Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Blazing Saddles

I am back in the saddle and raring to go! We have all mostly recovered and are healthy once again. I hate sick kids, they are so whiny and pitiful! LOL

In the midst of the sickness, we purchased (with a helpful loan from a good friend of mine, Thanks Julia!) a new (to us) van. Our old van has been having issues and our mechanic said it was time to retire the old girl. To get it where it needed to be would cost more than it was worth. So, I checked out a few vehicles and looked on Craig's List. I found a van for sale that sounded to good to be true and went to check it out. Long story short:

It's a 1999 Plymouth Voyager Expresso. It has about 154,000 miles on it. It has 4 new tires (less than a year old) and has had the water pump replaced recently. It is in good condition both on the body and the interior. The AC and heat both work, the stereo is great, it has dual airbags, anti lock brakes and cruise control. It has only one minor flaw.... it is missing one of the center captain's chairs. That's why he was selling it as cheaply as he was. Even without that chair, the van still seats 5 or 6.

We paid $1600 for it. Blue book value for a private sale for this van is $2400. ANd my mechanic is looking for a new chair for me now!

I am happy with it and will post pictures one day soon. It's purple!

I have to take Braeden to a therapy session today. He has been having some issues with his potty training lately and we need to discuss them with his therapist. Hopefully we will get some great ideas on how to get him to actually USE the potty at home instead of peeing wherever he happens to be. He also has an appointment with a psychiatrist in February for evaluations. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well there.

Malachai is .... being a toddler. He has had some of the worst temper tantrums lately! It makes me crazy. I am trying to come up with a plan to help him deal with transitions better. And I am about to institute a "naughty spot" for both boys. I am tired of fighting with them all the time! They need to learn consequences and I am turning to the Super Nanny for some ideas ont his.

Jenna is having some issues about her future. She is young. She is scared. And she is feeling pressured to make decisions that she does not feel ready to make. About college and career fields and the future. Poor baby. Feel free to pop over to her blog and leave her some encouragement!

I am trying to set up my lenu plan for the next week or so and then get on the ball with cleaning and getting my house recovered from being a sick house. But I am also working on my knitting and getting a very nice gift basket of goodies together for a giveaway!

I am off to visit all of your blogs now and see if I can catch up on my reading!

10 comments:

Christina said...

ive been dvr-ing super nanny also ;)
thats a good deal on the van! Lack of chair just makes it roomier anyhow. Just act like you did that on purpose for more moving room!

Lisa said...

I'm glad y'all are feeling better:) and congrats on the van. Hoping it lasts you a long time with no major problems.

Btw, been meaning to ask, what book(s) did you get to help you learn to knit?

Thanks!

Mother Moon said...

glad to hear you are feeling better....
check out my post for today... there is something there for you

http://mothermoonsmessage.blogspot.com/2010/01/really-you-shouldnt-have.html

Bridgett said...

So glad you're all feeling better! And congratulations on the new van. Sounds like a heck of a deal.

As for the pants wetting...my daughter kept wetting the bed for awhile a couple years back. It didn't seem to matter what we did, she'd inevitably end up wet. So I started researching and discovered yeast issues can urination issues in children. So, we did a yeast treatment for her gut using probiotics, aloe juice, etc. Lo and behold, it worked like a charm.

Just a little FYI to consider. :)

Take good care.

)O(
boo

Susan said...

Glad the the ickyness is starting to leave your house and what a great deal on the van. Though I think I'm more jealous that it seems you have found a good honest mechanic. I'm still on the hunt for one of those. Just got final confirmation last week on how incompetent the place I had been taking my car to was when I had to have someone else fix a patch job they did on a tire.

Unknown said...

Thank goodness everyone is feeling so much better.

I've been reading a lot of blogs about toddlers and young kids acting up lately. I have to wonder if it's the weather. I get cranky when the weather sucks and I'm sure kids do, too. Some kids are used to playing outside, seeing the sun, what have you, and when they can no longer do that (and when I can no longer do that) it has to cause some cranky, mean behaviour (for me anyway! LOL).

The van sounds great! I'm so glad you got such a gret deal on it! I'm not even sure I would worry about the chair. It would seem so much better without it, and you would have more room to haul stuff!

ANASHD said...

Glad you're doing better, it really is a bummer when the home is 'sick'.
Is there a past blog post where you share more about your kids? I clicked on your profile, but it just has the same info as you have under the about me..I had a special needs daughter but she battled cancer.

Blessings,
Ana

Rue said...

Great find on the van!

Best of luck with the potty training and toddler tantrums. Super Nanny does have great ideas!

Glad everyone is feeling better!

Joey Lynn Resciniti said...

I hope you stay healthy for the rest of the winter. It's been a rough (sick) one for us as well.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

such a nice story about your mother's bowl! my daughter's name is braedon!