Saturday, May 28, 2022

Celebrate National Doughnut Day This Week!

On Friday, June 3rd, you can celebrate National Doughnut Day with some sweet deals:

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Dunkin' Donuts is offering a FREE classic donut with the purchase of any beverage.

glazed Dunkin Donuts

 

 

At Krispy Kreme, you can get a FREE doughnut of your choice (no purchase required).  If you want lots of doughnuts, you can buy a dozen original glazed donuts for $1 when you buy a dozen regular donuts or 16 mini donuts at regular price.  And at select Krispy Kreme locations, you'll also get a coupon to return on June 10 for a FREE new mystery glazed doughnut that the company teases is "berry sweet."

a dozen Krispy Kreme Donuts

 

 

At 7-Eleven, you can get B1G1F doughnuts through Sunday at participating stores.  You have to be a 7Rewards member to participate.  Check the app for your special offer.

 

At Duck Donuts, you can get a FREE cinnamon sugar donut, no purchase required.

a Duck Donuts donut

 

 

From 5 a.m. to noon at Shipley Do-Nuts, you can get a FREE signature glazed donut with any purchase.

a box of Shipley glazed donuts

 

So make your Friday just a little sweeter with one of these special deals for National Doughnut Day!

Saturday, May 14, 2022

My Daughter’s First Car!

My daughter is 17 and is planning to get her license after her 18th birthday this summer.  She’s graduating June 1st.  I have to cart her around several times a day every day, so of course, I’m all on board with her getting a license and her own car! 

The licensing process for minors in TX is pretty intense, and she just hasn’t had that kind of free time while in school.  Between school, work, and sports, she has stayed pretty busy.  It’s also much cheaper and significantly faster if you wait until you’re 18, which is what influenced her decision to wait.

She saved up a little money and wanted to go ahead and start car shopping now so she can fix something up and have it ready to go when she does get her license.  Being the kind of person who “gets it done” once I’m tasked with something, I set right to work hunting for a car.  I sent her some photos and links for a few days to give her an idea of what’s out there and what they cost, and then I found something I thought was worthy of going to see.

So we rushed out immediately after school on Wednesday but before she had to be at work.  We had to drive out to Arlington in busy afternoon traffic and still make it back in time for her to go to work.  The guy met us at his little office/car lot, and we took it for a test drive.  It looked great on the outside, but the inside was not good, and when we drove it, the steering made a loud whine like it needed power steering fluid.  It didn’t feel right.  Also, the air conditioning didn’t blow cool air…that was something she requires here in hot TX.  I told her we should pass.

When we got out and said we weren’t interested, the guy said he had a couple of other cars on the lot that were priced a little bit higher, but he would be willing to give us the same price as the one we came to see since we were already there.  So he showed us two other vehicles.  One was in terrible shape inside…just terrible.  That was definitely a no-go.  The other one, though, was a 2010 Pontiac G6 in really good shape other than a hole in the front bumper and peeling/fading paint.  No major issues, though.  The inside was perfect.  So we decided to take it for a test drive.  Wow!  We were so surprised!  It started instantly…didn’t even hear it turn over.  It ran so smoothly and was very comfortable to drive.  It was actually in pretty good shape.  I took it to another parking lot during our test drive and got out to check it out without the guy hovering over us.  I did notice a bent rim, but it held air fine.  It looked like someone hit a curb and scraped the side of the tire, but definitely replaceable.  Also, the air bag light is on, so we’ll have to get that checked out.

