Meet Ruthie!

Well, the car boredom finally got the best of me.

I really wasn't going to do it right away. I'd been doing my research, looking at features and prices and safety ratings and fuel economy and all that stuff, and I really was just planning to get my research in a row, figure out where I wanted to be financially, save up for a bigger down payment, and wait a little while.  Based on all of my online research, I'd pretty much decided on the Nissan Rogue, pending a test drive.

So when a water main break at work resulting in loss of water pressure in the building meant we got out early, I figured it was as good a time as any to go test drive and make sure I like the car.  I got to the dealer, and went out on the drive, and REALLY liked the car. I went in to talk numbers with them, and told them straight up where I was coming from, and that the only way I would be buying now was if they gave me an amazing deal that I couldn't say no to. I told them to crunch their numbers and I would go home and crunch mine, and they could give me a call.

When I got in my car to leave, I had this definite sense of disappointment. Like oh, this. 

(A little background: when I bought Jethro, I wanted certain things in the car. But I settled, and bought the most basic model on the lot, instead of holding my ground and getting what I wanted. So Jethro has no button to unlock the doors, and the only key hole is in the driver's door. He doesn't have cruise control. And he's so low to the ground.  And I had REALLY wanted a sunroof, but I didn't get one. So I knew, from the start, that I was NOT going to step down from the features I wanted for the next car.)

I was barely home when the dealership called me back and asked if I could come back out. I agreed to return after rush hour.  In that time, I looked at my budget, considered what they said they were going to give me for my trade in, and came to a number that if they weren't going to hit it, I wasn't going to buy. (But I also cleaned out Jethro.) I came back, and at first they wanted to talk about monthly payments, which I won't do - I immediately stopped the guy and said before we do this, let's talk round number. They took me to that page, and while they were almost a thousand over where I had wanted to be in top number, they were willing to give me an extra $300 on the trade in and a $500 rebate.

So I did it. I bid Jethro farewell.  I solicited name suggestions from my friends, and allow me to introduce Ruthie!

Last night it was actually cool enough to drive home from my parents with the sunroof open, which was AWESOME. I'm so glad I got what I wanted. I don't foresee being bored with this car for a LONG time.

A couple more photos, just for fun:

No more FM transmitter for the iPod :)

Yes, she's purple. Love it :)

My favorite part!

A Politics (but not political, I swear) Post

You know, I don't usually get political on this blog. On purpose. And I'm not trying to get political now, even though I do think that Sarah Palin is a less than ideal candidate for... well, anything, to be honest.  And I rarely agree with Eugene Robinson; I generally think that he's a blind liberal in the way that many conservatives are blind conservatives.  But every once in a while, he gets something right. And this opinion piece on Sarah Palin's version of Paul Revere's ride is one of those times.

From the article:

It was comical and weird, like a lot of Palin’s antics, but so what? Anybody can have a momentary lapse and say something dumb in front of a television camera. You laugh it off and move on.

Unless you’re Sarah Palin. She appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” and Chris Wallace asked the obvious question: “You realized that you messed up about Paul Revere, don’t you?” He must have expected her to be charmingly self-deprecating. Instead, to Wallace’s evident surprise, she insisted that her ridiculous account was correct.

I swear I learned as a young child that people will respond better if you just fess up that you made a mistake than if you keep insisting. But no! There are even people fighting on Wikipedia, trying to update the Paul Revere site to reflect closer to what Sarah Palin said!!

This statement by Eugene is most poignant to me: 

The gaffe is understandable — well, almost understandable. But she doubled down with a claim of persecution and a bald-faced lie. That is what we ignore at our peril.

This is a small, unimportant matter. But Palin demands to be seen as a big, important person in the nation’s political life.

In my book, this is a red flag, no matter what letter comes after your name.

Medical sagas of late... sorry, I had to

I feel like I've spent the last couple of weeks in the Doctor's office.

I thought about it yesterday, and in the last 3 weeks I've been to my general practitioner, the dentist twice, the allergist 4 times (shots have started - more on that in a minute), the radiologist, and the chiropractor. And next week I get to go to the ENT. I am a hot mess, and I'm going to play old lady and whine about my ailments for a little bit.

The general practitioner was just a regularly scheduled write me some more prescriptions visit. Nothing exciting. The dentist, which is actually now 4 times in the last month and a half or so, was for a filling and then back to get the filling filed down. HATE. It was my first filling, and I did not enjoy that process, thank you very much. And the chiropractor was just my regular adjustment. So no big deal on those, but they add up. The allergist stuff though... that's another story.  I've had allergies for years. As long as I can remember, but nothing ever severe enough to get checked out. Probably 5 or 6 years ago I started on a cocktail of allergy meds, because they didn't want to test me while I was on active duty. But in the last couple of years, I've been having about once a quarter incidents of what I like to call "sinus explosion."  I felt like they were sinus infections, but after being told by one doctor that they weren't and it was just allergies and/or a cold, I didn't try to go to the doctor again. But after this last round in April, I decided that I couldn't take it anymore and called an allergist.  I went and did the whole stick you tons of times across your back allergy tests, and the doctor took one look at the results and said well, its no wonder you feel crappy all the time! HALLELUJAH, praise the Lord, I might be getting some answers FINALLY.  She wanted to do a blood test to make sure that I will do well on allergy tests, and she wanted me to get a CT scan of my sinuses just to make sure that there's not something chronic going on in the sinuses.  The CT scan came back with enough issue that she wanted me to see an ENT, so I get to do that next week. Thank goodness for sick leave!!  I started the shots 2 weeks ago, so I've had 3 now. They say it can take months to feel the differences, and I can't wait. I also hope that the ENT can help with some of this as well. I just want to feel normal!!

And now I'm done with the ailment rant. Hopefully in the next few months I'll have updates that I'm feeling better and getting things sorted out.  Now if only I could get that extra weight off. Even though I'm spending an inordinate amount of time in Dr's offices, I'm glad to be finally taking control of my own health. I just wish I'd been more willing to demand it when it was all free through the military - even though I have awesome insurance, it doesn't cover everything!!

And now, cake next door... not that I need it!