If you can't drive nice...dont' drive at all!

You know the funny thing is I was just going to do a blog about honking your horn the other day. I was going to say how I'm the type of person who does, Ben's the type of person who doesn't (usually). Allow me to explain my scary experience today.

Connor and I were headed out to get some shopping done, and unlike other times when I will NOT go to Walmart (I always buy things I don't need) I realized it was going to be a convenient one stop shop. We needed stuff for Connor, the dogs, I needed a coke, had a Redbox to return, and we needed buttermilk. SO...Walmart here we came. We were 65% there when it happened. I always criticize Ben because whenever someone pulls out and stays in the turning lane, he slows down assuming they're going to cut us off. That never happens...I tell him people aren't trying to hit us, they just want to get in the turning lane cuz it's faster than waiting for both ways to be clear. Well...I'll never complain again. Before I go on...worry not. We did not get into an accident. But it was close.

This truck pulled out, I assumed he'd stay in the turning lane because I was going 50 mph...and there's no way anyone is that stupid. OH HE WAS. He cut me off..big time. I honked and had to swerve into the other lane so as not to hit the fool. He started to move over as I did..because of my honk I assume, and almost hit me again because I had already moved over. So now I was REALLY mad but I didn't honk again, just tried to stay calm and not drive like a crazy person. SO eventually he caught up to me. I told myself, "He's not following you, everyone in Cedar goes to Walmart." But I was still nervous. He followed me into the parking lot, and while yes he was going slower than me, after I made several turns and twists I realized he WAS following me...just doing a good job of it. I found a spot and evaded him, and saw him drive right by without noticing me cuz the car next to me was hiding us. I debated on whether or not to sit in the car and wait it out, or just hurry and get out before he doubled back and found me. I decided on the latter. So I'm fumbling fast, and as I'm trying to get Connor out of the back seat, some idiot lady decides she doesn't need to wait for me, so she hits me in the butt with her car door, then proceeds to get her own kids out of her car instead of waiting for me to finish. I said sorry to her, even though she was the stupid one, and she gave me a look like "Yeah....get out of my way". I cold have hit her. I wanted to say "HEY! I'm trying to hurry so the freak who's following me can't come yell at me or beat me up for honking at him!" But I didn't. I just hurried. And once in the store I realized I was shaking so hard I could barely buckle Connor into the shopping cart.

Now the story ends there...nothing happened, nobody found me or keyed my car...but honestly I thought every person in Walmart was the guy who gave me that nasty look and followed me. I was nervous and scared to go back out to my car nearly an hour later. I was ready to get someone to escort me out if needs be.

So...someone please explain what the horn on the car is for....because I thought it was a way of warning people when they were driving stupid..and about to hit you. So why did this guy think he needed to follow me and creep me out when I didn't do anything wrong? I had my speech all prepared if there was a confrontation...I have a baby in the car and I do NOT need to die today because of your impatience!!!! I have had it up to HERE (over my head) with people who drive this way. Cedar is by far worse than even the crazy California drivers. At least they are mildly predictable...but hicktown drivers are HORRID!!! Half the time they are either lost or too senile or YOUNG to know what they are doing!!!

On the upside...Walmart really can be great. And even though I DID spend more than I planned, I got Connor two church outfits (shirt, tie, vest) for $3 a piece, and hit up the big people clothes too...got myself like 5-6 shirts..one of which was only $1 and the rest were $3. Also got Connor some new shoes for $3 and other wonderful things we've been needing! SCORE! :-)

But really....what would any of you have done in my shoes?

It's time...

For that semesterly rant about how busy life is. And this one isn't nearly as bad as the last one. But nonetheless I sort of regret being complacent for the first part of the semester...because things are creeping up on me very quickly! Here's my list of "stuff" to do before I'm in cap and gown this May:

Senior Capstone paper: At least 15 sources from scholarly peer reviewed journals, and the paper cannot exceed 20 pages- which means he wants you to get at least 19 pages ha ha. YUCK!

Persuasion Project Final Paper: 15 pages with at least 10 sources. HATE THIS ONE--but it won't be as bad as the previously mentioned paper.

Social Movement Analysis Paper: Honestly not really sure what this is yet- I need to talk to my teacher- I'm doing this class independently so we haven't covered quite all of it. 4-5 pages.

Persuasion Speech- This is basically done but now I have to practice it and deliver it next week. 8-10 minutes persuading parents to have their children immunized. It's pretty strong I'd say.

Group Speech- We haven't even started...yikes.

Final Paper for Teamwork- It'll be easy, but it's still a paper- 6-7 pages.

Final Paper for History of Utah based on the book "Uranium Frenzy" which I've actually been enjoying.

