Buying a New Car

We did it today. We bought my new car. Ok, it is an old, new car. We bought a 2004 Chevy Malibu hatchback with on 8,212 miles. This car is too cool and drives like a dream. The hatchback will be perfect for our Bernese Mountain dog.



I am very hip now. I have a CD changer, sun roof, moon roof, DVD player, and tons and tons of leg room. Leg room has really been very important as we have tried out different vehicles. My kids are not tiny, but in fact almost adults themselves. I did not want them to ride with their knees in their chest. Also, the car gets great gas mileage. It will be very refreshing to fill up once every couple weeks.

I think DH was finally inspired to move on this purchase when my needs for a vehicle started to impinge on his schedule i.e. my work this weekend overrode his need to go camping.


We ended up buying this vehicle at Carmax and I have to tell you that I was very impressed with their service. We did most of the research online. We were greeted at the door by our sales associate, Walter. We gave him the number of the car we wanted to see and after testing driving the vehicle and looking it over extensively, we were out the doors a couple hours later with the vehicle detailed and a full tank of gas. Thank you, Walter, Lori, Carmax, and the guy that did such a great job detailing the car (I did not catch your name). DH said it was probably the easiest sale of their life.

What do you do when you break down on the side of the road?

Yup, I broke down. The overheat light came on, I hoped I could get of the next exit, but I could feel the loss of power and pulled over. The oil light came on.

Step One: Pull over to a safe area if possible, as I sat in the car I wondered if there really was a safe place as I could feel the car shake as cars zoomed by. (It is amazing to me how many cars can go by without anyone stopping to help)

Step Two: Say a little prayer to thank God that one it happened on the way home from your new job and two that you did not breakdown in the city.

Step Three: Call your husband, who in my case proceeded to ask me what I wanted him to do about it. Although it is hard to talk when you clench your teeth, I was able to get out, “Perhaps, you can come get me.”

Step Four: Get the oil and anti-freeze out of the box in the back and check under the hood to see if you can do anything. Of course when you see fluids all over the road, there was not need to go any farther.

Step Five: Call AAA and wait for help.

Now I just have to wait for a call to see if this is a demise of my 12 year old van.

AAA Renews Driver's Licenses

As you read earlier, my daughter reminded me that my license expired today. I had ended that post saying that “I guess I know where I am going on Monday.” But apparently my memory is worse than I had thought. Duh, the DMV is not open on Monday. As it was just shy of noon, I thought I was out of luck and figured everything was closed, but after a few quick clicks, I learned two things: One, a license expires on your birthday and there is no 30 day reprieve. Two, DMV doesn’t close until 12:30. Slam, I shut the computer, grabbed ID, the renewal form, but then I had to stop in the bathroom to curl my hair and put on some make up - - - no wonder vanity is one of the seven deadly sins. I drove like a crazy woman down 91 to Wethersfield watching every minute tick away. I turned the wrong way off the exit, had to turn around. Pulled into the East side parking lot and found out I had to go to the west (of course, if I could have read the sign better, I would have know that quicker - - -mental note, get eyes checked). I ran to the front door. It was locked. I was ready to walk away but a DMV worker opened the door for me and said they were still open. I asked people as I hurried down the one hallway to the next to find myself at the door with one of the security guards just shutting the door. I begged her to let me in. She said they had taken their last customer and were balancing out. “Please check. See if anyone is still open. It’s my birthday. Please”

“Sorry.” I could have cried. I could see my whole week going up in smoke. How was I going to get DD to the orthodontist? My husband had just asked me to deliver scouting fliers to the schools. Then as I drove home, wasting a ton of gas, I tried to trouble shoot in my brain. Could we drive with him to Mass on Tuesday, stopping on the way? Then I wouldn’t have a car. I realized that this was no one’s fault but my own. Vanity cost me at least 5 minutes. Being cheap made me not renew when I got the silly renewal card (it seemed silly to renew for $66 if we had already moved). And sheer stupidity made me forget I even had the renewal. I had tucked it out of site for a showing and did not look at it again.

