Life, Post-Traverse

Here we are, one day later. I didn’t think I would be back here, but I am. You know how some things you don’t really even notice until you don’t have them anymore? That’s what I experienced today. I didn’t really notice how smoothly the Traverse drove until I got back in my van today. I also didn’t notice how sensitive the brakes were until I stopped at a stop sign today and almost rolled right through it because I’d grown accustomed to the Traverse stopping so quickly. Yeah, little things like that.

But, to keep things fair, my van wanted me to tell you he got his feelings hurt when I kept announcing to the world he had 198,000 miles on it. In truth, he only has 197,700 miles on it. He was so put out by my exaggeration he went and grew mold all over the back floor boards. Mold. As in, green and fuzzy and stinky and oh-my-word-what-am-I-going-to-do-now MOLD.

If anyone knows what one should do to get rid of mold growth in the back of a van I would be most grateful. And if anyone tells me the solution is to buy a 2010 Chevy Traverse I just might burst into tears.

Oh yes, the Chevy Traverse. Back to that. We just found out they extended the date for you to go test drive one in exchange for a free one-hour massage. You now have until November 29. That means you can go over Thanksgiving break and take your whole family with you. That should make for a really fun story. You should do it.

Now then, I have some mold to deal with.

Hope you’re enjoying this fantastic Saturday in St. Louis!

Mommy Mission #4 and a bit of Mommy Sadness

Goodnight, sweetheart,
Well, it’s time to go. (Sha-na-na-na-na)
Goodnight, sweetheart,
Well, it’s time to go. (Sha-na-na-na-na)
I hate to leave you, but I really must say
Goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight.

As it appears I never was able to talk the official Chevy people into giving me the 2010 Traverse, I have to return it later on tonight. Sniff, sniff. And with the return of the vehicle, so will I be returning to my own normal drivel on my own normal blog. If you want to watch me go through severe Traverse-withdrawal, you may do so over there from now on.

But before we part ways, I have one last video for you. This was my answer to Mommy Mission #4 in which the Mom Squad members were asked to make a commercial of the 2010 Chevy Traverse/Equinox. Before you watch it, I must confess that I tried to do the voiceover myself. About five times. After the 5th time, Craig took pity on me and offered his best Mr. Moviefone impersonation. He is currently taking offers for other voiceovers and wedding DJ gigs. (Okay, he’s really not and he’s going to be sooooo happy I just said this here.)

So, goodbye! It’s been a fun ride, but now it’s time to get off. Maybe the next time I see a Chevy Traverse it will be YOU riding around town in it. Let’s just hope it isn’t wrapped.

T-Minus 3 Days and Counting

Friday is the big day around here. Yep, the big, sad day. We have to give our cars back on Friday. Wah.

In all honesty? I’m not going to miss the wrap on the car. I will enjoy being able to sneak out for my Coke Zero fix incognito again. Yes ma’am, I will. But I will miss the 2010 Chevy Traverse.

Here’s my Top 10 list of reasons why I’m going to miss the 2010 Chevy Traverse:

10: The cup holders are stable. There is no chance that I can pull it out and spill my Coke Zero all over the radio dials and/or the floor mats. Ahem.

9: Opening the door to the gas cap is idiot proof. I’m the idiot who proved it.

8: This car holds a lot of stuff. And I do mean a lot.

7: I love driving the Traverse. I really do. It doesn’t feel like I’m navigating a school bus and I really appreciate that.

6: The back-up camera is super nice, as are the warning lights and beeps that appear when you get too close to the trees that line your driveway. Not that I’ve experienced either the lights or the beeps because I’ve gotten too close to the trees that line my driveway or anything… (Who was the genius who lined our driveway with trees anyway?)

5: The sound system in this ride is super fantastic. It’s better than what we’ve got inside our house. Which may or may not be the reason my family finds me hiding out in the car from time to time.

4: The car seats 8. 8 people. 8 regular sized people wearing regular sized seat belts. It seats 8 regular sized people comfortably. I like that. I will miss that.

3: There are two DVD screens in this car. My kids are going to miss those very much.

2: Believe it or not, I’m going to miss OnStar. Because sometimes even a gal with a Google map gets lost. Okay, it’s happened more than sometimes.

1: On Friday, I go back to my very thoroughly “mommed” ride. Note to self: grab the Lysol.

Mommy Madness at The Muny

We had family photos scheduled way before this Chevy Traverse/Equinox promotion came on our radar. So since we were having it done anyway…we thought we might as well get one with our funny ride here. Thanks, to Kelly Park, of Kelly Park Photography, for a fun photo shoot!

We live really close to Forest Park, so it’s pretty fun to sneak over there from time to time for some family fun. That’s what we were doing when put together this video of life in the backseat of the Chevy Traverse.

Hope you all are enjoying this super-fab weekend here in St. Louis! As for me, I’ve folded and put away six loads of laundry so far, with two more coming. But my family has been outside most of the day, so there’s that.

