New Car... New Car... I got a NEW CAR!

That's right.  We got the new car I was telling you about, and I am so very happy.  There were many factors that went in to us getting a new car.  Originally our plan was to wait until Michael was done with school, but the time had just come.  So, taking in mind that we will have this car for a few years, and most likely will have kids before it's time to move on to another car, we went with an SUV.  That has been our plan all along, and really our plan has been to get the Hyundai Santa Fe, and that's what we did.  We are in love.  Here are some pictures for all of you...

It's a 2007.  The trim line is an SE, and if you can't tell in the pictures, it's silver.

Double exhaust

The inside

Michael likes that the lights are blue! :)

Of course, the numbers and letters and everything light up blue too when the lights are on at night.

The back seats can be upright or recline in a few different angles.

It can also go down on one side, or the other... or both down at the same time.

The middle can come down as an armrest, or have a cup holder.

The back has TONS of room!

Plus, it opens in two different ways.  The first little compartment is for the jack, a first aid kit (that it didn't come with, but you can buy if want), and a fire extinguisher (which it also didn't come with).  It also has a cargo net in there.

The bigger  compartment is great!  It's deep, tons of room, and a few different areas.

That middle divider actually comes out and can be moved around as you wish.

It has electric everything, including for the seats, which I am very happy about.  

It has lumbar support too! :)

YAY for controls on the steering wheel!

Sunroof

It has lots of little compartments as well.

If we had a garage, we could program the buttons on the mirror to open it.  It also has the light adjusting mirror, or whatever it's called...

It also has bigger tires (than the GLS) and alloy wheels

OH... and check out the little air gauge thing!

Yay for new cars!  This is the first time I've gotten to actually buy a car I want and not be told what I had to buy.  This is my first time actually going to a dealership... test driving cars... and negotiating.  And boy did I negotiate!  I surprised myself and think I shocked my husband.  Oh well, we got a good deal!

Overcome

We've been singing this song a lot in church lately.  It's one of those songs that is just an anthem for life.   We have overcome... by the blood of the Lamb and the word our testimony.

(The song is actually the first 8 minutes of the video, then it goes into another song.)

After finding the video online, I saw in the sidebar that there was a video about the song and how it came about.  I watched it, found it interesting, and thought I'd share that too.  Desperation Band (who sings and wrote the song) is from Ted Haggards church and this was written after that scandal and the shooting that took place at the church.

Contemplative

Over all I'd say my blog is a little fun, a little informative, and pretty surface.  Sometimes I think that's how my life is.  I tend to be the crazy or funny one, not necessarily the deep or intellectual one.  The funny thing is, I'm all the above.  Ok, so maybe not so "intellectual", but whatever.  If you remember from my personality post, I am half choleric (which everyone knows right off the bat) and half melancholy.  No one lets me be melancholy.  Actually, I bet most would choose sanguine for me far before they'd choose melancholy.  If I'm quiet, people ask what's wrong.  Why can't I just "be"?

Again, with the title of the blog... "The Many Layers of Me".  I sort of feel like I need a new title.  I haven't hardly shown any layers.  I mean, some people may now know that I'm crafty that didn't know it before.  Some may have realized I can cook, or love cooking.  Those really aren't layers though.

Why is that? Why is it that I so desperately want to be authentic--and am to the best of my ability--yet I can't open up and be me?  I want people to know the layers of me.  I don't want to be just the funny girl, or just the story teller.  Somehow I can't let down my guard.  Or probably it's better stated, I won't let down my guard.  The funny thing is, it's not because I am ashamed or have anything to hide.  It's more out of protection of others.  But then that beckons the question, "why am I protecting those who did nothing to love and protect me?".  It's a cycle.

 This post is all over the place, and I'm sure it doesn't even make sense to most of you.  Sorry.  I'm just in a contemplative mood and decided to share my ramblings.

Five for Friday

 ONE

 

President Obama was in town on Wednesday.  Little Man and I happened to be downtown at the Art Museum and were heading home at the same time he happened to be headed downtown.  We were traveling on 71 North when I noticed there was no traffic on the other side of the highway.  Then all of the sudden there were tons and tons of police cars and police motorcycles.  Eventually we saw the president's car along with a few other similar cars.  Little Man noticed the flags immediately.  It was pretty cool to at least be able to see and to be able to explain it to Little Man.  We went home and played "president" with his cars and motorcycles. :)

 

 TWO

 Well, it's about that time.  I've noticed that the summer is A LOT longer when you aren't a teacher.  Most teacher's have been working in their classrooms for weeks.  School starts next week and most teachers around here are reporting for teacher work day tomorrow.  Little Man doesn't start preschool for another three weeks and I haven't been doing anything different the last few weeks--still going to parks and movies and bowling and such.  Yes, summer is much longer when you aren't a teacher.

THREE

No new car has been purchased yet, but hopefully soon.  We have done our homework on the Consumer Reports website and are confident in our decision.  (Although, I still would love a Volvo XC90 like I drive at work--but it bombed on Consumer Reports, so we can't risk it!  At least I still have it 5 days a week!)

