March 5

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me. Yes today is my birthday.  How old am I? A boatload of years. I am sure Elizabeth will make it a very nice day but it will have some sad moments. This is my first birthday without Mom. But I know I will get some very nice gifts including one I am giving myself. Well actually it is more for Elizabeth. For nearly the past year we have been a one car family. I have been on a temporary assignment that had me working only a couple of miles from home. That meant if something happen I could be home in minutes. Come the first of April I return to my normal work place which is more like a 30 minute drive away. I wanted Elizabeth to have a vehicle so she could get out if needed. She does not like to drive much that is why we run most of our errands on weekends. We have been discussing a new car for some time. At first we discussed getting a bigger car that could seat five so if company came we could all fit in one vehicle. But after some more thought we decided we really needed a car that fit our needs on a day to day basis. If we have company, or I need to transport a big load of stuff from the home improvement store we can rent something. So yesterday I went shopping. I settled on a Toyota Rav4. It is a small SUV. We are really excited about this. It is large enough to carry most of the things we need but small enough to be economical. That is especially important since those nasty oil companies keep the price of gas high. B-). It is also I bit bigger than our current small car and that should be safer for Elizabeth. It is also a recommended buy according to Consumer Reports. It was not quite ready to come home yesterday so I will be heading out this morning to pick it but I did take a picture.