I don’t think we’ve ever done a music review here on Mommin’ It Up, but there’s a first time for everything!
“New Sunshine,” a collection of original songs by Darrell Sallee, is my new favorite CD ever. It is amazing. I might be slightly biased, because get this – my dad co-wrote some of the songs. My dad is a song writer – who knew! I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Seriously, though, it’s been so much fun for me and my family to watch my dad go through this process with Darrell, and we all absolutely love the music. My kids know all the words to every song, and years and years from now, their kids will too. As my dad says about my outstanding musical taste, it’s their legacy.
Here’s Sammy doing his rendition of “A River Washing.”
The real version is even better – hard to imagine, I know.
Here’s what people are saying about the album:
“An amazing collection of original songs and music. Masterfully arranged music and lyrics speak to the humanity in us all. Moving and insightful commentary on life, love and the happiness that comes from ‘New Sunshine’. Plus it downright ROCKS.”
“To simply say ‘Wow, this is a good album!’ doesn’t quite do justice to the finished product. It’s much more than a new CD ‘from a friend of mine’ or ‘some guy I know’. It’s the culmination of a life’s passion with music and a work that speaks to a life’s journey.”
“Darrell’s writing has matured like fine wine and the collaboration with Dan Burns has created some magic alchemy.”
How can you add this incredible music to your collection? I thought you’d never ask.
Each song and the album are available for purchase on CDBaby.com, Facebook’s music store (which I didn’t even know was a thing), and iTunes. So, go buy it! Then Darrell and my dad will get rich and famous and you can say you knew them when. My inheritance is riding on this, people.
My Pin for the Wednesday today is not crafty or food-related – but life-changing none the less. How to fold t-shirts so they’re not a giant mess. A skill everyone needs!
Here’s the original pin, and here’s how it worked for me.
The before:
And the after:
Not only did this method make Sam’s drawers (and subsequently, Kate’s) look much better, they also hold more shirts this way and prevent the ever-popular riffling through the drawers to find the exact t-shirt they MUST have, wrecking everything in their wake. Which makes my head slightly less likely to explode. I highly recommend it.
So, what have you been up to? We’d love for you to link up.
Here are just a few rules:
1) In your post, please link to your original source – the pin you got the idea from.
2) Make sure and link back to our original Pin For the Wednesdays Post here at Mommin’ It Up! (please!)
3) In the Mr. Linky below, leave a direct link to your Pin FTWednesdays post, not to your main website.
4) Totally optional – grab our cute #PinFTW button! The code box is over there in our sidebar.
You guys, about two weeks ago Bobby and I did something cray-zee. Something we never do.
We BOUGHT HIM A CAR! In like, a very “Snap” decision. It was wild. And even though it happened in a short amount of time, it’s kind of a long story (so buckle up! HA! GET IT? Seriously why do I not make more money for my comedy?)
Bobby has been driving this 1992 Camry station wagon for about 8 years.
When we bought it, it was super-cheap and it had about 50 kajillion miles on it. We love station wagons and it has a third row seat, so Bobby does our wicked-awesome morning school carpool in it! (Read: I don’t have to take the kids to school in the morning!) This fall he will be adding Sophie to the mix and he also takes our friends three boys and my nephew! So that’s seven people!
Although the Camry wagon has been an amazing car, it is now TWENTY years old and has over 278,000 miles on it!
I am not even kidding you!
Bobby is a mechanic so he has kept it running, but it’s finally at the point where it’s no longer carpool-worthy. Job well done, Toyota Camry Wagon! Twenty years and 278K miles?? WE SALUTE YOU!
But we GOTTA keep that school carpool going! Because I NEED to sleep in in the mornings and not have to get Jonah up from his nap to pick the children up!! RIGHT? It’s all about me! (and the gas savings. The gas savings is what it’s REALLY about! Our kids’ school is located very close to Bobby’s work, but a 25-minute drive from the house.)
Knowing we were going to need to replace the wagon soon, I asked the good people of Toyota when I was there for TWIN camp, “Won’t you pleeeease make a Camry wagon again??” and they were all, “No, because even though we like you, you are the only person in the world that wants us to make a station wagon. Here, why don’t you check out this Toyota Highlander with a third-row seat standard?”
You guys, I looooooved the Highlander! Especially the one I drove, which was a hybrid. (Talk about gas savings!!) Then a couple of weeks later, Emily and I and our husbands went on a Ride & Drive for Toyota in Cincinnati (which I will let Emily yell you more about later) and Bobby and I both drove a Highlander, this time a non-hybrid, but still totally amazing. Here I am OGLING the third-row seating:
And my handsome hubby at the wheel:
Emily took a spin in it too:
After we left, Bobby and I were both like, “Siiiiiiigh. This is what we really need for our family! A car we can fit all three of our kids in PLUS do the carpool in!”
However, our finances are such that we cannot afford a brand-new car. If I could, I would go out right now and buy a brand-new Highlander Hybrid. But I just can’t. (However, if YOU can??? DO IT!! NOW!! And I will live vicariously through you.)
Let’s jump forward to a little over two weeks ago. At the risk of sounding like a religious nutjob, I will tell you that I was praying over the weekend about a new car for our family. As I was praying, I was like, “God, if we could just find a used Highlander for about $7,000 with the third-row seat.” And in my next breath, O Me of Little Faith said to God, “But that is never going to happen.” We’d been casually looking and we knew that the type of Highlander we were looking for (less than 10 years old with a third-row seat – they didn’t used to be standard on the Highlander) – didn’t list for less than $10,000 these days.
A couple days later, on a Tuesday just like today (2 weeks ago today actually!), I was at my Grandma’s with the kids, getting them packed up to go back home, when I got a text from my husband that said, “I am going to look at a 2004 Highlander I saw on Cragislist for $7500.” I texted back, “Third row?” and before he could text m back he called me. “Why is it listed so low??” I asked. “I don’t know but I am going to find out!” he said.
A little while later he called me back. “I am driving the Highlander. It is awesome. It has leather, a sunroof, heated seats, the premium audio package…it’s awesome. I am going to make her an offer if you’re ok with it.”
“But why is it listed so low?” I asked, suspicious of all this “too-good-to-be-true-ness”.
“Because it’s Tuesday, and they are moving to JAPAN on Monday.” he said.
Well, that’s a good reason!!!
Here’s the really fun part: She listed the car on craigslist at 11:18 a.m. Bobby saw the listing at 12:30. At work. Where he NEVER looks at Craigslist because he doesn’t sit at a desk with a computer. It was just a “fluke” minute of downtime he had. He was the first one to call about the car, but while he was there the owner’s phone was ringing OFF THE HOOK.
And now it’s ours! We truly believe that car was an answer to prayer. It was everything we needed and *bonus* features just because God is that cool. At a price we could afford. At a price I had asked for and then faithlessly said would never happen.
And my hubby is so, so happy. We can keep our carpool together in a safe, reliable, and good-looking vehicle. And we know that because it’s a Toyota, we can easily expect to have it for another ten years. What a blessing!
We are thrilled beyond belief to have added another Toyota to our family! If you are in the market for an amazing family car that can get you anywhere you need to go, check out the Highlander! I absolutely love driving Bobby’s around. I love it *almost* as much as my Sienna.
Congratulations, Bobby Rapson on your new car! You work so hard for our family and never complained about driving the wagon all those years…even though it isn’t exactly a “cool dad” car. So happy you have a “cool dad” car now. I love you!!
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Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of Toyota.
