a) a new car

So this weekend we began with the 'Things we can do now that we can't buy the new house'. We went out to the Honda dealership with the intent of buying a new Honda CR-V (SE, pewter pearl!). We had decided that we really needed something SUV-ish because we need some more cargo room. And Brian, who is considerably taller than I am, would really have preferred something that he didn't have to squeeze his knees into. We looked at the used cars first, where we saw a 2003 Honda Pilot with only 30,000 miles on it. Secretly I wanted a Honda Pilot. Its a little larger than the CR-V (built on an Accord chassis rather than a Civic chassis), has a lot more room. And, oh. Leather seats. And a GPS Navagation system. Turns out that Brian also found the CR-V very scrunched knee-wise, perhaps even more so than the Civic. We had never actually been in one, you see. The Pilot was also not significantly more expensive than the new CR-V we were thinking about.
Then we also saw a used (!) Civic Hybrid! Ohhh... a used hybrid. A 2005 no less. Only 9000 miles on it. To be honest, we didn't even test drive it. I think I sat inside. Both the cars are certified, so mechanically I was not worried. I loved it. I wanted to take it home to be my new car. So on the spur of the moment we decided to trade in our Civic and get both cars. The hybrid is so exciting. Kristin, who finally got her Prius after a year of being on the waiting list, said that she gets a little obsessed watching the gas mileage guage on their car, which tells you what gas mileage you're getting at every moment. Driving home from the dealership I could totally see how this could get obsessive. I watched that (Ooh!! 48 mpg!!) and the IMA guage (is the battery assisting the motor now? Is it charging?? Woo!) constantly. So very exciting. The car is bright blue and I get to drive it, since I will be driving further to work.
The next day Brian already started feeling guilty about getting an SUV. I figure that the hybrid cancels out the SUV ownership. Our AVERAGE car miles per gallon highway is still ~35, which is good. It equals out.
Now I'm desperate to get an iPod hookup for the cars. Mel has one in her Honda Element (the ugliest car in the world) which I'm very jealous of. I could almost have been talked into an Element for the iPod jack alone. The Honda dealer recommended a car audio shop where we could get one installed, so we may look into that. Otherwise I'll look for an iTrip or something.