Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Pet Peeve: Drivers who do not use their signal lights

The Hubby and I got into a discussion this morning about when a driver should use their signal light. I am under the firm belief that drivers should use their signal lights all the time. In fact, there was blatantly two times this morning drive to work that the drivers in front of me failed to use their signal light that would have been beneficial.

Situation #1 – I totally would have stayed in the right lane at a four lane intersection if I would have known that the three cars in front of me were going to be turning right on red. I didn’t even know that they were turning right at all for none of them had their signal lights on. I would have been the first car in the lane for when the light turned green. I think all drivers would agree with me that it is good to be the first one in the lane at a red light so you have the opportunity to take off at a decent speed. Instead, I had merged into the left lane to get behind the one car that I knew drive like a bat out of hell… seeing how he appeared out of no where in no time flat. Yes, he did take off decently when the light turned green…but no way did it compare to one having his/her own lane.

The Hubby disagrees with me that the other drivers should have used their signal lights. He said it was none of my business to know that they were turning right. In fact, he even went so far to say that I should have already known that they would be turning right because where the intersection is located and the time of the day it was... and what I had for breakfast and how the sun was shining and the wind wasn't blowing.... ok.. I might have added those last few factors. Now, I agree that their lack of signal light usage wasn’t going to cause an accident or even put a driver in a hairy situation (unlike Situation #2). Still! Where is the courtesy? I sure the heck don’t know! Who knows! I may have been to work a couple of minutes earlier or it could have prevented me getting in the Situation #2 down the road.

Situation #2 – On the same four lane road, I was happily driving along in the left lane in medium traffic. The car in front of me decided that they wanted to be in the right lane. Did they signal? Nope! They decided that they would slow the f*ck way down suddenly until a gap that they deemed worthy made itself known in the right lane. The Hubby agreed with me that signal light usage in this situation would have been nice…. (He also agreed with me that the driver was a dumbass and needs to learn how to properly merge.)

Now, as a driver, sit and think back… I bet there were times that you had wished that the other car would have just used their signal light! I know that I am not the only one! The Hubby even admitted that there were times in his driving experiences.

It takes like a minimal effort to turn it on and off. It’s not that difficult or taxing. However, it makes a difference in communicating to the drivers around you. Use it people!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Random thoughts

It seemed to help out a little in writing yesterday’s posting. I figure I will give it another try today.

Moving on up – We received a notice yesterday that the Little One will be “graduating” from the Toddler 3 room to the Toddler 4 room. At first, I was happy to hear the news for she is moving up to kids her own age. She was always a step behind because of being a little behind in physical development with being a preemie and all. It is a good sign for it shows that she is catching up. Now, I see the news as bittersweet… it means that my baby is growing up. Gosh, how emotional can I be!?! This doesn’t bode well on how I am going to react to her moving into High School or graduating from High School.

Calling all newspapers! – As you may have read in my previous postings, our backyard is need of a major overhaul fixin’. I need to do this with a non-existent budget. I’ve read online that newspapers are great landscaping barrier against weeds. It is inexpensive! (Bonus!) Biodegradable! (Double Bonus!) So I sent the call (er… more like email and twitter) for old newspapers from friends & colleagues. Let the fun begin! I need to get this backyard into shape before an upcoming bridal shower that is being held at the house. Besides, the weeds are starting to look formidable. They might gain up and try to devour me!

Blue – The color Blue and its various shades have always appealed to me. I find it very calming. (Not to mention, blue clothing really brings out my blue eyes when I wear them.) We opened our pool this year. I figure that it was worth the little cash to open it up for it will serve as entertainment as well as the ability to cool our butts down on those warm summer days. We do not have the air conditioner set up in our house. Since it has been two years since we have had the pool open, it wasn’t an easy opening. Unexpected problems popped up and have been taken care of. At some points, I really regret in deciding to open the pool up. Last night, coming home after a long day, I looked outside and found the pool is finally running properly. It is such a pretty shade of blue. I actually found myself exhaling a breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding.

Gas Usage - I've had the luck of getting the car during the day yesterday and today. Normally, The Hubby gets the car during the day because of when we have to start work at our respective jobs. The Hubby says that it was to help save gas. After he made a comment on how I'm not too aggressive when driving on this particular stretch of our daily commute, it got me thinking. I think the fact that we save gas is because I am not as aggressive behind the wheel as he is. I can't imagine that the route is that much shorter by starting with dropping him off rather than me. Could be wrong though!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Where my head is at…

Honestly, I am not too sure of myself and the life that I am currently leading as of late. I have been hoping that we would be “back on our feet” by now… After all, it has been over a year since The Hubby lost his job.

It is not the case.

We are constantly struggling month to month to try to keep things a float. At first, I thought we were doing a pretty decent job of juggling things. I've even been able to work on craft projects such as a wedding gift for D’Lovely and her man as well as homemade invitations for Cinnamon’s upcoming bridal shower.

However, apparently I was just fooling myself, another financial burden just revealed itself. It shouldn’t have been a surprise… I simply forgot about it. I guess I was mentally hiding it from myself.

Self-delusion is never a good thing.

Frankly, I am not sure what to do. My bag of tricks is nearly empty and we are no way closer to being stable than we were before.

I’m finding it hard to concentrate at work… or anything for that matter. It bothers me that I ... no, we... have this problem and I can’t solve it. So my thoughts are constantly running through possible solutions (such as finding a second job to bring in extra cash, to find a better paying first job) to daydreams (such as receiving an unknown inheritance falls into our laps… or we win the lottery).

I know that money doesn’t solve all … but it can certainly solve a lot.

My thoughts also turn to dwelling on the past and our decisions that we’ve made. I keep telling myself that hindsight is always 20/20 to try to move on from these useless thoughts. That appears to becoming harder and harder as well.

Staying positive is a role that I play in our marriage (and in other relationships). I try to remain strong and positive to show that we can work through any problems that life throws our way. The Hubby tends to get down relatively easily when we have a major issues. Perhaps I am naïve or conceited, but in times in the past, I think I helped us get through various tough spots by remaining positive and showing that the adage “This too shall pass” is true! I am having an extremely hard time staying positive. It is simply that I don’t see a “light at the end of the tunnel” anymore.

Honestly, I am not sure why I am revealing this in such a public format. I guess this blog is the closest thing that I have to what one would consider a diary. Some thoughts are easier to express in writing than verbally.

Perhaps now, I will at least be able to concentrate somewhat on other things for a little while.