Have a great weekend!

Mommy Mission #3 and Some Kiddie Madness

For Mommy Mission #3 we were asked to go to Massage Envy with a friend for a one-hour massage. Go ahead, twist my arm. It was really hard to say yes to this one. Okay, so it wasn’t so hard to say yes to it, but it was a bit trickier to convince my husband to go with me. You see, he’s the best friend I’ve got. Really truly. And he’s a high school teacher. And he’s the minority in our sorority (meaning, he’s one man who lives with five gals). If that doesn’t cause one to need a one-hour massage, I don’t know what does it.

But he was a little freaked out about it. And can I just tell you this? Craig doesn’t get freaked out. About anything. He pretty much has one facial expression and from it you really have to live with him for almost 13 years to know just exactly which emotion that expression is conveying. In short, you almost can’t. I can, though. That’s what makes me his best friend too.

Okay, do I have a point? I do. Craig went with me for the free massage. The video is here.

The short story is this: we would go again. Yes, even Craig. Because massages aren’t just for busy mamas anymore.

Now then, for some kiddie madness. My two younger daughters were playing with their Ello set the other day (and Oh. My. Word. Can I just pause here and say that I guess this stuff is hard to find right now because the prices on it are CRAZY. Back in the day you could get sets of it at Borders for $20 with a coupon. What happened, world?) Okay, rant over. Again, I have a point. Here it is: They had built themselves a little world with all kinds of fun people and everything. I heard one of them make a car sound with her mouth. I then heard the other say, “Come on! We’re on our way to the car place. We’re going to go get our new 2010 Chevy Traverse for FREE!!”

Yes she did. And I laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

And now I need another massage. You probably do too. There is still time. Go test drive one of these cars already and get your code! Go! Go, go, go!!

Chevy Test Drive Party in Maplewood

Last Saturday, two guys from Don Brown Chevrolet and I joined forces to fulfill missions both of us had. Their mission? To get as many people as possible to test drive either the 2010 Traverse or Equinox. My mission? To get as many of my friends as possible an easy way to secure their free massage.

Chloe and I were the first to arrive on the scene to set up our table of goodies. John and Craig from Don Brown arrived next. From there we had a steady stream of ladies (and sometimes whole families!) test driving the cars until noon.

The video of our time can be found here. Other pictorial highlights from the morning are here:

I Made Cookies…

I’ll be hanging out at the Maplewood City Pool parking lot on Halloween morning between 10am-12pm with John Cartier from Don Brown Chevrolet. I’ll be the one next to the Mommy Madness Mobile. He’ll be the one offering test drives in exchange for a free one-hour massage from Massage Envy. I’ll be serving cookies and cider. He’ll be the one offering test drives in exchange for a free one-hour massage from Massage Envy. I’ll be going home at noon. He’ll be figuring out how many people came and who all he owes a free one-hour massage from Massage Envy to.

You get the idea.

Don’t know where the Maplewood City Pool is? It is right off of Manchester between Laclede Station Road and Big Bend. It shares a lot with the Maplewood Public Library. The address for the library is: 7550 Lohmeyer Ave. Maplewood, MO 63143

So come! Eat cookies, drink cider, take a test drive of the new 2010 Chevy Traverse, get your free one-hour massage from Massage Envy, and then come back here vote for me (Megan). Pretty please?

If you come in costume, I’ll take your picture and post it right here on the blog! I’ll be the one dressed as the “Mom Who Has Her Act Together.” I might even get to take a shower before I come.

See you tomorrow!

Mommy Mission 2: The Grocery Store

The second “mommy mission” Chevy sent the Mom Squad on involved grocery shopping. They sweetened the deal by giving us each $150 towards the purchase of said groceries. I’m here to tell you: $150 is certainly nice and absolutely appreciated, but if you want to really see what the 2010 Traverse can hold, it takes a whole lot more than $150. It takes a major monthly grocery trip.

There are times I’m much better about meal planning than others. When I know I’m about to enter a really busy season for our family, I take out a three-month subscription to e-Mealz. I’m cheap enough to not subscribe year round; I store the weekly plans on my computer so I can use them again. But sometimes one needs a bit of variety, so I recently did it again for another round of menu planning help.

For my mommy mission, I printed off two weeks’ worth of menus and added all the other things I needed to the back of my list. When I do a MAJOR shop like this, I usually don’t take all four of my kids because…well…because they end up acting like crazy monkeys before the shopping trip is over and one of us ends up causing a scene (I won’t tell you which one of us, but it is rarely me…ahem). Also, my van would never hold all four children AND all the groceries a major monthly trip requires.

So we did the shop. It took three grocery carts. And then we filled up the Traverse. And we filled and we filled and we filled. And you know what? I’m not saying this because I’m trying to be nice to Chevy (take that, St. Louis Post-Dispatch), but I’m really digging the hauling capacity of this car. I love that the third row splits so you can either put the entire row down, or you could just put one seat down, or you could put two seats down, but still keep one up. I think that is pretty brilliant. I could have taken all four daughters today because I totally could have fit them all in this car with all these groceries.

