Today: New car smell.
I alluded to a Valentine’s Day and early birthday surprise last week, and then sort of forgot to tell you what it was. Rude, I know. Welp, ready your best Price is Right voice, because I am currently driving a newwwwwww carrrrrrrrrrrr! Nick lied and said he needed to take my car to FedEx/Kinko’s last Wednesday. I knew he was lying (with a pretty weird lie, at that), but had no idea that he was actually selling my old car and buying a new one. I am a human lie detector, but not a psychic apparently. Needless to say, I am beyond grateful. And drivin’ around with a giant trunk permasmile, enjoying that new car smell.
I’d had my old car since 2005. It survived three years of commuting to Rhode Island, the time I rear-ended a visitor fresh from Japan (he was driving a rental car and had just left the airport… welcome to America… BAM!), and several breakdowns (or things breaking, like the frame). After serving us so well, it was bittersweet to say goodbye, but man… was I excited to get behind the wheel of our new ride. Before I put the pedal to the metal though, we had to clear out the Ford. Eight years makes for quite a bit of junk in the trunk. And in the glove compartment.
With the exception of the aforementioned bumper tap, I kept pretty good care of my first car. I was religious about oil changes and kept record of all work done on the car over the course of its 130,000 mile life. I think someone must have told me to do this. I also kept all of its inspection reports. And car wash receipts. And parking tickets and traffic violations I must have been saving for my non-existent scrap book. Who knows. It helps to have a little document pouch, complete with a stock photo of your car, to keep all these things tidy.
The new car is much lighter on stuff. For one, there are fewer important documents. Mostly because nothing has happened yet. There are no dented wiffleball bats in the trunk, no Motorola flip phones in the glove compartment. Just the necessities: plenty of quarters for parking meters, the code to our storage facility gate (I cannot, for the life of me, remember secret codes), a paddle ball set (you never know when you might need to have fun), Clark’s travel crate, and a lightning cable for our iPhone jams.
Oh, and that new car smell.
Also On Tap for Today:
- Got an old car, but want that new car smell for yourself? Here’s the solution.
- Thinking about signing up for a Reiki class
- 74 tips to extend the life of your car
What’s in your glove compartment? (10 points if there are actual gloves in there)
Comments (5)
Michelle
February 20, 2013 at 2:46 pm
I sure love that new car smell! My glove compartment has my manual and my registration/insurance info in it and possibly a couple of napkins, just in case. I can’t tell you how many jams those napkins have gotten me out of.
Theodora
February 21, 2013 at 1:34 pm
You’re adorable. Did you know that? I <3 your scrapbook.
Bridget
February 21, 2013 at 1:39 pm
Woot woot!! Sweet ride 🙂 And bonus points to Nick for the suprise! Seriously, I hate nothing more than trying to buy/negotiate a car!!
Almost forgot your birthday is coming up!! Can we please re-create last years?? Except I’m going to need a virgin scorpion bowl 😉
Kate Lamie
February 21, 2013 at 3:24 pm
Congrats on the new wheels! what kind of reiki class is it? i did the level one certification, and it was pretty neato.
Stephanie
February 21, 2013 at 11:21 pm
What? You didn’t like The Hunger Games? I think maybe the first few pages start off slow, but once I got past the first few pages, I couldn’t STOP reading! Give it another try!
My car definitely needs some tidying. Glove compartment has random documents that I think I might need in there, but maybe I don’t actually need them. And I seem to accidentally collect receipts from my trips to the gas station.