we loved the forester! it rides smoothly, has good acceleration, is comfortable, spacious, etc. literally everything i hoped it would be. all of the windows and speakers even work!
unfortunately, when we got back from our test drive, a manager was there to look at erma and give us his trade-in estimate: $100. maybe $200, depending. just from walking around her, he thought $1000, but then he turned erma on and pressed the gas while in park and heard what he termed a "death rattle." he said that rattle i've been hearing is a deep engine knock that's indicative of piston problems. super. oh, and that there's no way to effectively and inexpensively fix it - you either have to rebuild the engine, or drop in a new one. hoorah. we could maybe get a little bit more by selling it on our own, according to him, but probably not over $1000 max. but, he also said that while she could last another year or two and be fine, she could also seize up at any time and just die ... or shoot a piston through the engine, if i hit things just right. which, considering that i have an hour and a half of commute time each day, half of which is on the interstate, puts an extra feeling of emphasis on finding a replacement. obviously we'll take erma in to an objective mechanic to get an outside opinion before we decide what to do, but this still changes things as we were hoping to get closer to $1500 on a trade in. so now scott's suggesting that we get something smaller like a camry or prius now, and then in a few years we could get a forester and he would take the smaller car. bah! i'm pouty because i want a forester, and because i don't want to die mid-commute, and because i'm finding it hard to be objective in looking at other cars online.
tgif
yay!!! after all of that talk about waiting a few months to buy a car, we're going to go test drive one tonight! scott's dropping dinner at our friends' at 5 while i head straight to office to meet him - a dealer that has a few well-priced foresters happens to be maybe two hundred yards down the street from his office building. (i just checked their website - they apparently have 36 total cars, 6 of which are '08 foresters ... we think that'll give us a little edge in talking them down more.) i'm super excited. not only have i loved the forester from afar for four years, i've never gotten to be a part of choosing my own car. that's completely fine, of course, because my parents have always lovingly provided a car for me, and chosen good (usually) reliable cars that i've enjoyed ... but there's just something about getting to choose your own car and having almost 100% control over the decision and knowing that this is absolutely what you want that i am excited about. (plus i'm looking forward to hopefully not driving erma that much longer - she's developed a full fledged rattle above 30mph.)
all that to say, i've realized that i get emotionally attached to the oddest things. a few years ago, the summer before my wedding, i found myself really grieving i-55 - it had been a mainstay of my life over the past several years, being the main route between my parents' home and my life at college. and then last year when my work upgraded me to an iphone on the company plan, i was genuinely sad that i wouldn't be able to use my cute pink razr phone anymore. two weeks ago, when we first began the discussion about replacing erma - the car that i've had a mild contempt for since my parents bought her for me back in college, whose back window rolls down but not up, who bucks on the interstate and requires three and a half lanes to make a u-turn - i was surprised to find myself getting mopey and nostalgic at the prospect of not driving her anymore. for all the grief erma's caused me, she still gets 30mpg, has been reasonably reliable over the past few years, was free to me, and fits in the tiny parking spots in my garage at work ... even though she has her quirks, they're quirks that i know. (i think i'll get over it, though.)
oh, and in case you were wondering how that lemon pepper shrimp scampi with orzo recipe turned out last weekend: it was fabulous. tasty, healthy, and really quick to make. in fact, i'm pretty sure i picked it to make in the first place because it was in cooking light's 20-30 minute dinner section.
all that to say, i've realized that i get emotionally attached to the oddest things. a few years ago, the summer before my wedding, i found myself really grieving i-55 - it had been a mainstay of my life over the past several years, being the main route between my parents' home and my life at college. and then last year when my work upgraded me to an iphone on the company plan, i was genuinely sad that i wouldn't be able to use my cute pink razr phone anymore. two weeks ago, when we first began the discussion about replacing erma - the car that i've had a mild contempt for since my parents bought her for me back in college, whose back window rolls down but not up, who bucks on the interstate and requires three and a half lanes to make a u-turn - i was surprised to find myself getting mopey and nostalgic at the prospect of not driving her anymore. for all the grief erma's caused me, she still gets 30mpg, has been reasonably reliable over the past few years, was free to me, and fits in the tiny parking spots in my garage at work ... even though she has her quirks, they're quirks that i know. (i think i'll get over it, though.)
oh, and in case you were wondering how that lemon pepper shrimp scampi with orzo recipe turned out last weekend: it was fabulous. tasty, healthy, and really quick to make. in fact, i'm pretty sure i picked it to make in the first place because it was in cooking light's 20-30 minute dinner section.
