We're Having Our Ups and Downs Here...

Things have been intensely busy here at the DollyMama household. Not only am I trying to launch a business very soon, and trying to sponsor a seminar to be held in less than 6 weeks, and doing all the regular stuff that I do, but we also got an additional exciting element:

Our Van Died

Or, perhaps she's just taken a convincing turn for the worst. You be the judge.

On Tuesday I was heading out to pick Sullen up from school, and I smelled a very weird smell in the van. I was thinking to myself, "What's that smell? What *is* that smell?" and then I got to find out. Because there was smoke pouring from the steering column! Nice. Fortunately, I was very close to home, so I turned right around and went back.

Yeah.

So, poor old Bessie now has the following ailments:

back door will not close properly if opened (aka we do not open the back door ever)

side door does not close properly

driver's side power window control broke right off last week, so now we can't put the window down

the carpet in there is perpetually damp and just waiting for a warm day to overtake the entire interior with mold

the big dent from the deer, which creates a terrible noise when I turn left

a front end problem that we were told by a mechanic (some time ago) is only a matter of time before it dies

air conditioning died at the beginning of last summer

and now, some problem within the steering column

So, we thought to ourselves: Hmmm.....seems like it's time to look for a different vehicle. Bessie has nearly 200,000 miles on her now. I think she's done her tour of duty.

So, we spent Wednesday looking for vehicles. First we got online and checked everything we could. Then we got on the phone and called around. There was a 15 passenger van very close to us that was a 1998 in very good condition for only $3500 from a private seller, so we were pretty interested in that. The hubby comes home with the report:

Well, it's very nice. You can tell it's never had any rough use. Everything looks great. It drives really well. But....

Uh huh? The BUT is what?

It has 218,000 miles.

That's right. Two hundred and eighteen THOUSAND miles!

I was stunned. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he would come home with a number like that.

So.

As we let that sink in, we looked over our list from earlier in the day. And we found an Astro Van for $4400. So we decided to go take a look at it. So I call the sales guy, tell him that we want to come look at this particular vehicle, get directions, and head out. (after getting a babysitter on short notice) So we drive an hour through terrible traffic and foul weather....and when we arrive we find out that there is no such vehicle there. Nope. Nothing like that. Not even close. Not even like they just messed up the year or something. Not. There. And hadn't been! Nice. The sales guy says, "Oh, I am so sorry. I hope we haven't inconvenienced you." I said, "Well, actually, you have. We drove an hour to look at that vehicle." He offered me gas money which I said no to (I should have said yes plus had him give me babysitter money!). UGH.

We also stopped at one dealership where hubby saw a used Suburban and that actually looks like it might work out for us. We had it checked out by a mechanic friend on Thursday, and got to drive it on Friday. We've been so cramped on time that we've done almost all of the negotiating on the phone, which you know car salesmen hate. They actually had the nerve to jack up the price at the end, playing the "you must have heard him wrong/someone made a mistake" and the original price that we were told is actually $650 less than the real price. Yeah, right. So I counteroffered, and the beat goes on. I don't feel real confident that they'll go for our offer. But I'm hoping that with it being the end of January, that maybe they're desperate for sales and will break down on Monday and give us a really good deal.

Actually, the price is pretty good as it is. But, alas, with the whole single-income-family thing going on here, a car payment isn't even really doable to begin with. Hopefully my new business is going to bring in money by the bucketfuls and we can just pay off whatever vehicle we get and go on our merry way.

On Friday I got a very encouraging report about both of my preschoolers. Some of you may remember that after the first marking period my 4 year old was being evaluated for all manner of developmental delays, and my 3 year old wasn't doing that great, either. Between the two of them, plus my struggling 1st grader, I was completely downhearted after that round of conferences. "My kids are ruined and it's all my fault!" But THIS TIME was much different. Both of them are doing quite well, but my delayed kiddo is doing GREAT! His teacher said it's like night and day the change he has made, and that he has progressed much more than she anticipated he would in such a short time. Of course, we have noticed a lot of good things at home, too, but it was so nice to get so many positive comments.

Last night the hubby took our 6 year old Jake the Great to a Monster Truck thing with the boys group from church. They didn't get home until 1:30am and Jake was a little zombie. What a hoot this morning to hear him tell about the trucks and their noises and such. He was cracking me up with the sound effects and personalities he had attached to various vehicles.

I got to have some fun of my own last night when I went to a church ladies shin dig. I was in supposed to bring a few games, so we got to play some Outburst, which is great for groups. And then I got some people playing the all-time greatest card game ever! Dutch Blitz and successfully created Dutch Blitz converts out of them. Now we shall have to have DB nights at my house. I'll have to get the hubby to put all the kids to bed, and the women can sit around working out all of our aggression at the card table..... :)

Today featured hubby gone for the first 24 hours of 48 hours he will be working. I worked on the car deal with the sales people. Izzy Man threw up and hopefully will NOT throw up tonite since he is in my bed.... I guess more of the same is expected tomorrow (except for the throwing up, we hope). I know one thing: I won't be going anywhere. Because Bessie is a fire waiting to happen, and I don't want to be there when it does.