Another Busy Day

I'm looking forward to a full day at home tomorrow and Friday, the last few weeks have been so very busy. I enjoy being busy, but love and look forward to the down times.

This morning I did my washing and my ironing. I also chose my week's menus and did the groceries online, so they can be delivered tomorrow.

I have been out more than I'd normally like, so I was happy to get this done. I'm on schedule now for the week, when I complete more housework tomorrow. I did some Daisy work, although got frustrated yet again with my lack of knowledge, which of course means my lack of control over how the site looks. I don't like how it looks and have ideas for improving it, but don't have the knowledge. So then I went on to working on the things I can change so as not to waste precious time.

I was excited this morning when the car salesman rang and told me they could find a red car. It's only the second time in my life, I've been able to choose the colour of my car and I'm so very very excited. Because I love colour, actually settling on one is quite difficult. I'd never choose a white car by myself, but the white in the Fiestas is stunning, very crisp and clean looking, but these were sold out. The green was my second choice with a deep mulberry being my third choice. I do like the fact that none of the colours incurred extra charges. What did intrigue me, however, was the amount of 'McDonalds' style of salesmanship. You know what I mean, instead of saying, would you like fries with that? It's, would you like, external paint treatment, interior fabric treatment, tinted windows treatment, tyre and rim insurance, extra 4 years warranty insurance, insurance shortfall insurance........My mind was whirring. I only went there to sign some papers and pay a (large) deposit and then had to sit through the obligatory spiel.... I'd organized my time so I could fix that up, then have a coffee and then go on to my Rheumatologist appointment, but I had to skip the coffee and settled for a cold drink five minutes before my appointment instead....and, as it was I had to call the palaver short so I could make my appointment. Mind you, the idea of having my paint protected is appealing, especially as I've chosen red!! That with the window tinting is over $800 - a lot of money, but this car is a huge amount of money, not sure what to do there........ I've done a little look around what's available and the price they quoted me is a fair one.

My appointment with my specialist went well. Thankfully I can go onto some new medication, as my inflammatory levels have risen and my pain levels even more. For a while I have to be on both meds though, so from a financial standpoint that's not good, but I need the relief, so of course will try it.

Can't wait to drive my new metal baby around, it's just gorgeous.

An exciting time

It's been a busy and happy few weeks. The term is going by at a steady rate, and it still feels great having the kids back at school. I definitely have more time to myself when they are at school than when they are home. I do enjoy my freedom to be able to do as I please too, fitting in work where I like to and doing housework and still having time for myself.

Last week, I finished my E Commerce course. It was a good day, I wish it could have had more hands on, time together stuff. While the external work is a good idea, I think for things like this that have such a practical application more time together would have been beneficial. So much I just couldn't do. I'm still tossing up whether or not to do the Dreamweaver course, or even whether just to buy the program and have a go myself. If it were just an information site with a few interactive aspects for joining the newsletter and such, I would definitely have a go at creating a new one, but as it has the shopping cart with it, it adds a whole new dimension to the site. It's not a basic site. I know I could learn how to do it, but am not sure the best way to go about it. Like I've said before, I don't want to do another uni degree and I think the short course, is too short. I'll have to think on that one some more. I had totally discounted the idea, but it's reasserted itself, so I'm not done with the thought yet.

Yesterday I went and test drove some more cars. Dad came with me which was great. We managed to get the car down to the price we were prepared to pay, but not with Dad's ex employee discount, but with the reasonable trade in they have offered us for the Camry. We then went to another Ford dealer and we were given the same info on the Ford Fiesta there, although we didn't get to the point of having the Camry valued again. The dealership is under an umbrella with other car yards and the Kia yard was adjacent. Not wanting to discount any cars, we test drove the Kia Sports as well. It looked fabulous from the outside, alloy wheels, ABS and EBD brakes (which are standard in the Fiesta) large rear spoiler and a pretty snazzy looking front grille. However the inside of the car, and its drivability let it down. The inside was rather spartan looking to the point of being old fashioned. I found driving it difficult and was quite erratic with it. I found it harder to get the 'feel' of the car, and it was rather noisy too, which is something I hate with the Camry. I hate road noise and the sound that always makes me think a car window is open. The Fiesta was very very quiet, and smooth to drive. However, as it's a German design, the indicator on the left will take a bit to get used to. About half the corners I turned were signalled with the wipers flapping instead. Dad and I were disappointed with the Discount that Ford offered us on the basis of Dad being an ex employee. The car is a new model in all aspects, with all the latest December additions, but has a 2010 compliance plate, but this already reduces the car by $3000.

Peter and I talked about selling the Camry privately as he always maintains you always get more money selling it privately. I agree with this, but quite frankly don't want the hassle of doing this. Like all the admin aspects of our lives, this job would fall to me and as we know the Camry needs some work, and a RWC isn't free......I'd hate to think how much we'd actually have to spend on it. Thankfully Peter came around to my way of thinking and has agreed that trading in the Camry is a good idea.

Our Financial Adviser came today, and has given us the green light to go ahead as we'll have no dramas getting the funds for the car. Peter was relieved beyond belief, when he was told our repayments wouldn't increase!!!! It shows that once again he'd not listened to me, when I increased our repayments and explained that these would cover any extra money we borrowed.... I even suggested well if you were expecting our repayments to go up, perhaps we can buy a better car lol......

Anyway, the car yard is ringing back and I'm getting antsy. I expected them to ring back by late morning and it's now early afternoon. My heart is still going quickly and I'm positive my blood pressure is elevated. I'm so excited. This is my first new car in 25 years........and no one is going to take it away from me this time!!! It's been a long time since my ex husband pulled a shifty on me and left the country, leaving me a car he'd promised to pay for. I was at Uni at the time, and had no possible way of paying the loan off, so my car was returned, and I was left with the debt anyway!! I won't go into details, it's ancient history now, but is what hurts me the most about the fact that marriage broke up. This new car will be so much more special. Actually if I go back in my life, my only other new car I'd ever owned, I had to leave when that marriage dissolved..........mmmmmm....something about my husbands and new cars!! Thankfully this husband and I are together forever, so my car will stay with me too.

I'm often asked why we've settled for a small car, as we have 3 boys and it seems silly to buy something so tiny. Well the reasons are many, not that I have to justify myself to anyone other than myself and my husband, but these are the reasons I came up with.
- I do lots of driving, all in suburbia and in town
- When we drive to Brisbane or the Gold Coast, the car will be fine
- It's a perfect car for teaching the boys to drive in
- I will feel more confident in it, and am excited to finally parallel park (something I've only every done once since I've got my license!!!)
- When we go away as a family, we go in the ute. There's plenty of room for us all, and as the car is older, it doesn't matter if the kids get in it wet, and we can take everything with us.
- I'm tired of having used cars which cost heaps to maintain, and cost heaps to put petrol into
- The Camry is 14 years old, getting tired and is in need of some major works

Can't wait!! Will post a pic when it arrives. Although, having said that, a part of me wonders whether I should check out more used but fairly new cars.....mmmm......I'm off to google!!