Garage Sales!

We usually don't take the time to go out searching garage sales, most of the time, I find myself thinking, we don't need anymore toys and we have several things that could use a day at the garage sale too! So, I usually leave them alone. However, this past Saturday, we were out test-driving a mini-van (that story to come in just a minute) and we passed a couple of garage sales. I've been wanting to get a little table for the kids to have to write, color, and do puzzles or other things on. So, after seeing how expensive they are in the stores ($50+ for something so small!), I decided to just keep an eye on any garage or yard sales I pass. This one had it. Nothing fancy, but a small table that caught my eye in a split second. So after we were done, we headed back over there to check it out. We came across quite a find! This little table was very sturdy, needs a good scrubbing, but nice and works great for them. She also had two little chairs that were perfect and at the perfect price! $6 for the set! Another thing that I just couldn't pass up, that didn't catch my eye before, but did while we were there - an antique high chair! I've wanted us to have a wooden high chair since before Jonathan was born but would not pay over $100 for it, and I've never seen one at a garage sale. Saturday we did and it was only $15. Jeff knew that had been a desire for so long and said that since I hadn't given in to the stores, we could go for it! Thank you, dear! Next door to this one was another sale. We didn't want to keep shopping, but a baby bathtub caught my eye. We don't have one, and obviously we will need one very soon, it was only $2 so Jeff couldn't pass that one! So, in one day and for less than $25 we stocked up on some great things for the kids! Woo-hoo!
Now for the mini-van. We hadn't planned on moving up to a minivan, we figured out that our car would do just fine for the three kids. Well, to make a long story short, we have had this car for about 3.5 years. Just a few months after getting it, the starter burned out and had to be replaced. The next year, an unexplained problem popped up and the mechanics never could duplicate the problem. Thankfully, a friend of ours had a good handle on vehicles and so he gave us some pointers. Jeff replaced the fuel filter. The problem came back a few months later and was unexplainable, unduplicatable again and since Jeff enjoys researching, he figured out that the car might have needed a fuel injector flush or something (I don't remember) and so they did it, problem solved (maybe). On our recent trip to Albuquerque, I was somewhere between Western Kansas and Col. Springs. The car really started showing problems. This road we were on (I'm never doing this again), extremely desolate. No services, or civilization, for 70 miles. Not only that, the cell phone had NO service! Well, this problem has shown to be very tempermental and the next morning, the car was just fine. So, after putting some injector cleaner in, the car was fine the rest of the way to Albuquerque. I thought we were in the clear. Not so, a week later, problem shows up again so we took it in to the mechanic and, you guessed it - they could not duplicate it! I was very frustrated. This problem really scares me traveling with the kids and for such long distances. Jeff and I had had enough. Jeff told me that this summer we would work and save and when things look right, we would trade in and get, a minivan! We figured that since we are thinking about having four children (no more than that), we might as well have the space for it now! Besides, it will be nice to give the kids the space now. They have thoroughly enjoyed our days checking out these fun vehicles! So, that is why we were test-driving a mini-van Saturday. We will see what happens! Oh, and just to reassure those of you worry worts out there ;), after much praying, the trip home was very smooth and uneventful. But the problem has popped in and out since we got home. Good bye car! :)