Should I? Maybe.....

Been kind of an odd day.  Set up the card table in the kitchen so I could start a jigsaw puzzle when I wanted some new project to play around with.  Mary gave me this Wizard of Oz puzzle in a neat tin yesterday when I met her at the bridge.  It's two puzzles really. One of Judy's face is 300 pces and another Oz scene is 500 pieces.  I'm going to put them in a plastic bag when I'm done so I can use the tin for sewing stuff or whatever else I might want to store stuff in.

I sat down to eat breakfast (yogurt, toast, and coffee) while I worked a crossword puzzle in the new book I got in the mail.  I had studied the reviews of each book on ebay and chose one that was a challenge but yet easy too.  I'm having a lot of fun with it. Actually, I have quite a few crossword puzzles to choose from around here.  I love puzzles.  I happened to glance at my toast and noticed MOLD!  Darn it!  Another trip to Safeway.  Oh well, I needed gas anyhow.

The clerk gave me my money back on the bread even though half the loaf was gone.  I had paid $3.50 for that loaf of 7-grain SW bread that makes wonderful toast and I wasn't about to toss the second half of the loaf away.  I'll think twice about buying that bread again.  I had to go across town so I stopped at the bread store.  Got two loaves of bread and a package of bagels for under $6---plus they let me pick a free item and I chose 12 hamburger buns. (Froze them up individually when I got home as I often only need one or two at a time)

I went out and sprayed the clover in the front and backyard this morning.  Noticed that I seem to have more birds than ever this summer.  Not sure if it's the seed or because  I changed the location of the feeders.  They're fun to watch, at any rate.

I found a few pictures on Facebook that relatives had posted, plus I got some in emails so I thought I would share those today.

 A house in Amsterdam that cousin Cindy's daughter took while there. (She's a flight attendant)

                                    Cousin Cindy's cat, Smudge, in her yard.

                                   Cindy's sister, Marlee, out in their boat in Gig Harbor

                                Cousin Ilene selling hotdogs at her stand in Bellingham

                   Cousin Lee Arey and wife Elaine strolling Fort Worden beach

I had problems with my carseat buttons yesterday while stopped at the bridge.  I use those buttons daily to get in and out of the car as it adjusts the seat forward and backward.  It got stuck and thankfully, it was at a spot where I could drive.  Getting out of the car was not as easy, however, so I decided to take it to a shop downtown to see if he could fix it.

He wasn't all that interested in trying. Suggested I take it to the Toyota dealer where I bought the car as "they would probably be able to save me a little money fixing it themselves."  FAT CHANCE!  I drove there anyhow just to get an estimate.  Stood in line waiting to talk to a technician.  The old guy in front of me was being instructed on how to use his mail-in rebate for the oil change.  He kept telling the tech he couldn't see that well and where should he sign his name, etc.  This guy had some real odd looking glasses in his basket too.  Almost looked like kids space glasses or something.  I can't understand how he can be driving with eyes that bad.

Anyhow, by the time I got my turn, the guy came out to monkey with the buttons, couldn't get the seat to move, and said he'd look up the motor in the catalog.  I thought "uh oh...he's gonna say $200 at the least."  He finally came back and WITHOUT LABOR, the cost was $654!  Are you kidding me?!  Why would I pay that?!

I decided as long as I was already there, I might as well see what it would cost me to buy a car.  Not a new one, of course, but newer than the 1999 I'm driving now.  Just wanted to get something like a small SUV that would be easier to climb in and out of.  I only wanted the  numbers so I could come back home and research and look over my finances and THINK ABOUT IT.

He was a nice guy (lives in Hadlock) but of course, he wanted me to buy right then and there.  Nope. Not quite ready yet....just thinkin' on it.  This is the one I'm leaning towards...

                                                        2011 Toyota RAV4.

The price seems okay ($19,950) and while I'm not keen on drawing out of my money market account (inheritance from dad) I really could use a nicer car.  My mobile home in Sequim will give me a few thousand dollars payoff in December so that money could go back into my savings as well as pay off the car altogether.  My payment would be $150 a month and there's no penalty for paying off the loan early.

I haven't test drove it yet or really looked the inside over closely but I'm thinking I might go back. It has 31,000 miles and I'd be given about $3000 trade-in.  Ironically, when I got home, I started playing around with the car seat buttons again and I was able to make the seat move.  Odd.  I wonder if that was God telling me not to buy another car.  I do love my old Avalon. It's never given me any problems at all and that's not something I take lightly because I've had car problem troubles most of my life.

Well, I guess I'll get to sorting all those collections and scraps of  paper memorbilia that I've been needing to file properly.  It'll be fun once I get started.