Feel Like Complaining

 She's such a courteous driver My hubby and I have been out driving with the kid for a couple of weeks now. We take turns though, it's not good to have two backseat drivers. The other day I was in the front and he was in the back and we're both telling her what to do. If I was her I would have pulled over and kicked us both out. We both have differences of opinions on how things should be done and of course each one of is right. So from now on we will alternate taking her out. Being in the passenger seat gives you a different perspective, mainly about the crazy drivers out there. When I'm driving I won't hesitate to cuss someone out who cuts me off or put on my brakes when I'm being tailgated. But when your kid is driving and someone pulls that crap, it makes me mad. Sure, they don't know she's a student driver but still, common courtesy and rules of the road should dictate how you act towards other drivers. Even her instructors encounter ruden...

*I'm really excited to offer my readers a change of pace today in the way of a Guest Author. I've always wanted someone else to do the writing now and then and I got my chance yesterday when I talked to my neighbor's dog Biscuit. She had a few moments of freedom when she escaped from her yard again; we had a telepathic chat and this is what she told me.* Ahhh, the taste of freedom. Even though it's brief, it's wonderful. They can't quite figure out how I escaped yesterday into the new neighbor's yard on the other side of us but I'm sure Pa will figure it out eventually and fix it. Our fence has so many patch jobs from the dozens of escape routes me and my pack have made over the years. When any one of us escapes, the entire pack goes nuts. Of course we only do it when Pa and Ma have left for work. But the whole neighborhood goes on alert and they're running around like crazy trying to figure out what's going on.  The Nice Lady you all know as...

I live on the East side of the state and she lives on the West. We decided to meet in the middle, sort of, ha. I hit the road at 7:30 am leaving myself plenty of time to enjoy the drive. First potty break, about 40 miles out of town. Darn coffee. Every rest area my car turns in and while I'm at it, I call home just to tell them I'm safe. I had my IPod to keep me company and I sang along at the top of my lungs. It reminded me of being a carefree teenager on an adventure. I also turn out for some sights which we, as a family have never done before. We've driven this route many times on the way to the Oregon coast but never took the time to stop. At the top of Vantage hill I pulled over and took a few pictures. This really isn't my favorite part of the state to drive through because it's somewhat like a mountain pass, very steep, winding grades and extremely high winds. But the view is beautiful. That tiny bridge down below is where I will soon cross the mighty Colum...

**I posted the following post first at Alexandria, the other blog I post for. I usually post much older, recycled posts but decided to write something fresh for a change. In all there are probably 35 different authors and not one could comment. I see that as being the norm over there. Maybe it's because I'm still the new kid on the block or I need to face the fact that I'm just boring. So from now on, no new stuff for them, they will only get used material. Only the bestest, freshest material for my homies. I just got home from my day trip, so give me a few days to wash the road weariness off of me before I tell ya all about it** My daughter will be starting Driver’s Ed next week so we picked up her learners permit last weekend. Her friends are surprised that she hasn’t driven yet. I thought that was the whole idea of a permit and lessons, to learn. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to head out to a parking lot and see what kind of skills she has. Her high sc...

Saturday I'm heading for the hills, just lil ol' me. I'm going part way into the Cascades to meet up with someone. Of course I'm not going to tell you who, so you'll just have to wait until later where hopefully I'll have a few good stories with pictures. I don't do a lot of driving by myself out of town so I'm a bit nervous. But I surely won't tell my husband that because he's going to make me call everytime I stop anyway. But I'm packing my pepper spray, an earsplitting horn, lots of water and oh, gotta take some snacks too. So stay tuned to find out who I met and where and what kind of trouble we got into.

We have mice. Due to the placement of our house, surrounded by rock walls and us feeding birds, we have mice. I mean, wouldn't you move in if you were offered room and board along with meals? Thank Heavens they are not in the house. And don't say yet! The past few weeks we've probably caught close to 10. I will set a trap and look to see if we've caught anything but that's where it stops. I make Hubby empty them. If I see one in the trap I tell  him that he 'has a friend'. Last weekend I kept him plenty busy with his furry friends. Our beans have finally started to come up but I've noticed that they're getting chewed up too. Last year the beans would have little spots chewed out of them. My mom said it was slugs and beer worked fine to get rid of them but I saw a blaze of fur run through the garden yesterday so I knew it was a mouse. After catching one in a short amount of time, hubby reset it. Later I checked and it had been sprung already. As I...

I love when days off are productive and yet fun. I've been on the go since I got up. First I took Nellie for a walk then went grocery shopping. Then I remade my bathroom clock by taking the old one apart and finding a new pretty CD disc to put a photo on and then replaced the hands. I know the numbers are a bit wonky but they're so tiny to work with and the glue was getting everywhere so I stopped messing with it. Tick Tock I was running low on laundry detergent, so thought I would make my own this time around. Yep, I am Woman, Hear Me Roar. It's real easy. Grate an entire bar of Fels Naptha Laundry Soap and add 3/4 cup each Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and Borax Natural Laundry Booster. You only need one small scoop per load. I don't know if it does any better than store bought but it sure is cheaper.  Looks like butter and salt After lunch I did about 30 minutes of Zumba. I bought the entire set of DVD's for home. I'm still trying to get past t...

Who doesn't like to look at a good crime map ? Especially when you can see what kind of stuff goes on in your own neighborhood. This is a new site, still in its Beta stage, so most cities aren't even on it yet. I checked out my town and the first thing I see is total crimes in the area. Then as I mouse over different areas, such as zip codes, I see crimes per area. When I click on my particular zip code I find 423 crimes in that area. My area now pops up in a new window and I can see lots of stats on the side; the difference between my zip code and the entire city, most dangerous neighborhoods and individual crimes with dates and cross streets. Mmmmm, let's look at my neighborhood now. I can zoom into the corner I live on and see that this particular corner looks pretty good. But at just the other corner of the block there have been 5 crimes in that area. And there are many crimes just southwest of me. Crap, I can't move an inch or I could be robbed, assaulted, van...

Do you remember when weekends used to be fun and relaxing? If you didn't feel like doing anything, you just didn't. Maybe it comes with adulthood, but they sure seem like a lot more work than ever. I don't know why I look so forward to them because they usually consist of laundry, housework, yard work, errands, banking, and anything else that got put off because we're too lazy during the week. My daughter bought a web cam today (my idea, her money) so we could download Skype. Long story short-she has a boyfriend in California-she knew him from grade school and jr. high-he always had a crush on her-they've been texting nonstop for a few months-now they're in love. Big Sigh. They don't get to talk much so I thought I would be nice and set up Skype for her. It took me a lot longer to get it all set up though so that's where part of the day went to. I hadn't even touched the paper by late afternoon and started dinner in my underwear because I was h...

I've had four glorious days off but it's back to work today. I only work M-W-F but burnout to-the-max is eating away at me. I've been with my elderly couple for almost 6 years and I feel it's time to move on. The wife pays for my services out of her own money and a few years ago she gave me a very nice raise, that really helped. The husband is a tightwad to put it mildly. He is trying everything he can to either get my services covered by Medicare or some type of insurance policy (he can't and they don't). I have also seen scribblings of his checking around to see what min. wage is in this state and what agencies pay for their home care workers (min. wage). I'm not sure if she's aware of what he is trying to do or what, if any, plans he has to cut my wage nearly in half. The day he tries to put that into effect, I walk. I would rather eat nothing, than eat humiliation. I wanted to leave before summer started so I could spend more time with my daughter,...