Introducing: The Mani-Van

That's not a typo folks. Our new ride has been dubbed The Mani-Van because my husband will be the one driving it, and he has been *dying* to get into a mini-van almost since we got married, but especially once E came along. He's practically giddy! He went from a Jeep Wrangler (soft top), to the grocery-gettin' Lumina, to this: The Mani-Van. According to him, he has matured and risen higher in the evolutionary ladder of masculinity, and being the primary driver of the van demonstrates this. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I *loathe* mini-vans and don't ever want to drive one on a regular basis. I guess you could call this one of those....what are they??....Oh yeah, a compromise.

My mom, a.k.a. Our Loan Officer, is holding the girls hostage until we pay off our debt to her, as she fronted the entire purchase, and we owe her a grandson (this is what she'd like in return for the loan). My uncle deserves thanks as well, because he called as we were literally driving in Giant Texas Town, looking at 2 pages worth of Ford Windstars, and he advised us that the Odyssey would be a much better purchase and that we should get somewhere to use the internet and check out craigslist.com. I'll spare you all the details, but he convinced us on the spot, and we had to change our plan. We stopped and asked directions to the nearest college campus or public library; hurried there; accosted students on the sidewalk demanding to know "Where's your library?!"; planted ourselves at two of their library's public access computers; and searched the craigslist offerings. More than half of the offerings were already gone, but we scored with this one.

We actually got a pretty good deal: it's a 2001 Odyssey EX, with 71K miles, no exterior or interior damage or heavy wear, power everything, and store-n-go 3rd row seating, etc. for $8750. We checked the NADA and the Kelley BB, and if all the numbers are right, we got this for less than any of its retail valuese by going through a private party seller. Speaking of private parties, by the way, craigslist.com is AWESOME! It doesn't cost anything to list an ad, so people are more likely to list there before putting an ad in the classifieds.

This means that we are fully prepared for when the 3rd child eventually becomes a reality (sometime early next Summer, hopefully). If you remember, not having a mode of transportation that would carry all the children was my husband's primary objection to having a 3rd child almost a year ago. There were others, of course, but this was a big one for him. That obstable has been removed; now we just have those pesky dissertations to finish.

I should hear from the insurance company today, as they're supposed to call and make an initial settlement offer. I really hope they're playing in the same ballpark as me, because I DO NOT want to have to get an attorney to settle this. Wish me luck, as Hubby has left for Home State and I'm flying solo into what I hope is not a Battle.