We had in mind a truck that could seat the whole family, and if buying used, we didn’t want anything more than a couple years old. What we saw rivaled the price of a new truck, so we bee-bopped over to the Costco website to see what kind of deals they could offer us.
We ended up trading the van in on a white 2007 short-bed Dodge Ram 1500 Big Horn Quad Cab 2x4 that has the flex fuel option (it can take up to an 85% ethanol blend fuel or regular unleaded gas). Between the current incentives through Dodge, the Costco price and our trade-in, we were able to bring it down 10K from the sticker price, and with an awesome interest rate for the loan through our credit union, the monthly payment is less than what we are paying on the PT.
The payments don’t start until I’m done with school, so I’ll be able to work more hours at sears to help cover the additional costs, and once I find something full time in my chosen field of interest, it won’t be a problem.
We didn’t want to have to replace the van for almost another 2 years, but sometimes things happen in life that causes you to change your plans!
So, Hubby and I were excited about this last night. The excitement came to a screeching halt though, when something came up with #1.
There is currently a contest for prospective film makers that #2 and a friend wanted to try and get in on. With this in mind, they planned to make a short film to enter in the contest, and wanted to shoot it up in Seattle so they could have a recognizable location as the back ground. We told #1 that he couldn’t go unless there would be adult supervision, at which point we were reassured that the friends uncle would be taking them. We were given a name and number for this uncle, but through various things going on with our schedules and the “uncle’s” schedule, we were never able to get in contact with him. Hubby finally gave #1 the go ahead, figuring that he is almost 17, and we need to show him at some point that we have faith and some trust in him. So #1 got to go to Seattle yesterday.
Do you see where this is going?
We were told that they would be leaving Seattle to come home at 6, and around that time we called to check with #1 to make sure things were going well. The answers he gave to our questions made us uneasy, so we got in touch with the parents of the friend to see if they had been in contact with their son and knew more of the story. It seems there is no uncle, and #1 was up there with 11 other teenaged boys (who had driven up in two different vehicles). We got back on the phone with #1 with the strict instructions to get his butt back home NOW. Similar instructions were given to the friend by his parents, and the parents of at least one other boy were notified as to what was going on.
When he finally got home, he admitted that he and the friend had made up the “uncle” as they both knew that #1 would not be allowed to go if we knew there wouldn’t be an adult there.
The ironic part of all this? Both Hubby and I had the day off yesterday and would gladly have taken all the kids up there. Nobody needed to lie, and nobody needed to get in trouble. They didn’t think to ask any of the parents to do this, so as a result there are several grounded teen boys in the area this morning.
#1 is now busy cleaning the house, and taking care of other various chores today, and will continue to do so until further notice. Hubby and I were too angry last night to decide on the length of the grounding, so we told #1 that we would inform him of this once we calmed down enough to think rationally.
My knee jerk reaction was to take extreme measures in the restrictions and other things, but both of us recognized that we needed to not over react, but come up with something equal to the offence.
Due to this, #1 will not be sold into slavery, disemboweled, duct-taped in his room until he is 30, or any other extreme punishment. My house, however, will be very-very clean by the end of the weekend.