The Jeep has Arrived!

Ain't she a beaut!

Kazi may not leave it white - she might have it "wrapped" as 

she has a friend who does that for a living.

Example:

But, in the meantime...white/charcoal it is!

(My Dougie is in the background!)

I took Kaz out to breakfast yesterday to celebrate. She's so happy!

Though she cried giving up the old Cobalt I gave her years ago. 

Due to the amount of rust on the Cobalt it couldn't be

safetied without major work. So she used it as a trade-in.

And...she broke off a chunk of rust to keep forever!

Yes, she's very sentimental.

Maybe I'll mount it in a shadow-box for Christmas 😊

She's trying to come up with a name for the jeep. 

She called the Cobalt "Stella". Yes, we tend to name everything!

I suggested "Jerry".

I'm pretty proud of my girl. She did all the research, got the best deal she could. Her job with Enterprise helped out too as she was able to drive a ton of different vehicles which helped in her decision. Also, Enterprise is partnered with London Chrysler/Jeep which gave her 10% off the top!

In other news...I briefly looked at ads for a used Jeep then came to my senses! I'm trying to decrease my transportation expenses not increase them. To me, a vehicle has always been a way to get from point A to point B.  I've never cared about "heated seats" or the myriad other perks/options.

An older woman once said to me "you're no plain Jane" but really, I am. The less things that can go wrong with a car is what I'm interested in. We had 3 Cobalts over the years and that was because they were rated as being one of the most inexpensive cars to maintain. And they were.

Buying Dougie was an anomaly for me - he was perfect for PEI. People often ask me why I still drive a truck and I say: I paid cash - a small amount of cash so I owe nothing, he had less than 100,000km on him and currently sits at a low 134,000km, insurance is cheap due to less chance of personal injury in case of a crash, having a truck in the family is very handy, and he makes me walk more....oh, and I LOVE HIM!

I've been lucky (we've ALL been lucky) with the low price of gas over the last couple of years or I would likely have traded Dougie in by now. But I still think - "should I walk or should I drive" every time I go somewhere. And more often than not I walk. Or cycle.

I've been thinking about one last big road trip with Dougie, so considering all of my options of course. I still have a couple of months before my insurance renews so will take that time to make a decision about Dougie. Sell him, give him away, continue as is, insure for just 6 months a year...I don't need to decide today.

Do you have any decisions you're putting off?

WIFI x Two

Apparently you have to get the internet technician in the house TWICE before things are truly fixed. Luckily he was still parked outside filling in paperwork when I tried connecting my laptop and got the message about there being NO INTERNET!! The second time he came in he discovered a "bad splitter" and also rerouted directly to the modem (which has wifi capability unbeknownst to me!) so we no longer have to use our old router which also speeded things up. He also gave us a 2nd 5G wifi connection so if the first one is slow it automatically connects to the 2nd one - this is handy at peak times of the day.

Don't know what he did the first time he came in!! Played with the cats?

Anyhoo... I'm enjoying actually having High-Speed internet once again. I've been zipping all over the place :)

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! Kazi will be visiting her boyfriend in Detroit and enjoying a 2nd big Thanksgiving dinner (we had ours in October) and lots of football games no doubt. She is considering a new car purchase which is very exciting. I gave her my Cobalt when I bought Dougie the Dodge going on 5 years ago. Stella, the Cobalt, has done well over the years but has had her day.

The interesting part (to me) is her new car costs 10X what I paid for my first new car back in 1977! Wow. And here I am considering going without a vehicle altogether! Different generations.

This was my first new car - a 1977 Datsun F10 Hatchback in gold :) Absolutely loved it!!

*More about my car-free options in my next post.

Johnny Depp & the End of November

What do Johnny Depp and and the month of November have in common?

To find out the answer to this deeply mystifying question, if indeed you care at all, you will have to wait until the end of this post to find out!

Month End Report:  (I am feeling slightly intimidated by this heading!)

My first pay for December will be in my account as of midnight tonight so financially November is ovah! Yay! November will be remembered as the month of the accident - the month my baby girl realized that yes, driving can be dangerous, that other drivers don't always drive the way you think they should. A rude awakening indeed. She's doing well - she's in good spirits, busy with exams, essays and work and looking forward to about a 3 week break from school. Our trip to Toronto is all booked and this Saturday we are going on a Christmas Tree Adventure (a surprise organized by Michael)- for the first time we are going to chop down our own tree! Usually we put up a fake tree as we generally travel to see relatives but this year we are staying home so we will celebrate with a real tree just this once.

