Day 2

Due to Forrest's mouthy attitude and disrespect to his mother, we have implemented a child-wide ban on watching TV, playing computer games, or playing the Wii. This was Rebekah's idea, and I am supportive. To be honest, I wouldn't have gone this extreme but I don't like my kids being entertained too much. Not sure why, as I did it as much as my Dad would let me get away with. But, I must say that so far, so good. It is only day two, so we'll see. I think we need to go at least a week, but Forrest's attitude will determine how much more than that it goes. We may keep it largely in affect, or much more tightly regulate these things from now on. I'm not sure. But I stayed home today (vacation) because I couldn't get to sleep last night due to some various things. We have a goathead infestation on our property. I didn't realize how fast that stuff moves. It's hit the edge of our lawn and on close examination we have two feet of the edge of our lawn hosting those nasty things. I used all my herbicide yesterday and starting ho-ing (not the female kind, but the garden utensil kind). I'm gonna send Rebekah in town to D&B to round up some more. Until them, I'm trying to motivate myself to start focusing on working on our house again. The past couple windstorms have ripped a bunch of shingles off. Scary places too. Hope I don't fall off when try to fix them.

7 Days later (actually, closer to 8)

This is meant to be a follow-up post about our car purchase, but a lot has happened this week so bear with me. Sunday was our first run with the "burb" and it went well. There are some considerations to factor in loading/unloading but we were pleased. By the way, if this post seems a little scatter brained, it's because I'm typing it while being swarmed by four little ones demanding graham crackers. Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

My follow-up to my car buying experience is largely unchanged. This is good. Occasionally there is euphoria that wears off after a bit of a reality check. Well, I was very happy to have purchased a vehicle that met our needs so certain things were largely ignored. Mileage, certain vehicle features, etc. I have to say though that although our Durango was a nicer trim level, there isn't much that I preferred over the burb. In fact, things like the ride, exhaust/engine sound, dual zone AC in the front, make the burb nicer than I expected. Most importantly I haven't found anything odd like replacement doors or anything to indicate that it'd been in a crash. Of course, I wasn't expecting to find anything like that since I had asked for a carfax first. Always ask for a carfax before buying a car. If the dealership won't give you one go somewhere else. Hometown didn't offer me one, but when I asked it was no big deal and I had it a few minutes later. So, how does this story end? Well, for most people it would be over. For us, we still have to see if they have a spare burb key and I need to give them our spare Durango key. That sucker is expensive so whoever buys it will appreciate having a spare. So, in conclusion, if you're in the market for a new car, do your homework and know the value on what you have and what you want to buy, find a good salesman like Mike Brufffet, find a good dealership like Steve's Hometown in Weiser, and probably most importantly, follow your gut. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to have a good car-buying experience.

One last comment: I didn't go through their financing people as I wanted to use my credit union. I have been a member of Capital Educators Federal Credit Union since I was a kid. My Dad --a teacher-- used to have a guy come up once a year and sign kids up. In that many years, there have been a couple of mistakes made when I've done business with them, but the great thing about these guys is the level of service they provide. Anytime anything went wrong, they were obsessed with making things right and what more can you ask for? Happily though, this last experience was flawless as Cecile @ the Kuna branch worked on my loan. The service was prompt and friendly and I got a great rate. So, if you're not happy with your financial institution, I would strongly recommend these guys. They have really been branching out (hehehe. what a great pun) and so it's pretty convenient. I do wish they'd get one over in payette county though, but since they are in the credit union co-op, I can use one of the other local credit unions to get cash out.

Now for something completely different...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging for a brief jaunt into where many fear to dread... buying a new car! Ok, it's used. But you still gotta deal with normally unpleasant things such as car salesmen, haggling, more hagggling, walking away, crying wives, crying children, kicked dogs, emasculation, and broken bank accounts. My first experience trying to buy a car about a year ago ended in tears, well actually laughter, as I was offered $6500 on my Durango when I owed $17,000. So, needless to say I was dreading this but we just couldn't put off the purchase any longer. After a few weeks of research we settled on a Suburban and found one at Hometown Motors in Weiser. (Here's a link to the vehicle, but it will be gone from the site soon). I was cautiously optimistic because my Dad had purchased his pickup from there a few years ago and he had a relatively pleasant experience from what I could remember.