Then there's the 3 exams I have left- which is NOTHING compared to the 20(or more) I took last semester.

I have 6 weeks to get this all done folks! Let's pray I get it done, and do it well. Last semester I was .5 away from a 4.0! So maybe this will be my golden semester! :-)

Aside from that, Spring Break was good in that we actually rested. Didn't do Spring Cleaning like we thought we would, didn't do the other 20 things on our to do list, and we are only starting to pack for our big move down south that happens in 7-8 weeks.

Life is good, and I think I do best when it's busy..so bring it on!

Especially since I have this little guy to make everyday so much more fun!!!

Burn out

Today was a total hormonally imbalanced day. And not just for me...across the board. Ben said he was trying to find teddy grahams at the store today, and when he couldn't he almost cried. And I had a hard time just getting off the couch to be productive...without wanting to scream. But I was too exhausted to scream. We're under quite a bit of stress with future job and whatnot...and I think we've reached that burnout that hits right before a nice long SPRING BREAK. I just wish we were going somewhere cool....but on the flip side at least we don't have the stress of travel...right? But if I were going somewhere...it'd probably be here:

I love oh love Hawaii....someone please buy me a ticket!!!

On the bright side of today...it was a bright day! We took Connor to the park and he went down slides and giggled on the swing. I love playing with him...he makes even the worst days ok! He had 4 shots today...poor kid. But he is growing nice and strong!

Stats:

24 pounds 4 oz- 45th percentile (remember when he was in the .5 percentile?...I do, sad day)

31 1/2 inches long - 70th percentile

Head circumference: 19 1/2 inches (I think) and 78th percentile

He did so good at the doctor even though his shots made his leg bleed more than it ever has...

Sometimes I want him to stop growing but each new day is so fun and entertaining!

Just posting this made me happier...thanks blogger.

My last post was sort of a downer...

So I'll write about happy things like rainbows....or just Connor. He pretty much equals all the rainbows and sun beams in the world for me :-)

Tonight after he was ready for bed we played in his room for a little while, and there was one point he was just staring me right in the eyes. He wanted me to push a button to play music, and this didn't register at first, because at first I was SO overwhelmed with love for this little person who I get to spend everyday with! Time goes so fast, and he is growing up SO fast...but those moments make my heart skip a beat and remind me that above all I am a MOM. What an incredible blessing!!!

He is quite a smarty and I'm not afraid to brag a little...

My FAVORITE thing he started doing all by himself is folding his arms for prayers. And he actually is the one to remind me to pray before meals lately. Even if it's just a snack, we say a prayer. Sometimes when he's playing we just say a random prayer. Things like this make me understand why children are our leaders...

He knows how to say "hoootttt" when his food is hot (or even when it's not sometimes ha ha)

He knows the sign language for:

Doggy

Cereal

Banana

Milk

More

Thank you

Daddy

Grandpa

Eat/Food

All done

I think there are more....but that's what I can remember!

And he can SAY most of those words...

Doggy sounds a lot like daddy but he says it when he does the sign for dog :)

Grandpa sounds like Ba Pa...so cute

I swear he says something like "I want that" when he reaches for stuff...

He also waves and says "See ya" when we go anywhere...I love it!

He is learning a new sign everyday and I LOVE it! It helps him communicate with me so much better and is contributing to fewer fits! He is happier and feels so big and smart!

He also dances up a storm and has starting stomping his feet back and forth..cracks me up! He also shakes his head which is a funny sight to see :-)

He uses EVERYTHING as a phone. We used to let him play with our phones, but he started doing things like calling EMERGENCY...so now he has to use the mouse for the computer, a sunglasses lens...anything that he can hold to his ear. It's HILARIOUS. He says "HI!" then goes on to have these long conversations we can't understand and sometimes he'll laugh like he just told the funniest joke ever!

He got his second hair cut and this time I had my camera! He is so funny and lucky he ended up with a pretty straight cut thanks to my friend Marilyn!

Here he is a few days before the cut (doing the sign for banana):

Then some of the haircut!

Here he is using his squishy toy as a phone...

I just realized I don't have any after pictures, so I'll take some tomorrow! He is due for a little photo shoot anyway, so mommy can practice....

I really think kids can do no wrong by their parents and no matter what I'll always think he's the greatest thing in the world! Even when he makes me mad he is still my favorite little person! He gives the best loves..no matter where you are or what you're doing. And he talks to almost EVERYONE we see at the store. People are always going out of their way to talk back to him and say how funny and talkative he is! It makes a momma proud. :-)

His little brothers and sisters will have to thank him some day for being so wonderful, because he makes me want a hundred kids!!! I'm SO thankful to be his mommy and to know I am his hero, just like he is mine :-)

Somebody Please remind me.....