Oh yeah...the financials, got a little sidetracked there: I ended up making a profit on the replacement car and applied it to my line of credit which made me smile. I was overbudget by $16 on groceries but under budget on gasoline, hydro, natural gas and cell phone. I met my savings targets and exceeded my debt repayment target so all in all there is light at the end of Dark November.

For December: I reduced my savings goals for December thereby increasing my misc. spending from $288 to $750 - hopefully that will be enough to see me through a busy month of entertaining and being entertained. I am really hopeful that I won't spend all $750 but better to be prepared as I am rapidly finding out! 

OK - if you hung out with til now in hopes of finding out what Johnny Depp and November have in common here it is - the answer - the culmination of an amazing post - here goes - wait for it - NOTHING!! Absolutely nothing, except that Johnny certainly brightens up an otherwise dark and gloomy month...much better than looking at say... this calendar instead..

Boring, right??
Yes, thank you - I knew you'd agree:) And therefore I have a reward for you:
On December 10th "The Tourist" starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie opens "in theatres everywhere" and here is a trailer just for you:

P.S. A couple of months ago I tried to downloand a free songlist courtesy of the National Post. It didn't seem to work at the time but when I was re-syncing my iPod a few minutes ago there it was - 13 free songs! So now I'm listening to my NEW FREE music and enjoying it immensely!

What is your latest freebie??

Closed for the Season ........sob....

 Brrrrrr....Lake Huron looks cold and uninviting now. Hard to imagine that only three months ago we were laying on a blanket, book in hand, squinting from the sun, having a "beach day".

 The hydrangea blossoms have all dried up but they still look beautiful.

 This is what happens to climatis in the fall - I had no idea - very pretty.

Not everything was dead and dried up however - I was very surprised to see that my geraniums were still blooming!! A sight for sore eyes indeed! My geraniums in London have been frozen by hard frosts. 

 And it looks like my climbing hydrangea hasn't given up yet.

That was then...(see me in my hanging chair?)

And....this is now...

One last burst of colour from a rose, imagine that! before the snow covers everything for the next four, long cold and miserable months.

Yes, I am a summer person:)

By the way, it was very windy today but Cora did a great job on the highway - I was very pleased. By next Friday she should have her winter boots...I mean tires...on.

Bring on the snow!!

Back to the Future: Cobalt #3

Cora Cobalt II

There she is - I found just the right car for our needs. She's a bit older than my cc (crumpled cobalt) and perhaps a bit wiser for it. Happily she has about 20,000 less kms on her than cc so very pleased about that and she came in way under budget so I can afford to get some brand new snow tires for the dear.

I'm pretty fond of her already if you hadn't noticed. That's because she is identical to a gold 4door cobalt sedan I leased for 4 years (2005-2009) previous to buying the black cobalt coupe last year. Except she's a wee bit newer. I loved the test drive - everything was exactly where I remembered it to be and it was like putting on a well-worn but well-fitting old pair of gloves. So I think I'll call her Cora - comfortable sounding old-fashioned name.

I found an ad for Cora online a couple of days ago and found the low kms, sedan model and low price very appealing but when I drove to the small car lot yesterday no one was there. I looked over the outside of the car and it looked well cared for.  I was really disappointed no one was there to help me but carried on looking at other cars.

Today I looked at one with VERY low kms for the same price as today's find plus it was loaded with options, but when I went to see it it was obvious that it had had a collision at some point as both front quarter panels were ill-fitting replacements and THAT was very disappointing as I was hoping for a real find. Not meant to be.  On a whim I thought I'd drive by the small dealership and see if anyone was there and that's when I found Mike!

I liked Mike right away - he seemed like a regular guy - unpretentious, self-deprecating sense of humour, very accommodating without being overbearing. He wasn't at the dealership yesterday because he was sick and he's in business for himself - no employees but a mechanic - so he had to close shop for the day. I test drove the car at 2:30pm and by 3:00pm had it at Harry's, my mechanic, to check it over. Other than one small link to be replaced "my guy" said it's in great shape! So I drove it back to Mike and signed on the dotted line. Once his mechanic replaces the link Cora is mine, all mine:)

And just in time. I will return the rental car tomorrow and have them drop me at Mike's to pick up Cora all certified and E-tested and shiny clean. Then it's off to put new snow tires on it at Harry's.

I just texted DD to let her know about the "new" old car and she's tickled as can be that it's the same as the one she learned to drive in. I'm hoping that will help her feel less anxious when she finally gets behind the wheel.

So thankful that we can now put that awful chapter of life behind us. DD is whole and healthy, we'll be back on the road once again with Cora who I'm sure will last the four years I need her to until I retire.