When I got home I was frustrated and my husband’s comments were making me angrier. Because now my license would be expired, I couldn’t just go one town over; I had to go all the way back to Wethersfield. My husband started joking that he would help me study for the test. This was seriously not funny. I went back online to see if there was anything else I could do. I saw that CT now allows license renewals at AAA and the one just two towns over didn’t close until 2. My husband offered to drive. He saw that I was so rattled and shaking, I would probably kill someone if I got behind the wheel. We cruised over there as quickly as we could and I got my license renewed with just minutes to spare. Whew, my week is saved.

Georgia on My Mind - And Yours Too?

Things that just make you go HMMMM?



Today as we were walking to the car after viewing the Titanic Exhibit at the XL Center, we (dd, my father, and myself) noticed a car with a Georgia license plate. I broke into song singing, “I said an old sweet song, keeps Georgia on my mind.”



My dad bellowed, “Georgia, Georgia”



We laughed and all got into the car. Twisting and turning our way out of the underground parking garage. Then the worlds aligned. Karma exuded from all living things. And the collective conscience exploded.



As we met the open air, what is playing throughout the streets of Hartford? Georgia, On my mind. Hmmm! Coincidence or collective conscience?

New Teen Driving Laws

New driving laws have been adopted here in Connecticut and came into effect yesterday. New restrictions have been added to teen drivers, and parents have even been ordered to attend a two hour teen safety driving course. Of course, it has strong public support. People are rallied behind the idea of safeguarding our teens. Proof that acceptance of governmental control is always the way you spin it. I think that we have become a regulation happy society. We seem to think that should make laws for everything. These driving laws, although based in a reasonable ideal, are just more laws that are illogical and unenforceable (except in the worst case scenario of an accident). Are police officer’s now supposed to guess how old a driver is? Hmmm – 16? 18? Have they had their license for a year or 6 months (you cannot have friends in the vehicle until you’ve had your license for a year)?

I don’t know about most of you, but my time behind the wheel was often with my parents as they had to run my younger brother into town for a baseball game. Thank goodness I’m not getting my license now because you can’t have even you siblings in the car for the first 6 months. However if you are being raised by a single parent there is an exception (and a police officer would know this how? Does that mean a divorce decree has to be issued? How about if you are just separated? What about a married couple where one of the spouses travels?). What about families where the children are spaced well apart? You are teaching a 16 year old but also have a 4 year old. Are you supposed to leave the younger one home alone? I think this law instead of increasing driver’s strengths may weaken them, because the teens will never be allowed to drive. They will only meet the most minimal hours on the road.

Also, because the license becomes less restrictive as time passes, many teens will not have free will use of their cars until they are at college or out on their own. I don’t know about you but I would much rather have my children test the boundaries while under my roof than when they out on their own – ever heard of college binging and the freshman 15 - - how about the dropout rate for freshman in college. . . When children are out on their own for the first time, they tend to go a little crazy. Now we want them to do it with a car.

The law also reduces the curfew to 11:00 pm. I thought the government only enforced curfews under martial law? Doesn’t this seem to be a petty crime to waste police officers time with? Curfew is a parent’s jurisdiction. If you want to make a driving law, make one that gives parent’s the right to revoke their children’s driving rights either temporarily or permanently (until 18). It is only at this level that individual circumstance can be taken into account. If the concern is that kids are only out to party or cause mischief after 11:00 pm then there are laws against drunk driving, underage drinking, and criminal mischief on the books. Why not use the laws that already exist instead of making more?

Ironically, this law only applies to 16 and 17 year olds. If you wait until 18, none of these restrictions apply. It is my guess that we will see a reduction in 16 and 17 year old car related fatalities and accidents and a rise in 18 year olds. Unfortunately accidents are not necessarily a product of young drivers, but instead of inexperience. By making all these rules and regulations, we are just changing the timeline for that experience.