New car! and more...

"You get what you pay for."

"If you give someone something for cheap or free, they aren't going to expect to pay anymore the next time, in fact they'll probably want it cheaper and free-er."--disclaimer--Sometimes it is appropriate to give things away for free or cheap,  but not so much that the individual is leching off you constantly.

"A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips."

Why is it that no matter how many times we hear these statements and think we've learned our lesson we find ourselves falling for the same trap over and over and are continually telling ourselves that we'll never do it again?

You know, it's like, why don't we exercise when we know that it makes us happier (in SO many ways) when we do? Or, why don't we eat more healthily when we notice how crummy we feel for a whole day after eating at the chinese buffet up the street? Can it really only be for the instant gratification?

I think we all need to see a little more of who we really are, and what our potential is because if we understood how strong we really are, think of what amazing people we'd be, really! It's like, when I am so tired after staying up late to work, and I just want to sit on the couch with Kalvin and watch a movie with him, but instead, I clean the house while Tristen naps. Afterword, I feel much better about the house and myself because I could have easily rationalized relaxing, but since I got up and pushed my "cleaning" potential, I felt better about myself and am more apt to cleaning instead of sitting next time.

Just a thought.

So, we got a car! I may have previously mentioned it, but here are pics of it! It's a 2003 Mazda Tribute, V6, AWD with 91,000 miles. It's kind of like a small SUV. I think we got a good deal... we paid under trade in value, but we've also discovered a couple things that need to be replaced, but mostly the catalytic converter. It sounded so good to start, coming from only one owner with relatively low miles, only time will tell.

 I'm excited to use the sunroof.

 I love all the space back here!

 What's with some people and stickers?! It wasn't just the little girl who had stickers up. There were also stickers on the dash and other window. I'm not sure why they didn't try getting these off before selling it... oh well, it took 7 minutes, 1 tsp of cooking oil and a razor blade to get it all off.

 Kalvin was very excited about this gun he made. Seriously, everything he makes lately with legos or draws is guns or airplanes that eventually end up with guns.

 So, we have these stairs coming down our front yard, (above photo taken in January), and Kalvin biffed it off them from his bike a couple days ago. He was wearing his helmet, Duane said there is a dent on his helmet so I'm sure his injuries could have been very bad. He was having a real hard time, so I offered to get him a Bandaid and put it on the bridge of his nose. He the took it off and reapplied where he thought it should go.

The first week we had this out, it kept Kalvin entertained for hours at a time. I put it back away so that come winter when we're stuck inside anyway, he'll have something fun to do.

 
It's a little scary, I know, but Kalvin stood here for about 20 minutes while watching a cartoon (you can see it on the shelf by the red wall).

 

He wanted his hood over his helmet. I don't know, don't ask me...

Always helping Daddy outside. Here they were taking off the old small tow ball to put on a larger one so we could pick up a trailer to pick up our new car.