PruDay!

charlotte989875

Happy Thursday everyone, it's almost Friday!

We spent all day car shopping yesterday. It's been 10 years since I've bought a new car and everything seems more expensive. I also have no idea what I want. I've been looking at large cars, small to midsize SUVs, and I like them all. How did you decide what car to buy?

ShesSoCold

For me it was easy. I wanted a SUV with 4 wheel drive, not all wheel drive. There was literally one car in my price range that was four wheel drive. Bam. Jeep Patriot it is. I'm hoping for a new car in the next 2-3 years.

I'm crampy, pissy and I have a zit on my lip that looks like a herp. I wanna go to bed.

missJeanLouise

@ShesSoCold I love (the look of) the Patriot! How do you like it? 
@charlotte989875 I want a hatchback, preferably a hybrid which very few of the cute ones are. I do a lot of online research and read reviews. 

Our Thursday is off to a rough start. FH's car was ransacked last night. They stole a backpack and another bag out of it. My car was untouched. He is walking the dog around the neighborhood and keeps finding thing, so yay? 

My commute normally take 40ish minutes, 10ish to get to the highway then 30 minutes on the highway to work. Today it took 40 minutes to get to the highway. Luckily my job has a soft start time.

Depsite all that, I still have a feeling it is going to be a great day. Hoping for news, either from the recruiter or the caterer. FH and I talked last night about what our best case senario is for the wedding and the move. Hopefully he will be able to make it work with HR.

ShesSoCold

@MissJeanLouise I like it well enough. Mine is 5 years old and I've replaced a few things (control arms). The engine is the worst, though. You can accelerate faster in a lawn mower, especially if the AC is on.

But I love its small wheel base and its general size. It's big enough to fit adults in the back seat and groceries in the cargo area but still small.

It's definitely an "economy" car and I'll be ready for an upgrade soon, but it has served me and my budget well.

charlotte989875

We have an older model Patriot (2007) and we hate it, @missJeanLouise . It's had a bunch of front end problems and it's known for some suspension issues. We're actually trading it in along with my car and H is going to get an old truck. 

I think my problem is we have too many options and everything has been better than what in driving now. 

mrsconn23

I'm here!  

Super late because it's, DEFCONN'S FIRST DAY OF KINDY!  

And the kiddo started his sophomore year. 

I did a full face of make up and that stopped the ugly cries.  

I'm in the office due to training.  I'm sure my brain will have the hurty-hurts again after work today.   

I do have a three day weekend.  I will need it. 

charlotte989875

Happy First Day of School, DefConn! 

missJeanLouise

charlotte989875 said:

We have an older model Patriot (2007) and we hate it, @missJeanLouise . It's had a bunch of front end problems and it's known for some suspension issues. We're actually trading it in along with my car and H is going to get an old truck. 

I think my problem is we have too many options and everything has been better than what in driving now. 

I hear that! I have a 2000 Grand Cherokee with 256,xxx miles on it. Until about a month ago, it ran like a champ. Never had to do anything except get the oil changed and a tune up every once in a while. Then the A.C went out. I live in the South with a 40 minute commute. Now, I would drive a donkey to work if it had A.C.

I recommend playing around with car buying sites (carvana, car max, kelly blue book even has tools), adding all the filters, and seeing what pops up. If you don't like those, remove some filters.

charlotte989875

The old Cherokees are great @missJeanLouise  but since the company was sold they definitely don't last as long. Ours has 110,00 on it and needs a bunch of things done, plus all the other known issues were just getting rid of it now when we can still get a decent trade in. 

bleve0821

Happy first day of school, DefConn!

@charlotte989875, I set a price range, and looked at fuel efficient cars in that range.  I ended up with a brand-spanking new Ford Focus hatchback (which is now only 2 years old and has almost 50,000 miles on it...).  I'm probably jinxing myself here, but I love it.  We are in the market for a new car.  DH wants a jeep or a truck, I want neither, so we'll probably end up with something huge and gas-guzzling.  I think I am going to lose this battle.

@missJeanLouise I am so sorry to hear!  My car was stolen 7 years ago, and never recovered.  Yay, NOLA.  My renters' insurance would have covered whatever valuables were in the car, but there was nothing.  Just heartbreak.

Today is my Friday, and it's off to a bizarre start.  Nothing really weird has happened, but it just feels weird.  I mean, it didn't help that for the first time ever I missed my station coming into work.  Maybe it just threw me out of my routine, but it feels... Funny.

We had a catastrophic plumbing failure last night.  Fortunately, I discovered it within minutes, and the flooding was minimal.  Extra bonus is that our basement is unfinished, so no apparent water damage.  Unfortunately, we're down to one bathroom in the house (the master), and we have guests this weekend.  Le sigh.

6fsn

I survived yesterday with MIL.

I told work I would take more hours if they had it and they immediately responded with YES.  Apparently I'm going to be doing social media stuff.  Ooooohkay

It's rainy today and I have a bunch of odds and ends to finish.

