The Newest Member of our Family

My truck died. Well, it still runs, but the clutch is completely gone out of it.
Hubby and I were on the way to work one cold morning and got about half way down the block before Hubby started freaking out and pulled over on the side of the road. At first I didn't understand what he was going on about. "What do you mean my clutch is gone?" "I thought it took a while for those things to wear down and there would be...signs, noises, something!"
Somehow he got it back into first gear, got it turned around and limped it back to our house. While he was warming up his car, the Stang, I hoped over to the drivers seat to see or I guess feel what the hell he was talking about. Sure enough, as soon as I stepped on the clutch petal, it went strait to the floor, no resistance. Now granted, my clutch wasn't the stiffest, but at least it had some kind of feed back to let you know it was working. This was like pushing in a petal that had nothing connected to it at all. Same type of feeling I had before when my brakes have gone out on that truck. You know, I can't help but still love that truck, though. I won't let Dave trade it in. It wouldn't bring in any money anyways, being broken like it is. He proposed to me in that truck. I can't imagine not having it in the family.

In the mean time we were carpooling in the mustang,
and he was having to drop me off at work really early every morning, so he could make it to work on time. We were at a cross roads, though. We need a 4-door for when the Crib Lizard™ arrives. So do we fix the truck right away and still have to hunt for a family car, or do we let the truck sit for a while and we go ahead and car shop. We both had money in our savings, he had a big bonus from work coming in, and he said he could borrow against his 401K. Okay. So total we had about $9500.00 to try to buy something that would be suitable for a family; safe, dependable, and above all not requiring financing thru a car dealer. With the house payment and the impending arrival of our little bundle of joy we could not afford to finance.
When the money arrived we started scounting the Auto Traders. Out of about 100 pages of vehicles, I found 2 that I liked and we could afford. The Huby called and left messages, only one called us back.
The lady said she had another guy coming to look at it for a second time the following day at 4, so we set up to meet her at noon just in case. She could have been fibbing about the other buyer to pressure us, but after meeting her and talking with her, I think that she was telling the truth. Either way I liked the vehicle and the price was right so we made her an offer she couldnt refuse and bought this:

for $5500.00!
And we still have money left over!
Its a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee, loaded with power everything, plenty of room for the Crib Lizard™ and all the paraphernalia that will come with him, plus 2 doggies! I freaking love it!
Plus it runs great and the lady who had it before us took great care of it. It was her baby. Now its one of mine.

I'm doing great by the way. For those of you keeping track, I'm 32 weeks with only about 53 days to go until the Crib Lizard™ is due to arrive!