New Car Smell

We got a 2015 Toyota Corolla this afternoon, a nice addition to the family.  We happened upon a pretty good price drop that made getting a used car pointless when you could get a brand new one for the same price.  So Madison experienced her first car dealership today, which went surprisingly smooth.  I say surprisingly, because haggling is not my forte.  If I think five dollars is too much for something, the salesperson will offer two for ten, and I'll walk away thinking I got a great deal.

Okay, I'm not that bad.  And it didn't matter anyway.  For one, Mommy printed the advertised prices attached to the models and serial numbers.  Another factor:  the process wasn't really that bad.  You have images of large guys leaning into you talking about bonus features under the hood that real men would never pass up on.  I think this goes back to a time that Ye-Ye made a car salesperson cry or something.  This is a memory I had as a kid.  So I have a phobia with car dealerships now.  In defense of Ye-Ye, him making a salesperson cry has nothing to do with his communication skills.  It was just a bad day for the other party, I guess.  I don't know.

What I do know is that today we drove off with a new car, by way of a fairly easy process.  We looked at about two others past the one we initially spotted online.  But we came right back to that one, and the thing was settled.  Madison liked it right away, although she was gazing at those red ones saying, "Ooh la la."  I am not making that up.

We did a test drive, and then we were inside the dealership, which was designed in a much more friendly way than we're used to.  Again, I've been building up a lot of stereotypes over the years, pretty much envisioning the worst for this process.  Hence the extreme reluctance.

We were offered drinks from the cafe there.  Yes, there's a cafe inside.  And they sell Toyota t-shirts and have rocking chairs and a place for a big screen television.  There's always a talk show on these televisions though - that's my only gripe so far.  Why not "The Avengers" or something like that?  While people wait for service repairs or updates, there are plenty of places to hang out.

We were stuck at a desk for a bit.  And we did the financing, and Madison was quite patient.  It helps to have free wi-fi and a Kindle.

So after all the signing and talking about extra features and insurance possibilities, we drove away with a new car.  Currently, it has 51 miles on the odometer.  This is just confusing to me.  How can an odometer have such a low number on it?  Yes, I know the answer.  It just looks weird.  Tomorrow, we'll hit the magic number 53 and beyond.  Madison likes the car  - she's thinking about giving it the nickname of Betsy.  I don't know why, but there you go.

The rest of our day was comprised of a visit to speech therapy, which went well as usual.  Also, a visit to Chick-Fil-A in Alpharetta, which had a staggering amount of people there for no apparent reason other than they all decided to eat at Chick-Fil-A that day.  Part of me suspects that they were there en masse to make some sort of statement (beyond the fact that they all like chicken sandwiches).  In which case, we were happy to join them.  Madison is eating a lot lately.  Like a conehead, she consumes mass quantities.  This has been a pattern lately, and we're wondering if we're up for another growth spurt.  I hope not - we want her to stay tiny and cute, right?

Of course, she can't.  We all have to grow up.  Even Daddy does too.

Tonight, we watched "Tad, the Lost Explorer" as we continued our theme of archaeology and adventures.  This is one of those movies that I would definitely say is better than you think it is.  Seriously, I judged a book - or movie - by its cover.  And I was wrong.  This was an enjoyable film for the three of us, with an added bonus of popcorn of course.

Tonight, we started a new book, "Jabba the Puppet," which is book four of the Origami Yoda series.  These are really entertaining, although Daddy has to sort of censor some of the language in there.  Not that it is extremely bad, but we don't want Madison to be saying certain phrases quite yet.  It's hard to say what those are without just typing them, but just know they aren't that bad at all, really.  Just enough to get you in trouble at school, we'll say.

Anyway, it's a funny book because I think it is taking a pretty healthy jab at schools lately.  Mommy and Daddy were laughing at some of the material, just as Madison was.  It's a fun time before bed.

Tonight, our new car rests in the garage.  We peeked at it, just to see if it was really true.  Yep, we got a new car.  The neat thing is the hypothetical situation of this car being the first one Madison drives someday.  Yes, that's a long, long ways off.  But this car is known for longevity, so perhaps this is the one she'll start out with.  This gives the picture I took with her and the car today a bit more weight.  It's a nice car, and will do us fine.

Oh, and the new car smell?  Yes, Madison got to smell that for the first time today.  We had a conversation about 'new car smell.'  It's funny that common experience of all of us car buyers.  It's that one thing that sparks such great feelings.  Yeah, that's pretty nice there.  It won't be long before it dissipates, but it's like the smell of pine or cinnamon at Christmas, or the smell of coconut sun tan lotion at the beach, or the smell of chlorine in a water fountain at a fancy hotel.  It's great how smells can conjure up fantastic memories, or take you to a feeling and place that brings such joy.

I think I'm going to go out into the car and take one more whiff before turning in tonight!