Nicole feels

Call us crazy, but we traded in a 6 year old vehicle for an 8 year old one. The kindergartener had about 86K miles and the 2nd grader has almost 100K.

I know, I know, you are thinking, "what the..."

Did I mention the younger was an American-made gas guzzler and the elder is a Japanese economy car?

We are now the proud owners of two (yes, that's right, two) Honda Civics. A green one (2-door '98 DX) and a blue one (4-door '00 LX). The green one is the elder, and it is not as nice as the blue, style or comfort-wise. It is definitely the bottom line model (power nothing). But, it will make a great commute car for Rob. It has less miles on it than our 2000 that he's been driving.

And now we have two cars that should average about 30 mpg. We are contributing to energy conservation and wallet conservation.

That van, though it drove quite dreamily, eeked out a mere 12-17 mpg.

Ouch.

So, crazy as it may seem, we are happy. It was the right thing to do for this time in our lives.

And both are paid for. Woohoo!

We've sacrificed a bit o' comfort so we can continue reaching our savings and retirement goals. Hondas seem to run nigh on forever, and we will have two (count them, two) teens reaching that age in 2-3 years. Perfect little starter cars for those anklebiters.

And they look kind of cute under the carport. His and her Hondas.

(Can I get a collective "awwwww"?)