I Hate STUPID People...

I've always said this, but this morning, I met a whole new breed of idiot! This person (I don't know who they were) really ticked me off with their stupidity. Let me set the scene for you:

My husband & I were driving to work together this morning as his car (as of yesterday) has a problem with the radiator. We had dropped our son at daycare in Uniontown. Then we traveled the 1-1/2 miles over to pick up the main highway. This particular highway is a 65MPH road. The entire trip from Uniontown to Fort Scott is about 20 miles. Once we got out on the highway I got up to the speed limit & set the cruise. As we're approaching about the 1/2 way point in this trip, we're closing in on a gold colored car. Eventually, we're getting close enough that I tap the brake to cancel the cruise & let it coast down on its own. By this time, we're down to about 50MPH, but can't pass due to on-coming traffic & various no passing zones. We're cruising along behind this vehicle, we he/she randomly & periodically starts hitting their brakes. We were NEVER closer than about 1/2 a car length from them even in the midst of this stupidity. Eventually, with all the braking, we are running about 45MPH. We come up to a spot that is OK to pass in & we were clear of traffic, so I decided that if they weren't going to go the speed limit, I was going to pass when I had the chance. I turn on the blinker & move over, what does this idiot decide to do? They speed up to at least the speed limit or more so that you couldn't get around them. I decided that was fine, if they were going to drive the speed limit, I don't have a problem with that and I came back in behind them. Well, wouldn't you know it, as soon as I get back over behind them, they immediately start hitting the brakes again & dropping their speed way back down. This goes on for another couple of miles before I once again have the opportunity to pass them. They tried the same stupid stunt yet again, but I just accelerated (about 7 MPH over the speed limit) & came back in. Once I was back in, I resumed the cruise, it coasted back down & we made the remainder of the trip going the speed limit just like normal. This car did get right up on my ass for a while, but eventually backed off.

I guess my problem with the whole thing is, what kind of idiot does that kind of stupid stunt in a car traveling at those kind of speeds? What kind of stupid do you have to be to even remotely think this is an acceptable "game" to pay in a vehicle? If you don't want passed, drive the damn speed limit. If you choose not to, don't get pissed & act all childish when someone decides to pass you. There are enough senseless accidents on the road everyday without that kind of stupidity.

I travel the same route every morning & afternoon at the same time every day & this is the first time I've ever ran into this particular breed of idiot. I'm definitely hoping I don't run across them again anytime soon.

Sorry everyone, I just had to vent. If you took the time to read, thanks for letting me vent. Carry on now.

Fall Festival...

It's once again that time of year. On Saturday, October 1, 2011 we took Dakota out to our local Relay for Life/The Sharing Bucket Fall Festival. It is a pretty inexpensive, nearby, family fun event that raises money for a great cause. We took him out to it last year, but last year he was still too little to do very much. We thought he would enjoy it much more this year.

Dakota & I left home that morning and stopped in town to pick dad up from his Saturday job at the livestock market, so that he could go along with us. We got dad & headed out of town (not far, it's only about 5 miles out). We got there and purchased our tickets (50¢ a ticket - every event ranges from 1-5 tickets). We thought he would dive right into the festivities, but we were wrong.

We started off with the petting zoo. They had (2) bunnies, (2) calves, (3) goats & (1) pony. Dakota didn't want anything to do with any of them.

We decided we would try that again later and headed over to the loop. At the loop we came across the duck pond (standard pick a duck - win a prize). We couldn't even get him to pick up a duck, so James picked his first duck for him. He won a box of crayons.

 

We decided to walk around a little bit and let him get more awake & aware of what all was going on. This method actually worked. By the time we'd made one complete lap, he was ready to get into the swing of things.

We ended up back at the duck pond, where we picked three more ducks (that became our favorite game); he ended up with a coloring book, a box of crayons, a bottle of bubbles & a Halloween Flashing Safety Light.

Next, James & Dakota rode the wagon ride. Dakota seemed to like that.

 

 

Then we did four little kids games (didn't matter how well they did, they got to pick a prize when they were done). We had ring toss, witches brew, blinko & ghost toss. Dakota seemed to enjoy all of these. For his efforts he received a Halloween stamp & a bag of Skittles.

 

Next, James & Dakota decided they needed to buy some trail mix, so we bought two bags of that to take home with us. Then we moved back to the petting zoo. This time Dakota would at least get up close to the cages & look at the animals, but he still wouldn't pet any of them.

 

We decided we'd just about seen it all, so we moved on out to the pumpkin patch (no a real patch, they just set several hundred pumpkins out in an open field). We took a few pictures, then James & Dakota set out to pick our four pumpkins we paid for.

