I spent two days this week in Detroit at the General Motors Milford Proving Grounds meeting bloggers and test driving cars. It’s amazing how this website started in January and has come this far.

One of my side-gigs is writing reviews for Props & Pans, which has been the highlight of my blogging experience. The opportunity has given me a chance to polish my skills and attend events like this (which was paid for entirely by GM).

The Proving Grounds is where all the GM vehicle testing takes place. With over 4,000 acres they’ve recreated everything imaginable and I was able to drive their vehicles through many of the road tests they use.

Part of the event included an advanced driving techniques course in which we were put into situations and challenged to react (quickly). This made me beyond nervous. As most of you are aware I was involved in a serious car accident several years ago. At the time I was driving a small SUV and after it occurred I moved up to a Ford Expedition. Mostly out of fear.

I am not a nervous driver. Oddly enough after the accident I didn’t fear driving. What I did (still do) fear is riding with others. It can be my mom, my husband, a co-worker….anyone. I think mostly because I have no control over what they do. I find myself anticipating their next move and watching the oncoming traffic, making sure I keep them up-to-date on any situations I find. My husband has been very patient with me, but I know it drives him crazy.

So now I find myself volunteering to be the passenger in a vehicle demonstration where the driver is showing us the difference between losing control with StabiliTrak (electronic safety control system) and without it. Trust me when I say having it is a much better option.

Picture being in the backseat when the driver loses control while speeding erratically at 60-70 mph and jerking the steering wheel from side-to-side. All I could think was, “How did I get here?”

The fact I threw up in my mouth and swallowed it says a lot! It was all I could do not to hurl all over the back of that vehicle, but I kept my nerves in check and completed all the courses.

It was probably over a year before I sat in an actual car after the accident because psychologically I could not bring myself to do it. Mostly out of fear that the vehicle was too small. If I barely survived a crash in an SUV I knew my chances in a 4 door sedan were not good. So you can see why I was hesitant to attend an instruction course in which I would be driving a similar size vehicle.

These are the challenges we completed:

*An ABS breaking demo where at 55 mph you’re headed straight towards a row of safety cones. They key is to brake lightly and steer slightly (that rhymes!). For this we were in a Buick Lucerne which may sound like an old person’s car, but it handles quite nicely.

*The SKID MONSTER - sounds like something from a black & white horror movie! This was completed in a Chevy Tahoo which had special rear tires equipped to simulate your vehicle skidding (as if on ice). The instructor controls when the vehicle will begin to skid and your reaction must be to turn into the skid with small movements of the steering wheel. Sounds easy, but my first reaction was to brake and that doesn’t work well. Several times I over-corrected, lost control and spun out. This leaves you with quite the feeling of motion sickness.

*For “evasive” driving we were in a Chevy Impala which accelerated very smoothly. Again you are flooring it in the direction of orange safety cones and the instructor tells you a direction (left or right). You are not allowed to brake, just steer around the cones. This simulates a situation such as driving down the highway and a box falls off of a truck. You learn how to safely avoid the object without slamming on the brakes and causing a rear-end collision.

*I figured the “serpent” course would be the most difficult, mostly because it required backing up in an “S” motion (along a curve of all places!). We did this in a Chevy Silverado truck. The only issue I had was wanting to look behind me instead of using the mirrors.

Overall it was a good experience for me. Not only did I have a great time, learn a lot about the GM vehicles (including one I’d love to purchase) and practice some driving techniques I know will come in handy, but I overcame some of my own obstacles.

You can read about the specific cars I test-drove and what I thought at Props & Pans.

Since when did the ophthalmologist start taking your blood pressure?

Mine did today. It was 135/88 - it’s usually about 95/70.

Thus began the Spanish inquisition.

“So are you on any new medications? Do you drink a lot of caffeine? Are you under a large degree of stress? Is everything alright at home?”

“You just blew puffs of air into my eyes. It makes me a little nervous.”

