Frustration & Joy

Mr Mel & I headed to Sydney on Saturday arvo for a family do on Sunday, in between my weekend chorses & packing etc, I loaded around 200 songs onto my IPod.

Our new Hyundai has an IPod connection, so I thought sweet, one way to override the sports radio drive is to show Mr Mel how cool the IPod connection is.

I loaded some great tracks, heaps of 80's (much to Mr Mel's chagrin), some Paul Kelly, PowderFinger, Machine Gun, Johnny Cash, U2, current hits etc, a pretty good mix.

So we head off, Mr Mel driving, and I plug the IPod in, it reads that there's a USB connection but says 'no media', I try another 3-4 times, then think maybe I'm meant to press a button, so pull out the car manual, and there in shocking black & white is written that certain IPods won't work with the connection, including my 5 year old IPod Nano.

Sooooo frustrating, I know we didn't buy the car for the IPodedness (new word), but it sure was something I was looking forward to.

So I have a bit of a sook and Mr Mel tunes into the sports, interchanging with some rock, not totally awful.

We stop at the big servo on the F3 to get a drink, and there sitting on the counter is a 5 CD of the 80's Boxset....The angels start strumming and the clouds part, Hallelujah, I start giggling as I hand over the $29.95.

I get an odd look from Mr Mel as I skip back to the car grinning, and he then starts cringing when I show him the case ala Delvene Delaney on Sale Of The Century.

CD 1 Song 1 - AHA - Take On Me....................and all is right in the world again......................

For a list of all the glorious hits:

http://avaxhome.ws/music/large_collection/VA_80s_The_MegaBox_5_CDs_Box_Set_2010.html

Till next time,

Hello Bright Sparkly Gorgeousness Thing

After 18 years driving old cars (my cars 1991 - bought a 1980 car, 1994 - bought a 1987 car, 1999 - bought a 1992 car, 2004 bought a 1996 car), I, well we have bitten the bullet and bought a new car.

At this stage I'm calling him/her 'Bright Sparkly Gorgeousness Thing', I'm sure we'll shorten that quickly :)

We bought a 2007 car in April, and got an excellent deal on it ($5k under what current listed for on Carsales & Redbook), so when my 1996 Mazda blew a radiator ($600), then blew a water pump ($700), then blew something else enginey (we didn't get fixed), we thought that'll do, and decided to get rid of it and get a 'new' 2nd car.

Little did we know a few weeks later did we know that 'new' 2nd car would actually be a New 2nd car :-)

We sold the Mazda through Gumtree, I listed it last Wednesday, warts and all, said needs mechanical repairs, etc etc, and low and behold 9am Sunday we got a call, they came to inspect at 11am and we were waving the Mazda goodbye at about 11.30!

We went round to the local dealers, we'd done the same a few weeks ago, and had put together a list of options. We've been researching madly, speaking to friends in 'the business', and came to realise that a new car isn't as awful as we'd always thought.

We ended up with a Hyundai i30, we got a 2 litre one for the price of a 1.6 litre, and negotiated a discount off that, plus got tinted windows & metallic paint thrown in. It has a 5 year unlimited km warranty, plus an additional 3 year dealer warranty.

It's got room in the boot for a pram & shopping (for the near future hopefully!), and NRMA rated it the best car under $30,000 in 2008 & 2009, plus it has a high safety rating. So while we said we'd never ever buy a new car, we have. Our offset has taken a bit of a hit, but we're happy with our decision :-)

Here's Mr/Ms Bright Sparkly Gorgeousness

Till next time,

Can we do it update

Have just realised I haven't posted anything on our 'can we do it' goals, so hear goes:

Mortgage
Our mortgage when we bought in July 2009 was $272,000, it currently sits at $182,229, we held back $60,000 from our deposit to get us into a higher discount on interest rates, so paid that $60k off the mortgage straight away.  We have a 100% offset account, and keep every $ as long as we can in there, we pay for nearly everything on VISA then pay that off in full from offset each month.


We're hoping to have our mortgage paid off in 7 years from starting out, which would make it July 2016.


Start of mortgage (July 2009) - $272,000
As at today (May 2010) - $182,229 (reduced by $89,771)


Other debt
Our total non mortgage debt is $16,050, which includes a car loan (as part of mortgage package, at same interest rate, and a VISA we've since closed).


Start of car loan (May 2010) - $15,000
As at today (May 2010) - $14,794.90 (reduced by $205.10)


Start of VISA (Dec 2009) - $4,920
As at today (May 2010) - $1,255 (reduced by $3,665)


Total non mortgage debt (May 2010) - $16,050


Weight
My weight covers a few areas, getting healthy & fit, getting my body in the right place to conceive (and fit in a near 'normal' wedding dress!!). I am easily distracted from weightloss, so hoping this blog can keep me on the straight & narrow!! C'mon me, you can do it!!


Weight as at 1st March 2010 - 136.6kg
Weight as at 26 May 2010 - 133.2kg (lost 3.4kg)


Business
Our business is chugging along ok, currently equating to around .6 of a 'normal' wage, we're hoping to grow the business in the next few months, plans are afoot!!


Till next time,

Train, Plane, Bus & New car

A busy weekend, I caught a train, then plane then bus to Ballarat, then drove our new car home to the Hunter Valley. I left home at 5am, arrived at Ballarat at 2pm.

Was meant to head off at 6.30am Saturday, but because our new island bench wasn't ready in time, didn't get off until 12.30pm, it's a 1100km trip, so the original plan of driving straight through went out the window.

Got to Tarcutta, 1/2 way between Melbourne & Sydney, and stayed the night.

I wish I'd driven on an extra 1/2 hr to Gundagai, as Tarcutta was let's say 'interesting'!

The motel reminded me of year 6 camp, just enough room to swing a cat, plenty of flies to kill, and bleeping well freezing!

Headed off from Tarcutta at 6.30am and arrived home at 1pm.

A long long trip, but worth it, the new car was a dream, yay, the 5 month wait was worth it!!

Till next time,