Indiana, day ?? It's all a blur.

On our way back from the other hotel (in Indianapolis) our van started acting up.  Our van has been having issues since it rolled off the factory line in 2003.  More specifically the issue it was having this time was a rattling noise... a rattling noise that we have been trying to figure out since forever and have spent so much money on.  About a mile away from the hotel (in our town) it got ugly.  The noise changed.  The rattling became intense.  We were expecting parts to start flying off the car. We rolled into the hotel parking lot, were blessed by a friendly face that allowed us an early check-in, and unloaded our heavy luggage. 


Then we started looking for new cars.  We want a 12 passenger van anyway.  We looked a few times while we were living in TX and there were always a few options (we looked on CL here in IN.  Where we lived in TX there weren't any large vans.  ever)... but not this time.  Minivan?  Nada.


sigh


The kids were starving so we clunked our way to lunch, praying for safety as we went.  While at lunch we spent a ton of time on the phone trying to find a reputable garage to bring the van to.  We found one super close that was highly recommended and we went with it.  They were very nice...but very busy.  They couldn't look at our van but their new location on the OTHER side of town could look at it right away. 

clunk clunk pray.


They could fix it but it wouldn't be ready the same day. 

We needed to rent a van to get us back to the hotel.  A few phone calls were made.  We found a place that had one but couldn't pick us up for a few hours.  Found another place that had one but for twice the price.  We wound up waiting for hours at the mechanic.  It's a new location and it's not quite finished.  The lobby was just a large warehouse type setting. Oh, and when I said new I didn't mean they just built it.  It was just new to them.  That place was ooold.  And I'm thinking never once cleaned.  No tv, no magazine, no clean floors... It did have some 1970's chairs though. 


So after first stopping at the wrong location, the rental van guy came to pick us up.  Only our family FILLS a minivan so Roger had to bring the rental car guy BACK to the office before we could all pile in and actually leave.  By the time Roger came back for us, the garage had been closed for about 15-20 minutes.  Thankfully they let us hang out inside and didn't kick us out.  Our Texas selves are not used to the cold temps here and we were freezing inside, so very thankful we didn't have to wait outside. 



So, our van was being taken care of.  We could now all fit into our rental van.  We decided that the day was cuh-razy and it was time to call it quits.  We ordered a pizza at Sams Club and watched cable tv in the hotel for the rest of the night. 



_______________________Thursday___________________________________


We drove past a few houses, ruling out all but one. 
The mechanic called, we could pick up our van.  Let me pause here and say... our van is now awesome.  It has NEVER driven so lovely.  And the price to have it fixed... so affordable.  Blessing.  I KNOW that if it broke down like this in TX we would not have had the same results that we had today.   We returned the rental (and one of the kids cried.  It was a sweet rental van.) 
We got winter clothes and jackets out of storage.  They say it might snow Friday night. 


It. might. snow. Friday. night. 


Roger LAUGHED at me.  I mean, the boy found it waaay too funny when I said that we should start using flat sheets with our quilts when we set up house.  And maybe we should use a second blanket with our flat sheets and quilts because it gets so cold here.  Laughter I tell you.  Crazy laughter. 


Ok, I get it.  We both grew up in PA.  The temps here are roughly the same as they are there.  But we spent the past (nearly) 6 years in TX.  We play outside on Christmas.  Without jackets.  While I'm excited to SEE a field of fresh snow, I'm a little less excited to FEEL it.  :) 


Anyway, I think his laughter veto'd my blanket shopping spree.* 


Tomorrow we have an appt to look at a townhome rental.  Monday we have an appt to look at a (small) house rental.  There are a 2 jobs so far that Roger is preparing his resume for. 

_______________________Friday_______________________________________________

It snowed this afternoon and a little bit this evening.

We left this morning to go look at a townhome.  I wore flip flops.  I always wear flip flips.   I can no longer wear flip flops.  It was SO COLD.  I'm not sure how to handle this.  Perhaps a really cute pair of boots would help.  Flip flops and boots.  Sounds like the makings of a good shoe closet to me.   


Ultimately, *I decided Roger can laugh all he wants.  I'm buying blankets.*  :)

Today was a much better day.  Nothing broke.  We went swimming in the hotel pool and it was nice.  We liked the townhome and are hoping to get it.  (We should hear back on Monday.) 




Tune in next time when we learn whether or not we got the townhome, how many donuts an 11 year old boy can eat at a continental breakfast, and how much HGTV is too much?