Needless to say, it took us a little while to get Dakota interested, but we all ended up having a pretty good time. I'm sure we'll hit it again next year, as it's become an annual event for our family.

I'm Back...

I'm back. Ok, well honestly, I didn't actually go anywhere, I just haven't had any free time. No, that isn't just an excuse, I really haven't.

For the past 13 weeks, I've been covering for a co-worker that was off on medical leave having both knees replaced. HOORAY for her! BOO for me!!! To be honest, it shouldn't have been nearly as bad as it was. When she first went off on medical leave, another co-worker & I were splitting her job between us. It was working perfectly. We were still able to do our individual jobs & then between us cover hers too. Then a couple weeks into this system, the one sharing the extra job with me got fired for refusing to sign the non-disclosure agreement. Since then, I've had my job and the co-workers job. It has been CRAZY! I managed to get everything done, but not without 10-16 hours of overtime a week.

Needless to say, my son HATED that. I'm always there to tuck him in & put him to bed, and there were times that I couldn't be home in time for that over the past 13 weeks. I would get to work around 6:30 am - leave at 3:30 pm (no lunch break), drive 30 minutes to get Dakota from daycare, drive another 15 minutes back home, fix supper, eat quickly, leave & drive 15 minutes back to work, work another 2-4 hours then drive the 15 minutes back home.

 I don't mind filling in for someone else when necessary, but 13 weeks is a long time to have your schedule completely screwed up. I always felt like I had no time for myself. Maybe it's a little selfish of me, but the co-worker returned to work today, and I'm so glad to see her & know that I'm back to my normal routine/schedule.

Things can now, HOPEFULLY, return to normal.

I Suck At This...

I haven't blogged since August. I really suck at staying current on this kind of thing. I just don't feel like I have the time to mess with it. I follow along with the events taking place in all of my friends' lives, but don't feel like I have time to stay current on my own. I guess now is as good a time as any to get caught up; even though I'm at work (currently have nothing to do).

Dakota is growing like a weed. He is so much fun & he is such a pleasant little guy. You can't help but smile when you're around him. He just jabbers all the time these days. You can make out a few things, the rest you just agree with. He is 18 months old now, and he is pretty independent. He likes to do things himself, but he is very affectionate. He willingly gives hugs & kisses, and loves to cuddle. I'm afraid that will change someday, but I sincerely hope it doesn't.

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Dakota actually participated and had a blast with all the decorations (loved pulling ornaments off the tree). He ripped into all his packages, and then helped everyone else with theirs too. We had a blast this year!!!

As for me, I'm hoping I get all cleared up before long, because I'm tired of this crap. Beginning December 1st, I started with a light cough. It developed into a more chesty, barking cough. I was wheezing some with it, and was having trouble sleeping. I actually went to the doctor (anyone who knows me knows that other than when I was pregnant & was seeing the OB, I haven't been to a doctor since my senior year of high school) on December 8th, she gave me a new inhaler in case I had any trouble breathing and started me on the z-pack. I took all my medicine, but it wasn't getting any better. I went back to the doctor on December 16th, she decided that she thought my asthma that had been dormant for the past 12 years was flaring back up causing all my problems. She gave me a breathing treatment in office, a steroid shot, a different inhaler, an amoxicillin antibiotic, a daytime cough prescription & a nighttime cough syrup with codeine. I took all of those and they ended just after Christmas. I still have the cough, because now I'm having sinus drainage that is in the chest area also. I've kind of got my voice back, but it is still pretty rough sounding. I'm just hoping to get completely past it and get back to normal, because all this stuff sucks.

Then Saturday evening I messed up my lower back, but luckily, my work has a chiropractor that comes in 2 days a week; every Tuesday & Thursday, so I got to see him a little bit ago, and he fixed that problem. I still have a little bit of pain from it being out, but I can stand straight & walk easily now, so that is one good thing lately.

I just feel like I'm falling apart these days. I'm sure it will get better eventually, I just wish it didn't all have to hit at the same time.

Well, I guess I've complained enough for now. I'm going to go hit the medicine cabinet and get a pain reliever and then at least one of my problems will be solved. Here's hoping the new year gets off to a better start than the last one ended with.

Change Is A Good Thing...

At least for us it is.

James has worked nights for the past 7-8 years. That wasn't so bad when it was just him & I, but once Dakota came along it seemed like we hardly ever saw each other. I would get home with Dakota around 4pm, James would be asleep right up until time for him to go to work, so he spent very little time with Dakota. We very seldom ever ate supper together. We literally seemed like two individual people whose lives occasionally crossed paths.

