Out With the Old...............Sniff.

 As you may or may not remember (depending on whether or not you have more important information in your head like which toilet paper is on sale this week) my minivan flipped 100,000 miles around the time of this post.  At 111,000 miles it started smelling like starch and making this weird "thumping/jerking/burping" movement whenever the gears shifted.

We took it in and the mechanic declared the transmission unsound.  We asked him if we could still drive it and he said, "You can drive it.  It won't hurt it.  One day though it will stop and after that it ain't going ANYWHERE."  So we debated for three weeks over what to do. 

On one hand, I had to consider the fact that chances are if I break down during baseball season The Coach will not come get me.  He has proven this before when I ran out of gas.  Twice.  Saying something about not being able to leave thirty teenage boys alone with bats.  I dunno.

But then, it has been my dream to pay off a car and drive it a few more years with no car payment.  Plus I love that car.  We bought it used and it had bells and whistles we would never have been able to afford on a new car - like seat heaters for Pete's sake.  Do you have any idea how important that is in Houston!?

Ultimately we decided it was time to give up the Womb on Wheels.  This required car shopping which excites me as much as a root canal.

The Coach pre-warned (threatened) me not to answer the following questions:
How much do you want your payment to be?
What do you owe on your van?
How much do you want to spend?
How much are you willing to put down?
What was the name of your first boyfriend?  (Ok.  I made that one up.)

Finally I asked, "Should I just not talk at all?"
He answered in the affirmative and I agreed as long as I would be fed lunch. It turns out it was the easiest deal to finalize all day.

The salesman at the first dealership approached asked, "What are you in the market for today?"  I wasn't sure if I was allowed to answer this or if he should be made to figure it out on his own.   I stood there quietly and obediently.  (I like lunch.)

The Coach quickly stepped in, pointed to me and replied, "I don't know.  Talk to the boss."
Hello?  He had just delivered a thirty minute diatribe on how I wasn't to utter a word!!
At that point I should have just pointed to the nearest car and said, "I want that one." and been done with it.

Instead we did the "haggling".
I really don't understand car buying at all.
We recently bought a  new house which is much bigger than a car.  We went to the sales office, they told us a price.  We bought the house.
I don't get the subterfuge.  We aren't supposed to say how much we want to spend.  They won't say how much we will actually be paying for the car.  It is enough to drive a person nuts.

We did finally get a 2005 Nissan Armada.  It is huge.  I should lose five pounds in the next month just from parking in the back of parking lots.  The kids are thankful for the leg room.  I am thankful I can drive to my mom's without picturing us stranded on the road next to a cow on the way home.

It doesn't have a new name, but I will take suggestions.
Also, can you explain the car buying process to me?  

(Please do not feel the need to pick a name that stresses we bought a foreign car and are depleting the ozone all in one fell swoop.  I feel bad enough already.)

Here is my bike which I don't think is foreign and definitely doesn't adversely affect the ozone.  It just looked lonely hanging there and I miss riding while running so dang much.