What have I been up to? Well, let’s see.

1) Being tired.

2) Being excited.

3) Car shopping.

4) Crying, because banks are stupid and want too much money.

5) More car shopping, and some actual test drives.

6) Feverish number crunching.

So yes, for my birthday Den said my “present” is that we’re getting me a car. Not “someday,” not “when the baby comes,” but now. I. Am. Thrilled. Well, mostly thrilled. I’m totally excited at the prospect of having my own car again. OMG am I. And having a car before the baby arrives is priceless.

However, as shown in my steps above… we ran into a major snag today. I researched loans and found out no local banks were willing to give a loan for a vehicle older than 6 years. Since we were hoping for something around a 1999 model, this is a major major problem. We cannot pull $4000 out of our asses – and if we were, I would already have had a car.

So today I went car shopping for 2002s and 2003s. I found a couple that were within our price range. A Chevy Cavalier that had some scratches on it – which didn’t concern me in the least – but alas the interior did NOT look at all like what I picture a newer car should look like! It had no power locks or power windows. The upholstery looked cheap, was ripped, and the seatbelt dug into my chest. It drove okay, but it was not the car for me.

I then test drove a 2002 Ford Taurus. I really liked that car. The reason it was so cheap was that it has 116k miles on it, which made Den yipe. But oh man… it had everything… power locks, power windows, remote keyless entry, alarm system, power seats for crying out loud (not something I need really! But cool!). The upholstery was beautiful. It had a CD player. And it was a big mid-size car, plenty enough room for baby and “stuff.” But alas, the Ford Taurus gets pretty crappy miles per gallon, compared to other midsize cars, and that makes me sad. It’s on my list, but we were really hoping for something that could do a lot better on gas.

Some friends pointed me towards credit unions, and I’ve found at least one who will give loans for older vehicles, which lets allows me a lot more leeway in what I look at! I like having options. Stupid banks only care if you’re going to finance a big sum of money. They offer small “personal loans” – at an interest rate of 12%. Grrrr. They can bite me.

So I guess for now I peruse the online listings and wait to see what shows up. All this car shopping is really making me wish we hadn’t gotten rid of the Mitsubishi Galant (the car Den leased before we bought our Mitsubishi Montero Sport that we have now). We love our SUV, and to be quite honest with a German Shepherd Dog an SUV was required. (The dog, umm, ate through a seatbelt or two in the car. He didn’t like being strapped in, and he also didn’t like staying in the backseat. And when you’re driving, having a 90lb dog climb on your lap… not so safe.) In any case, we loved that Galant. Only reason we traded it in was to get a larger vehicle. And we certainly won’t get rid of the SUV, we love it too. But now I want one of each. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for an older Galant up for sale.

So this is my life right now… obsessing about cars. I just want to make sure I get the right one… it’s going to be with me for the next 4 years or so.

I’ve never gone car shopping before, to be honest. My first car was an ’83 Plymouth Reliant that my dad “got” for me (for free – because who wants an ’83 Reliant?) It was boxy and ugly. But it was blue, it had 4 doors, and it was mine. I hated it at first… but I grew to love it over the 4 years I had it. The muffler may have fallen out, the windshield wipers never did work right, the upholstery was ripped up… but it was MY car, all mine, and I loved it.

Oh and of course there’s the worrying about how we’re going to handle two car payments when I’m not working…. but Den has Made The Decision that this is what we shall do, so apparently it will all just work out. And you know… somehow it always does.