Elisa and I have been car shopping. For 2 1/2 years we’ve been vehicle-less. Paying for a car and gas and the insurance does NOT sound fun. I tend to get motion sick and quite liked not feeling awful after every train ride while in Europe.
Our favorite car to test drive was a 1999 Lexus. It had a lot of miles on it, but it was a good value for the money and it also handled like a Lexus. After a few days we decided that a used Camry was a better deal, but the Lexus was a close second. Our plan was to give the dealer a low offer for the Lexus, and if we couldn’t talk him down enough, we’d go buy the Camry. On the way to the dealership, Elisa said that she wanted to just stay out of the negotiations while I handled it. That’s fine with me because I like to bargain. I think that anyone can get a good deal if they just decide beforehand what they think is a good price and what they think is a bad price.
Really quickly the dealer came within $300 of our offer. I was surprised that he was that desperate. 🙂 I was ready to accept his counter offer. Then Elisa brought up the fact that the key fob was having problems. It was perfect timing. She was even pantomiming someone trying to carry a baby in one arm and groceries in the other arm and still unlock a car door. So the dealer came down another $100. I was ready to accept that price too. Elisa said that it was an OK price, but she wanted 24 hours to think about it. The dealer kept trying to push us to take the car immediately, so I told him that a 24-hour wait was an investment that can pay back for a lifetime. Elisa said that she wouldn’t take the car sooner for anything more than our original offer. The dealer sighed and took $200 more off the price!
Elisa negotiates like a steel-toothed bulldog. I really didn’t feel like I was “negotiating” or “bargaining.” I just really didn’t feel comfortable jumping into a purchase that we hadn’t discussed beforehand. No matter how close to our offer it was– it wasn’t our offer. Her technique was perfect. We signed the papers that day and we got exactly the deal we wanted. We drove home really happy. I am thrilled with the car. I totally would have taken it the next day for their counter offer. Lucky us that I am so convincing. 😉
We have had a blast getting together with all of Chad’s family. This is the first time we have all been together since we have been married anyway. We are having a great time. We have been having a lot of fun just going and doing little things. We did family pictures and almost got caught in a huge storm. It will be interesting to see whether the pictures come back with us looking like we’ll blow away. July fourth we woke up early and went to raft the Hoback junction. Renee was a saint and stayed home with all five grandkids. The river was completely different than it was the last time we went. The water was pretty chilly but we had a great time. Adrenaline kept us warm during the rapids. We kept Eden up late to see her first firework display down on the river. She looked like she was enjoying the spectacle for the first few minutes, but she was so tired that she snuggled down into the carrier and fell asleep. It was so nice to come home from our adventures abroad and then celebrate our homeland upon arrival. It was a nice way to come home. The fireworks were fantastic and we all had a nice time together.
Eden plays so well with her cousins. It’s cute to see them following each other around and giving each other clumsy hugs. Eden has never been happier–she doesn’t whine when her cousins are around. I guess she gets bored being an only child sometimes.
Ramping up to move has been crazy. We packed up pretty easily and the movers came and went without incident. Then we cleaned our rears off and ran errands. We had a number of people come to our place to help us move out all our possessions. It was sad to see our things get purchased for pennies or be thrown out. Bummer! But after all the Swiss Standard Cleaning and unregistering with immigration and checking off our long list of to-do items we managed to close up the doors, lock them behind us and say goodbye to our home of 2 1/2 years in Switzerland.
We stayed with the Schwendeners and then the Mascaros for awhile before our flights. We went down to the Jacksons’ and enjoyed their company on Saturday. Dani and I sang in Sacrament meeting. I completely fell apart after we finished. Mascaros threw us a great going away party with the Schwendeners, Baumanns and Sannemans after church on Sunday. Chad, Eden and I went to Jenna’s for a last “Thursday.” We crashed on her couch. It was wonderful. Things were pretty busy right up until our flights Wednesday morning.
We had a long day of traveling–almost 24 hours from door to door. Besides me getting motion sick the first leg, the rest of the trip went well. Eden did great. Unfortunately our fabulous BOB stroller was lost in transit. Who knows if we’ll ever see it again!
Going through passport control leaving Switzerland and then customs in the Atlanta airport made me get all emotional. It is sad to leave behind such a wonderful life we have had the last few years, but we are happy to be home.