6fsn

On cars- DH wants a new car but has no clue what and we both hate car shopping.  He's been putting it off for a year because of this.  The last car shopping went like this "3 car seats, 2 rear facing, let's get a minivan.  Hate the dodge and Kia and Chevy.  Toyota and Honda are pretty much the same, who has better financing this month?  Toyota it is" 

missJeanLouise

@AtomicBlonde it's really okay. It seems like it was just some kids. FH is happy he procrastinated picking up his laptop from work yesterday because that would have been in the bag too. So far he is just missing some books on coding. He says he hopes it inspires them to go into a STEM field, lol. He is so great. 

charlotte989875

Speaking of car theft stories @AtomicBlonde and @missJeanLouise. The week I was going on my first job interview in grad school the police show up at the door at 3am and ask where H's car is. He looks past them to the street and said "it was parked right behind you when we went to sleep". 

Turns out someone stole it from the street right in front of the house, drove it about 2 miles, crashed it into a house and fled on foot. The car was a total loss, but H had hundreds of dollars worth of hunting equipment in the trunk . Thank gods the thieves were stupid and didn't realize what was in there. 

ETA; that's how we ended up with the jeep, it was a replacement for the smashed car. 

thefanciestbeckler

Happy 1st day of kindergarten, DefConn!

@charlotte989875 I want a Subaru Outback. They have a 5 star safety rating, get good gas mileage, and have all wheel drive. I'm also a little crunchy, so the fact that they are more eco friendly appeals to me. I have a Honda Civic right now though, and I love it. Hondas are extremely reliable and will run smooth as silk well into the 200k mile range.

Morning ya'll. As predicted, my mouth was hurting pretty bad last night. It got swollen and it was hard to open all the way, which I'm guessing was from the nerve block. Some ice, ibuprofen, and ice cream did the trick though (dental work is a good excuse to eat lots of ice cream right?)

My grandma is having surgery at 1:30 today to remove the stone that is blocking her bile duct, and tomorrow she's having her gallbladder removed. She's been running an extremely high fever, which the doctors said is due to an infection from the stone blocking her bile duct. Apparently last night it was so high that they were putting ice packs under her arms. This morning she's having trouble breathing, so we are hoping she isn't developing pneumonia. *sigh* it is so hard to watch family members go through stuff like this.

DrillSergeantCat

I'm sooo tired. Pregnancy does good things for my face, but terrible things for everything else. I'm feeling incredibly bitchy today as a result of the tired. 

eta - and my tailbone hurts. 

missJeanLouise

I just ripped the elbow out of one of my favorite shirts! Wahhhh! This day, I tell ya, is not my day!

6fsn

Holy crap I just got assigned 3 accounts. I think I just went into sales.

mrsconn23

DefConn update...My friend messaged me that he got off the bus and wasn't sure where to go.  He got upset because he was scared.   I'm sure it will be forgotten by the time he gets home.  But tell that to my heart.   

YAY for being at work and there's no crying in the office.   

kimmiinthemitten

6fsn said:

Holy crap I just got assigned 3 accounts. I think I just went into sales.

Welcome to the club!

I have to run to help another sales guy out 2 hours from here, and then tonight we're meeting up with FFIL, FSMIL and FBIL for drinks, trivia and China stories.

In exciting news my BFF and my tattoo guy just confirmed our appointment for 2 weeks from now.  I'm not as skinny as I'd like to be, so hopefully it turns out well!  I'm getting something like this on my lower right side of my back, but the bottom of the anchor will be solid and it will turn into birds.  I've been obsessed with the imagery and metaphors of anchors for a long time now and was bummed when they became trendy, but decided screw it.

charlotte989875

That looks awesome @kimmiinthemitten! Does he work in Detroit? I need to find an artist out here for my next one. 

kimmiinthemitten

charlotte989875 said:

That looks awesome @kimmiinthemitten! Does he work in Detroit? I need to find an artist out here for my next one. 

In Ferndale, a suburb just north.  Check him out on Instagram, he's awesome! @zachkhewitt.

I forgot to chime in on the car situation, I'm a die hard Detroit girl who sells an American made product to American automakers and as such I only drive American cars.  I currently have an Equinox and I love it!  My  last car was an Escape and I was sad to see it go.

charlotte989875

kimmiinthemitten said:

charlotte989875 said:

That looks awesome @kimmiinthemitten! Does he work in Detroit? I need to find an artist out here for my next one. 

In Ferndale, a suburb just north.  Check him out on Instagram, he's awesome! @zachkhewitt.

I forgot to chime in on the car situation, I'm a die hard Detroit girl who sells an American made product to American automakers and as such I only drive American cars.  I currently have an Equinox and I love it!  My  last car was an Escape and I was sad to see it go.

I just drove an escape and liked it. I love the look of the equinox but hated how the seat felt low relative to the dash

short+sassy

charlotte989875 said:

Speaking of car theft stories @AtomicBlonde and @missJeanLouise. The week I was going on my first job interview in grad school the police show up at the door at 3am and ask where H's car is. He looks past them to the street and said "it was parked right behind you when we went to sleep". 

