This isn't the best picture but it just demonstrates that they think everything belongs to them!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
What's Hers is Ours
That's what my cats believe. I think I have the three nebbiest cats in the world. They are very curious about all this baby gear that is arriving and being put together. They look at me and ask "who is moving in?" I have a feeling Noelle is going to rock their world. They have no clue what having a "sister" is all about! They have tried out just about everything...the vibrating chair, the playpen, the bassinet, the changing table, the stroller, her crib, and now her clothes.
This isn't the best picture but it just demonstrates that they think everything belongs to them!
This isn't the best picture but it just demonstrates that they think everything belongs to them!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
So We Bought a Minivan...
Hello adulthood. Nothing says "you're getting old" like buying a minivan! After the Taurus burned up I did nothing but obsess for 48 hours and scour every online posting for wheels in the valley and even into Mesquite and Cali. I was a woman on a mission. Granted the Taurus and me had issues with each other but I was in full blown panic mode. How the heck were we going to afford a car payment, registration, and insurance as well as find something big enough and safe for a family? Good grief!
Dave wanted to get me a Jeep. I like driving his Jeep. It's so easy to see out of and people get out of my way when it roars! We hunted. We found a few options. We started our physical search at the Ford store and they reiterated the bad news about the Taurus and were going to charge even more for a new engine. They had a Jeep Grand Cherokee there. It was nice. It didn't really seem that much bigger than Dave's regular Cherokee. There wasn't a whole lot of space in the back seats for legs and all I could picture was us picking up my parents at the airport with this thing and Noelle stuffed in the middle in her car seat. This wasn't going to fly. Plus, my hips were overflowing out of those bucket seats. What is up with that?!
We headed off to see "Chop: The King of Cars." Their Jeep was priced better. Of course we were at the wrong location and not willing to drive the 45 minutes to the north end of town. They did have a Dodge Caravan there though for us to look at that was cheaper than the Jeep. Let me tell you, I fell in love with the "stow and go" feature. The inside of that thing was huge. Downside... it had been hit in the back, reeked of smoke, and had cheap fabric seats. Oh, and nothing like incredibly pushy salesmen!!! Ugh. But this got us thinking. Maybe we were barking up the wrong tree with the Jeep? After seeing the size of the van a car didn't seem reasonable anymore. So started the minivan hunt. Seriously, life got put on hold and I contacted every store in the valley. I searched through seedy websites that offered vans for super smoking deals that claimed no tax, title, license fees if you pay in cash. Hmm....wonder where those vehicles came from? I hunted Craigslist. I was starting to get very disheartened and I know my blood pressure was going up. Not what this preggo needed!
Dave found a listing on Craigslist for a van at the local Pontiac store. It looked like a nice van and a good deal. It was the end of the month so they were offering a special on the internet to get it off their lot. I called up and hounded the salesman with all kinds of questions and even made him go out in the 115 degree heat to sit in it and make sure it didn't smell before I bothered to come look at it! We told him we would come out that night.
We liked what we saw and took it for a test drive. Kind of like driving my old Grand Am, only bigger. A lot bigger! It has power everything. I love the power sliding side doors! It has tons of space and is in great condition! It's a 2003 Pontiac Montana. I think they named it Montana because Montana is the "Big Sky" state and this van has huge windows all around and is actually pretty easy to see out of. It also has back up sensors that beep at me if something is behind me when I go to back up. Too bad the tilt of our driveway makes the sensors "sense" the road behind me and beep at me every time I back out of the driveway! So we have wheels once again. There is plenty of space for two kids (if Dave ever talks me into having another) and we have room for visitors and their luggage.
I will admit I'm driving more like an old lady and have driven over the curb a couple of times! Whoops! Maybe that puts me more in the Asian lady category rather than old lady....but I'm getting the hang of it.
New Van. (Purchased June 29, 2010). I haven't decided if it's a "he" or a "she" yet so therefore it still needs a name.
And then there is my new friend, The Tummy Shield. I saw an ad for this in the parenting magazine and it's a great idea!! It was pricey and comes out of Australia. There is nothing like it made in the US. I've looked. That metal bar holds the seat belt down between my legs so it doesn't smoosh the baby if we were to get hit. I was annoyed that when I ordered it in grey to match the Taurus they told me it was back ordered and could send me brown right away. Brown worked out for the best. We had to get seatbelt extenders for the Jeep and Taurus but the van seat belts worked just fine without having to be extended. If we were in a wreck I'd mostly break my legs and maybe dislocate my hips if it was bad enough but baby girl wouldn't get crushed!
Let me tell you, that metal bar that holds the seatbelt gets HOT out here!!
So this is me demonstrating how it works. Never mind my ghetto painted pants. I went to Super Wal-Mart today and wanted to fit in. Actually, they are one of my few pairs of pants that still fit. My summer uniform has basically been white t-shirts and grey lounge pants. I'm sure Dave comes home and wonders "did she shower and change her clothes today?" That is for me to know and him to find out. Oh and see that baby belly? Yeah...me neither. 7 months freaking preggo and I just look fat. Noelle is hanging out way low down there. I can't even get sympathy when I walk slow or park in the "mother-to-be" spots without getting looked at funny. Supposedly it's because of my long torso and wide hips. I think that's just the Doctor's way of nicely saying "You're a big girl."
