So, Big Red is Gone, Here's Black Beauty!

So, Big Red is gone. Do you remember how excited we were three years ago when we bought her?

After the heartbreak of losing the deal on the 2010 truck we were indeed lucky to find this beauty last weekend. It took some real thought to decide to spend this amount of our savings on a vehicle but we think that we chose well. It took us a week to finalize the sale but Big Red came home yesterday and we think that it is just gorgeous. It is much prettier than the new truck we were considering and much better equipped. Oh yeah, and almost $20,000 less than the list price of the new one! I guess that the a__holes at the first dealership actually did us a big favour, and they probably didn't need our money anyway.

Big Red was beautiful when she first came home.

She was such a pretty vehicle that we had to think of it as "her". It turned out that it wasn't a good choice and it wasn't long into our relationship, that we started regretting our purchase. The issues stared early. We had an $800 brake job that was needed 4 months after we bought her, a failed 4 wheel drive system that took the dealer over 2 weeks to properly fix (thankfully I had insisted on the extended warranty!), seat fabric that was worn through to the foam, evil handling over bumps on the highway, faded and failing paint on the rocker panels and wheel wells and worst of all, rust in the rear quarter panels. It soured our feelings for this truck.

Before the disappointment set in...

So, Hubby started looking for a replacement early last year. He still wanted a full sized 4X4 pickup, primarily for winter driving even though the fuel costs are significant. It didn't help that he goes past the local Chrysler dealer on his way to work every day. Their lot is full of new trucks and they are offering huge discounts (as high as $12,000 off on some versions). He watched the inventory come and go on the dealer's websites waiting for just the right one to become available and every once in a while we would go and peer into the windows in the dealer's lots and gasp at the list prices. This is exactly what we were doing a couple of weeks ago when we came across Black Beauty!

Black Beauty, a 2011 Ram 1500 Sport

Pulling into the lot we were wondering why this new truck was parked with the used vehicles. As it happens, it was used, a 2011 Ram 1500 Sport with just 50,000 kilometres on it. It was exactly what Hubby had been looking for, the correct model and equipment and even the right colour.

We took it for a drive and it was nice. It drove well and felt solid on the road. The interior is loaded with just about everything you can imagine including automatic headlights, automatic dual-zone temperature controls, touch screen satellite radio that will also connect to a cell phone, built-in garage door openers, partial leather seats and auto-dimming mirrors. The outside has body coloured bumpers and mirrors, fog lamps, running boards, remote start, security alarm and 20 inch chrome wheels. Another very pretty vehicle, I decided to name her Black Beauty.

The interior wasn't muddy until
we brought it home!

The centre stack includes the touch screen
radio and climate controls.

The dance started as soon as we returned from the test drive. The dealer had looked at Big Red while we were out and had come up with a very disappointing offer. We went home to think things over and to do some research. Consumer Reports rated the model as above average in everything except fuel mileage. The asking price the dealer wanted was at the extreme end of the range according to the Canadian Black Book website while the amount they were offering for Big Red was thousands less than the minimum. We haggled with them for over a week, adding extended warranty again and a cover for the back end and don't forget the bloody taxes, before finally agreeing on a price. We came out at about half of what a new 2013 version would have cost. Vehicle depreciation is very scary in the first few years!

We were back to the dealer yesterday to pick up a missing spare key and found out that Big Red is already sold. The dealer was going to recondition her, fix up the paint and her other issues but they decided that that would be too expensive. So they have sold her off to used car wholesaler and we will probably never hear of her again. Too bad, she held such promise when she first came home. Maybe her problems stem from the financial crisis the manufacturers were in at the time it was made or maybe she was just a lemon. We'll never know I guess. I just hope someone buys her and fixes her back up and maybe loves her a little.

For us, I just hope that this new vehicle will last us a few years. Retirement is looming!

Poor Big Red, back on the dealer's lot.

You can see the missing paint from the rust bubble over the
wheel arch.

The new truck getting its first wash at home. You can see
why the floor mats are muddy in the shot above.

Saying goodbye to Big Red. She has been sold to a vehicle
wholesaler already. I hope she will find some love out there.

Clean again for a short while.

