Up until September 2007, I drove a very nice, very well taken care of Subaru Legacy Outback station wagon.  I loved that car, it was a great investment and very little maintenance.  Then one day when I was getting ready to go somewhere, all of the kids, my nieces and nephew included, decided they wanted to go with me.  Unfortunately, the Subaru only holds five passengers, and with myself and my husband, it was down to three of the five kids I could take with me.  I felt bad, it was at that moment that I knew I needed a bigger vehicle.

Then we bought a Dodge Durango, it comfortably seats 8, even if there are five car seats involved.  I like the Durango, it drives nice, and holds everyone.  I sometimes wish it was a bit smaller, such as when I’m trying to do a three point turn at the water plant where I have approximately a 10′ by 10′ area to park in, but I usually manage.

When we got the Durango, it became my main vehicle, the Subaru got demoted to my husband’s work vehicle, and we parked his truck.

The Subaru was still in wonderful condition, despite the fact that it had almost 300,000 miles on it.  We had replaced the motor and tranny at one point, but other than that it had required very little maintenance.

Within months of my husband taking possession of the car, it quickly went downhill fast.  First off, he hooked up extra speakers in it. (Which gets back to my buy cialis brand husband’s secret fetish.) They aren’t car speakers, so he has them seat belted into the back seat, but they still fall over every time you take a sharp turn.  If the speakers aren’t bad enough, it’s horribly filthy, filled with dirty coffee mugs, and the remains of whatever he’s eaten in there in the past year.  It also smells, I think something might have died in there and is buried under all the other crap.

It comes down to the fact that I hate to drive the car anymore.  If I have on light colored pants, I end up with a dirty butt when I stand up, that’s how nasty it is now.

So yesterday, I had no plans to go anywhere, my husband decided to take the Durango to work for a change.  About 10:30 am, my friend whom just had twins called.  She needed a ride up to the hospital to take breast milk up to the babies, and her blazer wouldn’t start.  I also had my one year old niece that I was watching for my sister, while she slept, as she’s a night nurse in the local maternity ward.

I knew that my friend wouldn’t be able to find another ride, and I just couldn’t let her or her beautiful little babies down.  So I tried to reach my husband at work to request that he bring me home my Durango.  He wasn’t answering his cell phone, so as a last minute thought, I called my Gram.  She’ll be 82 on Monday, and owns a beautiful little Subaru that she hasn’t driven in well over four years now.  She was happy to lend me her car.

I went out and started to defrost my hubby car so that I could drive it down to Gram’s and trade off for her nice clean, stink free car.  Just as I came back in the house to grab the baby, my hubby calls back.  I informed him that I had the situation under control and was just getting ready to go get Gram’s car, because there was no way I was hauling my friend or my niece in his filthy stinking car.

He threw a fit that I had even thought of borrowing my drugs no prescription Gram’s car, due to family politics, and the fact that my sister is always borrowing Gram’s car and Gram complains about it constantly.  I tried to explain that I’m sure no one would be offended if I just borrowed the car for a few hours – not months.  He refused to see my point of view, and offered to bring me my vehicle.  Instead of fighting with him, I agreed.  I much preferr to drive my own vehicle on bad roads, and my friend lives even further out in BFE than we do.

So fifteen minutes later he pulls in to trade me vehicles and I finally get out the door at 12pm.

Then he complained all night last night that I refused to drive his car.  He couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to drive it with other people in it.  I tried to make light of it, and told him that I was simply afraid something would crawl out from under a seat and try to get my passengers, and I wouldn’t be able to fight it off while driving.  I just couldn’t risk Jamie, or Kenzi in that type of situation.  He didn’t find it funny, he didn’t even crack a smile!

The worst part is, he doesn’t seem to realize how bad it smells in there.  He knows it needs cleaned out, and last night he even hauled in a whole grocery bag full of dirty coffe mugs from out of it, but he seems immune to the smell, and that’s scary.

So how do I get him to keep the car in respectable shape, if he’s going to leave it for me occasionally?  I’ve tried asking politely that it be returned to it’s former pristine condition.  I’ve tried nagging.  I’ve tried forbidding him to drive the Durango.  I’ve even kidded about turning the car into the health board.  Nothing convinces him to do anything about it.

Yet, if I leave even one item in the Durango, such as a milkshake cup from DQ when I had my hands full of my niece and all her stuff, he throws a fit and I get a half an hour lecture on keeping the vehicle clean and nice.