Days with the Dorans

There is no worse call to get probably than one telling you your kids have been in an accident! Thankfully no one was hurt but Ali (our driver) was pretty shaken. The weird thing is she had called me Monday because the roads were bad and there was an accident where a car spun out and nearly missed them. Well this time, it was Ali who hit a patch of ice and couldn't stop in time. I just felt horrible for her but as we know accidents happen. She was able to drive into the parking lot and report it to the police officer on site (the girl she hit actually kept driving and didn't stop and Ali was stopped at the light. The huge bummer was that while she drove it to the parking lot, it would not drive again. We had to have it towed (not cheap) and then realized that we had to total it because sadly it's not worth fixing. Even more sad probably is that cars are SUPER hard to get due to covid and if you can find one they aren't cheap! We just need to remember that this could hav...

Well, the car was my mom's, and then my dad's, and then Joey's, and then Joey and Ali's and now it is going to a good home. Though drivable it wasn't all that reliable at times (as I learned) and it was time to donate this sweet car. We are so lucky to have had it to use for the kids. My mom got a new car and so now they can take her car. What a blessing it is for us to have cars to get us safely from point A to point B. We truly do drive our cars until they decide it's time.  It was time.  

  So my mom has been looking for a new car and she and my dad found this car for ME! It's hard for me to go look and so they drove it over to my house and the joy of working from home is I could go out and check it out and I loved it! Just thought I'd post some pictures! We had a great run with the white mini-van but it was definitely time! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new ride!

It's hard to believe it's been a decade since we got our little PT Cruiser!  I was pregnant with Ali and remember picking it up right before Joey's first birthday.  It was a great little car and we got it for 15 out the door!  The Cruiser soon became Jeff's car since I drove the kiddos to daycare.  It was a great little car.  It did take a beating ( like when a man backed into me and my Nana on New Year's Day ).  I also accidentally backed into it when I was pulling out of the garage. It was parked in a different place in our driveway and I was on auto-pilot. Ten years is a nice long life and we were going back and forth trying to decide whether we should buy or lease our next car.  We knew we wanted a BIG car- as in one that would fit ALL of us.  We also knew that we'd be buying a Chrysler because my SIL works there.  We are also quite 'frugal' people so didn't want to spend a ton of money.  We aren't car people- those who know...

I am not a car person and never have been. I am not impressed with cars and I do not know the names of different models. A car for me is something to get me from point A to point B safely. Bonus if it isn't a huge gas guzzler. I've always been one to pay for my cars and drive them into the ground. My cars have been held together with duct tape but they've always gotten me safely where I need to go. Last Thursday, while taking the kids to school, Jeff called to say that the minivan was overheating and that he'd have to take it into the shop. We bought our minivan when I was pregnant with the boys because it was big, would get us from point A to point B and had automatic doors (which seemed a necessity to a mom who envisioned two car seats in her arms.) When we heard from our mechanic, we found it was overheating because the engine was shot- we needed a new one and it was suggested that it would make more sense to buy a new vehicle than to fix this one. So I was...