I Own You Now; You Are MINE!

(knock on wood with everything I am about to say in this post)



So last week I made the very last payment on the first car I ever bought.


I OWN MY CAR!


YAY! YIPPIE! WOHOO!!


I am seriously thrilled about this, no more car payment and to actually OWN something is very exciting! It was funny when I made the last payment it said: “Congratulations, you have paid off your loan. What is next? Talk to your local Honda dealer about trade-in deals on new cars!” Um, yeah riiiiiiight. I am good. Thank you.

Five years ago, at the young age of 24, I purchased my VERY first car all by myself and not a day has gone by where I have been disappointed with this purchase. I seriously LOVE this car. I bought a 2002 Gold Honda Accord. It has leather seats, 6 disc CD player, Sun/Moon roof, and is just awesome. Plus because it was a lease car prior I got a suh-weeeet deal on it. This car has been wonderful to us and I am hoping it will continue to be wonderful to us for many more years. (again, knock on wood)

It doesn’t seem that long ago when I test drove this car and within an hour I was driving off the lot in my new car, but SO much has happened in the 5 years since I signed those papers. There are fun memories, conversations, places visited, new jobs, friends - all associated with our car. It is funny to think about some of the fun things that happened while I had my car. I have also learned alot of situational lessons the past 5 years while in this car. Here are just a few lessons learned:



- Lesson #1: Dressing appropriately for driving. After our wedding T&I drove out a few miles to Amish country to go to our hotel. Terry was pretty drunk so I drove, however I had to drive in my big wedding dress. Because my dress was big and in the way, Terry had to hold down my wedding dress all the way there so I could see and reach the steering wheel while I drove. It was actually fun, but probably not the safest! Lesson learned: When driving in a huge dress (or other crazy outfits) either bring a change of clothes or have someone there to lend a helping hand. :)

- Lesson #2: Purchasing items that do not fit in your car. Mickey D. & I went to Pier 1 after work once. (big mistake for her, hehe) I purchased a papasan chair which I SWORE would fit in my car. Not so much. I had to get bungee cords and strap that sucker in there. It took us awhile to get that chair in my car and then I drove 35 mph from Perrysburg to BG. Lesson learned: Make sure if you are purchasing a very large item you are 100% positive there is room in the car for said item, otherwise do not purchase item at that time. Or just bring an unsuspecting friend to help you.

- Lesson #3: Purchasing a large item that may fit in your car but is problematic because you have alot of people and too much crap in your car. My sister, Terry & I went to look for Christmas trees. Terry was convinced that even though we were suppose to be just looking and not buying that even if we bought a tree there would be no problem transporting the tree IN my car back to the house. So we bought a Christmas tree. Now our car does have a fold down back seat, but still it was a BIG tree and my car is smaller and I had event stuff in the trunk and oh yeah, we had my sister in the back! After spending a good amount of time in the cold and lets just call them "discussions" between T & I of figuring out how to stuff the tree into my car and the best way to strap the tree down we finally got the tree secured in my car. It was part in the back seat, part in the trunk and a little hanging out of the car. Oh and we still managed to have my sister also stuffed in the back seat under the tree (we thought about just leaving her, so that was a good thing for her we found room). We finally drove home at a snails pace, at night, in the freezing cold of December, which made a difference since we had to have the trunk open. Lesson Learned: Lets just say T & I will never take my car to purchase a christmas tree again and now we use a truck to move the tree or other very large items.

- Lesson #4: Acting like an idiot in your car with someone around to witness it. My sister drove me home from my Bachelorette party. I was in a really good mood on the way home and didn’t hide it. My sister claims I enjoyed messing around with the sunroof. Let’s just say alcohol, being hyper, lots of buttons/dials to mess with in your car, and a sun roof is not a good combination. :) Lesson learned: Don't hang your arms out of the sunroof and mess around with everything in your car after you have been drinking as you may not remember acting like a goofball but the sober driver sure will.

- Lesson #5: Traveling with animals. So we had to move from our Apt. to our new house and it was finally time to move the cats. It was only about a 5 minute drive to our house so no biggie right?! Terry had a truck full of stuff and I was going to take the cats in my car. We decided to do it at 11:30 at night, so there was less traffic. We only had one carrier so we put little Belle (as she HATES traveling) in the carrier. She meowed, no, howled liked she was in extreme pain the entire way which is no big deal, just annoying. We let Sebastian (the 17 pound cat) “sit” on my lap. The only way I could keep him on my lap was to have the window down a bit, ah nice cool night time December air, refreshing. He enjoyed the car ride but felt it necessary to have his claws out for the entire trip. OUCH. Then less then a mile from the house he decided he didn’t like my window and wanted to check out all the other windows, and the floor, and the back seat, and Belle, and anything else in the car. It is SO hard to keep on your lap a 17 pound cat with claws and teeth that he will use to get what he wants, while also trying to drive at night in snowy weather. He got loose a couple times in the car and since no one was around I managed to stop and pick him up as he was making his way to the back seat. He started getting angry so he started howling as well. It was music to my ears with those two cats, thank goodness I have a great radio in my car. When I got to our house, I was all clawed up. Lesson learned: Do NOT travel without both cats securely in their respective carriers.



You know, even after 5 years I still LOVE my car and want to keep it as long as possible. It is only 7 years old and I am really hoping that as it is a Honda we have a number of years left on the car. I am excited to think what fun we will have the next few years in this car!!