Mixed Bag of a day

Yet again, Jansse was sick today. Yesterday too! Got a headache, fever, slight cough, sinus thing going. The fever thing is what gets me worried the most, and makes me keep him from school. Doesn't seem to be influenza, but it sure does make him tired. This morning he slept until 10 a.m. That is extremely unusual for him. Usually he's up no later than 7:30, whether he has to go someplace or not. Poor guy was really tired! Seems a bit better tonight, but I don't know if that is the Motrin or if he is indeed better.

Jansse discovered a tragedy today - the stuffed animal he got for Easter was devoured by that pesky puppy Bo. That lead to tears and a retreat to bed on Jansse's part. Even though at eight years old he is often so grown up and independent, stuffed animals are like real people to him! He has imaginary personalities and roles for each and every one he ever gets, and they are all his "favorites." I just laid on the bed with him and held him while he cried and cried.

Fortunately for me, I do have this photo of him from Easter morning holding the bunny who for that one week was known as "Easter Bunny." (By the way, Jansse doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny, just names his stuffed animal after him.)
It is a nice shot of Jansse, but right now I think it is best not to remind him of the tragedy.

What did console Jansse was the news that Andy was at the auto dealership arranging for a new car for us. This is something we have been contemplating for almost a year, and we have really put a lot of thought into it. As you know, this is a major purchase. We put it off last fall because we decided we didn't want the additional debt, and we would just make due with the GMC truck and Chevy Tahoe that we had. The biggest drawback to those vehicles was neither of them get good gas mileage. But, we just couldn't justify the added payment when we could help the gas situation by reducing our trips to town and our overall driving.

Well, as you know, gas prices have continued to go up, making the two cars that we had less and less economical. Finally, we figured if we could get something that got 26 miles to the gallon we would reduce our gas use on one of the vehicles by 1/2. That is likely to be at least $200 a month in gas cost reduction. Well, heck, that is almost the payment on a new vehicle if we traded in one of the gas guzzlers.

Then, the final straw hit. The Tahoe is in need of some repairs - we're estimating over $2500 in the next year because the transmission is showing signs of being on its last leg, and there is something wrong with one of the oxygen sensors, making the car run very rough, especially when it first starts. Plus, there are multiple other less expensive, but still necessary repairs that were going to have to happen. And then there are tires. So, between what we save in gas each month and what we will save in upcoming repair bills, we actually save some money by getting a new Subaru. Yep! Here it is sitting next to the retiring Tahoe at the dealership:

And here it is sitting in our driveway!

Just driving it home got it dirty already, but that's got to be okay out here, or the car won't survive. No clean cars after getting up our muddy driveway, or even after driving on all the rural roads we take to get to and from town! So, this purchase is something to get excited about! In our almost 11 years of marriage, we've only bought one other vehicle, so it is not like we do this every other year or something.

Now, for those of you who don't know, the Tahoe was a very special gift to us from my father-in-law. In 2005 he noticed that our 1999 Jeep was starting to need more frequent repair. Since he was planning on trading in his 2002 Tahoe for a new one, he decided, very generously, to give us the Tahoe in exchange for the Jeep, and then trade in the Jeep. As you can imagine, the six year old Jeep was worth a lot less on trade in than the three year old Tahoe, but he really wanted to do it. How could we say no? It was so thoughtful and kind of him to do that for us! So, there is some sadness in letting go of the Tahoe. But, as explained above, it is the best decision all around. (We had to keep the truck because it has the plow attachment, and since we got 8 inches of snow and needed to plow today, it was obvious that it still has a role to play in our lives. It is the older car, but oh well! Plus, over the past year, it has proven itself to be the more reliable as far as repairs go.)

To end the day on an even better note, Jansse and I finally heard the first SandHill Cranes of the year today as we were driving the new car up the driveway. They are later than ever before by at least four days, and I'm afraid the 8 inches of snow is not a particularly warm greeting for them, but it is fun to hear their funny calls again! A sign that spring is somewhere buried under all that white stuff!