Road Trip Tip

Now that summer is upon us, many of you are likely about to embark on a family road trip.

And to that end, I thought I would share a little secret with you to keep those hours just a touch more sane.

Books on CD.

Here's why.  The story keeps the little buggers engaged (read, "quiet").  One could argue that a DVD would do the same, and one would be right.  But, call me old-fashioned, I like kids to be looking out the window on a road trip.  I want them to see how the country changes from one region to the next.  And when they're watching every movie Disney ever made, that ain't gonna happen.  Eyes get glued to the screen and become oblivious to the world around them.

With the books on CD, you get the same rapt attention, but a) it's to a story being read aloud, so they get to use their imaginations to provide the visuals for the characters, the scene, etc; b) as I said, they are getting to enjoy the scenery as you drive along; and c) I find that stories appeal to a wider age range than movies, so multiple age groups could enjoy the same story, something that does not generally happen with movies.

We've listened to Island of the Blue Dolphins, Rascal, Swiss Family Robinson, James and the Giant Peach, Shiloh, Incredible Journey, and more.  Our kids are 4 1/2 years from oldest to youngest, and include both boys and girls, and they've never really complained about a story being too girly, too boring, too babyish.  With DVDs, we've heard all those complaints.  And more.  Till they made my ears bleed.

Where can you find them?  Book stores carry them, but they tend to be expensive.  I was usually able find a decent selection at the library.  Amazon has the most to choose from, and they are reasonably priced.

A quick peek at Amazon and I saw Charlotte's Web, Anne of Green Gables, The Hobbit, Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, The Borrowers, The Secret Garden, Peter Pan, Little House on the Prairie, and on and on.  LOTS of great choices.  Think of it: exposure to great literature, AND quiet kids in the car.  And of course the whole thing about seeing the mountains and rivers and whatnot along the way.  Trust me when I tell you this is a win-win-win.

Happy reading and road tripping!

Image source

Parallel Universe

Of my six kids, one has his learner's permit, one is preparing to take the permit test in the next week or so, and another will be ready in about a year.

God, in His infinite wisdom, has decided I can handle this.

Or He is just one very funny guy, I'll let you decide.

Anyway, I wrote this on my other blog, but thought I would repost it here.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get fitted for a helmet.


*************


I have been dragged, against my will and better judgement, into the world of teaching a teenager to parallel park.

This is not something I would recommend to anyone with less time and patience than say, Mahatma Gandhi.

Besides time and patience, I would also recommend a healthy dose of common sense. A sprinkle more than what the good people behind the desks at the DMV have given me credit for.

For in the very first paragraph in the manual on the subject of parallel parking, they suggest to me that I should:

Start this session off on a quiet street with cars parked along the side until your student is capable of practicing this with cars passing by.

Lest you think your eyes deceived you, as I did mine, you read right. They suggest your student driver starts practicing parallel parking with real cars on a real road.

But because I have the sense that God gave me as well as a healthy love of my life and a working knowledge of the deductible on our insurance policy, I rebelled against the written word. I would recommend to anyone else foolish enough to attempt teaching P.P to their youngster that they follow the following progression:

1) Study the diagrams that can be found in your state's driver's manual, or the many sources on-line, such as this beauty:



(fhwa.dot.gov)









Or this one:




(access-board.gov)






2)Next move on to practicing with matchbox cars or a few heavily sedated hamsters.

3)From there, cautiously graduate to operating a real-live car,

IN YOUR DRIVEWAY

parking between real-live sim-cars, aka cones with long things sticking up out of them.

Long things OK to use: Gardening stakes. Brooms.
Long things not OK to use: Floor lamps. Your other children.



4)When your teenager has smashed the bejesus out of the cones you stole from the construction site under cover of night





(blog.nwautos.com)








and has wrecked your car beyond recognition, you are ready to schedule the driver's exam.

Because other driving skills matter not in the eyes of the people at DMV. Forget knowledge of street signs or the willingness and abilty to obey the posted speed limit. Don't worry about whether or not the young driver-to-be recognizes that the pedestrian always has right of way. If he can't parallel park, game over.