After much hemming and hawing, we decided to go ahead with "trying" to purchase it. Part of me was dreading this so much that I partially hoped somebody else would buy it before we were ready. After taking care of some housekeeping, we finally got approval from our Credit Union (Capital Educators FCU) this morning for a 3.9% interest rate. So, my wife called the salesman we had been working with and let him know I'd come up about noon. So, I trudged up there with my shiny durango to see if we could work a deal. Mike met me as I pulled in. I was ready to fend off the various tricks. I had super-glued my keys to my hand so they couldn't hijack my vehicle like another other dealer had (ok, I didn't really. But I wouldn't hand them over). So, I met Dan who would evaluate my vehicle and went with him while he drove it. Even that was pleasant. We chatted while he checked things out and the whole thing was painless. It took a bit while he got numbers on the durango. Mike and I chatted about things from drywall texturing to plumbing with PEX. He even offered to help me out and loan me tools. Was this a trick to lull me into a sense of ease so that I would lower my defenses? My cynical self would typically think so, but with Mike I honestly believe he was just trying to be helpful. We had many things in common, not the least of which was the fact that he had twins in his family as well. An identifiable, personable human being a car salesman? What will they think of next?? Anywho, we finally got numbers and right out of the gate they were pretty reasonable. I dickered on one point and without push-back or anything high pressure we came to an agreement quickly. I think we both got fair deals without any real stress. I think that's important in a car purchase and pretty rare. Maybe it's a game to some people, but I don't want to beat somebody out of everything but their shorts (that's my dad's saying). I simply want and need a fair price with good service. The car dealership and salesman need to make a profit too. I could go on, but suffice it to say the experience was actually enjoyable and the people genuinely friendly and helpful. I would strongly recommend the guys in Weiser and a special thanks to Mike B. our patient low-pressure salesman, Dan the friendly and fair appraisal dude, and Jake the guy who put it all the docs together and put up with all my questions while we signed papers. If this experience is typical, I will be a repeat customer. Any of my Oregon/Idaho friends, I encourage you to check these guys out.

Tricycle races

and plastic egg fights. That's my two older boys for you.

Today I put in a new hot water heater. Since my brother was coming sometime I was in a bit of a hurry, so I decided to be a little reckless. My hot water heater was up on some cinder blocks so it could hook into the water pipes. Instead of taking a couple hours to drain it (it was plugged up with sediment) I decided to unhook it and then move it. Move is actually kind of a euphemism because i kind of did a pull, shove, and then dive. 50 gallons of water is quite heavy and once it started falling off the cinder blocks I knew I couldn't control it like I had hoped so I got out of the way and let it come falling down. When it hit it took out some of my furnance pipe that I had removed and set aside. But, I wasn't hurt and I got it out of the way. Unfortunately, the water was now draining out into the basement. Not a big deal as it's seen water before but the water had to go somewhere. So, I kept putting buckets under it as it drained out for the next hour or so. Then I started working on installing the new HWH (hot water heater). It was the same size, so I knew I shouldn't have any major issues but I couldn't safely lift it up the foot I needed all by myself. I guess the inside tank is glass coated and is kind of fragile. If you bang it around you might break the glass and have a leaking HWH before it was its time. This world has enough pain and sorrow and I didn't want to add to it by crippling a HWH in the prime of its youth. Thankfully, I have a very strong wife so with her help (I think she did most of the heavy lifting) we hefted it up and put the HWH where it belonged. A few tweaks and we were good to go. While I was working on the furnace pipe (el crusho flato) Tyler and Amy and offspring arrived. We chit chatted and all was good and nice.

Lately, I've been rolling with the punches pretty well I thought. But it seems that I keep getting punched. The cynical part of me says that If I start throwing hissy fits and temper tantrums then maybe it'll stop. There's some logic to that as God says he won't give us more than we can take. I just don't want anymore things to load me down anymore. I guess it's all just a matter of priorities combined with offloading the burden to God. Everything seems to work a little smoother if prefaced with prayer.

Trinity (T-bone) and Clell (Sea Biscuit) are walking now. Trin has been a walking fool. Clell walked first, setting the precedent but now he's content to let his sister have the limelight. What a swell guy huh?

Gotta go. Titus just got sick. too much excitement with not enough sleep and he throws up. Kind of weird, but i'm the last person to be critical of someone with stomach problems.