Happy New Year!
So, for my first post of 2010, I'd like to start out by saying that as far as my goals for last year... well, EPIC FAIL. I'm ok with that, tho, because 2009 was one hell of a year. (sorry for the use of the word hell.)
I can be totally ok with the fact that I didn't accomplish the goals I set for myself, because I, in fact, accomplished a lot of things this year. The biggest? My $61k debt - paid off. I am free from my debt! Well, until my impulse buy took place on December 30. (more about that to come.)
I also accomplished some pretty major projects at my office this year, including helping facilitate three major moves of our office staff into separate locations. I learned so many new things, but I will say this - If the word "Move" comes up in regards to the offices, I'm runnin! :-) hehe... nah - I really enjoyed almost every minute of it.
Other major things for 2009: My grandmother learned she had breast cancer, and had a mastectomy to remove it, my mom was admitted into ICU on her death bed due to Aspirin Toxicity, and we certainly will never forget the loss of someone who fought so hard against that nasty "C" word we hate so much. Troy will always be missed and loved, but knowing he is cancer free - Well, you can't help but celebrate that! There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about him and Jeremy and PawPaw. I just wish we were all there with them!
John and I took a vacation to Destin, FL, and this was the first actual vacation I had been on since I still lived at home with mom and dad. 1992, i believe it was. We had so much fun. The sights were beautiful, and since we were there in the off season, there were no crowds, and our condo, which was absolutely GORGEOUS, was so cheap!!! I would love to go back next year, but due to our impulse buy (mentioned above, and to be described below) might have just cancelled that trip for us! (Unless, some others wanted to go and split the costs!) :-) Any takers?
So, with that being said - I'm not going to set any goals this year for myself. I plan to take this year one day at a time, because you never know what could happen, and what could change. Here's to 2010!
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I got to go to Buna this year for Christmas - and other than the above mentioned happenings, this is the first time I got to visit since LAST year. We got to spend quite a bit of time there, so that was good. My mom is doing WAAAAAY better than I've seen her in years, and that made the visit so much more enjoyable. I've always had a hard time leaving her when she wasn't doing so well, because I was worried about her. I thought it would be easier if she was doing better, because I wouldn't worry so much. I learned pretty quickly this wasn't the case at all. It was MUCH harder to leave her - because she's the mom I've wanted back for a long time. The mom that i could actually get out and do things with. The mom i could go [window] shopping with, and take out to eat. The mom I could enjoy - and yet - I'm hours away, and don't get to enjoy those times with her. We both cried extremely hard when John and I packed that little red rocket up and headed back west. I also got to spend some good time with my dad and grandfather, not to mention a lot of my family that I haven't seen in forever! /sigh What a wonderful holiday it was. The best I've had in a long time.
On the way home from Buna, John and I got to talking about the future. We were talking about how there could be a baby this year, and as we began looking around the car, we realized that if there's a baby - there's NO ROOM!!! That car was packed so full, that John had to empty our food bag, and slide food into any little nook and cranny he could find. My Honda is bigger than his car, but it had sooooo many miles on it, and was beginning to have little problems here and there, so we didn't like to travel in it. I basically used it to go back and forth to work. It was still a great car, don't get me wrong - and I loved it, but we didn't totally trust it. We kinda tossed around some SUVs we liked, and then that was the end of the conversation.
Tuesday morning (Dec. 29), I emailed my mother in law, who works at Tom Benson Chevrolet here in town, just to check in with her, and at the end, I just asked if she could get me a price on a couple of SUVs there at the dealership. Told her we weren't doing anything right now, just kinda starting to plan for the future.
Wednesday, we had off, and I asked John if he would like to go pick his mom up, and take her to lunch, since we didn't get to spend Christmas with them, and she's been pretty stressed lately. Soooo.... We went and picked her up, and took her to lunch. When we got back to the dealership, she told us she had spoken with someone who could give us more info on the cars we were looking at. So we walk over to the used car lot, because there was an Equinox there, and we got a little interested in a couple of other SUVs sitting on the lot as well. One, however, caught our eye. a 2006 Nissan Murano. It was beautiful. and not a color that you see on the road every day. I've seen a ton of white ones, and those wine colored ones, but not this gray. When I peeked in through the window, I just knew we couldn'y afford this car, but we asked for the keys anyways. When he came back out, he told us the price. We were shocked! This car had some minor body blemishes, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a high speed and some polish, and it only had 15k miles on it! On top of the already low price, we got the employee price as well, because of John's mom. sweet! We took it for a test drive, and fell in love with it.
I hesitated, though, because of the whole financing thing. We knew what we could afford, and really hated the thought of having two car notes. We knew that if we could get something for about the same as what we're paying for the SRT4, we could do it. We told him we had a Honda for trade in but it was at home, and needed a little cleaning (We left it at home on purpose. So that we couldn't leave the lot with something.) HA! that didn't work! So, we drove home, cleaned out the Honda, took it to the car wash, and went back to the lot. As we were cleaning, I was praying. "Lord, if it's your will for us to have this car, and you know that we can handle the payments of two cars, then I pray you work this out. If it's not in your plans for us to have this car, then I pray the financing doesn't work out. But Lord, if it doesn't, please help me to be ok with that. Please help me to not be too disappointed, because at least the Honda still runs, and I'm thankful for that."
Fast forward FIVE HOURS. Yes, FIVE HOURS. I was nauseated i was so nervous. I really thought we'd be leaving with that Honda, which was ok. We had told each other that that would be ok with us. We didn't
need to get rid of the Honda, per se. Robert, our salesman, walked out of the finance office, and gave us the thumbs up, and proceeded to write our name on the "Today's Sales" board. WOOT!!! I can't believe we got it!! We waited about another hour before everything was finally done, and we signed a ton of paperwork.
Now, for the neatest part of this story?
I had to drive the Honda across and park it at the used car building. As I was getting out, there was a lady and her daughter standing there. She was like "Is this your car?" I said "Yes Ma'am." She said "We saw it, and they told us it was being traded in, and would be for sale. We want that car!"
Do HUH?? Are you serious???
These people had been car shopping ALL DAY LONG (it's about 7pm by now), and everything they found within their price range had a ton of miles on it, but was in crappy shape. My car had 120k on it, but was still in good shape. I almost wanted to cry! I told her what a great car it had been - that I was the only owner - and had put every mile on it myself. I thought she was gonna cry. I seriously saw God's hand in that whole situation. This girl is a senior in high school, and is going into the military next year, and needed something while she was still here. She was about in tears - she even asked me if I had named it! She thought it was pretty funny when I told her it was Hellina. Get it? Hellina Honda? :-) ok - cheesy I know, but they thought it was funny.
I handed the keys over to the dealership, hugged the girl's neck, and John and I left in our new car. The next day, when we brought the Honda title back, They were there, getting their financing worked out for it. I saw my little car there, and felt at peace, because I knew the right thing had been done. It may cost John and I little extra in the long run, but we helped a family out, and that makes me feel good. That car took me through a lot of stuff. Jeremy drove it when it was just a couple of weeks old to Buna for he and I to surprise mom for her birthday. Just a couple of months later, it would be driving me to his apartment after I learned he had passed away. That car took us on numerous trips to see family - it carried my dogs in it, and it protected Scott and I when we hydroplaned off of Interstate 45, almost right underneath an 18 wheeler. It nearly got traded in back when we lived in Houston, and couldn't afford to pay the note. We couldn't get financed. Then I listed it on Auto Trader, and ended up getting to keep it, because Scott got a job in San Antonio. It carried my most precious belongings to San Antonio on August 13, 2005. It was the first car I ever had that was paid off. That car helped me move my stuff out, when Scott and I split up.
Time for me to move on now, and let someone else make new memories with my Hellina! She was good to me for 7 1/2 years, but I have someone new to make memories with now. I don't have a name for her yet, but I will come up with one.
So - there ya have it. A totally unexpected New Year's present!
Here are some pictures. Since these were taken, we've cleaned the car totally and conditioned the seats and complete interior, so it looks even better!
