Mom & Dad's Visit -- And Scott's new car!

We've had a very exciting weekend! First of all, my (Karen's) parents came to visit on Friday and spent the night. It was a fun visit, as we hadn't seen them since Christmas, even though they live only 3-1/2 hours away. They've had a busy year, and so have we. First, they spent two or three months back in their house in Arkansas, then they came home in May and left again in July to go on an Alaska cruise! Plus, Bill and I have been busy with things on his side of the family, like going to Arizona for a week and a half in January, and then of course back to Chicago in June for his mom's funeral.

Anyway, it was fun to see them and we had a really nice visit. Mom and dad brought their pictures of Alaska, and it was great fun to see them. They arrived about 4:30 on Friday afternoon, and we had a great time visiting. Then we had Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner, and Mark and Scott came over to visit with them and have dinner with us.

After dinner we looked at their Alaska pictures, and then went for ice cream at Baskin and Robbins afterwards! It was really a beautiful evening, so we sat outside and ate our ice cream.

Here's pictures of Bill and my parents looking at their pictures


Here's a picture of us having ice cream!




The next morning, Mom and Dad took us out for breakfast at the Brunch House (my folks always like to go there, because they LOVE their apple walnut pancakes!). Then we decided to go to Costco, because they don't have a CostCo in Etna, or anywhere near there! Mom wanted to get a calling card, and then Mom wanted to check out their price of CFL light bulbs, because we told them that we had just purchased an 8-pack for just $2.99. They also bought some mixed nuts, and Bill and I bought a few things we needed there. It was fun!

Then we went back to our apt. and visited for a bit, and then they left around 1pm. Then Bill and I went to Togo's for lunch, and then went to Blockbuster and rented "Fracture". After that, we went home and had a REALLY relaxing afternoon and evening. Bill took a nap, and I did some stuff on the computer and read my book. Bill and I had leftover pizza for dinner, and then he went to bed early, because he was super tired. I stayed up and watched Fractured, which I really enjoyed!

This morning, I had to get up early to take Scott to work. I had to be up by 6:15. YIKES! He had to be at work by 7am. I was so tired when I got back, that I laid down and went back to sleep until 10am!! Wowzers! Then Bill went out and bought my birthday gift (my birthday is Tuesday). When he came back, we decided to go to Taco Bell for lunch, and then go to Wittmeier to look at cars for Scott. Scott had been wanting to get a car, but wasn't sure he could get financed after only four months on the job. We had to pick Scott up at 3:00, so after we ate, we figured we'd go to Wittmeier to scout out some cars, and also check on his financing options. We contacted Jonathan, our salesman from when we bought the pickup truck, and he showed us some different options. We decided that a Ford Focus would be best for Scott, because they're a good value and they had a couple used ones for around $10,000. We also discussed the possibility of new ones, because they have a first-time buyer program and a $3,000 rebate. But we really needed to keep payments in the $300 range. So we got Scott after work, and went back to Wittmeier. Scott drove a new Focus and really liked it. We tried to work out financing for a new one, but just couldn't make it work, even with us as co-signers. So they ended up making us a really good deal on a 2005 Focus with only 38,000 miles on it. They financed it for him for 60 months with nothing down and Bill co-signed. After gap insurance and an extended warranty, his payments ended up about $330. This is SO exciting, because not only is it Scott's first car, but it should be real reliable for him and I WON'T HAVE TO TAKE HIM TO WORK ANYMORE!! WOOHOO!!! And it is really good incentive for him to stay employed. I told him that if he fell behind on his payments and we had to make them for him, that we would take the car and sell it!

One bummer was that after we'd signed everything, and the salesman was showing Scott everything on the car, we discovered a problem! When he turns the headlights on, the radio won't work, so we think there's a short somewhere. Wittmeier said they will fix that for us without going through the warranty, because they should have noticed that, and we hadn't driven off the lot yet, so it was obviously their problem. The bummer is that it has to be in the shop all day to fix it, and Scott JUST got it. I know he doesn't want to be without it. Hopefully they won't have to have it more than just a day. He'll have to do that on his day off on Thursday.

Anyway, Scott is SO excited about his car. It's red, with beige interior. It has A/C, and an AM/FM radio with single CD player. It doesn't have many extras, but it has the important ones! He doesn't have keyless entry, for instance, and he doesn't have electric windows or door locks. But the price is right, and even if this electrical problem ends up being something more, he is totally covered with the extended warranty he bought. Yahoo!!

Here's the pictures of Scott getting his car: