Return of the Hyun dai

(Sounding like Jedi…yeah)

I should include a scrolling graphic text of what happened in the previous episode of my car buying adventure but it’s probably the last post as I am the epitome of slacker when it comes to blogging. I actually brag about my blog in my creative writing class ( I know I’m lame like that)

So the saga continued….

I loved that car. I really really loved that car. I never quite had a car that I just loved that was sporty and had the fun bells and whistles. I always settled with what was practical the mom mobile. I’m sure I mentioned that before. I’m also sure my mid life crises is coming around and dang it just let me have a fun car with excellent gas mileage ok? Just this once.

The finance guy called my hubby earlier this week that our bank wouldnt finance us past a certain amount. That certain amount of course was more than the car. So they got us financed through a different lender at a much higher rate and monthly payment. This was unacceptable. I will love a car as much as the next guy, but I refuse to feel sick every month we make a payment. The hubs and I decided to find something else I really loved that was somewhat used and a much better price. We also did some research and hybrids really weren’t meant for mainly highway miles, which is all I basically drive 5 days a week.

My quest began Friday and Saturday for a vehicle I loved as much as my Sweetie. I tried to tell myself that I could settle for less bells and whistles. I drove more cars in the past 2 days than I have in a lifetime. Maybe not..but it was a lot.

Ford Focus was nice but it did nothing for me. It drove nice and had a few bells and whistles but just didn’t have that sporty look I was going for.

Chevy Cruze -also a nice drive, again no bells and whistles and no sporty look.

My husband was beginning to doubt that I would find anything up to par with Sweetie.

Do you know how fun it is to drive up to a dealership in a brand newish car -temp tag on and say your looking for a car similar to this one? The looks you get. Of course then you have to go through the whole story over and over again. Fun Times.

I drove a few cars that I can’t even remember what they were . Obviously they didn’t leave a lasting impression.

By mid day Saturday I had probably driven 6 cars and nothing was even on the list of possibilities. I never in my life have stood up someone on a date, but I stood up many a dealers yesterday -claiming we would be back. We even had dealers claiming they would drop the car off for us and get our trade in back so we could sign the deal with their car. Uhm no that’s ok.

We finally hit the Nissan place before determining it was time to go back to our dealer. I found an Altima that finally stood out from the others and was the right price. It didn’t have all the bells and whistles I wanted but I really liked it. The hubs was shocked I found one that made the list. We told them we would be back….ahem.

When we drove into our dealer, we drove up and down that car lot as the hubs knew I probably would only settle for a Sonata that was the right price. In other words a non hybrid that had the same stuff I had. Surely it would be in price range. We started out in new cars which was a mistake. Back to certified/used cars it was. I actually found an Altima there as well that didn’t quite have the bells and whistles I wanted. I was determined that I could still find something that had what I wanted at the right price. The Altima was nice but I just couldn’t do it. The hubs knew that. He told me to wait outside for whatever reason and he would be back to talk to our guy.

There was still one more car that I really wanted to test drive and that was the Elantra. I knew it was a little smaller than the Sonata but it had pretty much everything I wanted and was the right price. I kept staring at it while I was waiting, wondering what my sneaky husband was up to. I finally went inside and he was just sitting waiting on the finance guy. He said he decided that there wasn’t any car out there that had everything I wanted and that we were just going to go ahead and settle with Sweetie, the finance guy was getting the paper work ready to sign. Ahem does he not realize I also have to sign this? Needless to say we started to cause a scene (not really but maybe) that I didn’t want to sign that.

I love that my hubs may not shower me with flowers and gifts all the time, but when he knows I really want the moon he will do what needs to be done to get me the moon. Despite my angst and denials that I don’t need the moon to be happy, he’s going to try and get me the moon. He was seriously going to figure out a way to work it out for me to have my car.

I kept telling him there is one more car…just let me test this one more car. He absolutely would not budge on letting me test the Elantra. If we weren’t sitting literally right next to the office where the keys were kept and our sales guy wasn’t passing us by hearing our conversation’ we probably would have driven Sweetie home and settled for the high payment. I stood my ground though and finally told the sales guy please just let me try one more.

I just want to say one thing about our sales guy. He’s a down to earth guy that never once made me feel like I had to always go with the first car I tested. The other vultures I have dealt with in the past two days have made me feel like this is it there is nothing else. He also admitted to us that he isn’t getting much as far as commission from our deal. Did he make me feel bad about that? Not in the least.

He gave me the keys to that Elantra, I got inside and was completely de- stressed of all anxiety. It had the bells and whistles I wanted, minus one feature -the back up camera but that’s ok. I knew that Elantra was the one when I first saw it on my walk through of the lot. It may not have been the blue I wanted but I was ok with that.

We signed the paperwork and we are happy with the payments end of story.

As my middle son stated…it’s like your car regenerated. I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s older yet younger, kind of like the doctor. I’m thinking he’s more of a Rory. (We watch too much Doctor Who don’t we?)
You probably couldn’t even really tell the difference other than color if you didn’t know better.

A little determination, perseverance and digging and I got what I want. I don’t even feel like I settled for second best. I settled for the best based on the situation.

I Didn’t Want To Go There

Some of you may have seen my post on Facebook about the whole state testing situation.

I’ve always had my qualms about state testing as I’m sure many have. So when I got notes sent home regarding this “mandatory” meeting for parents over third grade testing, I could feel the twinge of what was to come. Here we go it’s going to be another pomp and circumstance of prepping for state testing just like in Texas… yet it wasn’t like that at all.

The principal of our school called this meeting to give us parents a reality check of what the state legislature is trying to do to our schools, our teachers and our kids. This woman is passionate about these kids and their education but is just sick as to whats in store for kids next year. The media isn’t telling us anything about it. I’m so thankful for her and blessed to have a principal like her.

Heres the handout in collage form which gives the overall basic gist of what’s going on.

 

This overall situation affects all three of my boys in some ways. Luckily my youngest won’t be succomed to the third grade craziness. Can you imagine if your third grader does not pass the state test and then has to redo third grade again because he possibly had a bad day? Get this when he does repeat 3rd grade he can take the test after 9 weeks and if he passes then, he gets to go to 4th grade. How messed up is that? 

I don’t want to even go into how my middle child who has an IEP and is in Special Ed will have to deal with this. HIs educational success should not ride on this test. 

As the principal honestly told us…the state has set schools up to fail. How sad is that for your own principal to tell a cafeteria full of parents that? A school that is marked as a “Satisfactory/ High performing school” . 

I just don’t know anymore. My youngest even stated “you know how to fix this mom? you home school and take me to the science museum for field trips.” 

Sadly he would still probably have to take that dang state test. 

What also is sad is that all though the hype for magnet schools is amping up they don’t even have to come close to the standards that the public schools are going to have to work so hard to live up to. A standard that could and will cost teacher jobs and schools to live up to a standard that will be impossible to reach. 

I’m all about enhancing our education and striving to raise standards compared to other countries but this is going to be a shot in the foot. 

Before I Forget….

Before I get down to the nitty gritty of doing homework, I figured I should tell my story about this shiny new item in my garage.

So yesterday the hubs and I had some errands to run like oil changes and bank deposits and all that fun stuff that goes on for a typical Saturday. *whispers* we left the kids at home because they would rather have root canals than be dragged around town * It’s ok the oldest is a great babysitter…considering his brothers are not babies. Luckily the youngest actually doesn’t cause havoc when were gone.

Anywho so were out galavanting about town and the hubs drops his truck off to get some work done. *remind me to tell you his truck story* We have some time to kill so we just for fun go by the dealership we got my Tuscon from. You know poor Tutti who died of cardiac failure and had to get a heart transplant. Bless her heart she’s been good to me and our dealer was good to us, so we just thought we’d do a drive by just to see. For Fun..no purchasing of vehicles today…we’re not even getting out of the car. We drive around the used lot and don’t really see anything that stands out.  Just as were making the turn in front of the vultures, our sales guy pops out. I told the hubs to gun it and don’t look at him. He didn’t listen. (I seriously told him not to make eye contact) Thing is our sales guy knows our car…he knows us.

