"Celebrate Good Times - Come On!"

It's official, things are looking up for Ford, GM and even Chrysler. GM payed off debts early (not getting into the controversy some would like to drum up about how it was paid, nope, not here), Ford is profiting like crazy and I think I heard that Chrysler showed modest profits in the first Quarter as well.

Ahhhhhh...finally some hope for Michigan! Keep up the hard work OEM's, we're proud of you and happy to see progress after such a long period of painful turmoil.

This Mama may even consider increasing your allowance if you keep up the good behavior!

Date Night!

Date Night Pics!!!!!!

When my husband won tickets to see 30 Seconds to Mars via an 89X contest, images of the perfect date-night car began to swirl about in my brain. Excited by the prospect of a night out without the kids, I wanted something super-fun that could help me escape from my day-to-day Mommy-dom. It had to be hot, it had to be fast and it had to be built for two…hmmmm…

The Nissan 370Z it was and this dazzling number was a convertible to boot! Yeehaw! After attempting to go top-down in cold, gloomy weather that seemed insistent upon spitting on us, we realized defeat and put the top back up. Off we went to enjoy a peaceful dinner sans kids! Yippee!

Little did we know, God had another trick up his sleeve aside from the weather. As we sat down I quickly realized we were surrounded by not one, not two but 10 drooling, bald-headed babes! Can you hear God laughing??? I am not exaggerating either – ten kids, ten! I began to feel as though we were now in the Date Night movie, I was Tina Fey and hubby had transformed into Steve Carell.

Somehow we managed to turn the blind eye to all the toddler-trickery and found a way to enjoy the dinner. After eating, instead of heading straight to the concert, we ponied up that Z and headed straight back to our front door cuz stuff just doesn’t digest the way it used to and one person in our party needed to make a pit-stop. I will not name names, if you know us you already know which one of us had to make a lil’ potty before going out for the night.

Next we were back on I-75 headed to Detroit to take in the show at the Fillmore (eh-hem, State Theater). The Z turned heads all the way down Woodward Ave. and even caught a few compliments from the parking attendants. I asked hubby to get a picture of me in front of the Z – no offense hun, but photography is not your forte. At any rate, the pic is in the attached gallery, albeit missing the entire front end, oh well.

While waiting for the band, our age was really showing as we – seemingly for the first time even though as kids we had been there several times – remarked about the fan-flippin-tastic architecture and trim details inside the Fillmore – gorgeous!

After the show, Z got us home like a true chauffer. It wasn’t until the next day that my cousin told me the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars was none other than Jared Leto, the hottie heart-throb from My So Called Life (this is a show that was popular among apathetic teen sin the 90’s if you didn’t know)!!! Why didn’t anyone tell me this in advance? He was, in fact, still very adorable and man did could he sing! Ah well, I guess I am too old to have asked him to sign my boob anyway. I’ll certainly do a little more research though the next time date-night rolls around!

GM Finds Religion?

Um, it's Sunday morning and I am admittedly groggy at the moment - BUT, very sure I just heard GM will be bringing new models to local church's so parishioners can get a little test-drive with their Sunday service.

I really don't know what to think of this latest ploy to please consumers - sounds desperate right? Church? Really?

Not too surprising I guess. We all have a tendency to seek spiritual inspiration when times are tough. Wonder who we would find in the confessionals...

Oddly enough, the picture of the Caddy CTS piously posed behind Shrine Church in Royal Oak was NOT taken during one of GM's test-drives. It was taken about two weeks ago, long before I heard of GM's latest campaign. Yep, I'm a lil' pyschic like that.

My Pics

In perusing the May issue of Car and Driver magazine, one article in particular caught my eye. Their "25 Cars Worth Waiting For," had me immediately flipping to page 57, primarily to see if their predictions meshed with my own. "Aha!" Sure enough, there it was on page 66, nestled near the binding and somewhat buried in the lower-right - the 2012 Ford C-Max! An adorable, agile-little 7 passenger family-lover that may single-handedly mark the dawn of a sexier era in minivans.

Throw out your vision of the over sized bubble with horrible driving dynamics that ages you 10 years before you drive it off the lot and imagine a car that can carry more than 5 in comfort while also being fun to drive and fuel efficient. Come on all you SUV fans, admit it, you are plain tired of trying to gain access to your stingy third row seating! Button or no-button, automatic or manual, there is no easy way to get back there without hurting yourself. We need the second row pass-through. We need it, long for it and at this point I am sure many of us will do just about anything to get it.

To its credit, Mazda 5 has been the only compact 7 passenger carrier offering the pass-through, but not all have the ability to appreciate its ultra-mod, somewhat alien looks. Ford C-Max promises the same cargo capacity, same smaller car handling and a potentially prettier package. I cannot wait to get in this car - ugh! Two more years - I'm in agony!

Ahhh, the car wash. A tradition with all car lovers whether heading to the quarter wash or hoisting your bucket of cleaning supplies from their dusty perch in the garage - spring is car washin' time!

In years passed, a trip to the car wash with the kids was nearly as stress-inducing as taking them to the pediatrician for immunizations - lots of screaming and tears involved, cuz the car wash is friggin scary!

I never really thought of how frightening the whole process was until the looks of horror on my boys' faces enlightened me. What with all the water spraying and foam squirting and huge swaths of fabric slapping your car this way and that - yikes! And it's dark in there. Very dark. And isolated. Very isolated. Palms grow clammy. The stomach starts to remind you of how much coffee you've consumed. Thoughts of an escape plan ensue, just in case all of the machines freeze up. Or worse, what if all the flips and flaps develop minds of their own and start smashing the cars up instead of gently mopping the mud away???

So, with the warm weather taking over, I certainly hope this season will be the one in which MY KIDS outgrow THEIR fears of the car wash. Fortunately for THEM, the forecast in Detroit calls for clouds and rain all week, so there will be no car-washing in our immediate future. Phew! I gotta get me some chamomile tea!