Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. We are just happy to see the sun lately. We had a tropical depression come through and it seems as is if has been raining all week, starting last Sunday. We did manage to fit in a quick two day trip to Busch Gardens/Williamsburg. We took Scott out of school after lunch(Allison had Friday off) and drove down to Williamsburg. Traffic can be horrendous south of DC all the way to Richmond, but it was moving fairly well. It still took us several hours to get to Busch Gardens and the park closed at 7pm. Fortunately for us, most of the big day crowd had already left, and Tom and Scott did a great job getting on all the big rollercoaster rides before they shut down. They even took a few extra last rides on the Big Bad Wolf which is closing down. The ride just celebrated 25 years and I guess they decided it was time to retire the wolf. Allison and I enjoyed a few hours of shopping and a couple of rides. They are getting ready for the Halloween nights. We stayed overnight and had time that evening to do some back to school shopping at the outlets for Allison. Thank goodness for the GAP outlet-we finally found a couple pair of jeans for her to wear to school that are actually comfortable and fit well! We even had dinner at our favorite Chinese buffet. On Saturday we spent the day at the water park. Labor Day weekend was a little later this year, so it was a bit chillier I think to spend the day in the pools. But it wasn't terribly crowded and we got our fill in of tubes and wave pool and our favorite "Hubba Hubba Highway Lazy river" . We got home at a decent time. Our neighbors watched Cookie overnight and she acted like we'd been gone for years.
We still had the long weekend at home which gave us plenty of time to finish up housework and yardwork, and surprisingly we spent Sunday afternoon purchasing our new minivan. So on Monday we scheduled a hike near the river at Patapsco Park with Matt and Di Wagner. After an hour or so of hiking we got caught in another monsoon. We all decided to head over to our house for dinner and then sat down to introduce Matt and Di and their son Nick to a game of Apples to Apples. We had a fun time but the work week was coming up fast.
Tuesday it was back to school and work, as well as Back to School Parent night at both of the kids' school that night. Tom took the high school teachers and I visited with Scott's teachers. Tom and I both had lots of comparing to do when we got home.
Weds I ended up on a different campus north of Baltimore for work since things have been a bit slow in our nursing home/rehab center. Tom was able to pick up Allison for me since she had a Field Hockey Team pre game carb dinner at one of the players house. She enjoyed the dinner with the girls, and the zip line they had in their backyard! The girls plan on decorating tshirts next dinner.
The girls had their first official Field Hockey game on Thursday night. The weather turned chilly and the Varsity Team went into overtime(they play first) so we were running behind by 1/2 hour. Allison did not get a chance to play-they have another goalie who suited up first, but they only have one goalie outfit. They are waiting to replace an outfit that fell apart on their first wear. And sadly the girls lost 1-0. But it was one of the toughest teams in the league, and the girls looked pretty good for mostly new players. This week Allison has two games scheduled. I hope she gets some game time.
We had to rush home Thursday night though since I had the Girl Scouts over for a pre cookie sale rally. Yes it is that time again! Think cookies. We no longer have the sugar free chocolate chip as it was replaced with a Berry Munch-cranberry/white chocolate chip cookie. And of course the old favorites-thin mint, tagalongs, samoas, do si dos, Lemon chalet, and shortbread Trefoils. And again we are collecting donations for boxes of cookies to hand out to the soldiers returning from overseas at the Baltimore Washington Airport. Think cookies!
Friday brought the 8th anniversary of Sept 11th. I made the mistake of turning on the History channel while working on GS paperwork and spent the rest of the day crying. They had some terrific stories both pre and post 9-11 as well as on that terrible day. It still amazes me that it even happened. I finally got out of the house, reluctantly in the rain, to run some errands. I had a handful of Birthday cards to send out-mostly late. Again, Happy Birthday to the twins, Dan and Dave, as well as Mike Bozyk and Grandma Bozyk. Sept is a very busy month for the Bozyk family for Birthdays. I had just enough time to run home and take Scott to his Cub Scout meeting while Tom ran Allison to her piano lesson. She didn't have practice on Friday night since it was pouring but they did get their two mile run in. Allison gave me a call early to come pick up her soggy self.
