Melody:
Great job on the exercise and losing!!! Hooray!!!! Jury duty, ugghhhh. Didn't you ask to be dismissed?
What kind of suv do you have? Well Julie, ex's sis, has a Honda pilot. It seats 8 and what I really like about it to (most important thing is reliabitity) is that it looks small from the outside, ya know? We all rode to the funeral in it, I told Joe to take passenger front seat. Kassandra, my eldest who is a very big girl, Katy, my almost 4 y/o with a HUGE car seat and I ALL fit comfy in the middle seat! The 3 other kids were in the back.
Eventually we are thinking of moving to Phelan, which is one town over. (To buy a house) They have homes priced similiar to this town, BUT with 1-2 acres! They are closer to the mountains and get snow occasionally, they have lots of dirt roads to get to most homes out there. Which is also why I think an suv may be better.
According to the ratings book, I fell head over heels yesterday for the toyota highlander!!!! It has the MUCH BETTER THAN AVERAGE rating for ALL YEARS!!! It goes up to 2005 and their prediction for 06, and 07 is the same.
I am thinking IF(going to soc. sec. office today so it depends on what the survivor benefits will be as to if we can afford to do a payment or not) we are going to pay $17,000 - $25,000 for a vehicle, and pay for 5 years then we want it to be super reliable and last as long as possible!
My ex had gotten us a Chevy astro van in 2003 that was a 1999 and within a year that thing was falling apart, already needed MAJOR repairs!! He wanted it in the divorce so I was all too happy to let him have it plus the 4 more years of $316.00 a month payments! It wound up getting repo'd. He had gone and got it without telling me otherwise I would of scoured consumer reports books.
I look at that year in the book now and that and most other of the years were completely black marks for the overall rating! MUCH WORSE THAN AVERAGE!It has been discontinued.
We also had a 1994 dodge caravan, bought it in 2000, payed 2.5 years and by the time we were done paying it had serious engione trrouble and is sitting in my garage to this day!
So I wouldn't mind paying $6,000.00 straight up for a van if I knew it would last but after those two experiences, ugghhhhhhh.
According to the ratings, Highlander suv is my first choice, Pilot suv is my second choice, toyota sienna is my 3rd and honda odyssey is my 4th. But I was telling myself we can't compromise on the 8th seat. If we are going to get something that expensive and plan to have another child in the next 2-3 years, then we need every seat! Kass is only 14.5 and even though she can be driving in 2 years, the main point is so we can all go on mini vacations/day trips/ go see my family 1 hour away etc. Christmas, easter , thanks giving.
I really want that highlander. Besides the excellent consumer reports ratings, a website forum had ratings. It scored 4.42/5 stars from 200 people. The worst thing people were complaining about on that forum was the back window noise(so you need to roll front windows down too) and the radio!!!! Besides that everyone loved them! JEEZ!!!
The Honda Pilot was like 4.02/5. The odyssesy and the sienna were like 3.62/5 or so. I was hearing some scary stuff about some of the siennas and sludge, and the dealer swearing its your fault etc. idk, also heard there may be some trouble with the passenger air bag.
I was thinking of going with like say a 2004. Cause by 3 years on average most vehicles have depreciated by 45%. So like that one Honda van we seen being $31,000 for a 2007, but $17,000 for a 2004. But it had 57,000 miles.
And then you have the warranty situation. Yes i know I can buy an after market one but do you know how hard it is to get most of those warranty company's to actually pay?
Also despite reliability ratings it also goes back to how a van was treated and most dealers get trade ins or at an auction. How do we know how that car was treated for those 3-4 years? Someone online was saying their warranty company would not poay for the tranny problem unless they could prove the previous owner did the 30,000 mile tranny flush/what have you!!!
So then I am thinking maybe if we are able to afford a 2007 that has been on the lot all year. With very low miles on it, we'd have that warranty and be the only owners, ya know? So much to think about.
Ladiibbug:
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So nice to see you back. I hope you and your family are doing OK in this stressful time. With the terrible times your deceased Ex-H put you and yours through, it is amazing that you found the inner strength to realize that despite all that, you choose to "do what's right" as far as your resources allow because he is the kids' dad. That takes a lot of inner integrity - it's so much easier to turn away and say "forget it, he/she didn't deserve it". Your kids will remember this now and in later years.
Thanx hun. Yeah our faith in God has been our rock. It has been very hard these past years. And I kept saying to myself, WHY does he have to be like this? And I reminded myself that if he wasn't like that there would of been no divorce. KWIM? No problem, no divorce, no stressful situation after the divorce. If he could of been a nice guy and been peaceful and etc, etc, we would of still been together cause that was the problem in the first place! uggghhhhhh.
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Re: $$ & Van ... Sounds like God/The Universe is giving back some good karma. You and your family deserve many, many good things and good times! What an amazing surprise!!!!
God is great and he does take care of his. Sometimes when you least expect it!
You are doing great on walking and food keep it up!!!!!
My food fell apart last week and I am trying to get back on track with it. Yesterday I finished up at 1350 and then I was NOT hungry at all and dh was craving donuts!!! Cake! pizza! Something! uuuggghhhhhh
I think the donuts are so not worth it but we went out and I had 4 bites of his donuts. Still feel bad but hopefully that wasn't over 100 cals!
Well ladies I have an apt. with soc. sec. this a.m. I am trying to get the last 2 kids out of the house then its a shower for me and Katy, 10:00 is the apt.
I hope we get a whole bunch and she tells me today how much! I am also thinking we should get back pay extra from last month! Well think about it. The way soc. sec. works, if the person died in that month, they are actually not entitled to have benefits that month! I know, stupid!
So if they are not entitled to benefits that month, then you think survivors benefits should start that month.
We'll see.
Oh and I finished up last month at 2120 for exercise!!!
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on making your Labor Day goal 
I admire your determination with exercise ... 60 minutes, five times a week? OMG, 
With the terrible times your deceased Ex-H put you and yours through, it is amazing that you found the inner strength to realize that despite all that, you choose to "do what's right" as far as your resources allow because he is the kids' dad. That takes a lot of inner integrity - it's so much easier to turn away and say "forget it, he/she didn't deserve it". Your kids will remember this now and in later years. 
/ Carbs 59% / Protein 25% Would like protein to be higher)
Food was good yesterday as well. 
