B-Day Present

It's taken a lot to hold on to this post... my husband bought me a new car!  My birthday was yesterday and since we picked up the car about a week and a half ago it falls into the category of b-day present (as well as anniversary & Christmas, ha-ha)!  It's a typical small European city car with just the right amount of space for me, my tot, & our dog (and of course my husband if he wants to join).  Since our daughter will be starting school a good distance from our house shortly after the summer we didn't really have an option but to buy a car.  We've definitely talked about it for a while and started saving up once I passed the exam for my Dutch driving license.  I haven't owned a car since I left The States 10-11 yrs ago (luckily my husband always did).  And this is my first new car, it still smells new!!!  One thing I had to adjust to was the stick shift, see here in Europe manual cars cost around €4,000-5,000 less than an automatic so it was obvious what we were going to buy.  I haven't driven a stick shift since my driving lessons & exam, I actually never intended to do it again.  So I was a little rusty after 1 1/2 yrs.  Since owning the car, I've had my share of squealing out at lights, stalling multiple times at intersections, bumping down the road, and of course I don't accelerate fast yet so everyone drives around me.  But I'll get there... I have all summer to practice before I have to start parallel parking the manual car outside of the school.  We've been extremely busy since picking up the car and I haven't had a chance to really personalize it yet.  I have added a kick mat to the back of the passenger seat, that way my tots dirty shoes don't destroy the seat.  And I've ordered a special mat for the dog, hopefully sparing the backseat after dirty runs through the woods.  Can't wait to clock some more kilometers, thanks for my car hubby!
Considering I finally figured out the bus card and started receiving discounts, I think we'll occasionally leave the car parked and take public transport instead.  Most likely not this month though, ha-ha!