Saturday the rain continued which gave me time to get out and get a haircut in between housework. I would have been busy packing up camping gear for this coming weekend for Tom and Scott, but due to tstorms scheduled for the weekend, their camping trip has been postponed. Hopefully to the spring so we can all go as a family. The cub scouts are planning a camping trip to a state park in Pennsylvania in caves near Pittsburgh. Sounds like a great trip. Allison wasn't available as she is volunteering for the Confirmation Retreat this coming weekend. She has a presentation planned with another high school student.
Sunday the sunshine finally returned which gave us time to do some yardwork, replant some trees and of course(do housework). I did manage to get the kids out to the mall after church so Scott could get a haircut for school pictures this coming week. We also stopped into a Health Fair at church and I finally got to meet one of the arthritis doctors, Dr Yap, that I have been referring patients to for 12 years. I felt like I knew him through my patients, but I never actually met him before. I even asked how his wife was doing since I heard she had suffered a terrible stroke last year. Fortunately better. He was convinced he knew me or had met me before, but probably only on paper reports.
So back to school tests and homework for both kids. And I have a new boss at work-we haven't seen much of her-they keep her locked up in an office running computer reports.
And now time for the editorial portion of my blog. Sorry to do this to all of you, but it has come to our attention that only one of the hierarchy in the family is very upset over our purchase of the Toyota minivan. It seems we have been labeled traitors for our purchase of a foreign vehicle. Tom and I have been married for 22 years and we have always purchased a Ford or GM product. Let me assure you that the purchase of a Toyoya minivan was not a decision made lightly. If anyone actually reads my blog, they will know that Tom and I have been searching for a replacement vehicle for the past year for my Buick Terraza minivan. If you recall, I actually purchased an Acadia SUV type vehicle(out of desperation) on Super Bowl Sunday back in February. After having my Terrazza in to 4 different dealerships since October 2008 to repair the heating system with poor results, we decided the van wasn't going to get any better. My tires needed replaced and the brake system was dying. Parts started breaking as it neared its 100,000 mile mark. The extended warranty was up. If you also recall I spent about 3 hours in the Sears Service station just getting the $200 battery changed since the repairman had to practically remove the engine to get down to the battery. The Acadia I tried to purchase in February was not on the lot and needed to be shipped to the dealer. It was supposed to arrive Monday morning. On Monday night at 9pm, the dealership called to tell me the vehicle had already been sold and would I settle for something else. Mind you, this is a $45,000 vehicle. GM had a limited rebate offer which expired that Sunday and was no longer valid. The dealer only offered $5000 trade in value on my Terrazza(back in February). All we really had left was our GM family savings plan to work with but no matter-they did not even have a car to sell us! And we never heard back from the dealership-guess they didn't need my sale.
In the good old days, the company would have offered to build us a car to our specifications-no longer. You get what is on the lot-which was not a lot! I really only wanted to swap my old minivan in for a new minivan-Ford or GM. We do a lot of traveling with the kids and find the minivan works well for the whole family, not to mention my Girl Scout Troop and upcoming Boy Scout Troop. I have been searching desperately for a replacement. Ford stopped building minvans several years ago. GM just stopped building minivans. It would appear that one of the family members would prefer I purchase a GM or Ford vehicle to support the company as well as our country. I would gladly purchase a vehicle from either company if they actually made and sold the car I wanted and needed. I suppose I could have bought myself a Pontiac Vibe or Saturn convertible Sky -has anyone ever packed 6 girl scouts and 2 adult leaders, 8 sleeping bags, pillows, backpacks/suitcases, cooking gear, lanterns or tents into a Saturn Sky? Would it have been better to buy a pickup truck and toss the girls (or boys) in the back with a tarp overhead? Or perhaps another expensive SUV that guzzles gas so I can't afford to actually drive the girls to the campsite-perhaps we could use all our cookie money on the cost of gasoline to fill up an SUV. Does anyone remember me driving 250 bagged lunches to the homeless shelter in Downtown Baltimore? How many lunches would have fit in the convertible? Or 300 boxes of cookies to the US soldiers at the Baltimore Airport along with my coleader and the girl scouts?
