Busy, busy, busy - and a new car!

Yes, I am still here...  The past week has been extremely busy!  On one hand, life just gets busy at this time of year.  Then I have been dealing with my car stuff at the same time.  


There are so many great things going on though!  Christmas is in the air...  You can see it in the lights on the tree, in the decor on people's homes, in the yummy Christmas scented candle, etc.  How can one not be happy at this time of the year?  I am looking forward to finishing our Christmas shopping and celebrating with family.  


As far as an update goes...  I have only run once since Thanksgiving.  Last year, Sarah and I were so consistent with our running schedule on Monday and Thursday afternoons.  Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case this year.  I am planning to run somewhere between 6 and 8 miles with Debbie on Saturday - we'll see how that goes.  I have at least been going to the gym consistently.  I normally do 25 to 30 minutes on the elliptical, ARC, or stairmill followed by the express circuit/weight workout.  I can feel myself getting stronger from lifting on a consistent schedule.  Feels so good!


I have been thinking about getting a new car for a while, but I wasn't quite ready to deal with the hassle.  My little Nissan was approaching 10 years old.  It didn't have anything wrong with it, but I just wanted something a tiny bit bigger and newer.  Well, my wreck last week made that decision for me.  After the adjuster came out to look at the car, he suggested that I take it to a collision center for a more thorough inspection.  The collision center found a total of $3200 worth of damage and the car was only valued at $3500.  So, needless to say - it was totalled.  My little Nissan and I parted ways on Tuesday afternoon.  I think it is a little silly, but I kinda got teary-eyed when I left the poor car at the collision center.  That car was my first "big girl" purchase after graduation.  I did all the research and negotiation with the dealership on my own - with a lot of phone consultation with my Daddy.  

Mazda5 in "metropolitan gray" that I test drove

When I realized that I was going to be forced to get a new car sooner than I thought, I started thinking about my requirements - small but bigger than my Nissan, a little higher off the ground, a decent amount of room for others, hatchback, and big hopes that Jason's wheelchair would fit.  We initially thought about a Honda Element.  After we found out that Honda was no longer producing the Element, my research honed in on the Mazda5.    I cannot come up with the proper words to describe it.  It kinda looks like a hatchback-wagon style car and a mini-van had a baby - it is hatchback, but has sliding rear doors.  I have a running buddy that has one.  When saw hers this summer, I was quite curious.  I did a lot of research on Monday and Tuesday.  Tuesday afternoon, I went to Capital of Cary for a test drive.  That evening, Jason and I went back to the dealership to see if he would be able to get into it, etc.  Yes, we have the Dodge Entervan, but sometimes it would be nice to be able to go somewhere in something different!  Jason didn't love the color of the one that I test drove (above), so the dealership checked on different colors.  We were lucky that they had a black one in stock.  So, yesterday afternoon, I signed on the dotted line and purchased it.    

Terrible picture of me after signing on the
dotted line :-)

Again, the best part?  Jason can ride in it easily.  He can transfer to the front seat from his wheelchair and I can use ramps to roll his wheelchair right into the back seat.  Even with his wheelchair in the car, there's still room for people and stuff!  We are talking about taking a road trip to Florida toward the end of the summer.  We have always been very conservative with trips in the van because we didn't want to put a ton of miles on it, especially since it doesn't get great gas mileage.  Well, it looks like a trip to the "Trop" (Tropicana Field), where the Tampa Bay Rays play is in order!  While we are there, we can take a trip to see Margaret in St. Cloud, visit Disney World, and do lots of other fun things!  YAY!