relaxin all cool
well we didn't end up doing yard work - or really, much of anything. i had great intentions of getting our master bathroom painted, but it was gross and gray and cloudy and rainy all weekend, and chilling in bed reading was just so much more appealing. so i did! we actually started taping the bathroom at about 4pm on monday - but then goo came over at 4:45 to do laundry and have dinner, so we halted and hung out with her instead.
i got most of the priming done this week - just a few spots left to get primed and then the painting can begin. nice white ceiling, medium beigey-gray walls (the same color as the top of our dining room - i want to say it's behr's castle path - 730c-3, but since i just used behr's color swatches and had them color matched into kilz paint bases, i'm not positive), bright glossy white on the vanity and medicine cabinet and towel rack and shelves. scott was very skeptical about my choice of grey for the bathroom, and tried suggesting green (i've trained the boy well) or at least having an accent wall, but the bathroom is seriously tiny, and i think any actual colors on the walls would just be too much. and i don't want green paint reflecting back on me in the morning when i'm trying to put on makeup - yikes. plus, there are plenty of fun colorful ways to accessorize bathrooms. so that's a side project for the next few weeks! scott's going with his dad to the college world series in omaha june 12-14, so i think i'll try to plan things so that i'm able to do most of the painting that weekend and get it done before he gets back. i'm so looking forward to having a nice clean put-together bathroom to use when we have company.
last night after work i got together with the girls from our small group for dinner, and since scott's last ultimate game was cancelled due to half of his team dropping off, he and the guys got together to watch the nuggets game. it was fun, even if my inner introvert reared its head and near the end and made me very excited to go home and be alone. tonight is small group, tomorrow night is date night (plus taking dinner to friends who just had a miscarriage and are getting a d&c tomorrow - yikes), and saturday we're going biking up near breck/frisco with small group friends! (we like our small group.) and then sunday the missionary couple that our sunday school class supports are going to be in town, so we're having them over for dinner with our small group that night. hmm. i think after sunday we won't see our small group people for a whole week, which may be well needed at that point.
we're still debating the car thing - scott made the point the other night that with all of the driving we're doing this summer, this might be the time to trade erma in (i tallied it up, and we're looking at at least 2000 miles in state this summer). but i think we're sort of waiting on scott's yearly bonus to come in (it's usually late june/early july) so that we can pay cash. so we'll see!
i got most of the priming done this week - just a few spots left to get primed and then the painting can begin. nice white ceiling, medium beigey-gray walls (the same color as the top of our dining room - i want to say it's behr's castle path - 730c-3, but since i just used behr's color swatches and had them color matched into kilz paint bases, i'm not positive), bright glossy white on the vanity and medicine cabinet and towel rack and shelves. scott was very skeptical about my choice of grey for the bathroom, and tried suggesting green (i've trained the boy well) or at least having an accent wall, but the bathroom is seriously tiny, and i think any actual colors on the walls would just be too much. and i don't want green paint reflecting back on me in the morning when i'm trying to put on makeup - yikes. plus, there are plenty of fun colorful ways to accessorize bathrooms. so that's a side project for the next few weeks! scott's going with his dad to the college world series in omaha june 12-14, so i think i'll try to plan things so that i'm able to do most of the painting that weekend and get it done before he gets back. i'm so looking forward to having a nice clean put-together bathroom to use when we have company.
last night after work i got together with the girls from our small group for dinner, and since scott's last ultimate game was cancelled due to half of his team dropping off, he and the guys got together to watch the nuggets game. it was fun, even if my inner introvert reared its head and near the end and made me very excited to go home and be alone. tonight is small group, tomorrow night is date night (plus taking dinner to friends who just had a miscarriage and are getting a d&c tomorrow - yikes), and saturday we're going biking up near breck/frisco with small group friends! (we like our small group.) and then sunday the missionary couple that our sunday school class supports are going to be in town, so we're having them over for dinner with our small group that night. hmm. i think after sunday we won't see our small group people for a whole week, which may be well needed at that point.
we're still debating the car thing - scott made the point the other night that with all of the driving we're doing this summer, this might be the time to trade erma in (i tallied it up, and we're looking at at least 2000 miles in state this summer). but i think we're sort of waiting on scott's yearly bonus to come in (it's usually late june/early july) so that we can pay cash. so we'll see!
long weekend
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labels:
landscaping,
recipes,
work
bah! i had to stay at work until 5pm, and i was not a happy camper. just me and one coworker most of the day, and then he left at 3:30 ... the last call that came in was at 1:15 (out of 5 calls total all day - two of which were solicitors, and none of which were important). however, for the next three days ... FREEDOM! hoorah! tonight we're cleaning the house, tomorrow a.m. is helping friends move, tomorrow p.m. we're hosting an event/bbq for our sunday school class, then sunday and monday no plans! (except for likely yard work.)
