Feb
2022

We did a thing… AGAIN?

This weekend I got to compete again with my team!

He said

No sooner had we signed the final paperwork on the truck when Danielle’s Mini started to show its displeasure of the whole situation. We already knew that there was a couple of O2 sensors that were due to be replaced to the tune of $800. There also was the knowledge that when we put on the winter tires on we were told we would not get another summer out of her regular tires. Added that in the last week the muffler started to sound like it was going. Oh add in that the ABS system sensors were starting to flash. By the time last week were arranging to pick up the new truck, the Mini sounded louder than the Hemi V8 truck. We knew we were the benefactors of what we estimated between $3000 to $4000 of work on that car. (Mini’s are fun to drive but expensive as hell to fix!)

We knew we were close to needing to think about a new vehicle for Danielle—but suddenly we were thrust forward to the front of that line. So Danielle spent much of last weekend trying to find a suitable replacement. The same reality of used cars being ridiculously over priced and financed at stupid rates ushered her very quickly to looking into new and to leasing. And while most of our friends of horror stories of long waits – some still waiting – Danielle managed to find her replacement in about 3 days of running around. She is the proud, new leasee of a 2022 Honda Civic EX in stunning Aegean Blue Metallic. We feel so fortunate to have had this work out so well and all within the span of about 7 days—completely the opposite of what anyone else tells us they’re experiencing.

But the biggest thing on our radar this week was the trip Saturday down to Mississauga for Emelia’s second Cheer Comp of the year, Winterfest. This was only one day and they competed at the end of the day. The team had been working hard and fast on a revamped routine from their First Place finish at Cheer for the Cure in December. They’d made many tweaks even right up into the last practice Tuesday to improve their chance to podium. While Emelia’s version of how they did is – in her typical fashion – overly hard on herself and critical of her performance, both Danielle & I were blown away at how well their routine came together in such short time. Their throws were easily the highest of any of the other teams we saw.

As much as Emelia was upset with her one tiny miss, no one else really noticed, and their performance earned them a Hit Zero meaning no stunts fell, all their tumbling landed, and no one violated the safety rules. Like, last performance they will announce the winners tomorrow night via a web stream. So we wait to see how they did, and like last time we will go to The Sherwood’s to watch with them. But, we were so proud of how they did and what they were able to get together in such short time given that essentially their whole routine was pretty much revamped. Way to go Emelia and CheerStirke Allegiance U17 Level 2B! We’re so proud of you.

She said

What a crazy week. No sooner had we signed the loan papers for John’s new truck and my Mini which already had some expensive repairs in its future started making a VERY loud noise from what we suspect as the exhaust system. Again the dreaded google search to find out what a new exhaust system would cost on top of the other items we knew had to be done on the car it was getting down right scary. The cost of repairing the Mini was far outweighing the value of keeping it. We always said we would keep the car until it made no sense to. So we were at this place. Scary enough only a few days after we just replaced John’s truck. Anyone who knows me knows how cautious I am with finances and the idea of taking on another loan after just changing careers was anxiety inducing.

The last week has been stressful to say the least. The process of finding a car was thankfully not impossible but we had very few options. Emelia and I spent the better part of last weekend driving around to different dealerships looking at fuel efficient compact cars. We found out quickly is that there is little inventry and some places have no inventory. We were looking at a few models and found out that at once dealership their stock was so bad that they didnt have demos to test drive and that to get a car ordered in was at least 8 weeks out.

The other dealership had limited demos and same story minimum 8 weeks wait. And that was the good news! Sadly we didn’t have that option. We knew we were going to be lucky if the Mini made it that long. So the last stop was to Honda where we had bought a number of cars over the years. We found they had a Civic in stock but it was the last sedan in the entire region so if we wanted a car in stock in that model we had to take what we could get. Thankfully we love the car, it was in budget and it works perfectly for us. After a stressful couple days wait (thanks to the long weekend) we found out Tuesday morning we were approved for the lease and could pick up the car on Thursday.

That wasn’t even the big event of the week! Yesterday Emelia and her team after a long wait finally were able to compete again. They missed out on their last competition due to Covid but were finally able to compete as a team at Winterfest in Mississauga. After feedback from the judges at last competition the coaches changed almost all of the routine. The entire tumbling portion was completely changed, they added some more stunting to up their scores and moved the team around to hopefully maximize their scores. It has been a hard few weeks coming off a long lockdown to not only get back in routine but to learn all the changes. Emelia had been nervous leading into the last few weeks that they could pull it all together but man once again they blew us away.

Emelia who is harder on herself than anyone I know came out mad at herself because she missed one small tumbling portion and was sure she let her team down. We have watched the routine a million times over again and you can’t see this misstep. They did absolutely amazing! We found out shortly after they finished that the team Hit Zero! This is huge, this means they had a clean routine and more importnalty is that there was only one other team that looks like they hit zero as well so they are in a good place for results. Sadly we still cannot have the big event awards at the event but we do get to go over to Stephanie and Justin’s tomorrow night so the girls can see their results together.

We are so proud of Emelia and her teammates. They have worked so incredibly hard, they have had each other’s back and been each others champions. We are so lucky that Emelia has such a supportive team. We are so proud of you Emelia!

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