Sheep Guarding Llama

Pretty much the family just hung out at the house this morning.  The Grices and the Houston Toccos hit the road early to drive up to the lake house but they are towing the boat so they are moving slowly and they have a much longer trip than we do so they had to leave way ahead of us to get there by mid-afternoon.

Dominica, the girls and her parents all left in the middle of the day.  I had a bit of work to do so I stayed behind and headed out to the lake mid-afternoon in the new Spark (Dominica drove everyone else in the Acadia) to take it on its first trip of more than a couple of miles.

I’ve been listening to the third book in the Mass Effect series.  This is the one that you are supposed to read between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.  I read part of it before finishing the final game but not all of it.  I am about halfway through it at this point.

It took more than an hour and a half to get out to the lake house on Cedar Creek Lake.  Quite a drive.  We had originally thought that this was just going to be forty-five minutes away.  Whoops.  I will not be able to stay at the lake house and commute in and out.  So the plan is that I will be there this weekend and go back mid-week for a day as well.

It was early evening when I got out to the lake house.  The house is really nice this year.  Big, well laid out.

The funny story of the day is that the guy who rented the house before us, who left it this morning, apparently left behind two of his handguns in a closet and had to call the cleaning lady to ask her to get them and set them aside for him so that he could come back and pick them up.  Seriously?  He had so many weapons with him that he accidentally left two of the, and ammo, behind?  Who forgets two handguns?

Joe, Bennie and I made a run to the “package store” to pick up some Jim Beam tonight so that we could make bourbon and cokes.

It was really hot out tonight.  We were melting being outside.  We sat outside as much as we could but it was pretty rough.

Later on, Francesca, Madeline, Emily and I made a run to a popcorn store to get a huge amount of popcorn for the family.  All kinds of crazy flavours.  That was really popular.

Liesl had a great time hanging out with everyone and loves being at the lake.  Luciana was more inclined to stay inside but is really happy to have her cousins around.

Busy day today.  I got up and went into the office this morning.  Was only there for a few hours before having to run up to Lewisville to pick up the new Chevy Spark.  We were there probably for an hour discussing the financials.  At first they were not going to give us more than $1,000 for the Mazda.  Dan, at work, told us that it wasn’t enough and that we should just walk away.  So we started too.  Suddenly our Mazda was worth $1,500.  So we made a deal.  Only financing this car for three years so it will actually be paid off months ahead of the Acadia.

Dominica and the girls ran down to join me since she needed to be there as the Mazda was in her name so she had to sign paperwork and stuff.  It was just after noon when we wrapped up and Dominica and the girls went home and I ran to Redneck Heaven where I had been scheduled to meet people to exchange some loaner gear but they couldn’t make it so Chris ended up joining me and we just had lunch.  He checked out the car and thought that it was pretty cool.

After lunch it was back to the office.  Everyone came out to check out the car.  It definitely catches peoples’ eyes as it is odd looking and very green.  You can’t miss it.  And it is tiny.  Very easy to park.

Dominica picked up her parents from Love Field this afternoon and they were all at the house when I got down with work.

This evening Dominica’s dad and I made a run up to the Centennial Liquor to grab supplies for the lake.

Tomorrow, around midday, we will be heading to Canton, Texas where we have a lake house for the week.

I called the shop this morning to discuss the availability of the Chevy Sonic that we want.  Drew, our consultant, said that the colours that we wanted were not able to be found in the area but they had some options.  We had originally planned on getting together on Saturday morning to discuss but with the trip out to the lake house happening shortly thereafter on Saturday we decided that that wouldn’t work and set something up for this evening.

We found out that the Chevy Spark, which we had been interested in but had not released yet, released this morning and they want us to drive it this evening.  So that was made the plan.

I went to work and worked through lunch so that I could leave early to deal with the car.

I went up to the Chevy dealer after work and ended up sitting there for an hour and a half and no one brought around the car for me to test drive.  I sat in the Spark that was in the show room.  I was told that my rep was busy and that it would just be twenty or thirty minutes but it went to an hour and a half and when someone finally came to check on me they went to find my rep when they should have gotten me the car to test drive.  That was a really long time with no one checking on me.  I had been offered another rep, but only when I had been there a few minutes and was told only a few minutes longer.  Why another rep was needed to see a car was beyond me.

I was going to stay a while longer but right then Dominica called and needed the Acadia so that she could go out shopping this evening and I had to get home to watch the girls as well.  So I had to leave immediately, already being out much longer than we had intended, and just give up on the appointment.

I got home and already the dealer was calling to apologize for ignoring us and missing the appointment (which was extra annoying since it was the dealer, and not us, pushing for an appointment as soon as possible.)  They asked if we could look at the car tomorrow.  I explained that tomorrow my in-laws were flying into town and Saturday we were leaving for the lake house.  So the window to see the car had really closed on us.

