ER's & New Cars

Wow. What can I say, yesterday was a Crazy day!

After two days of trying to secure the price we wanted on a new vehicle (with a sick kid in tow), and a week of haggling with three dealerships, I can finally say that we have a new vehicle. I can also confidently say that I am not a fan of OHSU Doernbecher verses St. V's ER.

Yesterday, while trying to sign the papers on our new vehicle, my daughter once again spiked a fever, had a sore throat, was going to barf and had a severe headache. Long story short, I signed the papers and got home to take care of her. Matt drove our new SUV home and we all went for a ride.

Later that night, after our daughter was screaming in pain (keep in mind this is day two of this and nine days after she got strep throat), I decided to call a nurse for advice.

I was told to go to the ER that night AND that OHSU would be better for our daughter. Well, we ended up at the ER from 9-3:30 in the morning. The bad news-when we got there, they had no rooms available, lots of people waiting that resulted in us waiting a very.long.time. The good news-she did not have what they thought....Meningitis. Thank you Lord!

This mama is tired today to say the least. I am sick of sick kids, sick of the rain and ready for a vacation. But, I am in LOVE with our new vehicle and grateful that I have two jobs that allow us to have such a nice car.

I have to admit that I feel a little dumb as I have no clue how to operate most of the controls in it though. This coming from a person who drove a 1997 Accord for the last 7+ years. I am not used to: Bluetooth capabilities, heated seats, tri-zone temperature control (I so love this as I am always freezing and Matt is always hot), rear view camera, tailgate that closes on its own and leather (to name a few)!

I put up with so much stuff with the Honda Accord we used to have (windows that would not roll down, doors that could not open due to broken handles and a front end that shook when using the brakes).

We got our Pilot brand new, and with all the extras. The only thing I did not want was a DVD player. Crazy to some of you, but I am not a fan and honestly think it is ridiculous that kids need a television screen to keep them entertained while driving. The only time I think it is okay is on a long car trip. For us, we have many places in the vehicle that we can plug in a portable DVD (that we already have) and our kids can watch a movie. This will actually work better for us as our kids ages differ and I'm convinced my son would not want to watch the same thing as my daughters :).

I have always been against spending 30k+ on a vehicle, but we needed reliability, at least eight seats, warranty, a Honda engine that we know lasts and lasts, and a car that we can actually drive places without stressing out that it will break-down. Matt & I both work hard and we decided (as we are both in our mid-thirties) that it was time to have a nice car. And boy do I LOVE it! It makes working all that more enjoyable and rewarding.

This coming from a person that for the last few weeks, had to drive with the windows down and the air on in our old car so the hole in the exhaust would not put emissions into the interior of the car. LOL. ~S