 

Honestly, I was so impressed with how well it ran!  Haylee decided this was the car she wanted, and with getting it at the same price as the other one, it worked out perfectly for her, as that was the limit of what she wanted to spend.  So we sat down in his office to do the deal, only to find out that it did not have a current state inspection!  The guy said he could give us a 60-day temp tag, and we could get it inspected during that time frame so we could go get full registration, but I said no…we needed to know it passed inspection before we went any further.  I didn’t want her to run into immediate repairs that she wasn’t inspecting.  So we waited 2 days for it to get inspected, and all was well!  I got my son to drive me back up there on Friday, and he waited with me since a cash transaction was required.  I don’t generally walk around with $3,330 in cash ($2,950 plus title and registration fees of $330), so I was uncomfortable being there with this guy unescorted carrying all that cash.  But it went off without a hitch, and I paid for it so Haylee can make bi-weekly payments to me for it and pay it off in 7.5 months.  She was so excited!

I didn’t have any issues with it on the highway driving home, and it already had more than half a tank of gas, which was a nice bonus.  Haylee plans to spend Sunday afternoon hand-washing it and cleaning it up with her boyfriend while she has the day off, so I told her I’d give her my Meguiar’s complete car care set to use.  I already got insurance set up, so we’ll be able to take it to get any repairs, cleaning, etc. done.  It came with only 1 key and no remote, so I told her for graduation or her birthday, I’d order a 2nd transponder key and remote fob and get a locksmith to program them for her.  I’d hate to see her lock the key in it one day and not be able to get in when she’s trying to go to work or something! 

She’s dying to drive it.  I let her drive it in a parking lot when we were test driving it.  That’s all she can legally do in TX until she gets at least a permit, but she’s gonna try to go straight for a license.  She’ll just have to do a 6-hour online course with a 50-question multiple choice test at the end, then a 1-hour TX Driver Impact Course, and then go to DPS to take her behind-the-wheel test.  If she passes that and is 18, she can get a temporary license that day and get the permanent one in the mail.  Yay!  Then it will be no more chauffeurring for me!  I’ve got her younger brother starting public high school in August, so I’ll be trading off one for the other…I’ll have to start getting him to and from school the same month she gets her own license!  Good thing…I don’t think I have enough hours in the day to get them BOTH everywhere they need to go with all they’ve got going on.

Anyway, it’s such an exciting time for her!  Another kid growing up to adulthood very shortly.  Time flies.

Saturday, May 7, 2022

Lovely Mother’s Day Weekend

For us, Mother’s Day was celebrated today instead of tomorrow.  All of my kids were off work, so we had the opportunity to get out and do some fun things.  We started off this morning with an impromptu breakfast…me, my husband, and both of our sons (Hayden and Holden).  That was so nice!  Steve game me a bouquet of flowers that were just about to bloom (irises and little mini daisies like wildflowers).  We had a great breakfast at Rise & Shine, and it was completely unplanned!

Afterwards, Hayden and I headed out my requested Mother’s Day outing…we went to Trinity College Irish Pub to share some bread pudding with some hot Irish breakfast tea!  There was a graduation downtown, so traffic and parking were really difficult.  It took us an hour to get down there and finally get a parking spot.  But we made it, only to find out that they discontinued all desserts and no longer offer bread pudding!  After everything we went through to get there, we were a bit shocked, but we decided to just share an appetizer instead.  Scottish eggs!  Hayden had never had them before, so that was a nice treat…he really liked them.

Then we rushed back so he and Holden could get ready to go to the playoff hockey game between the Dallas Stars and Calgary in Dallas. We originally thought all of us were going, but it turned out we only got 2 free tickets to the game, so we sent the boys for a special night.  Steve and I stayed home and watched it on tv.  It was the best game ever!  It’s so late now, but I’m glad I stayed up to see the game.  It was amazing, and the Stars won!  The boys said they had a great time, and Hayden said he lost his voice from cheering!  I was screaming and jumping up and down when they won!  I”m so glad they go to go.  What a great weekend already!

Tomorrow, Steve and I are going to see the Fort Worth Symphony concert with Troupe Vertigo.  They’ll be doing a show with acrobats, a contortionist, and ballet dancers!  And our church is having a Mother’s Day breakfast before services, so I’m looking forward to another great day.  It’s shaping up to be such a lovely weekend!

Happy Mother’s Day!