Bad drivers

I know I'm the queen of "this is the worst/best" whatever, but seriously, the drivers here in Rapid City have got to be setting some kind of record for the worst driving ever! I don't know why the city even bothers to put up Yield signs because no one bothers to look at them. Or maybe they do and just have no idea what it means. I can't tell you the number of times that I have been almost run over by someone whipping into my lane right past the yield sign. A couple months ago I got cussed and flipped off by an irate man in a truck who was in the wrong! I had already stopped at my stop sign and was turning left when he decided that he wanted to go before I was done turning. Apparently, he thought I should stop again to let him through. I couldn't hear what he was saying because my windows were up, but I can read lips. I'm sure glad that my girls can't though. I'm sure the look on my face was hilarious because I was in shock that he would act that way when it was his fault in the first place! I'm not the only one who complains about the drivers here. When we had some family visiting, they commented too on the horrible manners of the residents. And when you do stop at a yield sign to let someone (who has the right-of-way) through, you get honked at like you've been blocking traffic for a week instead of the 4 seconds that you actually had to wait. It also amazes me at the number of people who have little kids be-bopping around in the car not even wearing seat belts, much less sitting in safety seats. That makes me so mad! I get paranoid when I know that Vince is taking the kids somewhere by himself because sometimes he is less than vigilant about making sure the straps are not twisted or buckled tightly enough. When I see kids without car seats I just want to shake the parents! I have been really frustrated by a lot of things lately. I think part of it is this long, cold winter. It just makes me cranky. I don't like to drag the kids out in it very often so that means we are trapped in the house a lot. That makes Mama very irritable. To top that all off, the stomach bug is making another round through our house. I had it yesterday and then last night, Audrey started with it. She didn't go to school today. I'm still feeling tired and weak and of course didn't get a lot of sleep last night due to Audrey being up and down. I'm hoping that no one else gets it. There should be a rule about only being able to get this crap once a year.



I have been trying to get to the YMCA more in the past couple weeks. I really slacked off on working out while V was gone for that week. The issue that I'm running into at the Y is the parking and the nursery. So many people joined at the New Year that the nursery is always full when you get there. I have been trying to go early enough so that I can catch people leaving from the class before mine, but that means leaving AT LEAST 30-45 minutes before the class starts. And even then, there's no guarantee that there's not someone else waiting for the nursery in front of you. The parking downtown is horrible. Usually I drive around and around within a 3 block radius of the YMCA cruising for a place to park. Most times it takes me about 10-15 minutes to find a spot. Then, of course it takes me another 5 (at least) to get the kids out of the car and all our gear loaded on my back and walk to the YMCA in the cold. Most days I don't want to take the chance of going through all that just to get there and be told they have no room in the nursery. I shouldn't complain. At least they have a nursery, right? It's so funny. The day that we volunteer, we are there for 5 hours. So, in the morning we get there before 8 and it's early enough that there is still some parking within a block of the facility. Around 10 o'clock, we start the shuffle. The parking around the Y is mostly 2 hour, so we take turns moving our cars every 2 hours to avoid getting tickets. Of course, the later it gets, the less parking there is closest to the Y. Usually I am parked about 4 blocks away at the end of my shift. So, at 1 I go get my car and park it in the loading zone with my flashers on and then go retrieve my children from the nursery. It's too much to carry all our stuff and 2 small kids with one trailing behind for 4 blocks in the cold or snow. The days I get really irritated are the ones where I have gone through all these rituals and then as I leave I spot an able-bodied 20-something who finds a spot right by the door and bounds up the steps ready for their workout in less than 1 minute! UGH! Whatever. I do have the treadmill here at home, but it is really a chore to make myself get on it some days. I did run 3.5 miles at 5 MPH the other day. That's the most I have ever run going that fast. That's fast for me. So, I haven't lost any more weight lately, but at least I don't think I have gained much either.



Okay, I'm gonna close the complaint department for a little bit.



Sam is 9 months old now! Wow. Vince had to take him for his well-baby checkup since I was in the bathroom all day. He hasn't gained any weight since his last visit. He's still 21 lbs. 6 oz. But he had gained inches. 29 1/2 inches tall. That puts him in the 95%-ile. I guess all the army-crawling is keeping his weight down because he still eats like he's starving all the time. He will down at least 2 big jars of food at one sitting and have some of what I'm having too and then have some animal crackers for dessert. He really likes to stand up. He always has, but now he's finding that he can do it himself. He's been pulling up on everything. Like the recycling can-yuck! It always tips over on him and makes him mad and he makes a huge mess. Last week he could only pull himself part of the way up and then needed me to straighten him all the way up, but this week, he just pops right up there. When I try to set him down, he refuses to bend at the waist. He wants you to hold him upright. When we do hold him up, he just smiles. He loves it.



Katie is gearing up for her dance class. She talks about it a lot. I told you all that the dance is what potty-trained her. Well, I am happy to report that she has had NO accidents. Not one! She does walk around pant-less most of the time at home. I put them on her in the morning, but when she goes potty, she disrobes and just doesn't put them back on. What's new for our house, though? We are naked a lot. She has been busy lately thinking about her 3rd birthday. She wants to go swimming at the Y and have strawberry cake. Sounds easy enough.



Audrey really wanted to go to school today, but I made her stay home. She hasn't puked since somewhere around 4 this morning, and she says she feels much better today, but it's better to keep her home. I'm sure her teacher appreciates this. She is about to have her Kindergarten screening in a couple weeks. Scary.



Vince and I went on date night last Friday. We had to take Sam because he had a cold and couldn't stay at the church, but that's okay. He's the quiet one. We ate lots of sushi and then went to the mall. Exciting! The timing just doesn't work out for us to see a movie or play since the church keeps them from 5-9. All the movies here start at 7 or later. So, we thought about bowling or go-karts or something, but Sam made that a little difficult. We even thought it might be nice to just come home and watch a movie here all the way through in one sitting with no rewinding, pausing, or background noise. Or maybe just take a nap! Oh, wouldn't that be glorious! But, the mall won out. I didn't get dressed up for nothing, you know. It was nice anyway just to be together. You forget what it's like sometimes! Then on Saturday Vince had to go out of town again. My uncle and cousin came up from Colorado to visit. They only got to stay one night, but that's okay. We still had a nice time catching up. They had never met Katie or Sam. My uncle is a really good guy. It's weird to be a fellow adult. Growing up and being around all the adults for so long makes it kinda surreal when you grow up and become one of the adults with kids. The girls enjoyed having their teenage cousin to play with. I'm not sure if said teenage cousin enjoyed it as much, but I think she liked being with us for a night. V was very disappointed that he missed their visit, but it was a spur-of-the-moment thing and Vince couldn't cancel his snowmobiling trip for work. They are only about 6 hours from us, so maybe we can get down to Ft. Collins sometime and visit them. It is so beautiful down there. V has never been there I don't think and it's been a long time since I have visited. Gosh, I think I was about 14 when I was there last. That's 19 years! It's amazing to me that I have been around long enough to say that. Wow.



Well, Sammy is screaming because he doesn't want to take a nap-yeah, right!-and Audrey is hollering at me about something too. 'Til next time, XOXO