even better: tonight for dinner, i'm making finally making a lemon pepper shrimp scampi with orzo recipe that i've been moving around the calendar for two months now.
even better: tonight for dinner, i'm making finally making a lemon pepper shrimp scampi with orzo recipe that i've been moving around the calendar for two months now.
to boldly go
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labels:
car,
date night
just one more teensy car comment, then i promise i'll move on. i was looking up specs on my current car ('99 saturn sl2 that goes by the name of erma), and found a roadtest review on consumer reports. technically, it's for the '00 model, but it's totally spot on:
The Saturn provides the worst driving experience of the group. Its ride feels unsettled, with sharp bumps sending harsh vibrations through the car's body. A full load only makes the ride less settled. The car is also noisy. The engine growls when accelerating, pronounced wind noise intrudes at speed, and gear whine adds an air of crudeness.
Although it's the sporty version of the S-Series sedans, the SL2 lacks the handling agility of many other small cars. It corners with fairly pronounced body roll, and the tires squeal prematurely. The steering isn't very responsive, with ordinary turns requiring more steering-wheel input than in other cars. Plus, a wide 40-foot turning circle makes parking clumsy.
we especially laughed at the knock on the turning radius - it's so true. scott usually equates erma to rosie o'donnell when he's trying to pull a u-turn.
anyway, we decided to do our date night on thursday night rather than friday this week, because we are getting old. literally, scott suggested going out on thursday, i said, "or we could just do friday like normal," and he said it might be better to do thursday so we don't have to deal with all of the teenagers at the movies on friday night - and i quickly agreed. plus we based our going out on what coupons we had available. for dinner, we used our 50% off coupon at this colorado chain called c.b. & potts, which was surprisingly good. we figured it'd be sort of like another applebee's (which isn't bad - we like applebee's), but while they had a good burger selection, they also had really tasty "real" entrees. (and the feel of the place was a little bit nicer, but still casual.) i had chicken tenderloins in a porter/mushroom sauce with mashed potatoes and green beans. then, we used our movie theater coupon ($6.50/ea rather than $10/ea) and went to see star trek which was AWESOME! i totally grew up watching star trek: the next generation (and even a little bit of deep space 9 and voyager), but other than the movies, didn't have a whole lot of exposure to the original star trek. they did a great job of making it accessible to non-trekkies, but i think still keeping the feel of the original ... plus they had some amazing action scenes. i had wanted to see it from the first preview we saw, while scott was very skeptical - he changed his tune quickly once it got 95% good reviews on rottentomatoes. seriously, it was fabulous, and you should definitely go see it.
The Saturn provides the worst driving experience of the group. Its ride feels unsettled, with sharp bumps sending harsh vibrations through the car's body. A full load only makes the ride less settled. The car is also noisy. The engine growls when accelerating, pronounced wind noise intrudes at speed, and gear whine adds an air of crudeness.
Although it's the sporty version of the S-Series sedans, the SL2 lacks the handling agility of many other small cars. It corners with fairly pronounced body roll, and the tires squeal prematurely. The steering isn't very responsive, with ordinary turns requiring more steering-wheel input than in other cars. Plus, a wide 40-foot turning circle makes parking clumsy.
we especially laughed at the knock on the turning radius - it's so true. scott usually equates erma to rosie o'donnell when he's trying to pull a u-turn.
anyway, we decided to do our date night on thursday night rather than friday this week, because we are getting old. literally, scott suggested going out on thursday, i said, "or we could just do friday like normal," and he said it might be better to do thursday so we don't have to deal with all of the teenagers at the movies on friday night - and i quickly agreed. plus we based our going out on what coupons we had available. for dinner, we used our 50% off coupon at this colorado chain called c.b. & potts, which was surprisingly good. we figured it'd be sort of like another applebee's (which isn't bad - we like applebee's), but while they had a good burger selection, they also had really tasty "real" entrees. (and the feel of the place was a little bit nicer, but still casual.) i had chicken tenderloins in a porter/mushroom sauce with mashed potatoes and green beans. then, we used our movie theater coupon ($6.50/ea rather than $10/ea) and went to see star trek which was AWESOME! i totally grew up watching star trek: the next generation (and even a little bit of deep space 9 and voyager), but other than the movies, didn't have a whole lot of exposure to the original star trek. they did a great job of making it accessible to non-trekkies, but i think still keeping the feel of the original ... plus they had some amazing action scenes. i had wanted to see it from the first preview we saw, while scott was very skeptical - he changed his tune quickly once it got 95% good reviews on rottentomatoes. seriously, it was fabulous, and you should definitely go see it.
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