A Wacky Wednesday...

You ever had a day (or two) full of surprises...some good, some not so much?

Yesterday afternoon, Pat tells me he needs to go Raleigh for a conference today (SURPRISE!)It's about a 3 hour drive. So after we got the kids in bed, he drove his truck down there. He was supposed to call me on the road around 9pm, but I never heard from him. So I tried him, but the call wouldn't go through. My cell wasn't working either so something must have been up with the network. He finally called around 10:30pm and got there safe and sound @ 11pm.

So today I go about my normal business and decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum. They love it, but I'm usually worn out by the time we leave since I'm chasing them around everywhere. I decided to try something new and go after having an early lunch today to try to miss the school groups and daycares. When I got there, Pat called to tell me that he had gone out to his truck to go to lunch and it wouldn't start. (SURPRISE!) I think he was expecting me to grumble and moan about it, but the first thing that popped into my mind was "Wow! You are so lucky that this didn't happen last night when you didn't have any cell phone service. At least you are in the parking lot of your conference." It made him feel a little better, I think. (Surprise for him!) I gave him the number for our roadside service thing I just signed up for (thank goodness!) and the tow truck arrived within about 20 minutes. (Major Surprise!)


I went ahead and took the kids inside the museum. I was still expecting it to be kinda hectic...BUT IT WASN'T!!! It was probably the most fun I've had with the kids at the Children's Museum in a long time. They were even good about leaving when I said it was time to go. (Pleasant surprise!)


(These are from @ 3 months ago. I didn't have my camera today.)

When we got home, I heard from Pat again about his truck. The dealership said it would cost about $375 to fix it, not too bad, but they'd have to order the part which would take about TWO to THREE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!! (SURPRISE!!!!!!) So now we're talking about Pat getting a rental car to come home and needing one for the next 2-3 weeks, etc... and then he says, "Well, what would you think if I traded it in and got something else?" (Kind of a surprise...we'd talked about this a few months ago since the truck is literally guzzling gas and as you all know, gas keeps going up! AAAHHH! And it just hit 100,000 miles, and it needs new brakes, and the power doors aren't working, etc...)

So to make this long story a little shorter...after doing some research price comparisons on the internet, talking to Pat on the phone 9 or 10 times, the salesman coming back with 3 different offers, we are now the owners of a silver 2006 Mazda6. (SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!) and an even bigger surprise than that is Pat being willing to let his truck go. He's had it for 7 years and he really loved it, but he has to drive around so much for work, he has to fill up at least twice a week. (It only gets 15 mpg..yikes! We are "depleting the ozone layer" & our bank account at the same time.) Still, I feel bad for Pat. A little Mazda isn't quite the same as a BIG, RED TRUCK...but maybe he'll feel like a race car driver now...if only he were into Nascar. :)