R.I.P

On Thursday Michael took my car to the dealership to get a few things looked over and tweeked.  Since he had my car, I took his car to work.  The minute I got in the car my stomach fell, I couldn't believe that Michael was driving a car that was in such poor shape.   There were several things wrong with the car; the electrical system has been shot for years, the seats are torn apart, the car wobbles back and forth on the frame and it squeaks really loudly.  Last year the starter went out, the seatbelt stopped working and the brake pads needed replaced.  The only thing that worked well on the car was the engine.  Oh, and a couple years ago we learned that we can't park the car on any kind of an incline without the car rolling away.  The emergency brake helped to keep the car in the driveway until a couple of weeks ago when that died too.  Now we use a piece of firewood (as pictures below).  Despite the problems with the car, Michael has driven it for years without a major complaint.  It is 17 years old, has 250, 000ish miles on it and served us well for nine years. 

Before I got out out of the subdivision (on Thursday) I called Michael and told him that he really need to look into getting a new car. 

On Saturday, Finn, Michael and I drove to Franklin to buy Michael a new (used) car. We were looking for a small, fuel efficient car that Michael can drive back and forth to Nashville everyday for the next few years. Michael found what he wanted online at a dealership in Franklin. When we got there the car was back in the shop getting detailed and new tires.  We didn't think that we were going to know anything more about it for a couple of days.  But fortunately we were able to leave with it that night.   It took a couple of hours to complete the process, but Michael is the proud owner of 2006 Mazda 3.   The monthly payments are really low and we figured that on gas savings alone, it is worth the small note.

I was am so happy for Michael.  Finn was pretty excited too.  As I mentioned we brought Finn with us and he did a pretty good job, considering that we were sitting for a little over two (2) hours. 

The rest of the weekend was really nice.  We played outside for a couple of hours on both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday morning Finn wanted to play outside, but insisted that Sam go outside too.  Finn just cannot be alone.  I left the back door open so that Sam could crawl in and out, but that wasn't good enough for Finn.  Finn scooted poor Sam back outside and closed the door.  All seemed to be going well until I looked out the window and saw a waterfall of mud cascading out of Sam's mouth.   After cleaning the kitchen I went outside too.  Sam played on the patio while Finn and I played hide-n-seek.  Finn cheats - he tells me exactly where he wants me to hide and then comes to find me.  Next we played with balls.  I would kick them on to the roof and Finn would make no attempt at all to catch them as they fell to the ground.   Sam rode on the "Why Flier."  Sam doesn't like the feeling of the grass, so he did everything possible to avoid it.

After the boys went to bed on Sunday, I made chili and Michael and I watched the Oscars.