Then it happened, just as he was making eye contact we saw it parked in the front. A Hybrid Sonata. I’m pretty sure there was a light from heaven shining down on it from the dreary sky. The hubs asked What’s that? He responded it’s a Hybrid and it’s everything you hoped it would be (he didn’t really say that). Nope Nope we are leery of the the Hybrid because of the battery. The second that warranty goes out the battery will die and it will be millions of dollars to replace it. Au contraire the sales guys states ( he’s French you know not really) “this is a brand spankin new Hybrid with only 6 miles on it and the warranty on the battery is for a life time.”  Say that again?  A lifetime battery warranty!!

The hubs immediately pulled into a parking spot and our sales guy knew exactly that he had us. He went searching for the keys while we sat in this pretty black Sonata. He came back out and stated that someone was in negotiations for this one and he would be back. I wasn’t keen on black anyway and maybe that was a good sign.

He then pulls up with a gorgeous silver one. We test drove it and it was like a dream.

We decided just for fun to see the numbers. I then told the hubs that we didn’t need to act on this today and the point being we needed to wait a little bit for this craziness to happen. Then I had to say it… besides the last 2 cars I’ve had have been silver. I know this one was beautiful but … Then the hubs says what if they have a blue one? (As in Tardis blue or similar) We figured they wouldn’t have a blue hybrid, and they would surely look for us one but it wouldn’t be today, which would give us time to really think about it. After waiting for what seemed like a sweet forever he comes back and says he has a blue one…powder blue fully loaded.. duo sun roof, back up camera, leather heated seats..and it had 2000 miles on it from a previous rich guy who changed his mind a month in to buying it. Then he said the magic words..we’ll give it to you for the same price as the standard one and all the warranty stuff included.

Suddenly I was signing my name on the dotted lines and driving home in my new Hybrid Sonata.

True it’s not a “SUV” family like vehichle but that’s where the hubby’s truck is the family vehicle. This is Jeanie’s long over due fun to drive work car. It gets 39 miles to the gallon highway.  Oh sweet gas mileage.

The last couple of cars I’ve gotten were for practical hauling children mom’s taxi  purposes. This car fits everyone comfortably. The hubs loves this car, I love this car.  I can’t honestly say I loved my last cars. I didnt really get to pick them they were sorta picked for me, but this one was my pick, close enough to the color I wanted and everything I could possibly imagine having in a car.

Hello Sweetie!

Patience Is Not His Virtue

*first of all to my wordpress blog friends-this new set up they have is..uhm interesting to say the least. (maybe something user friendly for the newbies?)*

Anywho…

As we all know my youngest has a little problem with controlling his emotions. My mom and I blame it on his birth…. 

Recently his beloved DS broke due to him dropping it for the 20th time on the floor a mere 24 hours after he had just gotten a new DS game. You can all imagine his angst and you can imagine mine as I’ve had to hear about it non stop for the past 10 plus days. He somehow negotiated with his middle brother (Boy Wonder) to go halvzies on buying a new 3DS because if their gonna get a new one they might as well go for broke. Right? Oh and it really isn’t halvzies but more like 70/50 as big brother will have to foot most of it. Of course. I already sense a pattern coming in this.

We told this boy of ours that he had to bring up his report card grade before we submit to his demands of him buying a new DS..ahem 3DS. He’s worked on it and brought it up. So I ordered the 3DS and a protective cover thank you very much and it was set to delivery for today. The kid was psyched and could not wait to get home from school to get his coveted beloved. 

Unbeknownst to me it was a sign on delivery kind of drop off, in other words the FedEx guy came by and did not drop it off as no one was here. His case however did arrive later in the day when we were home. Needless to say the 3DS did not get delivered as it was a separate order/shipment. Hysterics ensued. Trying to explain to an 8 year old why his precious did not get delivered is one thing, explaining it to MY 8 year old is probably a whole different beast on its own. Of course it was my fault, because why wouldn’t it be? 

Sigh..after finally getting him somewhat calm and explaining that it will be here tomorrow as I was able to sign the little slip and leave it on the door to say it’s ok to leave the DS at the door, I convinced him it would come tomorrow. Then IT happened. IT never fails when I get this child of mine controlled to a certain level of calm (which is next to impossible) my other two sons just have to poke the sleeping giant and chaos breaks loose again. 

