a real downer. And I know I was whining pathetically and I know that I was complaining about stupid things. I just want to clarify that I wasn't so upset by the fact that we just had one car (can you say spoiled? yeah, me too) . It was more because the one car we did have, we couldn't even fit in and it has no air conditioning. And it's Houston. In July. Okay, really I'm done because life is good. It was just one of those days.

But there is a bright side to all of that.

Over this past weekend, Mom and Dad came down. They watched the kids for us while we drove across town to get us a new (used) ride! The process turned out to be very long and complicated by the fact that we consented to trade in our Corolla (for less than we wanted) but then realized we didn't have the title. Doh!

So we left for the night with plans to return in the morning with the title.

We got home about 9:30 pm and Dan got a wild hair about posting the car on Craigslist to sell before 10 AM the next morning. We put up the post at about 11:30 pm and within 10 minutes had 2 replies. One guy wanted to see it that night.

And that's how we sold our Corolla at 1 AM in the Walmart parking lot for $700 more than the dealer offered. At that point we were kind of glad we had forgotten the title.

And we fully disclosed all the things wrong with the car (catalytic converter was broken, can't open the rear driver's side door from the inside, etc) We didn't want a guilty conscious!

So after another really long day at the dealer, here I am driving home our new minivan!




Why am I so excited to have a minivan? I don't know, but I'm pretty much in love. It feels like there's room to breathe in there and I can finally fulfill my life long dream of being a soccer mom.

Umm, I can't believe this, but I actually don't have a picture of the outside. I'll take some and post it on the next one, because I know you are dying to see what it looks like.

The kids are really excited about it too. Though you can't tell in this picture because 4 hours at Carmax is a long time for a 1 and 3 year old to hang out.


But Ava can see out so much better and Luke can see out, period. (Mostly, because we just got to turn his carseat around.)

After driving it home, I realized that my driving habits are going to need to change. I was so used to my little car and it's ability to stop quickly and turn sharply. This is more like driving a boat and I really need to take corners slower and stop more gradually.

Anyways, I am really excited! We hope to have enough money left from the Corolla (we put some as a down payment on the van) to add to the money we could sell the truck for and buy a new (used) clunker with a backseat and air conditioning. We've been perusing Craigslist for any midnight specials but with no luck so far.

And, Mom and Dad-THANK YOU for all the child watching and baby wrangling you did this weekend!