I can tell you all that Tom had to drag me out to the auto dealerships over the past year. I was too depressed to even go look at what our American auto industry has been offering the American public. On a recent report from NPR news, they announced that Ford motor Company was currently doing better in sales than GM since the American people are upset over the fact that GM filed for bankruptcy and had to look for the government for financial support to stay in business. Many Americans feel that GM should have been left to close on their own accord. I guess my tax dollars helped keep them in business for now. NPR also announced that GM will probably stay in business but will no longer make big vehicles and will scale down all their operations, as will Ford. I am truly saddened by the future of our American Auto Industry but I strongly feel that they got themselves into this mess. Each company had the chance to start turning themselves around during the gas crisis of the 70s(remembering standing in line to fill your tank?). Instead they chose to build expensive, gas guzzling SUVs which they forced on the American people by limiting the choices and they let the foreign auto industries infiltrate our economy for decades.
The number one Cash for Clunkers vehicle turned in was the Ford Explorer. The number one purchased auto was a Toyota.
I did not choose to buy a Toyota minivan-the Auto Industry forced me into the decision by not providing the vehicle that I asked for(and no my husband won't let me get a trailer for my camping gear which I recommended because he won't park a trailer in the driveway or backyard).
At least our Toyota is built by Americans in America-Indiana to be exact. So American workers are gaining from employment(can Detroit say the same?). And at least Toyota purchases American parts to build their cars. I also received a $6000 trade in for my Terrazza even after I added another 10,000 miles on it. And it cost $28,000 with all the bells and whistles-not $45,000. And I can safely and comfortably transport my Girl Scouts and the Cub Scouts in my minivan, not to mention a portion of the Field Hockey Team. And as an added bonus, our salesman was from East Lansing and an MSU grad. So we were helping out a fellow Michigander. He was also driving the Toyota minvan to transport his 3 greyhounds and his wife and new baby.
And I don't have to spend my whole paycheck filling up my gas tank. I still get good gas mileage. Remember when gas was almost $4/gallon? I could barely afford to drive to work even in my minvan which I thought got good gas mileage. Tom almost had a heart attack everytime we filled up-he swore there was a hole in the tank. I told him, do the math, 25 gallon tank and 4bucks per gallon. But it still got decent gas mileage. And no I could not talk Tom into settling for a Dodge Caravan.
So sorry for all the soapbox lecturing. I just wanted to say that the minivan is mine and that I was very upset not to have had the choice to purchase a car from an American Car Company. Tom was getting very upset with me since he has been dragging me out to car dealerships for a year and I was not interested since noone had anything I wanted. I was happy with my Buick, but with it starting to fall apart as it neared the 100,000 mile mark(remember me needing a jump at the GS camping weekend in August?) I knew I couldn't wait much longer. And there really wasn't anything to wait for-GM and Ford no longer build minivans-period.
Rather then send angry and upsetting emails to the family, perhaps our time would be better spent sending emails to the current administration of GM and Ford. Todays auto companies are not the companies of the past that put food on our table, provided us with housing, clothing and an education as was mentioned in a recent email. They are currently companies struggling to survive over their poor decisions and lack of insight of consumer needs. Sounds more like good old American greed got the best of both companies.
Enough said-I hope this matter can be rectified in our family. And there is still hope-I will happily purchase the first minivan that comes off the GM or Ford line. If not, we still have two future drivers in the family and I will gladly take my children to the Ford or GM dealership when it is their time to purchase a car(and not a Toyota Camry-new or used).
Kathleen