In honour of the little, scratched up grey car I will be officially buying tomorrow. All the links with the newsletter today will be car related.

Think of me while you are driving around in your regularly scheduled lives.

I bought a 1993 Ford Tempo, it's red inside and has all manual door and window controls. Some people have been telling me what a hunk of junk a Ford is. But, no matter what kind of car I looked at I could always rely on someone to tell me what a rent-a-wreck I would be getting myself into. Still, a woman has to have a car. The local mechanic I am buying it from says Tempos are cheaper to fix, parts are easy to find.

I'm already planning my first road trip! I'm leaving on Thursday morning, treating myself to breakfast out (it's the cheapest meal of the day). I am looking at maps and listings of local Ontario events to see where I will go. But, I'm leaning to a drive up to Kincardine and then down and over to Sarnia. Not sure I can manage all that in one road trip. But, I don't have to be back on a set day so the trip can stretch on for an extra day if that's what I decide to do.

My first car and I've begun to think of the practical things like stickers, things to hang from the mirror and other related gadgets that will make it easier for me to pick my car out of the masses of little grey cars in the parking lot. How embarrassing it would be to wander around looking for my car. I noticed a cute smiley face thing in the grocery store, that might be the first thing to dangle around the front window. The theory is that yellow will be easy to spot and the smiley face will be something I can stand to keep hanging around days on end.

I've been considering picking up tacky looking stickers from each town I visit and slapping them all over the back end. Hopefully the car has a sense of humour.