The kid was at least proud of his new Nerf DS cover and brought it along on our way to dinner ( because my day was exhausting enough and fixing dinner was at the bottom of my want to do list) his oldest brother decided he needed to see this awesome cover… in the car… in the dark… just because. It was bad enough that he even thought about wanting to see it but he also touched it which was one of the seven deadly sins in itself…then he did the unspeakable and BROKE the cover that was supposed to be all mighty and powerful and protective and it couldn’t even protect itself! Not only did hysterics ensue times two, but tears of sorrow like I’ve never heard from this child erupted. He was literally sobbing. Please do not even feel an ounce of pity for this child, he knows what he’s doing with his menacing ways. There is a method to his madness. I’m pretty sure that small earthquake that felt this side of town was from my youngest having yet another melt down.

Don’t fret, the thing wasn’t actually broken, it connects and disconnects like a hinge kind of thing. I easily put it back together once I was parked and in light. Was I the ultimate hero awesome mom at that moment? Not really as there is no 3DS yet to fill its emptiness. Unfortunately I don’t get off easy on this one and that’s why they pay me the big mom bucks as CEO of WM247 enterprises; expected to solve problems and get little thanks for it. 

I shall report back soonish on the conclusion. All I say is it for sure better come tomorrow or I’m not going home, I’ll just make a nice cozy pallet at work where I can be under appreciated and at least get paid.

Moving On….

I had good intentions to start the New Year on the right foot by getting the house picked up and the tree down and just get a lot done. Yeah there went that plan. It’s 2:30 and I’m still hanging out in my pajamas. (Don’t judge me) It didn’t help that my awesome neighbors brought us some broken glass cake. Not that I’m complaining. Have you had broken glass cake? It’s like different kinds of jello in a cake. Yum!

I thought I’d stop in and put that last post under my belt. I’m really going to try to proceed to blog and jot things down that I’ve kind of let slip. It’s amazing how much one forgets certain things that happened until you read old posts.  I actually read back through old posts and then suddenly couldn’t stop.

I’m not saying that I have resolved for the New Year to post every day or take pictures every day but dang it, I’m going to try harder than I did last year. That may mean I post once or twice a week and actually put some meat to it.  I know this is going to shock everyone, but I did actually used to be a decent sorta funny blogger back in the day. I really shouldn’t brag about things like that.

Any who… I have a pretty positive vibe about the coming year. I’m not sure why, just yet. I’ve never really felt this way about a New Year before, so that’s something new. I honestly don’t have a negative fret or feeling at all about anything, even regarding certain things that others think I should be “negative” about. Weird.

I do know for certain that next year on this very day, I should have that shiny degree in hand, so there’s that. I refuse to let anything or anyone get in my way of that.

On that note I’m going to do my best to bring the entertainment or let the entertainment come to me and see what I can make of it for the blog. Oh yes and there will be pictures along the way for sure too.

 

The Thing About The Thing

*Wiping dust and cob webs…cough…cough*

Well then so much for promises of a monthly blogging challenge. I had no real intention of taking a break but let’s all admit it was getting pretty lack of anything substantial around here.

So I realize there is all of one of you out there anxiously awaiting for me to speak on the happenings going on in that place that puts food on my table and gas in my car and maybe my car payment. Yeah that place….

The last 3 months have been kind of just the most craziest challenge that any kind of occupation could bring on to any person. Without going into a long drawn out detail just think about that movie with the stapler guy and his cozy broom closet. Basically we were succumbed to a little bity labor space for 7 or so people. On top of that, training of newbies was involved and a whole gambit of other challenges. They should have just made a reality T.V. show and called it Paycheck Survivor. We did survive and are finally back to “normal” cubicle farm conditions. I’ve never been so happy to have my own little 1/200th of a space on the farm. I promise you the last few weeks of being in the dungeon would have made for Emmy winning reality T.V.