"New to Me" Boots & Homemade Baked Beans

Saturday was a windfall day for me at my favorite boutique (Value Village). I spent, (well actually I didn't spend because I used my Christmas gift certificates) a grand total of $41.00 and I want to show you everything that I picked up.



I got two types of boots, one is very dressy in maybe an outdated style but since I'm not up to-date on the fashion trends, who cares, and the other type is a hiking style, which I really needed. The dress boots were actually made in Canada which is always a bonus to me. Hubby was kind enough to put a coat of water-proofing on them for me so I won't have any salt stains. He does look after me.



I also bought two old-style Corelle casserole dishes. I have been looking to replace the chipped glass lids on my old set and these ones are just like new, so I’m very happy! The patterns don't match but who cares.

I found an Oakland Raiders hoody, it’s missing the string but otherwise it’s in great shape and of course Oakland just happens to be my favorite NFL football team. I plan on wearing this tomorrow. I purchased two other tops for work and found a nice quilting pattern book which I guess someone just got tired of. Some days it just pays to be at the right place at the right time.

We are making a big pot of baked beans for supper tonight and I'm going to bake some poppy seed biscuits to go with them. I can smell the beans cooking away downstairs right now and they’re driving me crazy. It might be a good night for an early dinner.







So far today I've planned the menu for the rest of the week, cleaned the house, helped Hubby clean the garage floor and finished the laundry. Hubby is outside right now washing the car and the truck and I can see the suds freezing on top of his wash pail. It may be sunny out there but it’s still damn cold. We can't have Big Red looking dirty, though. It really is a pretty truck and we may as well keep it clean. We’ve had it about a month now and we’re still loving it.



I hope you enjoy the pictures. I’m including one more of the Witch’s Island because everyone seemed to enjoy yesterday’s so much. Bye for now.

Yeah, that was the one...

After the heartbreak of losing the deal on the 2010 truck we were indeed lucky to find this beauty last weekend. It took some real thought to decide to spend this amount of our savings on a vehicle but we think that we chose well. It took us a week to finalize the sale but Big Red came home yesterday and we think that it is just gorgeous. It is much prettier than the new truck we were considering and much better equipped. Oh yeah, and almost $20,000 less than the list price of the new one! I guess that the a__holes at the first dealership actually did us a big favour, and they probably didn't need our money anyway.

Okay, How About This one?

Hubby is still seething about our experience with the local Dodge dealer. Just by writing these words I can see the steam starting to rise off the top of his head. But all should calm down soon (hopefully). We dropped by another local dealer's lot on Saturday while we were out to do some Christmas shopping and we found a nice, clean, low-mileage truck like the one in these two pictures. While these are stock photos from Daimler Chrysler via off-road.com and about.com ours looks just like them.

The spec.s are good - 5.7 litre HEMI, Quad Cab, 4 wheel drive, 20 inch alloys, power everything - and the price is reasonable. It even fits into the garage, we know because we tried it out. They have offered a decent price on our old truck although they haven't seen it yet. The people we have dealt with at the dealership have been much more pleasant to work with, too. If we can agree to a couple of small things we will probably bring this home this week. Say a prayer for us!

No New Truck For You!

Have you noticed we haven't mentioned the new vehicle we were hinting at earlier this week? That's because the steam has been pouring out of Hubby's ears since Wednesday and it's been kind of a touchy subject.

I guess the deal was too good to be true, but really, the flyer we got in the mail was from Chrysler Canada so how could it not be valid? First, here's what they were supposed to be offering;

* 2010 Ram Quad Cab SXT 4X4
* 5.7 litre HEMI rated at 390 horsepower
* power windows, locks, mirrors (heated, too)
* 4 wheel disc brakes

* Price? $29,999! plus
* 1.9% financing for 3 year PLUS
* your choice of $1500 worth of accessories or $1000 worth of extended service or $750 in no charge options or $500 cash back!

