Hey Luke,

Really? You think you can beat my analogies? You got nothing. And even if you managed to come up with something amazing enough to beat those, you'll never be able to top this: communication by pictures-of-the-kids-on-the-blog. :P

So I went car shopping today. And it turns out all of my friends were right. I need a minivan. I tried crossovers, I tried SUVs, I tried wagons. But the only thing that felt right was the stinking minivan. It just doesn't make sense to me. I only have three kids! Minivans are for people with 5 or 6. What would we do with all that space? I thought maybe we could get a crossover which don't have as much space, but have as many seats. But it was kind of pointless because the back seats were so hard to get to. The salesguy said, "But look how much room is in the middle seat. You could just put all your kids there. The car seats will totally fit." Yeah, but if I wanted them all right there, I'd just keep my car until their butts were too big to squeeze in. They all fit in the backseat of my Protege just fine. That's not the issue. We need a useable third row. So, yeah, the Odyssey was perfect. It was roomy on the inside, but didn't feel like it was a very big car. I was worried that it would be too big for me, like the truck. The truck is too big and the car is too small and the Odyssey is just right. :)

So dealing with car salesmen was super fun. Okay, only two of them were really bad. I know they're just doing their job, but when they don't listen to a word I say, it gets a little annoying. It was nice that I had an automatic out: "My husband is in Afghanistan so there is no way I'm buying today without talking to him." Only the last guy didn't see that as a hurdle. "Well, couldn't you just call him now? We can try to get ahold of him." Umm, he's in Afghanistan. I can't just pick up my phone and call him. Hee-hee, actually, after we left, I did pick up my phone and text him to call me. And he called me two minutes later, even though it was in the middle of the night for him. Oops. It didn't occur to me that he'd have his cell phone on in his room and that it would beep and wake him up when he got the text. I thought he would just get it when he woke up and call me next chance he got. Sorry honey! But it was so amazing to talk to you unexpectedly (sort of). I totally cried all the way home and Apple got mad at me and kept saying, "Mommy, he has to be there! He has to BUILD!" It was so cute.

It was so funny how at every dealership, they'd act surprised by what I wanted. A minivan? Um, do you not see these three kids? And every other car on the road is a minivan. And several other families were also looking at minivans. It was kind of weird. The guy who wanted me to call Luke was so funny. He wasn't as pushy as some of the other guys had been, but he just wouldn't listen to anything I said. I can handle pushy. But this guy was ridiculous. He was showing me a top-of-the-line '06 Sienna. I told him there was no way I was buying a white car. He said, "But it's top of the line! The seats are power folding! Look at the power folding seats!" So we sat there for 5 minutes while the seats power folded themselves. And I said, "No, I'm not buying this." And he said, "But the power folding seats! If you bought this new it would be $40,000!" Yeah, even if it was $10,000 I wouldn't buy it. It was white. No way. (I know I was being as superficial as he was, but come on, I'm the one with the money). "But the financing is only 2.9%!" "I'm not buying this car!" "But it's a special deal for the weekend!" "Do you have any new models I can look at?" "But those cost more than this one. I've got this used one right here and it is top of the line! It has power folding seats." Oh my land.

Another guy was just the opposite. I told him that I would prefer to find a fairly new used car and he said, "Well, we could work out financing to get you into a new car at nearly the same payment." Ugh, don't say "payment" to me. I have an accounting degree. Maybe I should tell them that at the beginning. He asked me what it is that made me want a used car. Um, they're cheaper. :) So he said, well let's go look at the new Odysseys first and then if you decide that you don't want one, then we can go see what we have used. So I said, "Let's go look at the used ones first and then if I don't like any of them, we can look at what you have new." After that he was awesome. It was funny. I guess he had to at least try. But I was under the impression that dealerships made more from used cars than from new. Maybe he wanted me to go new for the financing, but it was 0% for 60 months. Maybe he thought I wouldn't qualify. I don't know. But after that he was completely no pressure and even showed me a couple that he couldn't sell yet anyway because they hadn't been certified yet.

So anyway, long story. Today was successful in that we figured out what we wanted. Luke has been saying Odyssey all along. He's so smart. Now I just need him to come home to negotiate everyone into the ground. My skills do not lie in that area. I want to feed the poor salesman's family. I'm stone cold once we get to the financing guy. He can't sell me anything. But I'm totally a softy with the actual price. Luckily, if I do decide that I need to get it now rather than wait for Luke, there are plenty of substitute husbands around who are also CEC and have mad negotiating skillz. :)

P.S. The girls' reward for being awesome while I car shopped was to see How to Train A Dragon. So good. Mango even slept through most of it so I didn't miss anything. But what the heck? At least 6 different people today looked at all my kids, pointed at Mango and asked, "Is that one a boy?" Did all the pink and flowers give it away? Having three girls is not weird. I know tons of families like ours. And don't say "Aww, too bad." We like it like this!