I am suddenly sad today. I’ve realized that this time next year my only child will be in kindergarten. Which in reality means he’ll be in school full-time from now, until he uses all of that college savings we’ve been investing in.

Most parents rejoice at the thought of sending their little one’s out the door for the day and I thought I would share that excitement. But then I realized that this is the last year we can get up late and it not be a big deal. No worries if we walk into his Pre-K class 5 minutes late. There is no bell.

In the past we’ve relished our “home-days” together. For us it meant staying in our pajama’s all day and watching movies. Now we’ll have to start praying for snow days.

I think it all boils down to me losing some sense of control and influence in his little world. We can’t plan 4-day weekends and take off to visit family without him missing school. The kind of school that you need to call in sick for.

So this year I’ll have take advantage of a few more days where I pick him up before lunch & we can go out just the two of us. Then we spend the afternoon snuggling in my bed reading books and giggling. Because not only is he going to be in school next year, but the older he gets the less he’ll think hanging with me is cool.

Lately I’ve noticed advertisements for medical procedures at rock bottom prices! I’m not sure about you, but when I “shop around” for surgeries I’m not thinking along the lines of cutting coupons.

But that is exactly what you can do. Several area surgeons have been including discounts in local advertising. For example - bring in this newspaper ad for 20% or refer a friend for half-off.

For the most part these procedures are things not typically covered by insurance plans because they are considered “cosmetic.” I can understand wanting to find a reasonable price if you are paying for it out-of-pocket, but where do you draw the line?

We’ve all heard the expression, “you get what you pay for.” When it comes to paying someone to cut me open, I prefer the safe feeling of knowing they charge a lot for their work for a reason.

And why do they advertise LASIK eye surgery for $295 an eye? Who walks in and says I just want one eye done…I can’t afford to have the other one done right now.

If I was looking to have someone slice me open and inflate my chest (which I’m not), I wouldn’t bargain shop. Around here I’ve seen ad’s for $2,995 breast augmentation and the plastic surgeon is claiming he is our local “Dr. 90210.” Cheesy table for one.

Bottom line is this. I’ve had 26 surgeries (from the car accident) and I don’t typically talk price with the surgeons. I talk results and experience, and even then I usually seek a second opinion. This is your body, your life, your health….don’t leave it in the hands of someone who had to advertise specials to get patients!

Over the summer we camped for several days with my parents in what my sons refers to as “their house in the middle of the woods.”

I knick-named it “The Taj” because the granite counter tops, in their larger-than-life kitchen area, certainly beat out my 1960’s pale beige Formica.

The drawback to even their pimped out house on wheels is that the bathroom is very small. Either that or my ass is too wide?

It was much easier to shower in the bath house at the campground. So after spending a day on the lake Ethan and I headed that direction carrying our essentials.

There were other mothers and children with the same idea, so we waited in line long enough to listen to some of the most interesting conversations between naked people I’ve ever heard. A few times I had to cover Ethan’s ears.

I’ve always found it intriguing that individuals will talk loudly about personal things when they blatantly know others are listening. Maybe that is the exact reason they do it?

Once inside our 2X2 stall I instructed Ethan to keep his flip flops on while we showered and not to step on the floor barefoot. He of course questioned this and I counteracted with my stern “because I said so” look.

Surveying the floor of backed up water and floating hair (from other people) was almost enough for me to pack it up and just make a few more swipes of deodorant under the arms calling it good.

I’m not sure if it was Ethan almost dropping my clothes on the floor or when he actually dropped my clean towel in this icky water that I lost it. Either way he knew I wasn’t happy. Trying to do the tango with a 5 year old while keeping your feet on top of sandals and dressing isn’t easy.

But knowing your towel now has the particles of the people I overhead in the shower stall before us talking about how many people they’d “gnawed on” at their swinger campsite last night put me over the top.

Ethan’s only defense was to look at me and ask, “Do you like me?”

He’s gotten pretty good at reading those non-verbal expressions.