Simply Irresistable

Noah got to work him charm last night in a big way. Thank goodness for cute sleeping angel babies!

Four of us set out in the Prius yesterday to go to dinner and Home Depot, us plus Noah and Dave's mom. When we stopped to pick up the dry cleaning, the car's "OH NO!" lights came on, the same ones we saw when we nearly ran out of gas, the ones that let you know that if you turn the power off, you can't turn the car back on again until the dealer resets it, the ones that the only information in the owner's manual says to turn off the car and call the dealership immediately. It's a hybrid thing. Since we were halfway between home and the dealership, and we knew we were about to be stranded, we decided to drive to Toyota. There we found out that the hybrid guy was gone for the evening, the rental car company was closed for the evening, the courtesy van was not available, no they don't have loaner cars, and that we should "call a friend to come pick us up." Why is it at these kind of moments that you realize you don't have as many friends as you think you do?

Did I mention that Noah was asleep in his carseat?

So while Dave was busy extricating the carseat from the car and calling his best work buddies, I took my sleeping angel around to the sales floor. I was on a mission to find someone who (a) looked like they had some authority, (b) looked to be in a good mood, and (c) looked like a dad. I didn't have to look too far. He even had baby photos framed on his desk. With all 22 pounds of Noah sacked out on my shoulder, and my voice a little shaky with the adrenaline that comes with being a mommy stranded with her baby, I carefully approached him. "Excuse me, do you have a sec? I've got an interesting situation. Ya see, my husband and I are actually in the market for a Rav4 (100% true), and have been talking about test driving them when we get a chance. And coincidentally, our Prius just stranded us here in the service department this evening, we've got a sleeping baby, and we can't find a ride home. Is there any chance you could set us up with an extended test drive overnight so we can get home?"

And the first words out of the good man's mouth were, "I think we can take care of you." The next were "how old is your little boy?" Very shortly after that he was asking, "exactly what model were you guys interested in?"

That's the story of how we traded our Prius in for a Rav4. Don't get me wrong, I still love my Prius, but this one is NEW, and SHINY, and FREE!!!! They "fixed" our car today, but they still don't know what went wrong*, so they want to keep it for observation. I think we have to give the Rav back at some point. Darn.

*Yes, we had a full tank of gas this time! Maybe the best explanation is the car's shock that WE were at a dry cleaners!