OK, so maybe it wasn’t a mystery.  I love my car for many reasons, but looking through my old pictures, now up on Flickr, I found something that never occurred to me before.  Previous to my love affair with my Yaris, I had another car that I loved to death, literally.  It was a 1987 Subaru Justy.

It was old and rusty and tiny and cute and even at 13 years old, it still topped 43 MPG.  It was fun to drive and great in the snow, and it survived being totalled in a car accident, being run into by a deer (I’m not kidding), and ran for a couple of years with a cracked head gasket.  I only begrudgingly gave it up for scrap when major parts started to fall off of it and then, after removing the engine and calling the scrap yard to tow it away, Luke decided that he needed to climb it.  With his Jeep.  And then his quad.  It was an undignified end for my valiant steed, but what can I say?  I married a crazy person.

So what’s the mystery?  Well here’s my poor Justy, above, being violated.  Now look at my spunky, little Yaris (below):

Notice any similarities??  I think my Yaris is my reincarnated Justy!  No wonder I love it so much.  Hopefully I never catch Luke trying to jump the Yaris with his dirt bike or anything, although I’d love it if I could own and enjoy the Yaris as long as I did the Justy.

I filled up my gas tank today. Seeing $3.99 per gallon made me nauseous, but then I calculated my mileage:

39.55 MPG!

The guy across from me at the pump asked what my typical mileage was.  He was filling up a PT Cruiser, poor guy.  With gas prices going up every single day, you really need to celebrate the small victories.  I think I’ll have to do a cartwheel at the Mobil station the day I break 40 MPG.

So who wants to go buy a Yaris today?  You know you do. I love my car.

One year ago today I brought home my new Yaris.  It’s been a fun year, a less expensive, fuel-efficient, cute car-driving fun year.  And today when I checked my odometer I see that it’s also been a year of driving a lot.  Holy crap, 17,000 miles!  The Yaris had 70 miles on the odometer when I brought it home.  Today when I get home from work it will have just over 17,070.  That’s crazy!

Don’t tell my insurance company.  According to my policy, they think I drive 7,500 miles per year.  Who only drives 7,500 miles in one year?  (Well, with the exception of my friend Paula who almost never drives her new Saab and probably hasn’t even had the oil changed yet in the year she’s had it, that’s a different story.)   It’s 25 miles one way to work for me, that alone would add up to more than 7,500 and I drive to other places than work.  Like to the grocery store.  And Jo-Ann Fabric.  But where else have I gone?

The farthest we went in the Yaris was the one day we went to New Hampshire to buy Luke’s truck.  We also took a trip to Vermont when we were truck shopping, but other than that, I have nothing to say for my 17,000 miles.  Well, nothing regarding where I went, but I can say plenty about my car.

I love my Yaris.  I’m still in love with it.  If they made “I Heart My Yaris” t-shirts, I’d wear one.  Happy Yarisaversary!

It’s been a virtual blog ghost town lately. No one seems to be updating their blogs this week (Amanda… Flannery… Melissa…). I’m even feeling uninspired. I couldn’t muster up the creative juices to write anything yesterday and today I’m feeling the same. Blah.

My last post was my 200th. It took me a year to reach 100 and two months to reach 200. Have I been chatty lately?

Have I mentioned how much I love my car? I love my car.

Luke’s Jeep has decided to hold a sit-in in our driveway. It’s refusing to not only let him open the doors, but also to start. I blame this on Luke’s talk of buying a new truck lately. I was still in my bathrobe, making coffee this morning when Luke tried to leave and couldn’t. I had to throw some clothes on, dunk my head in the tub, toss some makeup in my purse and hop in the car to take Luke to work. I left in such a hurry that I had to take mental inventory of my outfit before I got out of the car at work, just in case: shirt? check, pants? check, two matching shoes? check.

Molly goes for a haircut tonight. She gets her hair cut more often than I do and her haircuts cost more than my salon visits do. What does this say about me?

I’ve been crafting lately but I can’t share the details with you because they are top-secret crafts for a certain someone who might be reading this blog. Stay tuned and maybe I’ll eventually be able to reveal what I’ve been up to.

It’s going to snow tonight, I’m so sad.

It’s been a whole week since I brought home my new car and I’ve managed not to gush about it here each and every day (you’re welcome). Since today marks one week since she became mine, I thought I’d give you the highlights. In case you’re on the fence about getting a Yaris of your own (Paula) perhaps this will sway you.

