We had to run a few errands earlier today, which I honestly didn’t feel like doing. I think I’m coming down with a cold - sniffling, sneezing and freezing. When we made it to the parking lot, I noticed my truck was tilted. I thought at first it might be the huge dip in the pavement where my tires always wind up. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. As I walked around to the drivers side, I noticed the front right tire was nearly flat and it didn’t appear to just be from it cooling off outside. This is not good news, but when is a flat tire good news? I guess we’ll be looking at replacing that tire sometime next week, unless it’s necessary before then. We didn’t find anything sticking into the tire and from our quick observation, saw no signs of any holes or tears but I’m thinking it might have to do with the glass we drove over the other day. There was a bad wreck in one of the intersections, which left loads of glass on the road that was never swept up. I didn’t even notice the glass until we were right on it (due to the cars ahead of me).

This is really annoying because we just replaced all of the tires before moving to Calgary.

I am happy to see submissions to “handbag love“, my new contest though. So the day isn’t so bad I suppose!

It’s no secret that my parents are divorced and many of my friends (online and offline) probably remember how it upset me. It wasn’t the divorce itself, it was the way I was treated by my father during the separation and even nearly a year after it was finalized (things have since been patched up). My dad was a co-signer on a loan for my first “new” car just prior to their separation. After things started to get messy, he found ways to use “me” to get to my mom, which was through my car. After a few months of dealing with it, I felt it was best that my dad take over the car (since he wanted that anyway) fully and I would start looking for something else. I believed this was the only way to get things back to even a little normalcy for all of us, so that my dad and I could work on our relationship.

A couple of months after my dad took full control of that car, I decided I would start browsing around used car lots during breaks, while out of town for financial training (for the bank I worked for). I didn’t think it’d be very wise of me to get tied into a loan for a new car, so I decided to look into used ones. Used Cars were certainly more affordable for me at the time too.

One of my co-workers and long time friends decided to venture out with me on our lunch break, on our last day of training. She’s one of those people that knows everyone. After lunch, she remembered she knew a guy at one of the used car lots (which was actually part of a new car dealership). She felt of all the people she knew, Ozzie (not that “Ozzy”) could help, so we stopped by for a chat.

I explained what I was looking for, both in style, color and most importantly price. Lucky for me, they had just gotten in an SUV that he felt I would “love”. He walked me over to the first row of SUV’s on the lot, where he introduced me to a Used Ford Escape, which was champaign in color. The sticker had a price of over $16,000, which was actually a great price for it. It was a one-time owner with less than 30,000 miles on it and was less than two years old. I explained to him it would have to be less than that to fit into the monthly price range I wanted to pay. He said he’d work on some numbers for me and since it was Friday, he said I could take it for a weekend test drive to make sure it was something I really wanted. I must tell you, the ride was smoother than any other car or truck I’ve driven in the past. That weekend made up my mind - I wanted it. That Monday he phoned my co-worker/friend Tamara and said I could have it for $12,467. This was great news because not only did he work the numbers to a price I could feel comfortable with, it was much lower than what I was willing to pay. I doubt that any Ford Dealers in my area could’ve sold it to me for that price.

Almost 4 years later and I still drive my Ford Escape and for the most part, I’m very happy with it. It’s still in the same condition it was in the day we bought it, though it has around 40,000 more miles on it. It’s the perfect size for us - not over sized but has a lot of room for our “junk”. In fact, we moved the majority of our personal belongings and our cats to Calgary (just over 3100 miles) in it. It’s actually decent on gas for an SUV too. The only things we haven’t enjoyed about it are the recalls. We’ve had 3 or 4 on ours since we’ve owned it, all of which allowed us to get things replaced/fix at no cost to us.

Though the idea of a new car is often tempting, I know I could continue to be happy with my Escape for many more years.

Like many people, there are various organizations and charities that I donate to every year. Some go to medical research, some help and benefit domestic abuse victims, some that help and benefit children and all that help and benefit those in need. These are all things I feel strongly about because of personal experience (not of my own but of loved ones).

I’ve always said that if I were ever in the position to do so, I would donate something far larger than the dollars I donate already - such as a house or even a car. For those of you in a position to do this, there is a non-profit, Christian organization called Car Angel that provides a way for you to Donate Your Car In Los Angeles (or even boats and houses) , which then will help orphaned children, widows, single mothers, the poor and the needy. Anyone nationwide can donate through their towing service and it won’t cost you a penny. If you have an automobile that is in need of repairs or simply isn’t running, they can and will use it (some restrictions apply). They’ll even handle all of the transfers, releases and any other paperwork that has to be done.

Donations fund programs like literacy and education around the world. Donations also fund fun projects like Free DVDs for Kids, such as The Adventures of Donkey Ollie.

Some of the benefits of a Car Angel, Los Angeles Car Donations are: A deduction on your taxes, not having to worry about selling you used car or dealing with the task of transfers or other paperwork and of course the ultimate benefit of helping someone in need.

I hope that someday it’s possible for me to donate to something as wonderful as Car Angel.

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