My Real Life

So, tomorrow Real Man and I are heading to the car dealer to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program.  The minivan above has been my home away from home for the past 9 years.  We’ve been toying with the possibility of getting me a new car as we’ll be paying off Real Man’s truck in September and could pick up a car payment without much discomfort.  However, we aren’t good at spending money.  It’s difficult for us to part with money.  So, it’s been a tough decision.

I realize that from this particular view, this doesn’t look like much of a clunker.  But, let me bring you closer.

During the one week I worked at camp this summer, someone backed into my car and drove away sometime during the day.  Here is the first of the dents from that occurrence.   The big problem from this hit and run was that they must have hit the van hard because I was unable to open the passenger door.

So, here is where Real Man used some type of lever-thingy to pry the metal back so we could open the door.

Okay, looking at that picture, I realize it’s hard to see, but the paint chipped away with the crowbar.

Right about now, most people are thinking, ‘Why wouldn’t she have gotten that fixed?’  My answer is because it was cosmetic damage and it didn’t affect the running of the car.  Again, hate to spend money.

Another cosmetic problem that I deal with on this van is a factor of aging, not neglect or unfortunate happenings is the pretty strip on the side of the car.  Yeah, mine?  Not so pretty.  It flaps on and off when you open and close the door, and if you get going at a good clip on the highway, you can hear it slapping against the side of the car.

Another example of someone scraping me and running is here:

‘Hmmm…Amy is sure quick to blame other people for the damage to her car.  I think she probably is just a very bad driver.’

Yeah, I can hear you.  All of these were done by others.  However, I certainly can take the blame when the blame is warranted.  So, here’s the damage that happened in my accident on my way to take Baby Monkey to a birthday party last year:

Also, the license plate fell off in that accident and I’ve been driving around with it in the front window ever since, as evidenced by this shot:

So, here’s the concern.  It’s all cosmetic damage.  The van works just fine.  I get the oil changed regularly and I really don’t have any trouble with the driving of the van.

However, Real Man and I have terrible, TERRIBLE  luck.  We are the ultimate bad luck couple.  Someday I’ll write a Real Bad Luck post and fill you in on all the ridiculously unfortunately things that happen to Real Man and I, and it’s all just bad luck.  So, our concern is that if we don’t take advantage of this and trade in the van for the clunkers program, as soon as the program expires at 8:00 on Monday evening, the van will die.  The blue book value is less than $3500 on this van in fabulous condition, so you can imagine what we’d get for it in the condition it’s in.

Wish us luck.  With any luck and some good negotiating, I may be driving this by tomorrow night:

Anyone have any reviews of the Mitsubishi Outlander?  We’ve done our research, but I’d love to hear from anyone with some real life experience with this car.

For now, though, I’m real excited.