12 hours of my life I'll never get back. Ever.

Part One: I'm having to break this story into two posts. Because lets face it- we don't all have time for a novella.

Yesterday was the Monday from hell. Not just hell, but H-to the E-L-L. Where oh where do I begin??

Right- It was 8:00am. I had just sent Brendan to school and my Mom came over to tend Addison. My dad and I were on a road trip to go buy us a second car. A second car that we have been without since the beginning of man. Okay, only since last decade.

I had only been looking for a new car for a few years! Secretly scanning the ads online while Jason tells me we still can't afford one. He wanted to pay down debt, and that was fine with me. My parents have been very generous in letting us use their third car, which happens to be the 'Queen Mary'. A Suburban that they use to pull their boat. I have only 2 kids. This is WAY more car than I need.

A few weeks ago Jason and I were talking and he said he'd heard an ad about all kinds of deals here and there on cars. My car buying window had officially opened. And I jumped on it. There is a certain kind of car that I was looking at: the Nissan Murano. I like the way they are almost car, but up a little taller. I like the sleekness of them and the features are really cool. Over the weekend we went and test drove one because although I've been admiring them from afar, they kind of look claustrophobic and so I wanted to take the car seats and sit in them. I loved the roominess in there! Surprisingly bigger than I thought. The seller was very knowledgeable about the Murano and I learned a lot of great things about their engines and whatnot. But I digress.

For about six days I had been in contact with a woman who was selling her car because her hubby lost his job. This was in excellent condition, really low miles and a price I was looking for. But she lived 5 hours south of here. She was going out of town and so the first day that I could go look at it and love it was yesterday. The night before we head out she mentions like a side story "Well we'll have to meet at the dealer because I am terminating my lease with them and they said that is the way to do it. I'll pay the penalty fee and then they will sell it to you at the price I advertised." Oh... okay. Dealer. So my dad took off work and we drove down to meet her. We had a great trip with the top down on his convertible and got a tan on the left side of my body. Luckily no animal carrier semis (read at the end of the post) were on the road that day. And I am not to mention about the Ford Fiesta that passed us on the freeway. So I won't.

We stop in a small college town four hours away to have a quick bite to eat. I call the lady to tell her that we would be there in about an hour and she quickly starts to tell me that she had been in contact with the dealer to see what she needed to bring. Well, they start telling her that there will be this fee, and that fee and more yada yada yada. Almost $3000.00 more in yada yada's. She says that she can't pay for those fees and feels so bad. So I ask to call the dealer to see if there was any wiggle room. None. Not an inch. So I called the lady back, who didn't answer her phone so I left her a message saying I wouldn't be buying the car because I'm not paying that much. We hopped on the freeway and drove another four hours home. I was SO SO SO SO disappointed. This was a beautiful car and it was the right price. Or so I thought. She really needs to change her ad.