Okay, great! We weren't planning to buy something this expensive but what a bargain! We talked it over and decided that it was worth pursuing. So off we trundle to our local dealer and there it was! Sitting right on the lot, looking just like the photo in the ad, same colour and everything. The price on the manufacture's sticker was $39000 and change but scrawled across three different windows was "As Advertised $29,999". Hubby's mouth was starting to water now so right after work the next day he goes to the dealer's lot again. The salesman comes out promptly and right away offers to let Hubby take it for a test drive.

The test drive went great. The truck was smooth, quiet and powerful. The interior was nicely appointed and there were lots of nice toys to play with. "Great" he says and heads back to the dealer to discuss the old truck's trade-in value having already decided that he would be recommending to me that we go ahead with the purchase. We had been looking for a used truck in the $10000 range but now we were going to spend more than 3 times that amount for this vehicle.

That's when the shit hit the fan.

By the time Hubby got back to the lot it was about an hour before closing time for the dealer. When he sat down with the salesman in the office he was told that the deal that had drawn us into the store was over as of close of business that day and that there would be a new special in place the next day. This was on Wednesday, November 25. Now, Hubby was sure that the deal he had seen was supposed to run longer but as he didn't have the flyer with him he couldn't prove it. So he left for home telling himself that the salesman was probably mistaken but thinking that we should follow up together the next evening after work.

When he got home the first thing that Hubby did was to read the advertisement again and sure enough right on the back page it said "Offer ends November 30, 2009" in big bold letters. Stupid salesman, he probably wasn't paying attention in the meeting that morning. What a relief, we would complete the deal on the 26th and still be inside Chrysler's time window.

The next day Hubby picked me up from work all excited about the possibility of a nice new vehicle, happiest I've seen him for a while. We got to the dealer and found our salesman and then took "our" truck out for another drive. I liked it, too. Okay, let's do it. Or, maybe not.

So, we meet back in the salesman's office and the first thing he tells us is that sorry the lot boys didn't get that price erased from the truck's windows. That offer closed yesterday. Today's offer is 0% finacing for 5 years but today the price is $5000 more than yesterday! Wow, 0% financing that costs $5000! Who could possibly turn that down!

Hubby produced his copy of the ad and pointed out the very explicit terms specified including the price, the extras and the expiration date of the offer. There was some discussion back and forth. The manager was called in as the salesman's forehead was starting to get very shiny. There was more disscusion. "We don't like this any more than you do" says the manager in some misguided attempt to make us feel sorry for them. "Those are just Weasle Words", "Bait and Switch", "Illegal" and "We're dead in the water" says Hubby and we left with our $35,000 still in our pockets. I guess the car dealers are making so many sales these days that they don't need it anyway.

As a final note, the salesman did call us back two days later and offer to go ahead with the original deal but in Hubby's mind the sale had already been poisoned. If you're going to commit to a major purchase like this you do not want it make your stomach twist into knots every time you think about it. We will be watching for more offers from the car manufacturers and if we find a good one we will pursue it. As for Chrysler, it will have to be even better than this one was supposed to be but, under no circumstances, will it be at the local dealer. They've already proven that they don't want our money.

Meal Planning!!

Yup, still have the November blues, but only 8 days to go.

Hubby was very busy today getting the lawn tractor ready for it's winter sleep and the snow blower for it's grand entry. I made lasangna, two full pans, for supper today and the next few days. I'll freeze the extra, which will be enough for two dinners for us or a meal for all if we have company over for supper. It took a ridiculously long time too make it all (3 hours which includes the clean-up time), but it will be worth the effort later this winter.





I guess I need to start getting ready to do my Christmas baking now. This week I'll try to get my doughs together (gingerbread and shortbread) so I can just roll them out, bake and decorate when the mood strikes me. Then I can send some off to the family in the big city.

After that, I still need to make my Cranberry/Orange loaves.

Plus my Almond Bark.

Plus the meat pie for Christmas Eve dinner.

And Hubby will have to plan and do the Wife Saver's Breakfast for Christmas morning.

Man for two people that's a lot of cooking!

Also, Hubby has talked me into going to the company Christmas party, so I'm going to have to see if I can squeeze into any of my party dresses. Maybe I'll just have to buy something new. And, shoes. There'll probably have to be new shoes!

Were am I going to find the time for all this?

Oh, and we're still thinking about a new vehicle. It might even be this...