[loveable] chaos

We've now been in the hotel for 32 days. While most of the time I feel like I'm going to lose my mind, all in all it's not too bad. I mean six people and one dog in one hotel room for over a month...things could be going a lot worse! But all in all, things are falling into place. We chose our house and sign the lease next week. We got our overseas health insurance (as we are not eligible for Tricare because we aren't active duty) and I'm waiting for our insurance cards. Our van arrived last week and we quickly realized that while we could try to be a one car family, it would be difficult. It's about 30 degrees and we'll be living over 5 miles away. Way too cold for B to bike to work. He could have my van but then if I wanted to take the kids to storytime or do anything else on post, we'd have to walk to the bus stop, ride for awhile, switch buses, then ride the rest of the way to post...all in all it'd make a 20 minute trip take an hour. We needed to find him a car and he started looking weeks ago. We had some money saved up to buy something outright, as long as it wasn't more than $5000. He had fallen in love with the Mini Coopers so that's what he'd been looking at online. Bookmarking listings that we wanted to go look at.

Well as luck would have it we found a solider right here on post who was moving and needed to sell his. It was older than what B had been looking at but much, much cheaper. The kicker? It's a 1993 but looks much older (in a vintage/classic way, not  junky). He drove it to the hotel for B to check out and B loved it. It needs a few smaller things (new tires, new muffler) but is completely driveable, runs great! We made the guy an offer later that night and yesterday, it was signed over to B. It's officially his!

Because we got such a great deal on it, B has the extra funds to turn it into a hobby. While he has to buy new tires and a muffler, he's also ordering the logo hub caps and in the spring time, will probably have it re-painted. (the body paint is in great condition...the racing stripes are peeling off). He wants me to make him seat covers once my sewing machine gets here, etc. I think he will have a lot of fun with it. And trust me, I passed him on post yesterday...he looks SO happy driving it. Just grinning from ear to ear...it's just a car that makes you smile. And the boys? They LOVE it. They call it "daddy's luigi car'' after Luigi from Cars:

Luigi was a 1959 Fiat but they don't know that!

Me? It reminds me of Mr.Bean's car! While I can't picture B sitting in a recliner on top of it, I can see why Mr. Bean needed too. This car is tiny.Much smaller than the new Mini's. The thing can't be wider than maybe 4 feet and possibly 4 feet tall. But it is perfect for B who tops out at 5'5''. It's a hobby, a commuter car and it's economical. I think it has a 9 gallon gas tank and insurance is a whopping $16/month. Che bello!

Here is his car next to my van: