Breakin’ Up Is Hard To Do

Friday the 13th marked the last day of our Family Affair with Chevy.  We surely will miss his heated seats, intoxicating new car smell, entertaining personality, and sense of direction.  As you can see from her expression in this picture, Ella will miss him the most.  Mommy Madness at its finest!  Thanks, Chevy, for the fun ride.

Though ours was just a fling, you can have your own LTR (Long Term Relationship) with the Chevy Equinox or Traverse.  All you have to do is follow these simple steps:

1. Take one for a test drive.
2. Fall in love.
3. Buy it.
4. Drive it to Massage Envy and get your FREE MASSAGE.

If only all relationships could be that easy…

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.

This One Day

Chevy asked us to make a commercial about our experience driving the Equinox or Traverse.  My husband and I collaborated on this one – I arranged the video and pictures and my steel pan playing, jazz hippie husband wrote the music in his studio.  He’s good like that.

Watch it here!

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.

Bea’s First Car Ride

Watch Baby Bea take her first car ride home in the Chevy Equinox here!

Mommy Mission #3: My Almost Massage

I’ve had exactly 3 massages in my life, 2 of which resulted in positive pregnancy tests.  These are some sketchy odds.  Already pregnant, I figured this time I was in the clear.

I really needed a massage.  Especially needed my arm massaged because it’s sore from them twisting it, trying to convince me to get this FREE MASSAGE.  Alright, enough already!  I’ll go get a massage!  Just quit twisting my arm!

Or so I thought…

“Massage Monday” as I referred to it, the day of my appointment, finally arrived.  I let my friend Trena know that I would pick her up for our massages after what I thought was a routine lab appointment at the hospital.  Turned out to be not-so-routine.  Turned out I was in labor!  What?  I’m going to have to miss my massage?  I tried my best to talk the doctor into letting me leave, and he was very patient with me, more patient with this crazy pregnant massage-deprived patient than he needed to be.  He convinced me to stay at the hospital by making me believe it was really my idea.  (Good one, Dr. A.)

And am I glad he did.

Our beautiful Beatrice Louise Braig made her entrance that night at 11:26 pm, weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs 3 oz, 21 1/4 in long, with a head full of dark hair and the longest eyelashes you’ve ever seen.

And during labor, knowing how much I was looking forward to it that day and not wanting me to go without, my husband gave me a really great massage.

You can get one too!  No, not from my husband.  All you have to do is leave your kids with your parents / husband / UPS Guy, drive to a participating Chevy dealer, test drive the Chevy Equinox or Traverse, and they will give you a free massage!  No, not the salesman.  Unless you end up buying the car right there on the spot, then there’s a chance the salesman would consider giving you a complimentary massage.  But that varies by location.  They will give you a CERTIFICATE to go to Massage Envy to get one.  Then you have another excuse to leave your kids with your parents / husband / UPS Guy while you go get your FREE MASSAGE.

Free.  Massage.

Don’t make me come over there and twist your arm.

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:

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