Why I even care about couponing and saving money?!?!!?!! I went to the grocery store this morning...it was supposed to be really productive, and I was getting stuff to help stock up on food storage. They have a promo going on and I was going to take full advantage. I spent about 45 minutes before I went getting all the coupons I needed, loading digital coupons to my card, etc.

I shopped for almost an hour. Loaded my stuff on the conveyor belt and realized about 6 of the things I thought were part of the promo were NOT. SO I just left off 6 cans of soup I was going to get. But that threw off my coupons..whatever. The guy was nice and still made it work minus one coupon. So I swipe my food stamps card (yep that's how we survive these days), then there's a remaining balance of about $9. That's for the razor blade refills and foil I bought. Didn't stop to realize that number should have been about $5 cuz I had a $4 digital coupon for the razors that didn't work. Anyway, doesn't matter because I gave him my rewards coupon that I get every three months which can deduct from non food items. It didn't work because for SOME reason this month it came in RALPH'S rewards. WHAT?! I have a RAlph's account in Cali but never use it, and my mom in law has one but why would I get it in the wrong store name? Anyway...we had to REDO THE WHOLE GROCERY ORDER. My cart was full and we had to redo the whole thing. I wanted to have a panic attack right there. So we redo it...I bag my OWN groceries, which hey I'm not above that, but a manager was sitting right there doing NOTHING watching me bag my own stuff...dumb? yes.

So...after all that my total was almost the same...but somehow it was $1.50 more than last time. I think he missed a coupon..who knows. AND he forgot to re scan the double points coupon, which means I missed out on 117 points. Each 100 points is worth a $1 off later on. As if that isn't bad enough he also forgot to scan my reusable bags, losing me another 30 rewards points. I know this may not seem like a big deal to others..but I take my grocery shopping seriously. I mean I had sat at the table and planned my whole weeks worth of meals, I was so on the ball and then THIS!

So I can fix the rewards points over the phone on Monday. But that means making an annoying call that will probably take an hour. Then I'll have to take the razor back and re-buy it...unless they can help me with that over the phone too. Fixing my rewards card back to Smith's may be a pain in the butt...

Other things on my stress list:

I can't find more than 2 of Connor's 8-10 binkis. ANNOYING.

Our car got hit by a piece of particle board a few weeks ago. We reported it with highway patrol and the company is supposed to call me. Have they? No. So I need to call and bug them, or call the highway patrol again. I REALLY hate stuff like this.

We need to start organizing better so we can get packing to move. This is a good thing...but if you saw my garage you'd probably agree with my mom when she commented that the bomb squad needed to come over.

I really hate days like this...and for that matter WEEKS like this. Lots of things have not been going my way and I'm really burned out. Connor hasn't taken good naps, he wakes up REALLY early, and I just need a DAY OFF! Why don't they invent them for moms?

Lessons Learned

I know I talk about school A LOT. That's life right now...and I start to feel that maybe my posts are annoying to the general public. But I feel like every semester I have new experiences that I didn't anticipate and they merit a good ole blog post. Last semester it was photojournalism...this semester it's my history classes: History of Utah and Black History Month. Once upon a time when I went to SUU for two weeks before I met Ben and dropped out, I was a history major. I thought it would be awesome...but I slowly realized it's quite overwhelming to learn about 4 different time periods in history all at once. However, this semester I enrolled in two history classes mostly as fillers so I could have upper division credits. History of Utah is an online class which was a huge bonus...but I have learned SO much more than I bargained for.

Black History Month has been the BIGGEST eye opener. I knew things were bad in the past...but I had absolutely no concept of the realities African Americans used to face. I have had the privilege of hearing a few black scholars talk about the histories of African American culture, and today I was able to hear from Reverend France Davis who was at the "I Have A Dream" speech, and marched with Dr. King. It was an emotional experience for me. He didn't get too much into those experiences, but just hearing him speak and absorbing the wonderful thoughts he had was so meaningful. He talked about the importance of proverbs, songs, poetry and stories in the African American culture, but it was more applicable to all people...and how these things are beneficial to a happy life. I loved the stories he told...and he quoted several poems by Langston Hughes including I Sing America. This one really moved me:

I, Too, Sing America
by Langston Hughes
I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America. I could write for hours on the things I've learned, the lessons I've learned and the fact that I think everyone should have to take a class like this at some point in their lifetime....but let me finish by saying I am SO grateful for Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Malcom X, and the other people whose names are not as well known for their efforts but who fought equally for their rights as human beings. I pray the day will come when discrimination is no longer an issue in certain parts of the world...in the whole world for that matter. I've really learned to love my fellow man and appreciate the history of this culture.