Mother's Day Weekend '08

Thursday, hubby brought home flowers (which was really sweet) and the babe brought one of her own home on Friday. This one is alive and will need to be planted (it's sitting on the kitchen sink and yesterday, the babe and dad were in the yard...a perfect time to plant, but I forgot about it). The weekend was mostly pleasant. I'm in the market for a new car and, although we made the road trip to hang out as a family, we also did a lot of car shopping.

First, we went to a lone dealership in the Brigham City (and we weren't even sure where we were at the time) after seeing a couple of the cars I liked. This really became the start of it all, since hubby got to get into the cars and see why I was so smitten. The dealer was like any other, promising us the world if we stayed and purchased with him. We've already been pre-approved for an amount by our credit union, so we weren't really able to spend what he was asking. One of the cars, a cute little red PT Cruiser (rated a "best buy" by Consumer Reports, believe it or not) was newer and had more miles than my little Sentra! (about 147,000 for a 2003. The previous owner must have gone everywhere!)

After our stop, we continued to Logan. It was a nice drive, accept for the babe asking every few minutes, "Where are we going?" Hubby wanted to see the quaint college town, since he'd never been there in the entire time we've lived in Utah. I told him it would remind him of Clarksville (where we went to school) and it does. After driving down the main drag, we saw the Cache Valley Mall and saw that several dealerships were renting mall parking spaces for a big sale. We looked at a lot of cars. These are the two that I love (again, Consumer Reports Best Buys):





Hubby and I are convinced that something happens to the wiring in your head, after you've had kids. We would never have thought twice about a wagon as a possible vehicle choice before having them. Anyway, I thought both were cute and after he had me researching best buys at the library, I was convinced that I'd have one of these.

We stopped to buy an auto trader and made a call to a guy who had an HHR. Turns out, he was not a private seller so much as a small dealer. We got his information and headed back in the direction of our city. Making a few more calls, I discovered that rental places were selling the cars but again, out of our price range. We found the small dealer and noted that he had a few PT Cruisers on his lot, but took his HHR for a test drive. Oh, so cute on first appearance...oh so crappy on test drive. My little Sentra is a '99 with a smaller engine and has way more "get up and go" than the HHR. True, the Chevy has space and cargo room for days, lots of little extras and touches, but it just wasn't a very smooth ride. It handles big and heavy for a not-so heavy vehicle. When going up a hill, I had visions of The Little Engine that Could. This engine just couldn't. Hubby was messing around with all the controls and was not impressed. He indicated that the children seemed "lost" in the back with no way to reach them (not good if you have to play sheriff to out-of-control kiddlings). He also remarked about the sucky sound system; not important to some, very important to someone with a commute like mine.

Back at the lot, I asked to take the PT Cruiser out (since we'd only seem them on the surface and hadn't taken any on an actual drive yet.) We took a silver, Touring-Signature Series edition. As soon as I sat down...I knew. Lots of pep, great traction in the breaks, the air and engine were seamless without any tugging (something I've never experienced), a great sound system, power everything and space, space, space. Hubby and I were happy. The price was good, the mileage wasn't as super as we would have liked, but it wasn't horrible either. We told the dealer we had one more to look at, but we would call and let him know our decision either way.

Off to a different city to see a private seller's base-model PT Cruiser. It was silver as well with lower miles and a lower price. You'd think hubby and I would have been all about it, but our hearts just weren't there. We knew where our car was; on a small lot with two other cruisers, a couple of trucks and an HHR. We phoned the dealer at dinner to let him know of our decision.

~SUNDAY~

We headed to church and enjoyed a fairly short service. After which, we headed to what we thought would be a nice breakfast in the canyons. Not so, unless you don't mind an hour and a half wait with a two-year old and seven-year old. Off to Wendy's - cheap, but decent. After which, we journeyed to Red Butte gardens and enjoyed the flowers, trees and sun. I was out of sorts, and so was hubby after a bit of a spiff in the car. We didn't say much, but I did enjoy my time there with the girls, taking a few shots and shooting some video of them playing.

We left the gardens, stopped only once for slurpees and arrived home. Hubby and I talked at length about the day, trying to figure out why it is we always seem to scuffle on days that should be momentous and wonderful. I chalked it up to stress and a serious case of OCD; you can't be a perfectionist about moments, Enchantress. It just doesn't happen that way. Hubby said that I take too much of the blame on myself, but I know that he's not a raving OCD-head like me. I used to take many more things with stride and I've got to start doing that again.

Later, to distract my mind and pass the time, I started cleaning my Sentra like a maniac! Vacuuming, destickying, polishing, freshening every aspect of that car. Knowing that it won't be in the garage and a storm was coming, I didn't wash the outside (I'll do that later). Hubby laid sod down (also to distract the mind) and did a bit of landscaping with the babe. We ate a late dinner and went to bed, still not in the best of moods (but we were, at least, productive).