Sunday, June 29, 2014

BabyGirl's New Wheels

Coincidentally, at the same time I was buying Cora, BabyGirl was buying her car.

She called me the night Hubby and I were sleeping on our decision to buy Cora. She was so excited because for the past few weeks she was out of a car because her car she was in had problems. She had put a lot of money into it and the mechanic told her this time it was time to get a new car.

Her boyfriend and she decided to get a new one and he helped her buying it.

She was so excited. I was more excited for her than I was for me.  It was her very first new car.

Layla's boyfriend and her step-brother-in-law got her a good deal on a 2014 Kia Yaris. It's name is Pearl.

About two days later, she called me and said, "I just can't have nice things" Her voice wavered. I knew something was wrong.

She was on stopped a busy street in the turning lane when a man rear-ended her. She said she saw him swerving attempting to avoid her but he failed. He claims he had been having trouble with his brakes and he couldn't stop.

My heart hurts for her. Unfortunately, it wasn't total so she has to get it fixed. It'll take about two weeks for have it repaired. She is using her boyfriend's family member's car in the meantime.

Someone told me she was the fourth person she knew who got in a wreck with a brand new car.

I was furious. If this fool would have taken care of his brakes this may not have happened.

Yes, it's only a car and thankfully, no one was hurt but it could have totally avoided because of a person's negligence.

Share your story about an automobile accident because of an irresponsible person.


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Saturday, June 28, 2014

Decision is Made..My Car's name is….


CORA DIAMOND LANDREAUX.

I will be calling her Cora.

In my last post, you learned my awesome Hubby bought me a new "used" car, a black 2013 Toyota Corolla.

I never named any of my cars in the past. None I can remember anyway.

The first name that came to mind was Boopsie since I love Betty Boop.

So I asked for suggestions on Facebook. They were all good ideas.

Some shared the name of their cars: Ike, bit%&amp, (Yes that was a name, she spelled it like that so it wouldn't offend anyone) Laquisha and one was trying to be smart and/or funny simply saying "Car."

But there was some that actually thought about it: Black Beauty, Cora, Olla,

I loved them all. Thank you everyone!

Hubby and I were playing around with names. Okay, it was mostly me he went along with it because he loves me that much! He never named his cars. I was combining our two last names etc.

Then I remembered BabyGirl names a lot of things and she comes up with creative names. So I called her and she immediately said Diamond because there are black diamonds.

Of course, I can't just go with one name. My mindset is if I am going to name her, it has to have a first, middle and last name so there it is.

Cora for Corolla. Diamond because it is like a beautiful elegant stone to me. Landreaux, combo of Hubby and I's last names.

So there you are.

Share the names you have for your vehicles.


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Friday, June 27, 2014

One Salesman Can Change Your Perspective of a Company

In a previous post I mentioned we had trouble with my Aveo's tires. We had called the dealership and talked to the salesman who sold us our car. He was obnoxious telling us he never sold the car to us and hung up on us. I was so infuriated I wrote a bad review on the dealership's Facebook page. Things started rolling with the manager attempting to contact us. Phone tag between Hubby and the manager Taras Hughes began.

When they finally connected, Hubby told him the whole story and exactly how we felt. 

Taras promised if we came by, he would make us a good deal. He gave us the name of the person to contact when we dropped by if he wasn't around. He apologized profusely. He also said he would reimburse us for the tires we had to buy.

Remember. In my last post I vowed never to give them another chance. 

Hubby and I pondered and talked endlessly. It was the topic of most of our conversations for a few days.

In the meantime we visited other dealerships, because we really wanted get rid of the Aveo. We were no longer confident about this car and could see things going majorly wrong in the near future. We had already little nuisances such as the sun roof cover rattling. You can tell it was not secured right.

None of the other dealerships could help us without having to put money down as our situation was considered an Upside-down deal.

I always saw it on TV ads but didn't really understand it. I do now!  An upside down deal is when you owe more than what the car is worth.  So in order to get a new car we had to either wait longer until we had paid off most of it or put money down. We didn't have the money to put down. After all, we just paid for my funeral

Honestly, we were curious to see what kind of deal the dealership (JPT) would give us. We made our way to JPT on a Friday afternoon. 

We were greeted by a polite rugged handsome salesman, Rowdy. He asked us what we were looking for. We told him we wanted to get rid of the Aveo for a better car and interest rate. We described what kind of car we were looking at. 

He did an extraordinary thing we had trouble with other salesmen. He LISTENED.

We went look at some Honda Civics we had seen on the lot and online. When we went into the office we were greeted by everyone. Taras Hughes was on vacation. 

