Conversation Hearts : She's 21

The tags Conversation Hearts have always been about my daughter Caitlin.


Since she moved out on her own, our daily chats are more like post it notes. Short and to the point. I really do miss her loud, moody, quirky, silly-self.

Like everyone else, jobs and money have been a speed-bump she's been trying to juggle. This kid has had a job, non-stop, since she was 15. She's a hair stylist, and like everything else, her industry is slowing down. Women are stretching their appointments longer and doing a lot of "do-it-yourself" coloring. (This has been an upside because they usually need a professional to fix it)

Caitlin just turned 21. Her car died. She needed to get another job. She was feeling pretty blue.

This, 2002 Saturn, owned by a little ole' lady only has 36K miles on it. No dirt, stains, chicken-McNuggets or footprints in it.

(Oops, crappy background, on work parking lot)

Happy Birthday Caitlin !

You are a hard worker in life and you're always striving to be better.

I love you,
Mom

Extended Weekend "Fun"

... so where was I? Yesterday I posted that my weekend brought me awful poison ivy, 2 bee stings, and the wasp nest to destroy.

Remember my new car? My Pontiac G6 that has about 480 miles on it? The one that is supposed to look like this?

Yeah, well a very sad now, 19 year old girl forgot about looking behind when pulling out of a parking space. I think she remembered the moment her rear bumper hit the side of my car. I'm sure she thought the blare of my horn, just as she was about to hit me, was for somebody else.

Actually I wasn't upset at all. I felt bad for her. I looked and saw her head drop into her hands and I wasn't sure if she was hurt or crying. I jumped out of my car and ran to her. When she got out she was crying and so upset. I hugged her, asked her if she was OK and reassured her that as long as no one was hurt, we didn't need to be upset. I reminded her these hunks of metal can be repaired or replaced and the most important thing was we weren't hurt. I asked her how old she was and then told her I had a daughter the same age and it could easily be my kid in this situation.

It happened in front of my bank and just then a teller came running out. It was her daughter that hit me. I explained I needed to make a police report, without intent to get her in trouble, but so I wouldn't have to pay a deductible or have my rates increased. They understood, and I told her since it was on private property, she wouldn't get a ticket. (I'm sure her rates will go up though) Police came, she admitted fault, and no ticket for her.

So, I made a claim, got an estimate, $2,247.56, and I am just thankful nobody was hurt .... oh, and that it wasn't my daughter who hit someone!

Sales Men vs Women

As I was saying, I have to turn in my ($80.00 a week in gas) wheels by June 10th, which is next Sunday which really means by June 8th, next Friday.

For the past 10 years I have leased Ford Explorers ... the fatties, XLT's. I had no clue what I was going to lease next, but I knew I wanted something that would run on ignorant people, because that's seems to be the only abundant thing I have run into lately. I guess it's not an option.

I hate car shopping, hence the end of lease rollovers for the last 5 I've had. I tried to call around during the day to get some information so I could narrow my search down. My plan was to go after work and not come home until I decided on something, anything. Sales people do not want to talk on the phone. The spiders want to get you into their web in hopes of consuming you on the spot. They don't realize they are talking to a praying mantis here.

So I get nowhere on the phone with the exception of one saleswoman. That's right a woman gave me a complete out-the-door price on one of the models I was thinking about.

Just before I left work, the salesman that I planned on meeting called to tell me NOT to come, they were so busy with end of the month deliveries he would not have time to spend demoing and talking with me.

Well, at least he called, saved me the time of going to deal with someone who is quite obviously an asshole. Who. In sales. In Michigan. In AUTOMOBILES. Tells a potential customer not to come?

Now my friend Debbie is quite the opposite of me. I know if she had the means, she'd out do Jay Leno as far as owning warehouses full of cars. Thank God she came with me last night to look at my options.

Despite being uninvited to the one dealership, I went anyway. I'd show him. I won't mention his name and get a different salesperson and when the deal was made, I'd hunt him down and put it in his face. Sounded like a good plan until the "next available salesman" that was paged appeared before Debbie and me. He acted like I was imposing. The reality was, I wondered if he had ever heard of Crest Whitestrips. Did he know dry cleaners could iron shirts if you lacked the ability? Debbie was trying to avoid dropage of the booger hanging out of his nostril. At this point, I just wanted out ... I looked at one car and asked him to write the price down. I think it would have been kinder to ask him to cut off his legs.

On to the next dealership. This is the one where the saleswoman quoted me an out-the-door price over the phone. She got a demo ready for us, went for a ride and sat down to talk pricing. After deciding on which car, she entered everything into the computer and I thought OK, here comes the catch. Well what do you know? The price she gave over the phone, was right on the penny. Gee, a person of her word. No slight of hand, no add-ons, no bait and switch, no gimmicks to get me there. It was what she said.

I signed her papers and will pick it up tomorrow. When the lease is up, she'll be the first person I will talk to about the next one.

Oh yea, this is what I got ... it's going to be a big change from an SUV, but it's going to be more change in my pocket !

2007 Pontiac G6 ~ Black