Around the middle of June, Carlisle (James' employer) switched him to a day shift. Needless to say, after working so many years of straight nights, James had a very difficult time transitioning over to a day schedule. He had the most trouble getting into a new sleep pattern/routine. He kept telling me, "I don't know if I can do this, this is about to kill me."

Now, here we are almost 2 months later, and not only is he "alive", but he loves it. We have fallen into a very comfortable routine that is great for a change. I get home with Dakota a little before 4pm. Since James works a 10 hour shift, he works until 5pm and gets home a little before 6pm. He plays with Dakota while I fix supper. Now we eat supper as a "family" & we love it. After supper I clean up the kitchen while James' starts Dakota's bath. When I'm done I go in to assist with the bath. We've never had the opportunity to spend this much time together as a family before, but we're loving it!!!

It just feels great to know that I now have help, that we get to eat as a family, we can actually plan and go places together. Plus with this new schedule James is off most Fridays, so Dakota stays home with him on Friday. They both seem to enjoy their extra time together, and its obviously a good bonding experience for them.

So, change may not always be easy, but it is usually a good thing!!!

I've had Enough...

I've about reached my limit, quite simply I've just had enough. I'm ready for something to go right and dare I say it, just work as it should for a change.

We've been having trouble with my car, it just isn't running right. In the last week we've changed the spark plugs and wires. We had the catalytic converters (my car has four) checked to see if they were plugged (they weren't). We put a new fuel filter on (that was plugged). They tripped the check engine light to go off thinking that the fuel filter had to of been the problem. The very next day (wouldn't you know it) the check engine light comes back on.

My husband knows a little, but it is over his head. My father-in-law knows quite a bit about vehicles, but it is over his head too. Since I'm the one that is always hauling Dakota around, I don't want to be stranded along the side of the road somewhere in 100 degree weather. I've finally gave in and called the Ford dealership and I have an appointment for 3:00 pm today. I just hope they can figure out what the problem is without it costing me a fortune.

I just hate going to the main dealership like that though. One, it always costs a lot, usually more in labor than any parts that they would put on it. Two, they always want me to tell them what I think the problem is or what it is doing. Let's face it, I know next to nothing about cars. In my world it either works or there's something wrong with it. When I try to describe something to them they usually look at me like "and I'm supposed to figure this out when you know nothing about it". I just hate this experience, because I feel so stupid trying to relay to them what it is doing. I usually end up telling them to just take it for a drive, you can't miss it. I just may have to do that again this time.

Here's to getting it fixed without breaking the bank, so that we can roll on with things the way they usually are. Plus, we're supposed to be coming back to Schuyler the weekend after Labor Day, and I don't feel comfortable taking it that far the way its running at the moment. I want to come back up home, because its the last trip of the year for us, but if I can't get it fixed, we'll have to cancel, and I really don't want to do that.

Send me some good luck God, Plleeeaaaassssseeeee!

Any Ideas/Suggestions...

Alright, I'll admit it (in case you didn't already know), I'm kind of a blog stalker. I follow what you all post, but quite frankly haven't had anything to write about or the time to do it even if I did have something. Thus the reason that it has been almost a full two months since my last post. I may get better at this one day, but oh well, on to what I need help with.

I'm looking for any ideas from you BTDT moms as to meal suggestions/planning for a 13 month old. I don't know at this point if he is just a picky eater or if it has something to do with the texture/consistency of certain foods that is the problem, but it is really hard to get him to eat. Things he eats really well are:

• Grilled Cheese
• Bread & Butter/Biscuits
• Chicken Nuggets
• Mashed/Baked Potato
• Pancakes
• Pudding/Yogurt
• Cheese Pizza Rolls
• Applesauce
  

I would love to get him to eat other things, and I DO keep offering/trying other foods, he just isn't going for any of them at this time. You can't get him to eat any type of vegetables or pasta. Other than nuggets, he won't eat any type of meat either.

I've tried meatloaf, hamburgers, fish, spaghetti, macaroni & cheese, sliced ham, hot dogs, bacon and so on; all a no go.

I still can't get him to eat his veggies, but we may be getting a little closer on that front. Before he would not even try them, then he would play with them (squeeze them between his fingers), now he will put one piece in his mouth, chew it a little, then spit it back out. No actual eating, but closer now than we were before.

So, is this normal for this age that they latch on to a few particular items and won't do anything else? Can you break them of it or does it have to be in their own time? Some of this could be due to teeth. The 1 year molar area has been swollen for quite a while now, but hasn't broken on thru yet. In your experience, did your children not eat as well during that time?

I'm just looking for any ideas/suggestions, I'm open to anything if it gets him eating better than he is right now, so any ideas/tips would be greatly appreciated!!!