I Don't Wanna Grow Up

I am already pooped and my day hasn't even begun yet.

This week has just kicked my ass. From the absolute high of Tuesday, to the crash Wednesday of hearing about Beau, putting in a ten hour day, and then having our only functional vehicle taking a major crap on the drive home. I've only worked three days this week, but they've been ten hour days. The end of the fiscal year is approaching fast and I have a lot of work to get caught up before then. Some of it essential, some of it a matter of pride.

At the beginning of the week, I had a caseload of 148 cases. In three days I have brought 95% of them up to current status, including closing 13. The only ones I have left are the ones I have to do a more detailed review of and the ones I have to transmit out. Those things may or may not get done, because I also have a lot of money that needs to be processed before the end of the fiscal year.

We are currently borrowing SweetPea mom's car while we are otherwise transportationless. Which is awesome that we can do that, except that now it means that SweetPea is not only doing all the driving for our house, but for mom's house, too. Tiring, for sure.

We are at the point where we realize there's nothing else for it but to go into debt and get a new(er) vehicle. We can't deal with the Volvo's constant issues, and I'm sick to death of having unreliable vehicles with poor gas mileage. We can afford a car payment, even though that was not part of The Plan, we can afford one.

It feels so much like going backwards, though. We're putting ourselves in a position where we can even less afford to do the things that we need to do or want to do. We're creating yet another bill that needs to be paid.

And then there's the issue of what the hell to get. We have to strike a balance between what can afford (not a lot), what we need (good gas mileage) and what we want (lots of seating & cargo room).

Kelly Blue Book suggested getting a used Impala. That's nice, it does get decent gas mileage (especially in comparison to what we have been getting), has a nice, roomy trunk, fairly roomy interior, and, looking online, I have found used cars in the 2005 to 2007 range within our price range and with fairly low mileage. However, I do wonder about how the Impala fits into the 6-8 passenger category that I had indicated.

Even though it totally doesn't fit what we need, I still totally love and would like to own a Jeep, with a particular preference for a mid-80's CJ. To me, it just fits in so perfectly with the things I want to do and want to spend our time doing.

Except the seating and the gas mileage issues.

Oops.

Up for today, we're going to a meeting with the PTA crew, followed by a trip to the bank. At the bank we are going to have my name fixed on my account (it seems that when my last name was changed on Tuesday afternoon, so was my middle initial)(Oops!), open an account for SweetPea so that she can close her Bank of America shithole account, and then find out about an auto loan.

If we end up with time, we may end up car shopping, as well.

<>I can hardly wait. < /sarcasm>

Oh, yeah. And grocery shopping. Especially considering that MonkeyDo dropped the last roll of toilet paper in the toilet this morning.

And just for kicks, here's a blast from the past. Check the date on the picture. This was approximately one month and fifteen days after SweetPea and I became a couple. Enjoy!
It's a scan of a matte print, so the scan isn't that great. Glossy, people. Glossy.