Yay for relationship news! Yay for car buying!

Ginger, holding you in my heart.

Work work work weekend. Lots of office stuff, plus moved a truck load of stuff from storage that needs to be sorted. And decorations. And oh so much to do.

I should be working now, but meh. MEH!

We're ready to buy a car, and neither one of us is any good at negotiating. But I don't want to just cave and pay the list price because I'm a wimp.

I've found that searching the Internet (autotrader.com, cars.com, etc...) will give you a really good idea of what a reasonable price should be for a particular model of car given the mileage and year. I think sellers will list better prices in Internet ads than on the lot. I like to use Edmunds.com to also get an estimate of what the price should be. You shouldn't have a problem paying with a personal check at a dealership, but you'll probably need a cashier's check for a private sale. Figure out a price you think is fair given your research, open a little lower so you can move a little, make sure they are including all fees in the price they are giving you, and be ready to walk away. I don't really enjoy negotiating, but my experience is that it's just part of the process to get the best price you can.

My MIL has a Fit and has been really happy with it. They are really versatile little cars. If you are looking at used Hondas that aren't low mileage, see if you can get a receipt or something of when it had its timing belt last changed. If it's overdue for one, you have to get it done right away. If the timing belt goes in a Honda, it can ruin the engine. Depending on model and year the timing belt is typically every 60,000 miles or 90,000 miles.

Much, much ~ma for Ginger.

Has anyone ever ordered from Omaha Steaks? I'm looking at gifts for my brother but I haven't had red meat since I was 18 so I'm a bit out of my element, here. And it seems like I have to get pretty far into the checkout process before I know if they let you pick a delivery date.

No updates so far today.

Congrats on new relationships and new cars!

I should be either working or packing* but I'm staring at tv and thinking of taking a nap. I am so stressed out I can't move.

• packing up my downstairs furniture/stuff because I'm getting a new floor laid on Thursday and everything has to be out of the way. Because this was the

We used to get some, but I've never ordered it myself. Good stuff, if you eat meat. _ma for Ginger!

We got a gift from Omaha Steaks after the baby was born. We didn't actually get steak, but everything we did get was delicious.

There's no negotiating if you buy a Scion. I really don't see why cars can't just be sold the way other things are sold: here's the price, and here's the extra price for addition features.

I have ordered Omaha steaks but I can't remember how the ordering process worked.

Have done a little cleaning, am now watching football, eating wings, and drinking wine, because the description of this wine includes "this is a wine to kick back with on a Sunday afternoon while you watch whatever live sport is on tv. Be sure there to have some buffalo wings, too. " I do like to follow directions.