So the dealer decided that they would bring the Spark by our house tonight at nine, after Dominica was done shopping, so that we could both see it, at home, where we could watch the kids for each other while driving it.  We agreed that that would be acceptable and Dominica took off to do her shopping.

While Min was out I did some more research on the car and found that the car we would most likely want, the base model in jalapeno green in automatic, was available from our dealer so I called them and asked to have that exact one brought over so that we could evaluate it and not one “just like it.”  In the Sonic we were looking at the standard which is cheaper and gets better fuel efficiency but in the Spark the green is so cute that Dominica wants to be able to drive it so we have to consider the automatic.

Drew brought the car over at nine and Dominica instantly fell in love with it.  Green exterior and charcoal grey interior with green accents.  Even the stitching on the seats is in green.  It really is well done.  We both took it for a spin and we liked it.  It is not nearly as nice as the Sonic but it is $4,000 less even going with the automatic so that Dominica can drive it and if she drives it we will get even more value out of it as we can put on lower cost, fuel efficient miles more often versus driving the Acadia around.

It only took Dominica a minute to decide that this is the car that she wants.  And while I really want the Sonic turbo in five speed, the cost savings of the Spark makes me happy.  So we decided to go with it.  We told Drew that we would pick it up in the morning, if all goes well with the financing.

Well we are still excited about the idea of getting a new car but we did not hear anything about it today.  So we are just sitting tight.  Lots of house cleaning to do to get ready for the weekend, one way or another.

This evening we went out for dinner at Denny’s again.  This time the one on Frankfort.  We both got the fish tacos again.  Denny’s is great with the girls because they like the food and it is an environment that works well for them.

After dinner tonight, Liesl accidentally left behind her “Mary” Little People from her Little People Nativity set which she plays with all year round.  It is rare that she leaves toys behind, which is amazing considering how many she brings with her and how often she does.  So I called and they found it and are holding it for me to get when I can get back there.  Oh Liesl!

After dinner we ran across the street and got some frozen yoghurt from the Yoghurt Zone.

It is strange having my family home for a little bit.  It is just temporary, though, just one week then they will be gone for a week.  These last two months are definitely the most disruptive of our lives.

I went to the office today.  At lunch time was my Medifast check in.  I’m not doing well but I am making progress.  Really slow progress.  Working off the weight that I accumulated during our time in Europe.  It took so little time to put on but takes so long to take back off.  In reality I probably put on a decent percentage of the weight that I gained while in New York and while traveling and not actually while on vacation in Europe where we were exercising non-stop.

Dominica and I talked today and decided that it was time to start thinking about getting a new car.  The Mazda PR5 just needs way too much work, nearly $900, to drive it safely and at that point it will still have no working air conditioning and tons more repairs will just be a year away.  The fuel efficiency just isn’t there anymore between brake issues and the leaking gas tank.  We could easily drop $2,000 on it to get it really into shape again.  It just is not worth that much, which is sad as the engine runs so well.

So we decided that tonight we were going to go test drive some small, fuel efficient and cost effective new American cars – namely Chevys and Fords.

We started going up to the Chevy dealer, as it was on the way, and test driving the 2012 Chevy Sonic.  It was a really nice little car and we were really impressed with it.  Fun to drive and great space inside.  Would work well for us.  We wanted to drive a Chevy Spark too but they have not yet released so no one can see one first hand.  The Spark and the Sonic are very similar but the Spark is a little smaller, cheaper and less sporty.  We were quite impressed with the Sonic and assume that this is probably the car that we will want.  The price, performance, comfort and efficiency are pretty hard to beat.

From the Chevy dealer we drove up north towards Denton where we stopped at the Ford dealer and test drove the Fiesta.  The Ford proved to not drive as well, cost quite a bit more and was so small that instead of being large and spacious like the Sonic it was actually cramped and uncomfortable.  And, quite frankly, the Ford Fiesta is embarrassingly ugly whereas the Sonic is, well, silly but in an more interesting way.   We didn’t even hang around for a discussion, Ford just isn’t making a car that makes sense for us at any price point, let alone one so much higher than a Chevy that we already liked.

On the way home we stopped by at Denny’s out on 35E for dinner.  They have a new menu with fish tacos on it now that we really like.  And we have always loved their salads.

So we are pretty serious about the Chevy Sonic now that we have driven it.  They are looking to see if they can find us a charcoal grey Sonic Turbo five speed with the brick tinted interior which is super sharp.  I am excited.  I really do need a new car and the Mazda will never be safe to use as a second car for taking the girls anywhere.  We need the ability to take the girls in our second vehicle.

We need to buy something this week because if we don’t we are stuck with logistics problems with the trip next week, which starts on Saturday.  So, if at all possible, we are hoping to have a new car by Friday.  That is going to be tough, though.