FOUR

I have a confession... Watching The Real Housewives shows is a guilty pleasure of mine.  I don't watch all of them, but most of them.  I absolutely LOVE Bethenny Frankel from The Real Housewives of New York City.  I also love her show Bethenny Gets Married?  She just cracks me up... and keeps it real.  (Ok, she can be vulgar, but she's working on it! :)  Anyway, she's going to be at the Health Expo in Columbus this weekend.  Guess who is going?! Heck yes! It's me!!  I'll let you know if I get any stalker pictures or autographs! :)

FIVE

I

I have somehow got bamboozled into being the (co)room mom for Little Man's preschool class this next year.  Actually, K got bamboozled into it (long story) and then started talking about how "we" are the room mom and this is the list of "our" responsibilities.  Ok... so room mom I am.  Hope no one minds that I'm not actually a MOM!

Yikes!

I got an email from "The Bump" (which is a sister website to The Knot, which I used for wedding stuff).  I usually delete them, but today's tag line caught my eye.  It said, "What will your future baby look like?"  Michael and I talk about this all the time.  Will they have brown eyes, or blue eyes?  They will for sure have a round face.  Will they have blonde hair or brown hair?  So, I figured, what the heck.  I'll try it.  It said to put two pictures in, so these are the ones I chose.

and

and got....

YIKES!

Our poor daughter is apparently going to have two different sized eyes.  I don't think Michael or I have this problem, but you know what they say---beauty is in the eye of the beholder!  Maybe we are missing something. :)  Also, are her teeth jacked up?  I have perfectly straight teeth, and Michael isn't even showing any teeth.  Where did the chipped tooth come from?

I decided to give it another try, and this time find out what our boy would look like.  I thought the eye issue might have been because my picture was a little from the side.  The directions said to use one that is face on.  So this time, I used the same picture of Michael, but this picture of me.

It's still not quite head on, but whatever.

This is what it said our boy would look like....

We are now reconsidering having children!  LOL!

Judging a Book By It's Cover

We are thinking about buying a new car.  We have two compact cars and one is older and has some cosmetic things wrong with it.  We've been faithfully paying off our debt and living in a "small house" with "small cars" for three (plus) years now.  Michael is getting sick of driving the beat up car and we've decided it's just time to move on.  (Plus, my niece Lexi really wants to buy a car, so we are going to sell her ours for cheap!)

I've wanted an SUV for a long time now, and have really liked the Honda Pilots.  Honda's are such good cars, and I like the look of the Pilot.  I thought it was going to be the perfect car for us.

We found one online that we thought would work.  We went to the dealer to look at it, test drive it, and possibly even drive it off the lot.  (not the one pictured above)  Yeah.  Not so much.  One of the reasons I want an SUV is for the height.  I didn't feel high up at all.  Granted, I drive a Volvo XC90 every day at work and they are very high up.  It just wasn't what I was expecting.

It drove OK, but it didn't wow me.  The inside didn't thrill me either.  I don't know how to explain it, but the dash and set up felt a little cold to me... kind of harsh.

Online it--looked great.  Driving by it on the freeway--it looked great.  In person--not so much.  Don't get me wrong.  I still like the look, and maybe if I could afford a new one with all the bells and whistles I would be singing another tune.  But for what our budget is, and what I saw, I will not be buying a Pilot any time soon.  Who knew I could want a car for so long and then completely fall out of love with it withing five minutes of seeing it and climbing in.  We'll probably go back to our original choice, which is a Hyundai Santa Fe.  We've been saying for years that's what we were going to get.  It looks like it might be the one.  Time will tell.

Word World

I love WordWorld.  It's a kids show on PBS Kids and I thought I'd share it for any parents (or grandparents) out there who are unaware.  There are all sorts of philosophies out there about when kids should watch TV and how much they should watch.  Personally, I've found that parents tend to go to extremes.  They are either against TV altogether, or they allow too much.  I don't have a problem with children watching TV.  Actually, I've found that now days, there are more educational shows than there are mindless shows for little kids.  As always, I think you need balance.  I don't think television should be used as a babysitter, nor do I think it needs to be on at all times.  But kids learn in a variety of ways, and often education hidden in entertainment is the best way.

Here's what the website said.  I thought they could say it better than I could.

Come along for an adventurous romp into a colorful, vibrant world of words with the lovable, legible WordFriends–animals whose bodies are made up of the letters that spell the word they are.....

The WordFriends go on comic adventures and face challenges that can only be resolved with the right word. That word is built letter by letter, sound by sound, during the funky “Build a Word” song at the end of every episode. Once the word is built, it “morphs”–comes alive–into the thing it is!

Word building reinforces the pre-reading concept that letters (and their sounds) make words, and that words have real meaning…and power. The series also introduces literacy concepts that preschoolers will encounter as they become readers, such as sounding out letters and rhyming. But most of all, WordWorld helps children get excited about reading and see words as their friends.

The curriculum of WordWorld is designed to introduce, support and foster emergent literacy skills in children ages three to five. The curriculum draws from four skill sets critical for young children’s emergent literacy: print awareness, phonological sensitivity and letter knowledge, comprehension (including vocabulary development) and socio-emotional skills.

 You can go here to see when it's on in your area... or, you can check out the DVD's at the library.