My New 00-TARDIS & June #WriteMotivation Update #1

Meet, 00-TARDIS, my new ride.

Double Oh TARDIS                                                                                                                                                                because it’s BLUE, the front end looks like and Aston Martin, and it really is bigger on the inside.

After taking our 2000 Dodge Stratus to our mechanic to find out why the check engine light came on, he told us it was the catalytic converter. He jacked it up to find out what type we needed, only to find that we had a blown head gasket. I really like this mechanic. He’s honest and doesn’t jerk your chain. And he’s fair on his prices. He told us he couldn’t morally/ethically charge us for a part when there is something else majorly wrong and wouldn’t be worth fixing since it would cost more than the car is worth. So, he suggested we clear the code and take it directly to the dealer and get a new car.

TheHubs was kind of leaning towards buying a certified used car, but I told him I wanted peace of mind for the family. Yes, it would mean a car payment we haven’t had in 9 years. But still. Our luck with used cars has been worse than bad. And after looking at the used car prices, they really weren’t that much less. Maybe $2-3k less, and the miles would have put it off the warranty. I’m totally all for warranties. It’s why I bought the Stratus in the first place.

See, the car we had before the Stratus was a Pontiac Grand Am. We bought her used. It was our money pit. We had a love/hate relationship with her. She loved to break down and we hated her for it. Yet, we couldn’t afford a new car at the time. I think we put the same, if not more, money into her to fix her chronic problems…including the last major overhaul of the engine when she threw a rod. We fixed her up and took her to Germany with us. She performed well, but we think we may have abused her on the Autobahn 🙂 But still. The rules were, if she dies on the German roadside, I was going to leave her there to rot!

Six months before we were to rotate back to the states, she did just that. Died. Again, she threw a rod. Unfortunately, we couldn’t just leave her due to the German laws and our license plate giving us away as Americans. Luckily, there was a place about 10-15 miles from our house where, if we could drive her through the gate they would take her and dispose of her free of charge. The tricky part was driving her there. But we managed, with horrid knocking, and a whole lot of praying and giving her constant gas. She made it…barely. As soon as we drove through the gate, she died. Never to start again. The engine froze, locked up, seized. It wasn’t ever going to crank again.

And I was happy to be rid of her.

I was so pissed that she fell back into her “old ways” that I went online, configured a brand spanking new Stratus with all the bells and whistles and took it to the AAFES dealer. TheHubs came with me, but he knew how pissed I was and just kept his mouth shut. The dealer had everything I ticked off, except the color. But since we needed a car NOW, I had to settle on the Forest Green. It was our very first brand new car, ever! 🙂

She lasted a good 13 years for us. But you have to weigh how much money it’s going to cost in repairs to a new car payment and the reliability of the car. And now was the time to retire the Stratus. I liked it. It was a good car. I was sad to give her up. But never again will I have a sun roof. We can’t utilize it but maybe one week out of the year. I will never have leather seats again. It was a pain to take care of, and all the stitching had come apart due to the UV damage, I’m guessing and the lack of taking care of it. The paint, also due to the UV rays, was pealing pretty bad. We only got $500 for trade-in. Yes, all of the “extras” add value to the car, but only if you trade it in within 5 years. We had that car for 13.

So, with this new car, we were more conservative, and I did let TheHubs have his say. I still think I talked him out of a used car, and I might not have gotten everything we would have liked in this car. So, I do stumble sometimes and feel like a heel for getting this particular car. But, I do like it tremendously. And TheHubs is pretty much satisfied. I mean, it’s safe for the family car. The payments, well…we’ll have to deal with that. But keeping the family safe, and not having to dip into the savings every other month to fix a car, does seem to be a relief of sorts. 🙂

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Now that I am not researching cars, buying a car, and worrying about some additional things going on in my life, I can turn my focus to my writing routine again. I hope.

So, here’s June’s goals

1) Be Positive, Try to find the positive in every situation, no matter how small. I think I’m starting off on a positive note with the new car, safety, and the fact I’ve resolved myself NOT to worry about that “something”.

2) Cheer others on with #writemotivation cookie flinging and positive thoughts! I’ve been AWOL online for this first part of June so far. But I think I might be able to get back into it soon enough! If you need me, @ me wherever you need to! I’ll always respond. 🙂

3) attempt to FINISH THAT WIP! Or at least write SOMETHING! Well, I had this dream the other morning, between snooze alarms, where I was actually talking to Sir Patrick Stewart about my WIP. Don’t ask me why him…but it was freaking awesome! I’ve never really dreamed of celebrities before. But there he was. And all that I remember was him telling me “full circle”. I’ve been trying to think how to do this for the ending of my story. But, I’m still not writing….YET. However, I did find this anthology that caught my eye and I actually started writing a short story for it. So yay! 🙂

4) find something to blog about other than these Update posts. Currently, I incorporated that into this post. So, here’s hoping I can manage something the rest of the month. 🙂

5) read another book.  I finished 2 last month, one for pleasure and one for CP, and now I have 2 more CP books. This has been tough so far due to the busy schedule I’ve had and the fact that I’ve been emotionally exhausted this last week. But, I’m starting to get back into my normal routine, and I hope to have at least one of these finished by the end of the month…actually, I think my deadline is the 20th. *fingers crossed*

Also, if you’re interested, we’ve got a Google Plus community going, and we’re trying to organize a chit-chat hangout one of these weekends. If you want, swing on over, join, and let us know if you’re interested and when is a good time for you.

Good luck to everyone on their goals!