Once there was a baby shower party for my SIL at my MIL’s house.  However, being a new “mommy” made me leave the house at the last minute and arrived at the party a little late.  As a result, the parking lot was full.  Fortunately, there was only one spot available just in front of the entrance to the house.  Therefore, I parked my “brand new” 2002, red, ($25,600) Freelander (Land Rover, made in England, which we purchased it three days ago) and ran into the house.

“Congratulations!” my MIL greeted.
“For what, mom?” saying without any thinking whereas my brain led me to “my work at URI or me sending out my resume to three other positions yesterday?”
“Your new car, it’s so beautiful!” she replied.
“Oh, thanks mom.”
“Did "Pim" get a new car?  Where is it?  Wow, I love the color…. 

Congratulations!” Other girls at the party screamed with excitements.

The party was fun and almost at the end “Jen” (my BIL’s ife) came to sit next to me.  Now listen to the conversations ….

Jen:  “How's your new car?”
Pim:  “Oh, I love it! 

          We love it very much.”
Jen:  “I am wondering why you

          guys always like a small SUV

          (i.e., sport utility vehicle

         ~ a popular car in a great demand in the U.S.). I must only drive a

         big SUV because then I can sit up high.”

Pim:  “Well, there are only three of us and we don't really need a big SUV.

         In fact, we like a small SUV better, especially this one because of its

         “car-like" driving feeling and a less consuming gas issue.”
Jen:  “To me, SUV has to be big so that I feel like driving a real SUV.”
Pim:  “Although Tom's Forester is not a real SUV (or an off-road type)

         but it fits all requirements that we need.  For the Freelander,

         it is specially designed as an off-road type but drives like a car –

         I don’t want an SUV that feel like driving a truck and I don’t want

         to drive a truck anyway.”

Jen:  “I spent $60 on gas each week on the Discovery (also Land Rover),

         and only drive from home to Providence.”
Pim:  “You know what – if I were you, I would get an X-5.”
Jen:  “What is it “X-5”?”
Pim:  “It’s a BMW SUV, one of the most wanting SUVs.  Imagine if you are

         given that much on a car, you could probably add a few more

         thousands of dollars and get an X-5 at $38,000 or an M-Class at $36,000.”
Jen:  “My car is $40,000 and it’s not going to be my last car.  I have

         everything on the front and back rows.  My father told me to pick any

         (additional) thing I wanted.”
Pim:  “The Discovery’s starting price is $34,000. 

         Isn’t it rather heavy and consumes a lot of gas?”
Jen:  “I like it and I only do highway drive.  I don’t drive on the back roads. 

         My two brothers also drive the Discovery.  In fact, my father wanted 

         to buy the Freelander for my (teenage) stepsisters.  Everybody at

         the Land Rover and Jaguar knows my father.  My father himself has

         three cars, and one is a Jaguar.”
Pim:  “BMW used to own Land Rover and Land Rover has just become

         independent in 1999.”
Jen:  “Ford owns Land Rover.”

Pim:  “Here???”
Jen:  “I love working with my father.  I only work Mondays to Fridays,

          one hour a day but he pays me as if I work 50 hours a week.”
Pim:  “Wow, that's excellent!  What do you do and how much he pays you 

          per hour?”
Jen:  “I do the ordering liquor thing.  He pays me 50 bucks per hour,

          actually 40 hours a week.  My grandfather also pays me for Saturdays

          that I work for him and these are all under table money.”
Pim:  “Oh wow, you must make a lot of money.  Why don't you just let

          your father pay you without having to go to Providence one hour

          a day and 5 days a week?”
Jen:  “I want to do something for him not just to get his money. 

          The addition of our house will be done in 1 to 2 weeks.”
Pim:  “That’s great.  I heard that your grandfather paid for it.”
Jen:  “Part of it.”
Pim:  “How much does it cost to have an additional of the house done?”
Jen:  “$45,000!  How are you guys gonna live at the beach house, it’s so

          small.  When we lived there for 3 months I wanted to move out

          right away.”
Pim:  “It’s good for us anyway and especially we will stay there for free

          and my husband also loves the beach. We don’t really need a big

          house because three of us already sleep in the same bedroom

          every night.”
Jen:  “When are you going to buy a house?”
Pim:  “Not in the next three years.”
Jen:  “Why not?”
Pim:  “It’s good to sell our house at this time because the real estate

          market is very high, and we made a lot of profit from selling the

          house.  We need money to pay Thailand.”
Jen:  “How much do you have to pay?”
Pim:  “They sent me to school around $100,000 and I guess that’s about

          how much.  You guys must be all set with the house.”
Jen:  “You never know when we will buy a new house.

          We don’t say that we won’t move or we will sell our house because

          it’s not good especially while we’re having a house done.  One day

          we might see the house that we like.  I told Ken that I needed at least

          2500 sq ft… I want a big yard… and at least 4 bedrooms.”
Pim:  “You should need at least 3,000 sq ft, and yes, you guys need four

          bedrooms with your two big kids although you don’t have many

          visitors.”
Jen:  “My sister stays with us when she visits RI.  I like the boys to have

          their own bathroom while we also have our bathroom and the

          guests can use the bathroom downstairs.”
Pim:  “When your sister was there, she had to share the bathroom with

          the boys though.”
Jen:  “She doesn’t come too often.”
Pim:  “My professor and his wife have just bought a $450,000 house in

          Richmond with 6,000 sq ft of living area.  It’s a 9-acre waterfront

          property.  They have only one daughter.”
Jen:  “Houses in Richmond are cheap.”
Pim:  “I have found many big houses on the market and they are very

          expensive.”
Jen:  “That house must be old and cheaply built.”
Pim:  “It has a very solid construction and in fact the original owners are

          rich.  It was a good deal for my professor.  They sold it cheap

          because they don’t need any more money.  They have moved to

          live in Florida.”
Jen:  “My father’s house is also 6,000 sq ft!!!”

Tell me what you think?

Update:  Jen's father purchased a small 6,500 sq.ft. mansion costing more than a million dollars, and later sold that property and moved to live in Florida.  Jen and her husband sold their 2,300 sq.ft. house and built a new 3,800 sq.ft. semi-mansion.  Jen also changed from driving the Discovery SUV to a Lexus sedan car, a Mercedes, and more recently a Lexus SUV.  Her husband drives one of the biggest SUVs.  Pim and her family still live in that "small" beach house, drive a "smaller" SUV and a "smaller" car.

Everybody lives happily ever after....