Beulah Van Vroom broke down in the middle of traffic, at rush hour on Thursday.
She made it 3,000 miles from Alaska to Idaho, but gave up the ghost 4 months into her stay, before winter ever even set in. The heater was getting sketchy, and the windshield wipers (front and back) had stopped working, so I was planning to take it in on Friday (payday) and trade her up. I figured they might offer me like, $200 for her as a trade, and I could pay $500 as a down payment. But no, the day before payday, broke as a joke, she collapsed on the highway. She limped to the side of the road, partially obscuring a driveway, and two burly men pushed her off to the side for me.
I hopped out, checked her fluids, topped off her coolant, and tried to start her again. She made a weird sound. :\
Frustrated, I texted my dad, who told me to go to a dealership and tell them I wanted to walk away with a new car that day but that I didn’t have a down payment due to my upcoming surgery. I called a cab and a rather stoned-looking/acting lady came and picked up me and the kids from the side of the road. I gave her my last $20 for a ride to the Nissan/Kia dealership by my house. Ross walked over from my place with my teaching contract and my paystub. Milo declined to go back home with Ross. Over the next 3 hours, we test drove two minivans and he refused to talk to me about money until we had decided which van I loved the most. I told him the price would be the determining factor, but he wouldn’t accept that.
I decided to try for an approval on the newer van, despite it having almost the same # of miles as the other one. There was a 2007 Pontiac… Montana? (I think?) and a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan. The Caravan had Stow n Go Seating, which I LOVE, but the other one had a DVD player and power doors. Caravan has 87k miles on it, which seems like a LOT for a 2012… the other vehicle had 100k miles. I was feeling slightly pressured because it was late, there were finance guys and salesmen staying late for me to finish this deal, and my dad kept calling to get updates and weigh in on my options. He felt that both cars had too many miles on them, but the salesman was saying he didn’t think I could do any more test drives that night because they were closing soon. I needed something to drive to work the next day.
The total price for the Caravan was $12,530.00 My dad called and harassed the salesman and the finance guy, asking questions about how much my monthly payments would be and how much they could have potentially sold it for if they hadn’t cut me such a great deal, blah blah.. and then he offered to pay 10% down for me. Well, he didn’t really OFFER, he just stated that he would be paying 10%. $1,253.00 I was going to give them $500 the next day, and $250 on Dec. 20th. This was a much more appealing option. I tried to very lightly talk my way out of them paying the down payment, but I let him do it. He didn’t entertain the notion that my opinion on the matter had any real bearing, anyways. My monthly payment is an absurd $390/month. Ouch.
Can I afford it? HA! no, not really. It’ll have to do, though… In retrospect, I should have stuck with the older vehicle, but my dad was freaking out about the miles on it. I was uncomfortable with the age of the vehicle and the number of miles, because I knew there would be no warranty of any kind. Hopefully the Caravan lasts. Her name is Penny Jade. I know, it’s weird. It just came to me, as soon as I laid eyes on her.
She’s REALLY lovely. I do love her a lot. I’m scared to DEATH of the payments, though. I really can’t afford ANY payment at all, let alone almost $400. I had to pay another $145 to get her registered and license plates on her. I also had a stupid like $45 parking ticket for parking “against traffic” which is apparently a law… we don’t have that in Alaska. lol
Ross left today. He took the coffee table, which seems rude, because he has like 3 of them, and he had offered it up for us to use.. whatever. He DIDN’T take the TV, which I had specifically accepted from my parents for him when he moved out. He said he was taking it, and then didn’t. He was all teary eyed and voice breaky, it was rather pathetic and soul shattering. Milo didn’t seem to care until Ross got weepy, and then he looked really worried about Ross and confused. He knew that Ross was leaving, we had been telling him for weeks and he knew it was today, but he didn’t really seem to care at all. He still doesn’t. When I asked him if he wanted to give daddy one more hug and kiss before we left for daycare, he did jump down out of the van and run back to the sidewalk to give Ross one more long hug.
Milo had a great day at daycare, was very sweet and fun and the teacher I picked him up from said, “I’ve never seen him in such a good mood!” Hm.
I sent Ross off with a box of Triscuits, 3 flavors of beef jerky, and 2 flavors of Red Bull. I told him Milo picked them out, which was a straight up lie, but it seemed odd coming from just me, and I felt so bad for him that I had to.. buy something, give something.. do something.
It was really awful for everyone. We are all just heart broken. He’s only 5 or 6 hours away, but it’s a big difference from seeing his only kiddo every single day. I’m pretty positive that Ross will be happier in Montana, close to his mom and his brother (who is his only friend) and his mom’s side of the family, but it’s going to be a tough transition. I know it’ll be better for Milo, too, but it was awfully sad to watch them say goodbye and hear Ross tell Milo to be good while his voice was breaking and he was holding back tears the whole time.
In other news, I got up a ton of bills this paycheck, and am now unable to pay my rent. FAIL. My landlady is unamused. I don’t have anyone to ask for a loan, either. Pray for me. :\
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