The Goodrums

March kicked off with some wildfires; did I mention it was March? (as normally everything in these parts is covered in snow at this time of year making fire nearly impossible).

We took a brief Spring Break ski trip with friends and their kids (said ski trip went much better than the Thanksgiving 2011 ski trip plagued by stomach flu).

Stewie in happier days

March also saw the coming of a very sad day in our household. The ever so loved and ever so faithful Saturn (“Stewie”*), Jen's car from college, had its last drive to work. A relatively minor accident saw us saying goodbye to a well-loved car after 12 years and over 180,000 miles. I tried my best to come up with a way to save Stewie, but even if I bought discount parts and did all but the body-work myself, the cost was still at least equal to Stewie’s value. After a hard week of deciding what to do, we finally agreed that we would have to say goodbye. We donated the much-loved Stewie car to the Purple Heart organization so that in saying goodbye it at least benefitted others in some way.

We had originally planned to replace Stewie in 2013, but it was hard to see the car go out in that way. Thus, we were forced into a premature search for a new commuter vehicle. I suggested a small hatchback (Jennifer immediately thought of a Chevrolet Aveo and was appalled; I was thinking of a Subaru Impreza WRX and was thrilled).

To start, I did what any rational person would do when shopping for a car; I made a spreadsheet outlining our options and comparing significant parameters – including pictures of all the options. We soon learned that we are not impulsive or quick decision-makers when it comes to buying a new car (see June post for the final purchase).

*Stewie derived its name from being the “little car” (aka, Stewart Little) after Jen’s many years of driving very large Brashares family vehicles