Durango Update

Well, here's a little update after yesterday's rant.  (That really wasn't very pretty was it?  I'm not taking it down as I needed to get that out of my system, but WOW!)

Anyhow, I got the car-truck (as Zoe used to call it) back at about 4:00 yesterday afternoon.  I started her up and drove her home.  Let me tell you, she ran a lot more quietly than she had in about two weeks.  I picked up Boo, tried to give him the bad news without sending him into hysterics (anything even remotely bad seems to send him into a panic attack for some reason... I have no idea where this comes from or when exactly it started...) and then headed over to Kat's so that she and I could go look at cars.
After showing the paperwork to Andy when Boo and I got to Kat's, I'm beginning to wonder.  I mean, the car ran better than it had in weeks.  It was quiet.  (I didn't push it hard coming home, which was a challenge for my led right foot... but...)  Andy didn't like what he did and didn't see on the paperwork.  I thought it strange that she was so quiet.

Anyhow, after much thinking overnight, I had Gak call the garage around the corner where we took the truck back in March when we had problems with the gear interlock.  I trust them. They really could have taken me for a ride back in March, but they didn't.  We couldn't get an appointment until next Thursday, but that's OK.  It's not quite as much of an emergency as it could be.  Thankfully my mom has the little red Honda that she's not driving at the moment and can lend it to us for a while.  That took a lot of the pressure of having to find a replacement car right now off. If I can get it to pass inspection, that'll buy us up to a year to figure out what we want to do.

In a year from now a lot changes.  In a year from now, Boo starts Kindergarten.  And, with the budget the way it is, I have to resign myself to the fact that he will not be able to go to United Friends no matter how much I want him to.  Not unless he got something like half or 3/4 scholarship.  Not going to happen, it looks like I make too much on paper.  That's what I get for making bad decisions over the past 7 or 8 years.  In a year from now we'll go from paying $600 to $800 a month for daycare to hopefully only $200 or $300 for after school care.  (Last year we spent over $7600 in daycare... it'll probably be a bit more this year...)  In a year I should be able to sock away a little more cash and actually have something of a down payment.  (And I know I shouldn't think this way, but if we can make it to March, I should not only have a tax refund but if all goes well with the business a small bonus at work...)  If I can manage to have an inspected, fully working vehicle in the spring along with a bit of a down payment, we should be able to afford a much newer, and nicer vehicle than what we can afford if we have to replace the Durango right now.

As far as what we're looking at, my main requirements are, automatic transmission, enough leg/head room for Gak and under $10,000.  Yeah, not asking for much am I?
Vehicles that I've seen around that I like include the PT Cruiser, Subaru Outback or Forester, another Durango, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chevy Trailblazer or maybe even a minivan of some stripe.  I'm actually leaning more towards a wagon as opposed to an SUV (which most of those in PA are classified as station wagons, but they're really trucks).  I figure, if I've got to have a car payment again, I should at least be getting better mileage than what I'm getting now to make it a little less painful.  What I don't want is something from a brand that's out of business now.  The parent companies shut them down for a reason... because they weren't selling.  They probably weren't selling because the quality wasn't there.  Therefore, I'm not going to push my luck.

If you can't tell, I'm in a better place today than I was yesterday.  I'm still not happy and lighthearted or anything like that, but the outlook isn't quite so bleak and I can at least be optimistic again for a few more days.  The world may come to a screeching halt next Thursday when the place on Juniper looks at the Durango, but until then, I've got a sliver of hope that I may just be able to put off buying a vehicle for 6-12 months.  (Oh, if somehow I miraculously end up with $5000 or so and think I can get a loan at a decent rate, I'm seriously thinking that a new Subaru might be the next vehicle we get... if Gak fits.  Looking at the current specs online, it looks like they tend to have some of the most leg and head room in the class though... which is an awesome thing in our house.)

So, I'm going to wrap this up and try and get a little more work done before heading out to pick up a boy, figure out dinner, pick up my wonderful hubby, have the boys drop me off at Kat's before they go home and then have someone from Kat's take me down to Mom's to get the little red Honda.  Wow!  Talk about a run-on sentence!

Peace to all and may there be lights in the tunnel that aren't trains.  (Unless you're waiting for the train at the station... that's a different story all together....)