Texas is hot right now. 90 degrees today and I'm less than 1 week shy of 6 months pregnant. Now mind you this is Texas, we're used to heat any time of year and early April is no surprise. Every building is air conditioned unlike in San Diego where schools and companies have to close every summer because 'it doesn't get that hot in San Diego'. It didn't used to, just now that EVERYONE moved there. Regardless, I totally worship the gods of a/c. Let me mention though that they have abandoned me. Well ok, they abandoned my car. Yes, if there was a less appropriate car on the face of the earth for a pregnant woman than my Jeep I'd be surprised. 6 speed manual transmission soft top no step bars no a/c. It's miserable and I'm going to hurt myself sometime in the, most probably, very near future. I've started the process of trading it in but for reasons I won't bore you with it's a big complicated fun for all. Not.
This week I knew was going to be bad, weather report said it'd be in the upper 90's for Thursday and Friday. I was getting DESPERATE. Lucky for me I have some of the most incredibly sweet and generous friends in the world. My friend Trudy is a medical sales rep, she has a company car she uses during the week and her minivan sits idle on weekdays. She's the mother of 5 yes 5 children so her minivan can seat every one in the family. I never really looked at it because I don't know about everyone else but all minivans look the same to me. I asked her last week if I could borrow it for the 2 hot days (Thurs&Fri) and she generously handed over the keys to her kid mover.
Holy crap I swear I got powned by a minivan that night. The key alone had 7 buttons and a dial on it. A dial? WTF do you need a dial on a key for? I never figured it out. I know one was unlock, the other lock. Two were to open the side doors remotely (side doors on each side). I was told one other was a remote start. Not sure what the last button was but I was afraid to delve too deeply into investigative mode. I didn't want to alter something and not know what it was. It was a damn big vehicle, I could have changed something and never known. BTW it was a Dodge Caravan of some upper level. I think it cost more than I earn yearly. I texted Trudy the next day to ask her if there were any options missing from the van. She must have walked into the dealership and just said 'put every option known to God on it, I want everything'. It has GPS, Sirius radio, satellite tv/DVD player, that phone through the radio thingy, reverse camera (loved this), and several buttons I don't know what they did. I never figured out how to open the side slide doors to let the kid out when dropping her off at school. We had to turn the car off, open the door, then turn it back on. What can I say, it was 10% smarter and I fully admit defeat. Hey I still got her to school right?
Interesting though, some friend of mine mentioned that my cool factor had tomhave gone down. I went from the hawt momma in a Wrangker (other local hood moms have told me they envy me the Jeep, nutty women) to just another fatty in a minivan. Sad but true. It had every seat in back occupied by a car seat (Trudy has 5 kids remember) and if the windows weren't tinted I'd have felt the need to put one of those magnets on the side that says 'no I'm not a Dugger'. The really sad part is though, I could care less. I think it had less to do with the fact that I'm older than the fact that at this stage in pregnancy I don't give a rats ass what I'm driving, if it has a/c it's the most wonderful car in the whole wide world. All the bells and whistles (and this van had quite a few) were totally lost on me. I just cranked the a/c and enjoyed the lack of heat. Ah the simple things in life....
There's someplace very special in heaven for Trudy, seriously she saved my ass this week. Even though the gas is insane and the hubby works 80 miles away we may be at the point where he takes the Jeep to work. It gets 15-18 mpg so it's going to be awful but there's no way I'm going to be able to hack no a/c in the heat with baby inside me. Not plausible. When the mother in law comes out in July when the baby is born she's bringing her old car (she's buying herself a new Lexus) and letting us have it. It's old but it has a/c, I could care less about old. At which point if we're still stuck with the Jeep it'll just be the extra vehicle. Lordy but do I hate that Jeep, I do not see what the hubby loves so much about them. Top down does not, under any circumstances, equal a/c.
1 comment:
AC = GOOD!
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