Car Shopping

Pinterest is an amazing source of everything imaginable ... 

I have separate boards for each season full of glorious pictures.  

My spring board has 63 pictures, summer has 101, winter has 163, and fall has 355.  

Guess which season is my favorite?

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But I've enjoyed this winter season more than usual.  

In Texas, we didn't have quite as much winter weather as some parts of the country, 

but we had some decently cold days ... and an ice event.  

I had a small load of firewood delivered last weekend.  

My family keeps telling me I was too late, because you know, 70 degrees today and all.  

But I'm holding out for the cold front that's supposed to come through in the next day or so.

Because in spite of the balmy temperatures, it's still winter, and my winter decor is still up.  

I do admit the warm breezes and open windows have me ready 

to bring out the spring decor next week.  

I'm enjoying the last days of cozy reminders of the winter past, 

and looking forward to the change.

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I love the seasons changing, but in some things, I'm not a huge fan of change.  

We bought our first van about 15 years ago.  It was a proud day.  

I was so delighted to be driving a mini van.  

We drove that one until it wouldn't drive anymore and got another van.  

We're still driving that one ... and hoping it will last us just a tiny. bit. longer.  

This year we were those people arriving at our vacation destination with a smoking engine.  

That was fun :o)

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Clearly, it's time for a change and time to replace the old and faithful van.  

I love that van. 

 Especially because it's been paid for since 2010.  

I was dearly, dearly hoping that when the time came to replace the family vehicle 

it would not need to be another van.  

But alas ... although it's not often, we do occasionally need to transport the whole family of six.

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I'm in that strange groove of wanting a large vehicle with great gas mileage 

that doesn't look like there should be car seats, diaper bags and sippee cups in the back.  

We're looking at crossover SUV's and have the make/model we want identified.  

Now we just have to find THE ONE.
The search has me obsessed.  Or distracted.  Or obsessed and distracted.

I'm pretty sure I've looked at every vehicle within 500 miles that comes close to our specs, 

but I'm looking online, so that's nice.  

(photo by Jeff Stephenson image source)

Edmunds.com is a great resource if you like internet shopping and looking for a car.

You type in what you're looking for, and all the options within your specified distance 

are gathered for you, with photos, details, and the Edmunds Price Promise.  

We haven't bought a vehicle yet, but this has been a super place to start our search.  

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Last Monday the seemingly inconsequential drizzle froze in a dangerous and thin layer of ice 

all over everything and there were hundreds of accidents in the metroplex.  

LtDan had one of them.  Very scary - he hit the ice on top of an overpass.  

The truck spun around, hit the wall, the back wheels tipped up, and he looked down

 ... way down ... 

before the wheels went back on the pavement.  

The truck was totaled, but he was fine (except for a bump on the back of his head).  

So many small graces: obviously that he wasn't really hurt, 

there were no other cars involved, and Ben and I were in town about 5 minutes away.  

We drove home oh so slowly and about half way, 

the car in front of us spun around several times and ended up on its side
in the ditch on the wrong side of the road.  

We helped four people climb out, and fortunately they were all all right too.  

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Crazy.

Did you get the part about the truck being totalled? 

We're not really car people ... quite frankly I was hoping to drive my van until 2025 

when I should be able to replace it with a two seater sports car ... 

and now, we're looking for not one, but TWO vehicles.   

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I wish finding the right vehicle were as easy as finding great pictures on Pinterest.