This is a post about nothing much. Things have been going on as normal around here: busy and busier.

We get up at the crack of dawn every day (actually we get up before dawn these days as winter creeps in) and get home as the sun goes down most nights.

My office still looks like a team of burglars went through it. Even the dogs avoid it these days, no room for them to lie at my feet any more.

I do plan to tidy it up. I do. I have big plans for it. Once I list a million things I need to get rid of on ebay.

As part of the tidy up and organise project I got rid of an ugly set of plastic drawers I had and bought this groovy little cabinet from Shiploads (a cheap and cheaper store). Its only chipboard but its so darn cute. I can forgive it being a fake. I made little labels for the drawers and sorted things into them, like ‘pens’ and ‘more pens’ etc. I love my little cabinet.

Now to bring it out of hiding by actually getting rid of a ton of crap from in front of it.

We do have some huge news actually. I went shopping today. (Nothing new there) Only this time I bought a car.

Ok. I didn’t just go out and buy a car. Its something we’d planned to do over a year ago. The plan was: when I sell my house we’ll buy a new car. Of course, who can afford a new car? We sure can’t. At least not the kind we wanted. A dual cab ute (truck to my american friends), preferably with a canopy, diesel, 4×4, powerful enough to tow a horse float and carry wood from up the hill on our property.

I always do my research. We found that the Mazda and the Ford Ranger kept coming out at the top of the comparisons, too close to pick a winner between them.

I don’t know what the price of a new Mazda ute is, but the Ranger was somewhere in the vicinity of $45,000-$poop-your-pants range.

So we decided to do what any sensible person would do if they have a healthy respect for their hard earned money… we decided to buy 2nd hand. Something newer than my car and with considerably less klms (wouldn’t take much. I think my poor old car went around the world a couple of times according to the odometer reading).

We looked around. We compared what kind of prices we’d be looking at. We looked online. We looked locally.

Then on Thursday we went to a dealership in town which had 3 cars in the lot which fit our requirements. Two Mazda’s and one Ranger. We test drove them all. We took one home one night, one home the next night.

Freaked the dogs out no end, coming home in a different car every night.

We talked about it. We talked about it more. We weighed up klms vs year of manufacture. We compared the minute differences. We compared the added extras or lack of. We discussed practicality and our needs. We looked online some more.

Then we decided that everything aside, we could NOT live with a brown car. That narrowed it down to two, one Mazda and the Ranger. Same engine, different cars.

This morning we were no closer on making a decision than we had been on Thursday evening.

Basically the Ranger was cuter, sexier. I love the look of the Ranger. Its ME. Its a newer model but it has a lot more klms on it. And the seats are lushious. Its more expensive by a couple of thousand and it doesn’t have a canopy or a cover on the back, both would mean spending more money as we need at least a cover – we carry stuff in the back all the time. Moisture sensitive stuff like horse feed.

The Mazda is not so cute. Its the difference of a ute that looks like a ‘ute’ and one that looks like a truck. I’m all for the truck look. I like chunky. Big. High. Tough.

Nice.

But the Mazda had a canopy. It was cheaper. Older in years but less in klms. It has spotlights that can blind oncoming cars 5 towns away. Exactly what you need when to spot wildlife when driving at night. Its a smoother ride, quieter inside…

This morning I left home with Wayne’s blessing to pick the one I wanted. Either one would suit us. He’d be happy with either.

I had no idea when I got to the dealership. They offered me tea with ‘say yes’ juice in it they said. I was planning to say yes anyway, but not sure on which.

In the end practicality won over my heart. I love the Ranger, but the Mazda is what we need. I called Wayne and he was surprised. hehehe. I can still surprise him. 🙂

So, next week we do the paperwork and get a new/old car. Maybe not the sexy one I hoped for, but one which will suit our needs better right off the bat.

Gotta share this as I still laugh when I think about it. Both Wayne and I are clowns which may be why we get along so well. Well, most the of the time…

Anyway, whenever I answer any questions of the “I need to ask you some questions before we can sign you up to a 224 month contract on a new phone” or “I just need you to answer these questions before you apply for this job” type, I channel the Blues Brothers:

“Do you have any convictions?”

“Convictions? ………..ummmm………….. No.”

Wayne did way better than that.

When asked if he had any photo ID on him he asked, “Will the Wanted poster at the Post Office do?”

I’ll leave you with some gorgeous antique poodle photos I found.

z