Lent & the IRS

My Lent has been full of waiting and preparing and waiting. I start each day's drive to work (or elsewhere) with an Our Father, and I tack on a request for Him to see me safely to my destination without accident or incident. This is not so much a sacrifice but a necessity - I am waiting for our Malibu to die. It is dieing a slow but steady death and probably (hopefully) won't make it 'til Good Friday. It certainly won't be resurrected by anyone (transmission, front end, suspension, exhaust, ABS system, an unsolved intermittent dashboard electrical problem, and a constant check engine light). So I am preparing to buy a new used vehicle to take it's place. What I really want is a club cab pickup truck (a cap, trailer hitch and 4x4 would be cool but not a necessity). The little kids are ecstatic and Sue has bought into the idea (so now she's hoping for a 5-speed). Tim is leery about the prospects of a truck and a manual transmission, Corey (who should have his license in a few months) figures if Mom can drive a stick so can he, and Julie (who actually can get her permit anytime now) likes the idea of wearing my cowboy hat, driving a truck, blasting Brooks & Dunn and singing at the top of her lungs. So I have been shopping and am prepared to buy. We even (vaguely) have the money, except we are waiting for the IRS to send it so I can't actually do the deal yet. Let me tell you how this little hitch annoys used car salesmen (funny there are almost NO used car saleswomen). They can't understand why I wouldn't just get a personal loan using my pending tax return as collateral, but I know who did the taxes (me) so I don't fully trust that I didn't make some minor mistake that means I owe them $5000 or something.

So we wait, and pray, and prepare, and wait -- not so patiently (I could have really used that 4x4 today with the snow & ice)