I’ve decided to name her Bernie - I’ll explain that another day.

I love:
The cup holders - seriously - they’re sturdy and secure and EVERYWHERE.
How fast she heats up on a cold morning.
The funky weird dashboard.
The three glove boxes.
How peppy she is.
The secret storage compartment in the back.
The comfy seats.
The plug for my iPod.
The scene last weekend loading a new 55-gallon aquarium into the back (it fit!)
The gas mileage! (First fill-up: 35mpg)

I’m still getting used to:
The light-sensing headlights. They turn themselves on which makes me forget to manually turn them on all the way. It’s spooky that she knows when it’s dark out.

I don’t love:
The sensor that knows when someone is sitting on the passenger seat and then turns on the dinger to remind the passenger to put her seat belt on. I’ve tried, Molly flat-out refuses to wear her seat belt. I have to latch the seat belt across the seat when she rides with me, otherwise I hear 60 seconds of ding, ding, ding… every time the car starts up.

I tried to find other things I don’t like but there just aren’t any. She’s fantastic and I still can’t believe she’s mine.

That licence plate has been with me for thirteen years. Almost as long as Luke has been with me. It’s been on the back of a Hyundai, an Audi, a Subaru, a Kia, an Isuzu, and now, it finally gets to sit on the back of a brand spanking new 2007 Toyota Yaris. I’m still in shock.

I went to a Toyota dealership in Manchester with my friends Paula and Karlo on Saturday because they said that they wanted to test drive a Yaris. Well, sneaky Paula tricked me into test driving it and I was pleasantly surprised. It was very roomy inside and seriously peppy to drive. It has a sporty little shifter and low clutch pedal that made it really fun to drive. I loved it, Paula and Karlo loved it, but Luke still hadn’t seen it. I told the salesgirl that I’d bring Luke back later and then we could decide.

I left there with that skeevy, slightly violated feeling you get after sitting in close proximity to a car salesperson. I was driving home and figured, heck, I already feel icky, why not go to another dealership and see what they have to say.

I drove out to Toyota of Colchester and was greeted by a friendly guy named Joe. He took some information from me and went to see what they had for Yarises that matched my requirements. He came out with the cutest little silver one - how did he know I wanted a silver one? He didn’t even ask about color. I test drove it and again and loved it. I had it out on route 2 and was speeding before I knew it. It’s got a lot of get-up-and-go for a little 4-cylinder! Again I went back and said that Luke needed to test drive it and maybe we could come back next weekend. Seeing as how it’s the end of the month, they were anxious to make me a deal so they said that most amazing words I never expected from a car dealership - “Why don’t you take it home? Bring it back on Monday”. And so began my 42-hour test drive.

I was able to see how it did driving up my slushy, muddy driveway, how well my scrapbooking stuff fit in the hatchback area, how the headlights and dash lights looked at night, how easily I could reach the ATM from the driver’s seat, how groceries fit in the back, and most importantly, how it looked sitting in the driveway. Then the test of all tests - Monday morning I had to bring it back before work and we had 4″ of new snow on the ground. I got to see how it drove in the snow. It was the ideal test drive. I knew I loved it and I wanted it.

I went back to the dealership last night to try an work a deal. My Rodeo still had a loan on it so I needed some money for it and when they offered me $1,000 I grabbed my stuff and said “thank you, good-bye”. I managed to negotiate up another $2,000 which I thought was pretty darn good form someone who usually responds to any type of struggle by bursting into tears.

So my Rodeo is gone, I do feel a little sad about that, and a new little car has taken it’s place. Meet my new Yaris. She still doesn’t have a name yet. I’ve always called my cars “Bessie” because they were all heaps of junk, but the Yaris is perky and new so she needs a good name. Some cute, Japanese name, maybe. For now, she’s just my Yaris.

I don’t know what to do. I really can’t stop thinking about trading in my car now. It’s all Paula’s fault. I’ve had my eye on the Yaris for a while now, I have hatchback envy, so last weekend when Paula mentioned that she might get a Yaris to commute to work in, seeing as how the price tag was less than $12,000, I was immediately intrigued. Really, $12,000? For a new car? And it gets 30-45 MPG? Interesting.

