Test Drive My Story

It was just before Thanksgiving last year, a day like any other day.  I was probably craving lemonade and grilled cheese with mustard, one of my main pregnancy cravings.  I was probably getting sick all day throughout the day, as it was another one of my pregnant “staples” with Mabel in my belly.

I opened an email and literally felt the breath escape me for a moment.  Was I reading what I thought I was reading?

“Congratulations, you’ve been chosen as a Frigidaire Test Drive Mom on the Super Influencer team.“

I sat there stunned, and read further…

“You will be receiving a new Frigidaire refrigerator, dishwasher, range and washer and dryer to review.“

Yes, I was chosen as a Frigidaire Mom.  Amazing.  HUGE blessing! I was to get all 5 appliances.  To keep.  For no cost but to agree to write about my experiences with them.  Lil’ ol’ me!

I had to keep the secret until the end of January.

But then January happened. And life changed forever.

As soon as I remotely got my bearings, I remembered those emails, that contract.  The plans for this blessing.  And I didn’t know what to do.

How could I go back to any semblance of “normal” blogging, writing about my family, my story of my life, which sometimes included bloggy things and sometimes included products? I was too sad to imagine that I would ever be interested in any of this ever again.

I didn’t know what to do, and I’ll be honest — I almost called off the whole thing. I thought perhaps some other mom was meant to have this blessing, this amazing opportunity.

But I am here today, with a kitchen full of shiny new stainless steel, having decided that this was too big of an opportunity, too big of a blessing to just pass up. Also my friends all threatened to beat me up if I said no. {Just kidding.} {Actually no, they really did.}

Will you stay with me as I write about these gifts? I hope it’s not obnoxious to write about these as gifts, but y’all THEY ARE.  Yes I am earning them, I will be writing every week about their silver deliciousness and delivering at least one video along the way.  But I do consider this all a GIFT of epic proportions because of how badly our family needed these additions to our home, with the added benefit of being able to talk about the Save the Children charity that is so timely now as they rush aid to Haiti.

We have never had nice appliances, ever.  But more than that our appliances have never been efficient enough to be a good use of time or energy (financial) resources.  Our old fridge was one we bought 10 years ago (oh my lands, I’m old) and was more of an air conditioner for the house than a fridge due to it giving off cold rather than keeping it inside itself.  I’ve never had a dishwasher that actually worked (and I went many many years in a tiny bungalow in California with no dishwasher to speak of).  The range?  Oh sweet mercy I can’t wait to tell you about the perfect burners and their perfect jobs (they each have jobs, did you know fancee ranges had burners with jobs??).  The washer and dryer arrive in May, and I am counting down the days to our blissful meeting, because friends — I have 3 boys and a very manly man.  I find mud daily, even when no one’s left the house.  At least I hope it’s mud…

This is an adventure, it’s a part of my story, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride with me. Even though I thought I’d be writing about how much efficient appliances can help a mom of 4 children, how amazingly needed these appliances would be for a house of all boys and a newborn, I am still looking forward to sharing my story with you.  I am still a mom of 4 children even though one is in heaven, and I still have all those boys just waiting to eat hot food from the stove, to find themselves dirty just by getting the mail, and to use the ice dispenser for the 178th time today.

Right now I’m finding heart and heartache in the simplest of things, even in a refrigerator reflection on silver colored steel.

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Want to know more?  Frigidaire is doing the Test Drive program with mom bloggers (and don’t we just love them for it too?) with the goal of spreading the word about how these appliances save moms time.  They’ve also taken things to the next step, and partnered with actress Jennifer Garner for the Spin & Win campaign, where every time you click the wheel and spin, Frigidaire donates $1 to Save the Children and you’re entered in to win a washer and dryer (and other fab prizes).

It’s SO EASY and it helps starving children, won’t you take time for a wee little click?  Warning: you may be mesmerized by Jennifer’s hair and/or the lovely blue appliances.  Justsayin.

Thank you all for your support, let me know if you have any questions about any of this, the program or the goodies themselves and I’ll do my best to answer!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator, Range, Washer/Dryer set, and a Dishwasher to facilitate my review.