I love what they do for me.

Once upon a time, a dad bought his 17-year-old daughter a car.  More specifically, my dad bought me a 1987 Toyota Camry station wagon. At the time it was only 8 years old, but had been kind of abused by it’s previous owner so it was in rough shape.  My dad nursed it back to health, and I named it Desmond.  Oh, how I loved him!

Desmond. Oh how I miss him!

He wasn’t the coolest looking car in the school parking lot, but he and I were total buddies. He got me through the rest of high school, all of college, and the early years of my marriage.  Many, many memories were made in Desmond.  Like when I was a freshman at Asbury College and wasn’t really supposed to have a car on campus and did and my friends talked me into sneaking out to town to Fazoli’s so we could all get 99 cent salads and all the breadsticks we could eat and avoid the college cafeteria for once!  Or when Bobby and I and my friend Lori drove him to the Cornerstone music festival SO packed full of a camping gear you had to use both feet on the brakes to stop him! Oh, those were the days!  When Desmond finally breathed his last in 2003, he had about 304,000 miles on him.  Bobby and I were actually pretty emotional about “putting him out to pasture” so to speak.

So we bought this:
the wagon

Our current Camry wagon, a 1992 (fully-loaded with SUNROOF thankyouverymuch! AND power windows, ahem, Emily)  that even has the third pop-up seat in the back.  That’s right, it seats SEVEN baby, SEVEN!  It’s great for trips and for hauling Bobby’s sailboats in the summer.  It’s really Bobby’s car so it doesn’t have a name (only chicks name their cars, right?) but we love this car to pieces.  It has been SO dependable and gets us and all the crap we can pack in it everywhere we need to go.  And? It’s got 257,650 miles on it!  It’s finally to the point where it’s needed some major repairs, but that’s where having a mechanic for a husband comes in handy.  We bought it for a very small sum back in 2003 and it has paid for itself many times over!

So, you heard Em’s Toyota story, and now you’ve heard mine – if you didn’t already share yours with us (or if any of my friends have any particular stories you want to share about MY Desmond!) please share today!

I LOVE my Toyotas!  To see what other bloggers love, check out Things I Love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries.

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This post was written as part of the “Every Toyota has a Story” campaign. To share your story, visit Toyota’s Facebook page – although there is no way your story is going to be as good as mine. 🙂

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May Day!!

We are less than a week into the month of May and this month is already stressin’ me the heck out!!  There is so much going on.  Much of it, well, almost all of it, I am super-excited about.  For instance, the party of the year, Dayton Mom’s Nite Out, which is happening TONIGHT!!   It is going to be soo awesome.  My car is currently loaded down with swag!!  And Tricia had TWO carloads!  And as soon as I finish this post, I am going to start getting ready for it.  Because there is still lots to do before 6:30 to make sure some deserving Dayton Moms have the best night out ever!

Then, this Saturday, Emily, Katie and I are speaking on a panel together at New Media Dayton.  Our session is called, “Blogs, Branding, and the Big Deal Moms”.  We are going to be talking about why we work with certain companies, how these relationships can be mutually beneficial, and also why we’re totally awesome!  It’s free and at the Pub at the Greene from 4-7.  Come on out and meet up!  You can register at the link above.

Next, we have Mother’s Day!  Which I am of course looking forward to, mainly because it means PRESENTS!!  And also a family gathering.  My family is really fun to be with – bonus!

After that, we have a wee break in the action before my cousin Anna’s baby shower, which Emily and I are throwing in a couple of weeks (isn’t she LUCKY!? Aren’t you JEALOUS!??)  That is also gonna be super-fun!  Even though Anna is so well-loved that she’s already had about 14 baby showers and there is almost nothing left to buy her.  Good thing there’s always cash, right Annie??

The next week is Memorial Day which is the kickoff of two major events for me every summer: 1) My husband’s sailing season starts in earnest (did ya know I married a sailor?  A sailboat sailor!)  and 2) My parents abandon me and go to Virginia for the summer.  (yes, mom, you SHOULD feel guilty!  I NEEEEEEED you!)

Also, I expect somewhere in between the New Media Dayton event and Anna’s baby shower, I’ll start puking my guts out 3-7 times a day thanks to my wee little baby in my belly.  Yippeeee!

SO, the crazy days of May are here!  What have YOU got going on?

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Rite Where They Want Me

This week marked a new milestone on my path to Drugstore Diva-hood: Rite Aid came out with a loyalty card.  Their wellness + program is sort of  (but not really) like CVS’ ExtraCare program.  And since I am a faithful user of Rite Aid’s Single Check Rebates, they sent me one a couple of days before the program became effective (this past Sunday, 4/18) so I would be ALL READY to hit the store with my wellness + card!  And they even emailed me some special wellness + coupons to use WHEEEEEEE!!

Sunday was a busy day, so I had to wait until Monday morning to hit Rite Aid.  Here’s what I got:

DSC02034

U by Kotex tampons $3.49

2 GE lightbulbs $3 each

Huggies $8.99

Tugaboos (Rite Aid brand) diapers $6.99

total = $25.47

Coupons: $5/$25 wellness + coupon from my email

$1 off U by Kotex manu q

$1 off Kotex Rite Aid video values coupon (from last month I think. I’ve been saving it!)

Two $1 off GE light bulb printables

$3 off Huggies printable

$2 off Huggies Rite Aid video values coupon (also been saving this one)

total = $11.47 and I will get back $9.49 in rebates!  $3.49 for Kotex, $4 for the light bulbs, and $2 for the Tugaboos. WOOHOO!

Best of all? Most of this stuff wasn’t even for my family.  Thanks to coupons & rebates, I can afford to be generous!

*And then* BONUS because I used my wellness + card, the register printed me out some coupons on my receipt!  Yaaaaay!  With wellness+, Video Values, and the Single Check Rebate program, Rite Aid is really becoming nearer and dearer to my heart!

Woohoo!!

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