I did some math and figured that I could continue making payments at the same amount I’m paying now for my Rodeo, just extend the time I have to pay them another three years, and have a brand new car. A brand new car with a 5-year warranty which would also save me $100 a month in gas.

OK, let’s recap: I get a brand new car (a cute one) and continue spending the same for the payment as I am currently, so there’s no extra cost to me, I wouldn’t have to worry about check engine lights or weird noises coming from the engine, AND I would save myself $100 a month in gas. Oh, and the earth, I’d be polluting less of the earth with my small, fuel-efficient economy car. That’s nice, too.

So what am I missing? What are the cons? I’ve tried to make my list and I can’t come up with any cons other than: having to listen to Luke complain that I have an ugly car.

I asked Luke to be honest and tell me what he thought about me getting a Yaris and he didn’t really have much to say. Of course he thinks they’re ugly, I can’t really say anything about that, but all of his other gut reactions can be talked through. He thinks I should maybe look for a comparable car that’s not a Yaris. That leaves the Honda Fit (too expensive), the Mazda 6 (too expensive), a Scion (too expensive), and some Suzuki model, but he doesn’t want to get a Suzuki for some reason. OK… so it doesn’t have side air bags. Neither does my Rodeo. Yes, my Rodeo is bigger, but the Yaris is 10 years newer with more safety engineering and I’m sure it must be safer, although smaller.

I’ve read the reviews and it gets pretty good ones. Edmunds liked it a lot, they called it cute and peppy. The owner reviews were great. The only negative reviews mentioned the lack of side air bags, the lack of an ashtray, and the awkward emergency break location. Big whoop.

So tell me, what am I missing? Anybody own a Yaris or know someone who does who can give me their feedback, and not just tell me that it’s funny-looking?

So much went on this weekend, but I got absolutely nothing done, and my head is still spinning.

Between Saturday and Sunday, we planned out our new deck and shopped for materials, shopped for a new motorcycle, shopped for a new truck for Luke, went to see Amanda in Love Letters - it was fantastic - settled on buying a new motorcycle, spent about an hour sitting on said motorcycle at the dealership, decided not to buy said motorcycle from the dealership, shopped for new aquarium supplies, made a lasagna, went to Paula’s for dinner, and decided that now I want to trade in my car for a new Yaris. What is going on?

See what happens when you pay off your credit card? As I wrote to one friend, I’m feeling a little too unburdened by debt, so I thought I should buy something new. I’m kind of sad about the motorcycle, but fear not! I’m still shopping. Anyone out there looking to sell a used Buell XB12SS?

Single ladies of the world, find yourself a handy man and marry him. Seriously. Those clean-cut, business suit, office-working types are nice. They’re clean and neat, they know where the good restaurants are, you can share hair products with them, but when your car stops producing heat, are they going to crawl around on the snow-covered ground in mid-February to fix it for you? I don’t think so.

My handy man fixed the heat in my car yesterday and never have I been so glad I married him. This morning my toes were toasty, I didn’t see my frosty breath on the ride to work, I can use my defroster. It was heaven. Once again, the heat is on.

My friend, Flann, has a tag on her blog of “whiney” and I love that. I think I might add that one to my tags, too, because this post is going to be whiney.

The heat hasn’t worked in my car since Sunday. That’s right. It’s the coldest week of the season and I have no heat in my car. I also have no defrost so not only is it uncomfortable, it’s a little scary.

Luke checked the fan motor and the fuses and other car things and he has a theory. He thinks that there was some moisture in the duct work which froze and is now keeping the fan from rotating. Luckily there is still heat seeping out of the ducts, it’s just not blowing out and melting the rubber on my shoes like I want it to. Thankfully, the heat seepage eventually warms the car enough so that halfway through my half-hour ride to and from work, I stop seeing my breath in the car. Unfortunately, it’s never enough heat to actually warm me up and I am now perpetually frozen.

I get home at night and sit so close to the wood stove that I can smell my jeans singeing. I still don’t feel warm. It really sucks. I haven’t had feeling in my toes since Monday morning.

I asked Luke what we could do and he said, ‘nothing’. We either have to build a heated garage, or we have to wait until it gets warmer and the moisture melts, releasing the fan blades. Waiting in the cold is not one of my favorite activities. Its starting to affect other parts of my car, too. My odometer froze up for a day and a half and the back window refuses to release it’s latch. It’s great. I love winter.