Hi Honey, how was your day? Mine was good, pretty normal...I bought a car, secured financing and insurance... oh yeah I also changed my long held perception of myself.

Here is my soapbox: Do not tell yourself you are not good at something or you can't do it, I'll bet you can!
Now I don't mean if you are still dreaming of being a runway model or a star quarterback and you are 45 you can still do it, just try harder. No that would be silly and I would call you "Uncle Rico." (Napolean Dynamite movie reference) I mean we all have things we tell ourselves about ourselves, some good and some not so good.

Sidenote: I thought I had blogged this but I must have done it in my head b/c I do not see it here. Does this mean I am crazy? If I already blogged this tell me to lay off the wine. Actually, maybe the blog would be better on wine, I do this during naptime usually and even on my worst day I can not let myself drink at 1:00.

I am not good at negotiating.
I am not thorough.
I am not good with details.
I am not good with math.
I am not good with finances or investments.
I do not understand "things" like that.
This is the negative track that played in my head and limited me based on my own self imposed restrictions, I will not tell you how lame it is that this track started in JR High when I did horribly in a algebra class, amazingly stupid huh? So, when it came time to buy a car I thought of course Mike will handle this, this is CLEARLY not my department. Lucky for me I went from having a Dad to handle this "type" of thing to a hubby to handle this "type" of thing. Yes I was a single independent woman at one time but I relied on my Dad for this or ignored it!
Well this time hubby can not do it for me. He just started a new job in a new country and is a little busy right now. I told Mike I could do all the legwork but he would have to negotiate, I can't negotiate, especially here. So I took a page from my Dad's car buying book and faxed my request to 20 dealers in Sydney in Mike's name. One got back to me with a quote in writing. This was $4,000 under what the first salesman told me was his best price. I called around and started talking to some dealers, I realized it seemed to work best if I was totally not me and acted meek, helpless and like I had no decision making power, they seem to dig that. Of course they try to talk you out of shopping around and you just agree, yes yes I understand, I will talk to my husband. So I used this technique to get another $1,500 off and some extra goodies thrown in. I could not believe it! Well, someone has to pay for the car and cash was an option but not a great one considering we can run this tax free through Mike's work. But we need someone crazy enough to finance two Americans. I found just such a guy, got a rate 1.5% better than the banks are quoting, he is doing all the work to run the Novated Lease with another company. AND... I found insurance $100 cheaper per year than the online quotes. ALL BY MYSELF! As the boys say, "MY DO IT!"

I am really proud of myself for doing all of this. It actually has given me so much confidence. So, I am working to turn off all of the negative, limiting or restricting tracks that play in my head. This will be a lifetime work in progress for sure!

We bought a black CX-9. It is due to arrive sometime soon. I will take a pic when it does! For now here is a stock shot. Just wait 'til we junk it up with our snacks, toys, clothes, diapers, it'll look so good!