and the search goes on.

Since October, we've been looking for a vehicle. In November, the bathtub faucet broke, and the fallout from that was an entire bathroom redo. We just finished that. Now our search intensifies.
Our "dream" vehicle is a Sequoia. Why? It's built well and holds enough people and pulls enough weight. It is also out of our price range.
The other choices are Pathfinder, Armada, and Pilot. Each of these has at least one thing that we wish it did or didn't have. Now everyone does something different and no one can make our decision for us. So many things to think about:
**do we get what we want, have it a long time, and stretch out huge payments f.o.r.e.v.e.r....
** do we get one less seat and lose the ability to carry both mom and dad when visiting
** do we get one that can't pull as much while we're trying to get to CA or later when we're camping
** do we get one that doesn't have the 4x4 whenever we're going over the ice and snow to get to CA and later when we want to go on a waterfall hunt
** do we care about mpg and luggage capacity.
** what if we really both don't like white and that's the only color we EVER find.
** should we care about "looks"--will people think such 'n such about us if we get one kind of car over another
** should we look for a miracle, wait for a miracle, or just go ahead and get something that seems like the right deal

It's almost too much to think about.
I really want this ordeal to be over so that I can pack or think about what we're going to bring and where we will put it. I want to stop driving down the road and saying, "There's a Tahoe, there's a Sequoia, there's a Pathfinder."
I was afraid to drive the Sequoia today because of hopefulness. It's a little like dating. You go around town wondering who looks the best. Then you see someone you like and have the courage to make a date. Then you go out with someone for a test drive and your emotions get all out of order and you think "Is this the one? It handles well. Torque is cool." If the offer isn't just so, then "no" right? Well, what if the salesperson is REALLY good and convinces you this is the best deal. Are you strong enough to walk away?
Marriage is much better. The payments are incredibly difficult at first. You really have to work at it. Then you get it paid off--it's yours. But you still don't treat it ill. You take care of it. Regular maintenance. Sometimes major surgery. It might be easier to go out and get a new one, but what would that solve?

1st support group meeting

Tonight held the first meeting this year for Parent/Teacher Meetings.
We had an ice storm warning come out about an hour before our meeting was to start. Since I live only 2 or 3 blocks from our meeting place, I decided to go ahead with the meeting. I had about 3 people call saying they couldn't come because they lived too far and in this weather it's a little dangerous. We did have 3 other moms beside myself that came. These moms also lived very close to the meeting place. We just had time to pray and they told us they were closing because of the weather. When I got home, I had 2 different emails saying they were going to try, but because of the weather, they didn't.
While it seems like it was as much of a failure as a meeting could be, it actually was very encouraging to get so many moms saying they had planned to come. There would have been at least 9 there. Wow. That seems like a good turn out for our group.
I'll try again next month. Hopefully folks will still be in the mood and have the evening available. I hope it is an encouragement to them. That's my main objective in having yet another meeting. I hope it will be worth their time.

Planning for long trip

Well, today we got Ashley's wedding invite in the mail today. I wonder if I HAVE to RSVP if I'm in the wedding and we're all traveling there. I suppose for etiquette sake I should.
Today, I've started a table in Pages to keep track of what we all are going to bring.
At this point I have everyone bringing a suitcase for use in CA, a travel duffle for the days on the road, and a "to do" bag for, well, for things to do on the trip. So far, the bags all equal 18. 18 bags! That's not including a make-up box, diaper bag, purse, etc. We're also planning to bring a tent, 6 sleeping bags, and a box of camping gear.
This brings me to my next point: we need a vehicle and a trailer. So in every free time (which--thanks, Greg, I'm wanting to look at that blasted "facebook" all day long :) we have to be searching the car sales for a car we're looking for and hopefully someone out there has a covered trailer for us to borrow or we can find one real cheap. It's very nerve-racking and patience-testing.
That brings me to my next point: a point of frustration has come up in the bathroom. We are so close to being done, yet the baseboard and quarter round won't cooperate. Should we use the bathtub or not with the caulking not complete and glue not dry? Makes us all very tense and frustrated.
So in all this, Greg brought up the fact that we've got to get the tree limbs trimmed before spring, which would be before we leave for CA. And we better clean out the garage or all the sawdust from the bathroom work will cause trouble, beside the fact that we won't be able to find the supplies we need to go to CA (like the tent). AND We only have a month. AHHAHAHAH. It's too much, it seems.

Facebook now

Guess what? I finally gave in and am doing the "facebook" thing.
So today it looks like I've got all kinds of friends.

I guess I do. I guess I don't normally think about them all at the same time though.