My Hot Rod Wheels.

And those are H's words, not mine.

After swimming lessons last Thursday night I was really, really thirsty. But I couldn't justify paying $2.00 for a soda at the community center. So instead I asked J if we could go through the coffee shop drive through so I could get a little pick me up.

My logic makes no sense, I know. I am willing to spend $3 plus for a coffee but not the $2 for the soda.

My dear, oh so dear, husband got in a little fender bender with the Caribou Coffee drive through last Thursday evening making that $3 coffee more like $250. (Our deductible.)

(By the way, if one more person says or asks me if it's cause they didn't have a changing table, I will scream.)

And of course this fender bender wasn't in his vehicle, but instead, mine. More well known as "Granny Vanny", our mini-van.

Tabling the issue and the damage (considering it drove and all) for the weekend so we could fully celebrate H, I finally got an appointment at the body shop on Tuesday morning.

I asked the night before that they have a loaner vehicle ready and waiting for me as I'd need to move two car seats and have two small children with me. I, of course, made the mistake of assuming they'd loan me another van or larger vehicle, but instead they gave us the "hot rod."

A 2009 Chrysler Sebring with everything our little hearts could desire. Except enough room for our family. (Though that doesn't seem to bother H, he is quite infatuated with these new wheels, his new open window view of the world and oh, that little tiny fact that he now sits right next to E and his hands can reach right into her rear facing car seat. That alone is almost enough for us to get in another accident.)

It's a tight fit in that back seat with two car seats and yesterday helping a friend out I had to toss one more in there.

Let's just say that is the reason I drive a mini-van.

Thankfully I haven't had to take all four kids anywhere since Monday. We would have been quite the squished sight.

Tuesday's word from the auto body shop was that they believed it would be worth fixing the damage but it is very close to being the magic amount that our insurance company would total the vehicle out.

So now we're playing the waiting game. Waiting on our insurance company to give us either the go-ahead to proceed with the body work or to tell us to go pick out something new.

Can you guess where I am leaning?

I would definitely like to take the money from "Granny Vanny" and put it towards another vehicle.

My, ahem, dream mini-van.

(Can you even believe I am saying that?)

But until then, I'm just a mom driving a hot rod.

A cool one, at that, as H has begun watching "Sid The Science Kid" on PBS. And the one song he seems to have picked up from it is;

I love my mom.

My mom is cool.

....

Cool, indeed. A cool, hot rod driving mom. What could be better, really?