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| Lynn's New Car...2012 Toyota Highlander |
I recently bought a new car. I first started looking for it the day after Thanksgiving. Jim and I visited a Toyota dealership in Charlotte where we met the poster child of the stereotypical car salesman. I shall not reveal his name since the following will not be flattering! In background, I should tell you that he is a few years older than I, so he was reared at a time in which women were 1) not to be considered sensible creatures, and 2) not considered to be able to conduct business. Therefore, that is the mindset he brought to dealing with me. The first thing he did was nearly knock me down trying to open the door for me as we went to the lot. Puh...leez, I can open my own door. While he was apologizing for nearly tripping me, he explained that he was an "old-fashioned" guy who believed in treating women respectfully. Well, I'm all for respect, but I should have paid attention and gotten the hell out of there. During the rest of our negotiations, he treated me just as men treated women when I was a young girl. To start with he didn't listen to me, preferring to focus his comments on JR.. When he did listen to me, he responded in a condescending manner. I was not really a happy camper when I decided on a car (which he didn't have in stock because I required a 4 wheel drive). Then he started the money negotiations by writing all over a piece of paper so that I couldn't make heads or tails about anything he was saying. I finally did pin him down long enough to get a price. Then, he told me that he didn't do "high pressure" and immediately proceeded to tell me that we had to complete this transaction that month (it was already the 25th). No pressure there! Since that was not a possibility and I told him so, then suddenly it was okay if we did it by the end of the year. Are you getting the drift? I left the dealership telling him that I would be in touch. Never should have given him my phone number because the first of MANY calls came the next day telling me that he had found me a car and it would be at the dealership on December 28. In the meantime, Jim and I got sick, my mother was not well, it was Christmas and we were having guests, etc. He continued to call me every other day or so. I finally got so I didn't even answer the phone when it was him on the other end. While JR and I were sick, we burned up our iPads looking at costs of the same car at different dealerships. Lo and behold, it became apparent that prices in Charlotte were considerably higher than in other places. So I called old Doodlehead to tell him that I was going to look around. That's when he called every other day to tell me that he could do about anything he wanted. I promised to give him last look (a promise I did not keep). In late January, I went to Jim Barkley Toyota in Asheville and bought, sans ANY pressure, the identical vehicle for $5500 less than Doodlehead had offered. Now I know that he would have made up some of that money, and maybe all of it, but he had irritated me so many times, that I just didn't care. After purchasing from the Asheville dealership, I called him and when he didn't answer, left him a message. I haven't heard from him since. I hope he was irritated. Jim thinks maybe he learned a lesson about women, but I certainly wouldn't bet the farm on that. I love my care, though! Isn't it pretty?
My daughter-in-law came from Texas recently for a baby shower for one of her long time friends. My friend, Jarleth, was up visiting when Shanna's mother, Judy, called and suggested that we have lunch together at the Grovewood Cafe. This is a marvelous little restaurant on the grounds of the Grove Park Inn. It was so good to see Shanna. We don't see them very often since they live so far away. After lunch we went to examine Judy's new house which they have been building on the Riggsbee construction time frame (slow). Things are coming together, it is a lovely house, and they think they will be in it by the end of the summer. The picture above is of the Lunch Girls!
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| Patti and Katie do a project |
I went to Charlotte earlier this week for a dental appointment and visited my sister (who is doing very well after her hospitalization) and Jon and his family. I took pictures,and here they are! Something was corrupted in a couple of these and I couldn't fix them in Photo Gallery, but they posted just fine!
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| JJ, the Angry Bird |
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| Reni, the math whiz |
The mountains are expecting a winter storm later today and overnight. We are on the southern edge of the expected snowfall, so it remains to be seen if we will get any significant amount. This winter has been very warm and mild, and all the snowfall we have had has been minimal. After the last two winters, I'm NOT complaining!
Love to all! Oh, just a thought on leaving...play Angry Birds! It is maddening, but much fun. Just a warning, though...you can waste a lot of time!
Oh, and one more thing...you know I love to read and do a fair amount of it. One of my favorite authors is Ken Follett, a remarkably versatile writer. His current work is a trilogy called
The Century. The first book,
Fall of Giants, was published in 2010. The second,
Winter of the World will be published in the fall. This trilogy is an epic tale of the 20th century. It's characters move in and out of the vicissitudes of history in a remarkable way.
Fall of Giants, at least, will leave you with a marvelous story, as well as new knowledge about times long past that you thought you understood.
