Something Unexpected

The week began like any other. Get up, go to work, come home. Blah, blah, blah. However, on Thursday, I was to go to a wedding shower and Mike was to get Noah from daycare. He called me Thursday morning to tell me something was wrong with his transmission. He was going to take it to a shop and leave it overnight so he wouldn't be able to pick up Noah. Thank goodness for Aunt Dana to the rescue! She was able to watch him for a few hours that evening while I attended the shower up in Frisco. I then went to pick him up around 8, drove to the Garland train station to get Mike and finally home around 9:30. We learned that for the shop to even take a look at the transmission, it was going to cost us $500. Then depending on the problem, that would take additional $$ to get it fixed. Well, this puts us in a pickle. We talked about getting a new car towards the end of the year, after we'd saved up some money and as the 2010's were coming in, we could get a 2009. With this dilemma, we decided we really didn't want to spend that kind of money on a car we'd be trading in a few months later. We'd have to bite the bullet and buy a car now.

Friday Mike took the train to work so he could pick up his car from the shop. We picked it up around 2 and drove it back to my office for safe keeps until we know what to do with it. That afternoon and evening we started car shopping. Noah was safe at school all day/night for Parents Night Out. (It's something the school offers once a month so parents can have a date night.)

We finally finished the evening around 8:30 after making the decision to go with the Honda Pilot. Time to negotiate a good price and in this economy, we should be able to get what we want!

Saturday Mike enjoyed 6 hours of golf while Noah and I horsed around the house. Noah is really getting around well now! It's amazing how confident he is with his walking. Here he is enjoying his chair and clowning around.

We attended the birthday party of a 2 year old for an hour or so that afternoon and then Matt and Emily came over to watch Noah so Mike and I could get the car situation figured out. Well, that was the plan anyway. When we got home from the party, Mike got on the phone with several dealerships. They began the cat and mouse game we all know and love so well! I think Matt and Emily were here for a good 1 1/2 hours until we decided to drive to a dealership to make an offer. While waiting for us to figure out what to do, Uncle Matt thought it was time for Noah to play with his birthday gift. He and Emily blew up his ball pool which I thought was only fitting since they bought it (I also think it was decided that Matt had enough hot air to blow the thing up!). Noah's been having fun playing in it all weekend! Storing it is a slight problem though...

We got down to the dealership around 7:30 and threw out an offer - they thought we were crazy and didn't accept. But who's the crazy one - in this economy, wouldn't it have been better to get a car off the lot than not at all? Their loss! Since the dealerships are closed on Sundays, Mike is going to begin round 2 of negotiations with several other dealers tomorrow. In the meantime, one of our friends made a very generous offer - to borrow one of his cars that he was not currently driving. Thank goodness! We will not be forced to carpool all week! The plan is to get the car thing figured out in the next few days so we shouldn't need it for very long.

Sunday was beautiful! Noah joined me for church while Mike played his soccer game. Once he got home, we all took a walk around the outdoor mall and relaxed on a patio to enjoy some chips, salsa and a margarita (adults only)! It was the perfect day to be outside. I still can't get over that its 80 degrees...in March. Of course, it's supposed to be 50 on Wednesday. Sure wish it would make up its mind.

We'll keep you posted on the car. Hopefully that is the only crazy thing that will happen this week!

Love to all,
Corri, Mike and Noah