After we talked with Rowdy about the Civics Rowdy took our information then he disappeared. We assumed he and the substitute manager was crunching the numbers.

Just for a tad of information, during our conversation he received another telephone call and we overheard another customer was arriving around 4:30 p.m. This was around 3:50 p.m.

After a few minutes, Rowdy quickly entered the office, grabbed some keys hurriedly and said, "I will be right back!"

We immediately assumed he was going get a car for another customer. I thought, "Are you kidding me?" But we waited…

And waited….20 minutes later I was getting very impatient and angry. The assistant manager offered us a drink but said nothing more. Hubby and I were getting upset thinking Rowdy left us waiting while he was getting ready for the other customer. I thought it was rude and I felt like this was a waste of time. After 30 minutes Hubby and walked out and went to the car ready to leave.

Hubby and I were flabbergasted and furious that Rowdy would just leave us for that long for another customer. But we talked it out. We decided to go back in and wait for him. If nothing else, I wanted to give him an earful.

We walked back inside and the lady said Rowdy would be back in another 10 minutes. Hubby said, "We're giving him another 5!" 

Rowdy finally rushed in and said, "Come see your car!" As we walked out wee let him know we nearly left. He said he had to go to their other dealership a few miles away.

Let me just say I NEVER ever described a car as BEAUTIFUL. This car was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It was a 2013 Toyota Corolla.

Later, Hubby and I talked about what we were thinking.

As I sat in the car, I was thinking OMG this is such a beautiful car!  I wanted it! I was checking out the features inside thinking we would never be able to afford this, it was beyond our price range.  It was sporty and had a nice sound system, moon roof, automatic and small enough but spacious.

Hubby knows cars and prices and all he was thinking was it was beyond our reach in price. 

Rowdy asked  if we liked it. We said yes but it all depended on the deal. We went back in and he crunched the numbers and brought us back the sheet of paper with the price and interest rate with no money down and trading in my Aveo. Everything we wanted they were giving us, although the price was double what we were thinking. In addition they gave us some savings! 

Rowdy explained this was the BEST and only car to help us get out of the Aveo. We told Rowdy we loved the car but we needed to sleep on it.

Last time we bought the Aveo, it was so rushed our heads were spinning and since we realized it was a bad deal too late, we didn't want to make the same mistake this time.

We came home and talked about it at length Yes, it was double the amount we were looking for, the note was a bit more but we believed Rowdy. We decide to get a better car, you have to fork out more money but it should be worth it in the long run. It also should be my last car of my life :). We could afford it and Hubby really wanted to give me a nice car. 

We realized we didn't even test drive it. Hubby always said Toyotas and Hondas are FUN to drive. I always considered a car to get from Point A to Point B. Yea, two different views about purpose of a car eh?

The next day we went back to JPT and told Rowdy we were ready to sign. They had detailed and cleaned the car and had it ready for us. I test drove it. WOW! It was so different. Smooth and you don't hear the engine. We did all the paperwork and they gave us the keys. We left and went to my Mom's to show off our new car.

Cora Diamond Landreaux

On the way back home, Hubby was driving since I drove to Mom's. He put the visor up and we noticed a crack in the windshield. We can't honestly say if it was there or not before. We never heard anything hit the car. So Hubby emailed Rowdy about it. Rowdy responded with no fanfare stating that he ordered an entire windshield and would let us know when it came in.

He called me the next day and the following day they fixed the windshield with no problem.

This experience was a total different experience than our previous one and I now can definitely say our experience was awesome.

I did go back to their website and gave them an excellent review. Taras and Rowdy changed our perspective about the company. We sincerely thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Hubby was right! I LOVE driving my car. All I need is a stretch of windy road where I can push it to the metal at 80-100 mph. No worries, I won't be speeding, intentionally!

Stay tuned about how I got the name of my car. :)

Thursday, June 19, 2014

What Kind of Parent is That?

A child is a precious gift from God. He expects us to care for them and love them, unconditionally.

I understand that some parents don't know how to be a parent. Many of us didn't. We had to learn as we went. We have to have the love, compassion and common sense to guide us to be the best parents we can be.

Parents need to be there for their child financially, emotionally and spiritually until they are a certain age.

If we want them to succeed we need to give them the tools to do so or at least help them along.

Children owe their parents nothing. They didn't decide to come into this world. We brought them into this world.

I know it comes to a point that our children become adults and we have to let them use the tools we have given them.

But sometimes they need that extra help.

