Life, wrecks, cars, and other spare parts....

[mickeysaver]

Well, I made a big leap yesterday, I bought a new car. Now mind you that I was driving a perfectly functional and rather nice looking 2004 Ford Ranger Edge pickup truck, but the gas was killing me! While I only drive 17 miles each way to go to work, I spend roughly an hour during that commute in stop and go traffic. So, with about $100 a month being spent on gas, it was time to trade.

I chose a Sonic Blue 2006 Ford Focus ZX3 and it's a really sporty looking little hatchback. I got a great deal on my trade in, they gave me more than Kelley Blue Book Trade In. I had 2500 rebate and 500 downpayment matching. My payment stayed about the same, but my gas will be roughly halfed and my insurance will be lower.

I am just tickled !

I can't decide on a name for the car yet. My old Ford Focus was "Zoom Zoom" and my Ranger was "Lil Red", I contempated naming it Stitch, but I don't think that I want to saddle myself with anything with a built in "Badness Level."

Life remains crazy here, Gabby's truck is in the shop....not for a lift kit, but because she had a wreck when she was in south GA on business. The insurance companies are battling each other over fault. This could be nasty. Gabby will see the Chiropractor for the third time tomorrow. Her neck and back are all out of whack. But, hopefully, she will get put back together soon. She has been having headaches and some back pain, but is handing life ok, but then again, she is working from home this week, so it's not like she is flying all over the place, like usual. Wow.....I can ramble.

Gabby almost flipped the truck, so this could have been far worse. Luckily, she only got it up on two wheels. Gabby has decided to skip doing the 3 inch lift kit thing. She knows that she would have flipped had she done that to her truck. Thank God she didn't!!!

I am dreading doing my taxes, because it will not be pretty. But, it has to be done. Pray that the IRS doesn't reposses my soul as payment. lol

Man, I am tired and just rambling on and on.....if you are still reading this you must be bored or over tired yourself. Don't forget that you lose an hour of sleep this weekend. It's time to spring forward......yipee....NOT. I give up now. Have a great Friday. Maggie

 

[majortom]

Congratulations on your new car and I hope that Gabby feels better. Good luck with the insurance.

/carmi

 

[OrlandoMike]

Sorry to hear about the wreck, but on a lighter note....

Does no three inch lift kit = a trip to Disney?

Hopefully so!

Hope her back starts feeling better soon!

Mike

 

[Tony-NJ]

yo - good luck with all of the above!

 

[mickeymousemom]

Sorry to hear about the wreck, but on a lighter note....

Does no three inch lift kit = a trip to Disney?

Hopefully so!

Hope her back starts feeling better soon!

Mike

ooo,yes...I forgot about that. Surely this means you can easily swing Disney?? Good luck with your new car...and I hope things work out for Gabby and the insurance thing.
We thought we were going to have to pay the IRS also, and put off doing our taxes because of it. We ended up with a refund. I htought DH was going to have a heart attack! Maybe it won't be so bad on your end either! Good luck with everything

 

[Kevin&Randall]

Congratulations!

As Kevin will confirm, I love cars. I love new cars. I'd love to have a new car all the time.

But the one quote in this whole thing that scared me the most was:

While I only drive 17 miles each way to go to work, I spend roughly an hour during that commute in stop and go traffic.

That is a nightmare! It seems like you could walk faster. I'm glad you'll be saving money in gas. But is there anyway you can make up the time?

Randall

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

New cars are so fun! Until you get that first door ding. Or, in DH's case, until somebody takes out the entire back bumper while you are parked at McDonald's and drives off. That happened to our Civic when it had less than 5000 miles on it.

I hope Gabby is feeling better soon! I have a bad back and it sucks! Back injuries just don't seem to heal - they go dormant, then spring up at the most inconvenient times.

Good luck with the taxes! What we got back is long gone already. Time to start dreaming about next year's refund!

 

[mickeysaver]

Does no three inch lift kit = a trip to Disney?

Hopefully so!

Mike

Well, I can dream. Gabby has decided to do other things to her truck instead of the lift kit, since she has decided that it would be too unsafe. She is sinking another $800 into it.....to start. She wants fender flares, tinted windows, vent shades, a bug guard on the front, and some custom paint work. The truck looks great after the repair and none of the things that she wants to do the the truck are necessary to it looking good or functioning better necessarily, but she wants to do these things. If it makes her happy, then who am I to say "no"?!?! It's her money and her truck.....it doesn't directly affect my quality of life, and it makes her happy.

We will get to Disney one way or another. I just am going to have to be the one that forces the savings plan for the trip. She sucks at long term savings planning. But, I have my weak points too and luckily we balance each other out really well. I think we are still looking at late October/early November of 2007 for our next dose of pixie dust....unless we win the lottery....and we rarely play the lottery. Maggie

 

[mickeysaver]

That is a nightmare! It seems like you could walk faster. I'm glad you'll be saving money in gas. But is there anyway you can make up the time?

Randall

Oh, I wish that there was a quicker way to work. I love our home and neither Gabby or I wishes to ever have to move again. I have worked for my employer for almost 11 years now. I knew that my commute would be a little worse when we moved the extra 6 miles further out, but the extra miles translated into another 20 to 45 minutes in commute time. I can never really know how long my commute will be. There are 4 big trouble spot areas in my usual commute to work path. There are alternate paths, but they have their own increases in the potential trouble spots and usually even though they are shorter distances, are a much longer commute time because they are 2 lane roads. I have to go past a major mall and over a major highway to get to work. Oh, and for the next 2 years, they are working on a nightmare spot in the path to work that includes a frequently travelled set of railroad tracks. Some engineering genius decided that it would be easier to build a tunnel UNDER the tracks instead of over at this intersection that is right at the tracks. The intersection has 4 lanes of traffic in all directions with turn lanes too. I spend at least 5 minutes trying to get through the intersection each morning, but if I am unlucky enough to catch a train coming through, it can be an additional 5 to 20 minutes. The construction will surely add to my commute time too, but I have no idea how bad it will become. The other alternate path that I could use to avoid this construction is through an area also with railroad tracks, only a 2 lane highway in the direction that I need to go in and it goes through old town Duluth, right by a hospital and it's slower than snail farts. Now, if you think this is bad, you should hear what I have to go through on the way home, because the traffic patterns make taking a different route a necessity and the variables are mind boggling.....the worst is Wednesday night because the preferred way home has at least 8 churches along a 3 mile stretch and the road is jammed with church goers and commuters. So, it's no wonder that my average commute is about an hour, but there are plenty of days when I spend an hour and a half in traffic each way. Oddly enough, I think that I have one of the best commutes of all my coworkers. So, I hate to gripe too much. lol Maggie

 

[mickeysaver]

New cars are so fun! Until you get that first door ding. Or, in DH's case, until somebody takes out the entire back bumper while you are parked at McDonald's and drives off. That happened to our Civic when it had less than 5000 miles on it.

Oh, that would suck! Luckily, it's a small car and I do a pretty good job at parking and scoping out the spots with only one side open to another car and away from stray shopping carts and high traffic. In other words, for right now, we are parking out in BFE.....alot. Gabby understands though, because, while I am careful about my car's condition, she is way anal about her truck. Maggie