Turns out someone stole it from the street right in front of the house, drove it about 2 miles, crashed it into a house and fled on foot. The car was a total loss, but H had hundreds of dollars worth of hunting equipment in the trunk . Thank gods the thieves were stupid and didn't realize what was in there. 

ETA; that's how we ended up with the jeep, it was a replacement for the smashed car. 

I love, love, love my convertible MINI Cooper.  I'm not sure I will ever buy anything else, now that I have one.  BUT, it sounds like you are looking for a much larger car than that, lol.  Years ago, I bought a 2-year-old Honda Civic and drove it for 9 years before there was a major problem with it.  I realize a Civic is probably too small for you also, but I've heard just as many good reliability stories for the larger/SUV Honda vehicles.

On the subject of stupid thieves, the very first home I ever bought got broken into 2 weeks after I moved in.  I cannot even tell you the depths of my devastation.  I will forever hate those people for ruining those initial "utter joy feelings" I had from finally buying my first home.  But here is at least a funny part that got me through.  I have one of those large jewelry armoires, that looks a bit like a piece of furniture.  That's where I keep most of my jewelry, especially the nicer pieces.  I also had a typical small jewelry case sitting on top of it.

The thieves picked up the small jewelry case...literally sitting on top of the big one...dumped it out on my bed, but (fortunately) didn't take anything.  But didn't open even one drawer of the jewelry armoire.  I'm sure they had no idea that is what it was.

On the other side of the stupid coin, I had my car broken into once and just so happened to have a backgammon board in the backseat because my H and I recently come back from a trip and we had taken it.  It was in one of those "high end looking" leather cases they sometimes come in.  The thieves actually stole it, LMAO.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when they opened the case, only to realize all it contained was dice and backgammon tiles.  They also left ALL my CDs.  While of course I was happy about that, I was also a little bit insulted, lol.  Apparently, at least to (I'm assuming) teenage thugs, I have horrible taste in music.

PMeg819

Hello all. Glad I came on Prudi day so I have things to read during my calls.  

I just got a Hyundai Santa Fe. I had an Acura RDX but it needed some expensive repairs so we junked it. DH has a Sonata and I really liked it. It's got plenty of space but isn't terribly huge and it gets better gas mileage than my Acura. 

Hugs and wine mrsconn. First day of kinder can be rough.

6fsn

@PMeg819 are you really just going to drop in and talk about cars?  What ELSE is going on with you?

MNNEBride

@PMeg819, I was just thinking about you earlier this week and wondering how things were.  So, how are things?

Heffalump

thefanciestbeckler said:

Happy 1st day of kindergarten, DefConn!

@charlotte989875 I want a Subaru Outback. They have a 5 star safety rating, get good gas mileage, and have all wheel drive. I'm also a little crunchy, so the fact that they are more eco friendly appeals to me. I have a Honda Civic right now though, and I love it. Hondas are extremely reliable and will run smooth as silk well into the 200k mile range.

I have an Outback, and I think it's the first car I have ever really loved.  I was never a car person, but I am all about this car.  I think you should get one.  I think you'll be super happy with it.

Also, before that I drove a Civic, which DH now uses to commute to and from the train station.  It has like 238,000 miles on it and it's still going strong.

PMeg819

Things are good. I got really busy with work, didn't really have time to post. I'm quitting my job (gave my notice yesterday and my last day is 8/17) and starting a new job on 8/22. I'm really excited about the new job- it will have me out of the house more often. Kids are good- DD is everything people complain and love about toddlers just amplified and DS is 6 and pretty perfect. DH is good (although he's sick currently and driving me insane). That is that. We are pretty boring over here.

thefanciestbeckler

Heffalump said:

thefanciestbeckler said:

Happy 1st day of kindergarten, DefConn!

@charlotte989875 I want a Subaru Outback. They have a 5 star safety rating, get good gas mileage, and have all wheel drive. I'm also a little crunchy, so the fact that they are more eco friendly appeals to me. I have a Honda Civic right now though, and I love it. Hondas are extremely reliable and will run smooth as silk well into the 200k mile range.

I have an Outback, and I think it's the first car I have ever really loved.  I was never a car person, but I am all about this car.  I think you should get one.  I think you'll be super happy with it.

Also, before that I drove a Civic, which DH now uses to commute to and from the train station.  It has like 238,000 miles on it and it's still going strong.

@Heffalump I am definitely getting one. It's just a question of when. My Civic and DH's Tacoma are completely paid off, so we're enjoying not having car payments. My car is 2 door though, so whenever we start trying for kids it will be time to move on to bigger and better things

charlotte989875

Bought a car!

Decided on a Ford Fusion. It handles really well, had all the features I was looking at and got great ratings. I'll miss my old car, but super excited for the new one. 

Also, H made fun of me, but I had been working with one salesman most of the day, and nearly bought a Nissan Altima from him, but the Fusion had the phone sync and the Altima didn't. And it was significantly more expensive. But he was so nice and so patient I actually feel really bad.