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We're giving up on my car.

I thought we could have them put it back together with chewing gum and scotch tape and it might hold out for another month or two, but when I talked to the mechanic this morning, he said that they'd gotten the head back from the machine shop, and it's cracked all the way across.

He didn't actually refuse to put it back in, but just about.

He said that it's definitely going to leak water into the oil and blow the engine. Probably sooner rather than later.

he said that it could happen on the initial start-up, or on its first trip around the block.

His exact words were, "If you put that head back on, it's got a death sentence."

(I'm wondering if this was the same guy who thought he's heard a "death whirl" coming from it a few months ago.)

I also found out that they've already done about $180 worth of work on it, just to diagnose the program that we're not fixing.

So, now our decision is whether to pay them that and another $35 to tow it to our house, so we can try to get something for it on a trade-in, or whether to just go get all my stuff out of it, and let them sell it to the salvage guy for us.

He said that it will probably only bring about $75 for salvage, and none of the three dealerships that I called were willing to give us any more than that.

One is double-checking with his boss, and will get back to me, but he's pretty sure about it.

So, unless he calls back and offers us significantly more, I guess we'll go the salvage route, and try to recoup at least a bit of what we're having to pay them for telling us all this.

So, now I guess we have to buy a car.

I think I'd like to try to hang in there with the truck for a few weeks, and wait til closer to Christmas, when the deals are better.

Hopefully, by then, we'll be pregnant and won't have that unknown amount of baby-making bills looming ahead of us. (Just that slightly-less-unknown amount of baby-raising bills.)

In the meantime, Shrike's suggested that we go ahead and start looking, which seems like a fine idea, but I know us.

As soon as we set foot on a car lot, we're going to be buying a car. I have no doubt.

So, I think we ought to just not even go until we're reall ready to buy.

On the other hand, I've been looking online, and I'm already getting in the mood . . . .