After I graduated from high school, my parents knew I had to get transportation. They got me a used car. All I needed to do is go to school and make good grades.

When I decided to buy my own car a few years later after I earned my nursing license and worked for a while I needed help to get the loan for the car. My dad cosigned for me and all that was expected of me was to pay the notes.

I know this child who had moved out of their parent's house and needed a loan to get a car. They needed a cosigner. When they asked their father, he said he would cosign if the child moved back in the house. The child refused to do so and the father refused to co-sign. The child struggled but made other arrangements. The mother was not financially capable.

I know of a different child who was going to school for what they wanted. Their father wanted the child to major in something else. When the child didn't budge, he made comments nearly every time he saw them about why the child should have majored in something else.

What kind of parent is that?

Why do some parents think it is all about them? Or they think their children owe them, when actually the parent owes them.

It just boggles my mind.

Share your thoughts.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

When Family Can't Pay to Bury A Loved one

I learned something this week that has made me sad.

Do you know that if someone dies and the family cannot afford the funeral, the coroner keeps the body in the morgue until:
a) The family comes up with the money by themselves or they have fundraisers to raise the money or
b) SOMETIMES the church will help?

He said sometimes it is a long time.

I had just finished choosing my casket and preparing for my funeral when the Mortuary Director, Dan gave me the cost of the whole thing. When I saw the price and Hubby and I were talking about how we were going to pay for it I asked Dan what happens to those who don't have the pre burial and their family could not come up with that much money? That was his answer.

Don't get me wrong I don't plan on dying soon.

Hubby and his ex had done theirs. I thought we were just going to see if we could transfer her policy to me since she has other arrangements, which we learned it is nontransferable.

When Dan said it was nontransferable I was ready to go as I thought Hubby and I were going to discuss our next step.

However, I was wrong.

Dan said so the next step is for you to go look for the casket you want. I looked at Hubby and whispered, "Are we going to do this now?" He nonchalantly said, "Yes."

I was confused but went along with it.

After choosing the casket and we went back to do the paperwork, Dan said, "So you are 51." I said, "How do you know I am 51" then it clicked. Hubby had talked to him more than making an appointment for what I thought.

During the process of looking at the caskets I was thinking how many families have to do this during their mourning. I was trying to visualize how hard it would be for BabyGirl to do it.

Later when we were on our way home I thanked Hubby because although I knew there was a lot of things to do for a funeral and it did cost money, it was still overwhelming. I have that serene feeling when God does call me, all my family has to do is make sure the information is updated and say their goodbyes. Everything is arranged and paid for.

Hubby said he knew the cost had tripled from the time he had his done He figured if I live for another 20-30 years it would be even higher. He wanted to get it all arranged with what I wanted and paid for now.

My thinking is he not only helped himself but he helped BabyGirl. I know it may sound weird to some but it makes my heart warm.

But I still think of those poor souls in the coroner's morgue waiting to be buried. It is sad.

Do you or your family members have burial/funeral arrangements for when God comes calling for you?


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

No Use Crying over spilled milk

I just read cpdad and it provoked an idea for a blog post.

He stated how he spilled milk and his loving daughter sweetly offered her help.

CP affects my coordination and I have the same problem with liquids. If I am carrying something with liquid I need to be careful because as I walk it splatters. As long as I don't have to walk a long ways I am okay.  I usually don't fill the container to the top.

If I am in a restaurant or someone else's home, and there is soup or gumbo served, I ask my Hubby to carry it for me. Yes, it is very hard to do and I feel like an invalid but I realize it is better to be embarrassed then be mortified if I'd try to carry it and it goes splattering all over the floor.

I remember when I was with my ex and either my child or I would spill something he would get upset. He would yell at us and tell us how wasteful it was. I would just tell him to get over it. I told him she was a young child and her motor skills were not developed yet and we all do make errors.

I didn't realize how it affected BabyGirl until I had left him and we were alone. One day she was pouring some milk. It went all over the floor and counter.  Yes this time was careless. But I saw the terror in her face. She froze. I just looked at her and said, "Oops, just clean it up!" I think I helped her too. She frantically apologized. I told her it was okay. I remember that deep sigh of relief.

Sometimes when I spill or drop stuff Hubby is like what happened? I just say I spilled. Sometimes he shook his head in exasperation until I told him the story about Babygirl with the spilled milk and it is what it is with me. He spills and drops things too. Maybe not as often but it's always been that way with me. I do try to be careful. I told him he just needs to live with it. It is the way I am. It's not like I like to drop or spill.

Next time you or your loved one spills something, remember that it is not that important.