For $2 Bucks...I guess I'll Die A'Nother Day

The title of this post comes from the James Bond movie Die Another Day, really it's from the theme song by Madonna.  I may have James Bond on my mind since a new movie comes out this month, because if you saw Ken's car in person you would never associate it with the sporty tricked out cars that 007 drives.  Not unless you think having a car with cracked (pretty much everything), rusted paint, and falling apart fabric on the ceiling as sexy.

But this baby just will NOT die!  I will admit that I hoped that it would for many years, when it wouldn't have been wise financially to replace it.  Now it makes me laugh so much I don't know if we will ever give it up. Although I did tell Ken that he is going to have to buy our boys a newer car with airbags. This sucker will just not die.  I should probably think of it as a tribute to our marriage since we bought it the same weekend that Ken proposed to me.  But then I look at it and think we are so much more then that car!  

A couple of years ago it was sitting in the driveway not being driven for a couple of months because Ken doesn't really even need a car since he works from home.  He just drives it to the airport.  Anyway, it was sitting in the driveway and the brake lights mysteriously came on and wouldn't shut off.  No matter what we did they wouldn't turn off.  Finally Ken pulled the fuse to the car and didn't drive it for months.  I tried to talk him into buying a new car but we held off and ended up going on vacation instead!  Two weeks in Cancun with our family for Christmas or a new car that we will barely ever drive, for us it's an easy choice.

So Ken thought on it for awhile and finally figured out what the issue was.  There was a little rubber stopper behind the brake pedal that would keep the lights off unless you were pressing on the break.  It had disintegrated and so that is why the brake lights came on and wouldn't turn off.  Ken had to call the dealer for the part, something he hates to do.  That is until he found out it would cost him $2 to buy the replacement.

Fast forward to this Fall...Ken was driving to the airport but his car needed to be jumped.  We know his car has some weird electric issues.  It doesn't really affect driving it except every once in awhile it will start beeping at you to put your seat belt on even though it is already on.  Or my favorite is when it engages the engine cut-off to deter thieves (it always takes me awhile to figure out how to unlock it).  Oh, and we have replaced the alternator and battery like 7 times.  Ken always does the labor and he buys the lifetime warranty so even though he has replaced it a million times he never really gets charged much.  Maybe just a small fee for the core.   It's a pain though and it takes him a day to take it out and go to the store and replace it.

I was seriously so close to talking him into buying a truck.  He loves trucks, so I thought it was an easy sell.  We made offers on a few on craigslist, ended up finding out a few were scams, and in general got too busy to buy a truck.  Ken decided he was just going to fix it and low and behold when he took in our lifetime covered alternator it cost him a whopping $1.99 to replace.  Oh my goodness, how I laughed after I discovered that!

I am grateful I am married to a man who can fix pretty much anything (even if it takes months:).  This car has lasted a very long time which I am thankful for.  I am also very thankful to be married to Ken.  I love that he could care less about what kind of car he drives so long as it is paid off.  He taught me that and I'm glad that we choose to spend $$ on experiences and memories that our family will cherish and love rather then "things".  If you saw our cars you would know that we do not cherish them in any  manner.  We use and abuse them to get us where we need to go and really don't pay attention to them unless they break.

Rose was the only one of our kids that wanted to pitch in and help Ken fix the car.  She was by his side most of the time, so that meant she also got to do the test drive after he fixed.  She was very proud of herself!

In other car related news Ken figured out a much easier way to take out the alternator and put it back in.  This time it took him just about an hour.  I swear this car is trying to make me fall in love with it.  It's working too, I've actually been driving it around a little during the day when it is just me and Ginger.  It could also have something to do with the fact that I spent $800 on gas in the month of October when all of our trips were pretty much 6 miles or less.  That's just not cool!