During that time span a lot of changes happened that added to the physical and mental challenges of being in seclusion. There was a “change of positions” X 2 among the uppers, allowing potential opportunities for yours truly. In a way I hate how these things just kind of fall in my lap, but that seems the way it sort of happens. As the opportunity arose for potential “growth” , many expected it should have been handed to me with no question. It didn’t happen that way and deep down, I really felt if they wanted me to have this position (which I do feel I greatly qualified for) they would have done it that way in the first place. Im not complaining…Im just saying.

So I had to apply and interview with the one person who many would have thought would be the “easy ticket” to getting in. Needless to say that was a month ago and the committee was out on their decision until yesterday. I knew the length of time it was taking to decide on who gets the position; meant I didn’t get it. Many felt it was a no brainer and yet I guess it wasn’t and they went with someone else.

My thoughts are this: I already went through my woe is me period a month ago. I knew by then they didn’t want me. Here is the reason, at least Im pretty sure… because I’m pretty good at what I do and if I bump to doing other duties above me they would have to get yet another new person for me to train on top of the additional people we plan to add and have already added. I know it’s complicated but it’s probably on track. This new person I suppose doesn’t need a lot of detailed training on specifically what we do as they will be more focused on doing the other upper stuff. That I think is the touching point, training someone on something I already know the ins and outs on, plus I have other ninja tricks up my sleeve. I would just have to learn a few other take charge kind of skillz that shouldn’t take long. This person will have to learn everything plus be in charge.

The person who made the decision knows that many are upset about this change. The good thing is, we talked at great length about it, which many may or may not realize. This meeting I appreciated greatly. The last time this kind of thing happened (different place different state)  I didn’t get a chance to discuss it and I let it fester like a crazed monster and then went psycho at my review about why..why not me (sob sob-yeah it wasn’t pretty). This person (I feel) is going to take care of me. They are going do their best to keep me happy because hello they can’t lose me right now. We both know this.

Im really not upset. Many others are very upset about this change. I’m pretty sure if I wanted to go all Erin Brocowvitch and rally up some troops for my cause, I would have it in minutes. It makes me warm and fuzzy inside that so many care. On that note, I know that I may not be the “official” upper person, but everyone will still come to me and still see me as their main girl. I also will smile inside when fires start and they look to me to put them out, as I’m sure it will happen.

I  feel that things happen for a reason as it has in the past and history has a way of repeating itself on this kind of thing for me. Maybe those “happen for a reason happenings” has brought me full circle and I’m a big girl now and it doesn’t upset me when I don’t understand why this happened. Chalk that up for life lesson learned.

*if some words were oddly used instead of others, it’s because I am that paranoid person *

Hitting The Ground Running

I’ve taken a little hiatus from blogging for no real reason really despite that I’m working full time, going to school, shuffling between soccer practice and getting caught up on Doctor Who…ahem. I decided it was time to get back in the saddle. I used to be a decent faithful blogger back in the day and then I took a nose dive the last few years. I have some pretty good excuses though I think.

Let’s catch up shall we?

Work is growing in leaps and bounds and some crazy stuff is happening. Right now our little group is in the dungeon literally. Imagine a 10 by 10 room with 7 people lined up like school children. There is no room for anything and your living out of a box literally. Then imagine that you’ve already been in the dungeon for a month and they told you originally it would be just a few weeks. Then imagine that just Monday they tell you worst case scenario we will be in there another 60 days but they are trying to speed things up. Needless to say productivity and quality are down along with morale. At least we still kinda like each other for the most part. There is no “personal” conversation. If my husband calls the work phone, everyone knows it and says HI, which is all well and good the first few times but yeah that only goes so far.

I did get a chance to hobnob with the big wigs at the company dinner for 10 year honorees. No I haven’t been there 10 years but I was the plus one who was being honored for 10 years. We had a great time getting guzzied up and having a girls night out. I even networked with the photography guy who also works for the company, so there’s that.

What else?

The boys are doing their thing. There’s not really a lot to report. That probably sounds bad and I also blame my attention to school more than anything.

Speaking of school, this semester I’m taking Art History, Typography, and Earth Science. I probably already mentioned it but there you go.
Here is the first project in typography we did. It’s a little outside my norm but I loved it.

It’s ok if you don’t get it.

 

 

That should do it for now… we’ll see if we can’t actually compose something of structure and content tomorrow.