I promise Ethel, it was not an impulse buy.

Ethel watches over me and I certainly need watching over.

Do you have friends that watch over you?

That being said one of the most difficult things I have to do as a single woman is to make major purchases. Appliances are pretty tough but I feel really safe doing it at Lowes or Home Depot especially when they haul the old stuff away. Really that is one of the reason I never purchased a new bed was the thought of how I am going to haul it away - pleaassse not any sentimental attachment. Havaerty's told me to bribe the men who brought the new bed to haul away the old. Needless to say I still have the old one.

The hardest major purchase I have to make is getting a car. In fact the last time was in 2002.
My Mazda was starting to show signs of aging, you know arthritis in the wheel joints, unexpected noises and long groaning noises upon start up and exceleration especially first thing in the morning and vertigo when trying to keep a straight line, nevermind the tires and rear brake shoes. I started dreading long trips to visit the grandies and always checked to see if Triple AAA was in affect.
So I will introduce you to Lacie Jones. Lacie Jones actually took care of hauling away my old car and gave me two thousand dollars for him hauling away my old car. If he only knew how worried I was about having this old car rusting away in my yard blocking the view of my new one.

Lacie and I share a similar problem about pictures - He took my advice and I think he looks rather svelte. You will see He turned the tables on me and took a picture of me in the same pose in front of my new car.

Here is the picture of me in front of my new CV-R oopps it is CR-V that Lacie took. The Honda Man is in the back corner of the picture and he is smiling his approval. Now that I see the picture I think that Lacie looks better in the picture then me.

Lacie Jones is a car sales consultant at Cale Yarlborough Honda Dealership in Florence SC. My family has a real history of buying cars at Cale Yarlborough going back over 25 years. I do have one problem with Cale Yarlbourgh, I dont think that he gives turkeys to his employees at Thanksgiving but what I find Unconsciousable and Inexcusable is that he does not give tickets to his employees to see the Darlington 500 on Mother's Day. So Cale, get back on track!

Now down to the nitty gritty of this purchase:

My son J-Man was my cell phone buddy during the entire transaction looking up dealership costs on the internet, calculating car payments and giving me good advice. J-Man said the deal eventually offered was ok and reasonable but I think he would have held out for a better deal. I really thank him for his help. I had spent the week at J-Man's house and he looked up cars and prices for me. The two cars he recommended were the Ford Fusion and the Honda Engines.

This is the second time I was at the dealership in the last year looking at Honda's and I have been checking some comparisons on line. My sister Liz has an older CR-V and loves hers. She travels all over the country (USA ) several times a year. It did seem she was putting a lot of money into repairs but her car has over 250,000 miles and her mechanic said she would get another 200,000 miles. This probably will be the last car I ever buy. I actually checked out cars at the Saturn Dealership before they went out of business. The thing I liked best about the Honda was the Engine. Very Neatly set up. and all fluid containers are clear and have have color coded caps for easy identification in the engine. Lacie told me that it was engineered by the same engineers that did the race cars. I remember seeing some car at the Darlington Racecar Museum that had an engine in it that was so powerful and fast that they actually outlawed it. Dont worry, not a problem, I drive notoriously slow and have a disabled sticker to prove it.

Now I know that Lacie would like a thumbs up for his dealing with me and anyone who has to deal with me deserves a triple thumbs up -- Just ask J-man who disappears everytime I talk to a salesperson. Lacie was very low key and believe you me I dont need any more excitement at my age.

As far as the car is concerned, I will tell you how good it is at 50,000 and at 100,000 cause right now it smells good and runs good but the speedometer reads only 17 miles. Princess barks at the car when she goes outside and I know she does not miss the old one.

Do you name your cars? Do you have a suggestion for a name for my car?

w