We went car shopping today and, as it turns out, we have no idea how to buy a car. We went to one dealership and they had either a terrible $6000 van or a rather-too-nice $30000 van but nothing in between. We looked at a few vans online, while sitting in the dealership parking lot, and found a decent van at a nearby dealership so we decided to drop by.
Unfortunately someone was out test driving it by the time we were able to speak with a sales associate and they ended up buying it, so all we ended up doing was wasting an hour or so in the lobby eating popcorn (which the kids rather enjoyed).
We had no idea that you're supposed to make an appointment with a sales associate (for real?) and the associate we spoke with at the second dealership told us that we're going about it all wrong because we're looking for a "unicorn" and are wasting everybody's time. Apparently we should be calling around to places and asking them if they have exactly what we want and then head over, ignoring what we see online.
But, we were this close to getting that unicorn in their lot. I would say that probably if we had called before coming over they would have said they did have that van for sale still. But I doubt that would have stopped them from selling it out from under our noses.
We have a few more to look at on Monday. We even called one place to ask about it and he said that it would probably still be there for us since they're closed on Sunday.
Buying used is cheaper...but it is rather difficult to find that perfect compromise between dollar and mileage.
In better news, we stopped by Lowes for another part for the toilet and while Andrew went to campus to "write like he's running out of time," I fixed the toilet.
So that's one thing off the list of broken things!
Also, our LullaDoll came in the mail today and we're trying it out tonight. It was rather expensive but I was willing to pay just about anything that promised to decrease the odds of waking up with a toddler screaming in my face several times a night.
It's basically a white-noise machine stuffed inside of a doll. It has eight hours of heartbeats and peaceful breathing. Heavy breathing is definitely a pet peeve of mine (don't breathe on me!) so I don't know if I'll be able to handle the white noise, but she seems to be enjoying (or at least she seems to have been lulled by) it thus far.
I don't know if it will work all night (though I'm really hoping that it will) but she's currently sleeping while holding it. Anything else we've ever offered her as a comfort item has been tossed over the edge of the bed: blankets, teddys, dolls, soothers, books, mama's shirt, anything and everything we could think of. The fact that she willingly went to bed with it (and didn't try to rip its head off before tossing it across the room) is itself groundbreaking.
Unfortunately someone was out test driving it by the time we were able to speak with a sales associate and they ended up buying it, so all we ended up doing was wasting an hour or so in the lobby eating popcorn (which the kids rather enjoyed).
We had no idea that you're supposed to make an appointment with a sales associate (for real?) and the associate we spoke with at the second dealership told us that we're going about it all wrong because we're looking for a "unicorn" and are wasting everybody's time. Apparently we should be calling around to places and asking them if they have exactly what we want and then head over, ignoring what we see online.
But, we were this close to getting that unicorn in their lot. I would say that probably if we had called before coming over they would have said they did have that van for sale still. But I doubt that would have stopped them from selling it out from under our noses.
We have a few more to look at on Monday. We even called one place to ask about it and he said that it would probably still be there for us since they're closed on Sunday.
Buying used is cheaper...but it is rather difficult to find that perfect compromise between dollar and mileage.
In better news, we stopped by Lowes for another part for the toilet and while Andrew went to campus to "write like he's running out of time," I fixed the toilet.
So that's one thing off the list of broken things!
Also, our LullaDoll came in the mail today and we're trying it out tonight. It was rather expensive but I was willing to pay just about anything that promised to decrease the odds of waking up with a toddler screaming in my face several times a night.
It's basically a white-noise machine stuffed inside of a doll. It has eight hours of heartbeats and peaceful breathing. Heavy breathing is definitely a pet peeve of mine (don't breathe on me!) so I don't know if I'll be able to handle the white noise, but she seems to be enjoying (or at least she seems to have been lulled by) it thus far.
I don't know if it will work all night (though I'm really hoping that it will) but she's currently sleeping while holding it. Anything else we've ever offered her as a comfort item has been tossed over the edge of the bed: blankets, teddys, dolls, soothers, books, mama's shirt, anything and everything we could think of. The fact that she willingly went to bed with it (and didn't try to rip its head off before tossing it across the room) is itself groundbreaking.
Well, if they made a doll this wonderful, you KNOW there have to be lots of other babies and toddlers out there who also can't sleep! I looked it up and wow! What a doll!
ReplyDeleteInteresting about van shopping. We recently bought a new (to us) car because my Honda is so old and having problems (boo). I'm still mostly driving the Honda because I'm weird like that. We found a car at a local car lot fairly easily, but we weren't van shopping. That might be harder. Hope you find something good this week.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of the Lulla Doll. Give us a review of it after you see how well it goes with Zoë.
Yeah, vans are a bit of a niche market. They either get driven until they die or are traded in as soon as the lease is up, so they're either too junky or too new. Finding one in the middle of the spectrum is difficult.
DeleteSo, how did you find your new van? Congrats on the find!
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