The sucky part of getting a new vehicle out here is that you have to go to the DMV in person. I put it off and put it off. I went out early one morning. There was no place to park. The place was swarming with people. Cars were being redirected to go park at the Ocean Spray plant down the street. Um, sorry but I'm not walking a half a mile back here in the 100 degree weather to then stand in line that is going out the door for over an hour. I went baby shopping instead. When I came back I finally got a spot. I had to stand in line for an hour and then wait for my number to be called for the next 2 hours. There were over 100 people ahead of me trying to register cars plus the hundreds there renewing their licenses. Looking back now I should not have waited until the end of the month! My bad! So $200 later we are legal. Gone are the days of the $45 registration. Guess this state has to pay my salary somehow!
Dave wanted to get me a Jeep. I like driving his Jeep. It's so easy to see out of and people get out of my way when it roars! We hunted. We found a few options. We started our physical search at the Ford store and they reiterated the bad news about the Taurus and were going to charge even more for a new engine. They had a Jeep Grand Cherokee there. It was nice. It didn't really seem that much bigger than Dave's regular Cherokee. There wasn't a whole lot of space in the back seats for legs and all I could picture was us picking up my parents at the airport with this thing and Noelle stuffed in the middle in her car seat. This wasn't going to fly. Plus, my hips were overflowing out of those bucket seats. What is up with that?!
We headed off to see "Chop: The King of Cars." Their Jeep was priced better. Of course we were at the wrong location and not willing to drive the 45 minutes to the north end of town. They did have a Dodge Caravan there though for us to look at that was cheaper than the Jeep. Let me tell you, I fell in love with the "stow and go" feature. The inside of that thing was huge. Downside... it had been hit in the back, reeked of smoke, and had cheap fabric seats. Oh, and nothing like incredibly pushy salesmen!!! Ugh. But this got us thinking. Maybe we were barking up the wrong tree with the Jeep? After seeing the size of the van a car didn't seem reasonable anymore. So started the minivan hunt. Seriously, life got put on hold and I contacted every store in the valley. I searched through seedy websites that offered vans for super smoking deals that claimed no tax, title, license fees if you pay in cash. Hmm....wonder where those vehicles came from? I hunted Craigslist. I was starting to get very disheartened and I know my blood pressure was going up. Not what this preggo needed!
Dave found a listing on Craigslist for a van at the local Pontiac store. It looked like a nice van and a good deal. It was the end of the month so they were offering a special on the internet to get it off their lot. I called up and hounded the salesman with all kinds of questions and even made him go out in the 115 degree heat to sit in it and make sure it didn't smell before I bothered to come look at it! We told him we would come out that night.
We liked what we saw and took it for a test drive. Kind of like driving my old Grand Am, only bigger. A lot bigger! It has power everything. I love the power sliding side doors! It has tons of space and is in great condition! It's a 2003 Pontiac Montana. I think they named it Montana because Montana is the "Big Sky" state and this van has huge windows all around and is actually pretty easy to see out of. It also has back up sensors that beep at me if something is behind me when I go to back up. Too bad the tilt of our driveway makes the sensors "sense" the road behind me and beep at me every time I back out of the driveway! So we have wheels once again. There is plenty of space for two kids (if Dave ever talks me into having another) and we have room for visitors and their luggage.
I will admit I'm driving more like an old lady and have driven over the curb a couple of times! Whoops! Maybe that puts me more in the Asian lady category rather than old lady....but I'm getting the hang of it.
New Van. (Purchased June 29, 2010). I haven't decided if it's a "he" or a "she" yet so therefore it still needs a name.
And then there is my new friend, The Tummy Shield. I saw an ad for this in the parenting magazine and it's a great idea!! It was pricey and comes out of Australia. There is nothing like it made in the US. I've looked. That metal bar holds the seat belt down between my legs so it doesn't smoosh the baby if we were to get hit. I was annoyed that when I ordered it in grey to match the Taurus they told me it was back ordered and could send me brown right away. Brown worked out for the best. We had to get seatbelt extenders for the Jeep and Taurus but the van seat belts worked just fine without having to be extended. If we were in a wreck I'd mostly break my legs and maybe dislocate my hips if it was bad enough but baby girl wouldn't get crushed!
Let me tell you, that metal bar that holds the seatbelt gets HOT out here!!
So this is me demonstrating how it works. Never mind my ghetto painted pants. I went to Super Wal-Mart today and wanted to fit in. Actually, they are one of my few pairs of pants that still fit. My summer uniform has basically been white t-shirts and grey lounge pants. I'm sure Dave comes home and wonders "did she shower and change her clothes today?" That is for me to know and him to find out. Oh and see that baby belly? Yeah...me neither. 7 months freaking preggo and I just look fat. Noelle is hanging out way low down there. I can't even get sympathy when I walk slow or park in the "mother-to-be" spots without getting looked at funny. Supposedly it's because of my long torso and wide hips. I think that's just the Doctor's way of nicely saying "You're a big girl."
The sucky part of getting a new vehicle out here is that you have to go to the DMV in person. I put it off and put it off. I went out early one morning. There was no place to park. The place was swarming with people. Cars were being redirected to go park at the Ocean Spray plant down the street. Um, sorry but I'm not walking a half a mile back here in the 100 degree weather to then stand in line that is going out the door for over an hour. I went baby shopping instead. When I came back I finally got a spot. I had to stand in line for an hour and then wait for my number to be called for the next 2 hours. There were over 100 people ahead of me trying to register cars plus the hundreds there renewing their licenses. Looking back now I should not have waited until the end of the month! My bad! So $200 later we are legal. Gone are the days of the $45 registration. Guess this state has to pay my salary somehow!
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