My weekend....sigh

If there's one thing I truly hate, it's used car shopping. All-day meetings stink, 2-hour elementary-school talent shows are painful, and childbirth is agonizing....but I'd seriously consider paying someone to do my car shopping for me.

Unfortunately, it has to be done. We are a two car family - no way to get around it - but the current arrangement isn't working. Since we have 4 kids in our blended family, we kinda have to own a gas-guzzler to get us around. It's big, it's blue, it gets 18 mpg when conditions are right...and right now, it's my 'commuter' car.

Switch cars with hubby you say? Great idea - except his car, while a sedan with better gas mileage, is on its last leg. Plus, it's a manual transmission, and I never learned to drive a stick shift. Ever. I should learn, I know that, but it's beside the point. This car needs replaced, like a year ago.

So off we'll go this weekend, making the rounds of the used car dealerships. Right now, hubby is still a SAHD, so we don't have the money to buy the car I want - new, from a dealership that brings you coffee and offers dinner at a steak place while they finish detailing your car. :'(

Instead, we'll be at the smaller places, with THIS GUY circling us like a shark. If we're lucky, we'll find a babysitter so we don't have 4 kids chirping helpful tidbits to the salesguy, like "mom hates negotiating" and "dad's just pretending, he really wants the car". On the other hand, if we're lucky, we'll have 4 tired and cranky kids with us for an excuse to leave - "sorry about that tantrum in your showroom, can we just roll the repair costs into the car?"

If all goes well, we'll drive away in a reasonably priced, utterly boring sedan that gets 30mpg and excites NO ONE when you cruise past. Yeah.

Can I interest anyone in a temp job paying minimum wage? Just for Saturday, I promise!