But I’ll tell you: this car isn’t quite perfect. For instance, if the Traverse had gone ahead and unloaded the groceries and put them all away for me, then it would be worthy of the title Perfect Car.

As it is, I have a husband for that.

Mommy Mission #1: Pumpkin Land

Yesterday, Chevy had the entire Mom Squad come to Thies Farm in Maryland Heights for a couple of hours. Their mission? To show off the new 2010 Traverse and Equinox vehicles. Our mission? Play like crazy for a couple of hours and load up $100 worth of goodies (all courtesy of Thies Farm) to take to a charity of our choice. You can see the video of our time by going here.

This was a super mission to send us on: my kids loved every single minute at Pumpkin Land and I really enjoyed spending $100 of someone else’s money on behalf of a cause I am really excited about.

After we left Pumpkin Land, we headed to Joe’s Place in Maplewood.

What is Joe’s Place? Good question. The simple answer – the one I gave to my six-year-old – is that it is a home for high school boys who really have no place to live.

The more detailed answer comes from their website:

Joe’s Place is an innovative idea born from a dramatic need in our community. Each year close to a dozen MRH (Maplewood/Richmond Heights) high school students find themselves virtually without a home due to serious family difficulties. These students sleep and eat wherever friends will let them settle for a while.

As the MRH School District struggles to find a safe haven for these youngsters, we find again and again that teens between the ages of 16 and 18 have few support nets in our social welfare system.

Joe’s Place offers a small group of teenage boys what every kid should be able to expect from life: a warm place to sleep, regular meals, and someone to provide guidance and affection.

In short, Joe’s Place provides a family for a few boys who desperately need one – and the effort is working. Need more proof? Watch this video.

When I emailed the couple who serve as house parents to these boys (as well as a very cute little one of their own), to ask them if this would be something they would be interested in (I wasn’t sure if high school boys would be into the pumpkin thing or not), Alyssa responded with, “The boys haven’t always had the best of holiday celebrations, so we try to do everything to the extreme… like making sure they decorate pumpkins. Your e-mail made me want to cry! Thank you so much!”

Thanks to Chevy and Thies Farm, I was able to pick up some pumpkins and other fun fall items for these boys’ very first experience with carving pumpkins and celebrating the fall season. Alyssa just sent me these amazing photos (you can see more of their work here) of the boys’ of Joe’s Place and their pumpkin creations:

Scraping out the pumpkin guts:

Designing the faces:

And the finished products:

I’m so happy this special family got to have this super fun experience! Thanks, Chevy and Thies Farm, for making it happen!

Joe’s Place is donation supported. To learn more about getting involved in this amazing community endeavor, visit this page.

Some practical needs the house always has are towels, wash clothes, twin size sheets, pillows, and laundry detergent. If you would like to get involved in helping out these boys, email them at info [at] joesplacestl [dot] org.

On Airbags and OnStar

Five out of six isn’t so bad, right? Of the six of us, I think I’ve been the only one to have problems getting my OnStar service up to speed. We had a little misunderstanding at the very beginning when I made the assumption we had been introduced already and it couldn’t have cared less whether or not we’d ever met.

It took four attempts on my part to make OnStar notice me. Once it did, I thought things would be better, but it just liked to play games. Games like “Let’s tell her Powell Symphony Hall is on the left side of the street when it’s really on the right!” and “Oooo, I know, how about my not being able to pick up her signal, thereby prohibiting the advisor from sending the digital directions to her console!” and “Better yet, let’s tell her she’s recording the directions, but then don’t really record them!” And then there was this one, “Best. Game. Ever. Tell her she can take 40 all the way through. She probably doesn’t even know it’s been closed for almost two years. This one oughta be fun!”

Yep. Those were some of the fun games OnStar and I played together our first few days of getting to know each other. I didn’t want to bog down the Mommy Madness Vimeo feed with that one, so if you care to see my own OnStar Outtakes, you can do so here.

But I should be quick to tell you this: In my experience, the best relationships start out just a tad bit on the rocky side. Just ask Craig. But one you push through some of those rough beginnings, a strong friendship begins to develop. The type of friendship that, say, calls you up and says, “Can you take me to the nearest Super Walmart, stat?” That’s the kind of friendship OnStar and I have now. I’m a little giddy about where this is going.

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In other news, there are some pretty slick features with the airbag on this vehicle. I particularly like the one that senses whether the passenger weighs enough to warrant the use of the airbags or not – if not, then the airbag shuts off on that side of the car. I like that one. Mucho.

Apparently my 6-year-old wants to test it out. She asked me yesterday when we were going to see the airbags. I informed her that we had no plans to test out the airbags for Chevy. I’m sure the Chevy people are very relieved to hear that.

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