So get the parallel parking thing down to the point where he can zip into a spot, which, like the Grinch's heart, is two sizes too small. When he can do it blinfolded with his other senses guiding him into place like a Jedi master, he is ready for The Exam.

Let it be noted, however, that under no circumstances, even if your child passes the exam and receives his driver's license tucked inside the Holy Grail, is he to ever attempt to parallel park on real roads with real cars.

If God meant for people to parallel park, he wouldn't have invented the pull-in-frontways parking spot. Or those new hands-free parallel parking cars. Or blocks to drive around till you find other options.

Parallel parking. God and all the saints help me.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.





*****************


Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!


***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop and A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras.
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Saturday, that means I'm linking my post "Rain Dance" with Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up, and "Goodbye Flurry" with Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop.
Come join the fun!

She's Busted

My new car?

She ain't so new anymore.

Last Sunday was four weeks that I've had her.

When I drove her off the lot, her odometer read 22 miles.

This was her odometer last weekend...

















When I drove her off the lot, she had not a scratch on her.

This is her windshield now, courtesy a rock from a passing dump truck....














When I drove her off the lot, she was pristine, inside and out.

But then I needed some straw for bedding in the Hen House....


















Poor Kimmy. Someone shoulda told her, if she comes home with me, she's gonna get rode hard and put away wet.



There's not much hope for her, is there?






PS: I originally wrote this a week+ ago. She now has something like 3300 miles. Bless her heart....




****************************

Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!

***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop and A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras.
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Thursday, that means I'm linking my post "Farm Friday - Frightening" with A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop


Come join the fun!

Looky What I Got!

I got a new car!

Out with the old (222,000+ miles)...

And in with the new (55 miles).

It's a Subaru Forester, and I love it!

I'm actually keeping the old one (my Yukon) for the kids to learn to drive in, and to use when I'm taking all the kids somewhere. But the new one I'll use when I'm just driving one or two kids around, or for running errands or what-have-you.

Yay me!


***************





I'm linking my post "Farm Friday - Floating" with A Rural Journal Blog hop today. Come on over and join in the fun!


***************



Thanks for stopping by.
If you like my blog, I hope you'll be able to take a minute to add yourself as a follower.
Come back soon! I'm here every day, rain or shine...

~Anne


**************


Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!

AMNBU #165

Went down to the garage the other day to take Daniel to school, only to find I had a flat tire. Flat as a pancake. Dead as a doornail.

I'm talking, flat.

I used to change my own tires,

but I can't do it with my Yukon.

Simply can't.

You need your doctorate in engineering just to get the spare out from under the car. It involves secret compartments and special hidden keyholes and cables and safety assemblies.

So I called Triple A, not neccessarily to change the tire, but to retieve the spare.

And he came.

And he huffed and he cussed, and he....

couldn't get the tire out.

With a voice that could be mistaken for Ed Asner with a bad headcold, he let me know that some god*%#@ fool put the %&^# spare tire in backwards and the *#$! cable dropped but the ^*@# tire is jammed.

I thought about covering Daniel's ears.

I thought about asking the nice man if he couldn't watch his language around my son.

But then I thought, Daniel's 12. If he hasn't heard it on the playground by now, he needs to change schools.

So he told me he could pump up the flat and I could take it to my mechanic so he could put it on a %$@# lift to get the spare free.

"Whodyou use?"

"Bill", sez I.

He looked puzzled.

Then I realized why: according to his shirt, his cap, and his ^#$%@ truck, his name was Bill, too.

But then he had a lightbulb pull-chain moment and he asked,

"Dyou mean Bill goawn down into town there, or the one if you went up t'other road towards 1?"

God &$#!@%^& what is there, a union? The Auto Mechanics Named Bill Union?

"The one goawn down, I mean, on the way into town", I answered.

"Humph. Alright. You drive yer car 'n'I'll folluh."

Well alright then.


And that's what we did.

And once I pulled into Bill's parking lot, the first Bill gave a wave and peeled on outa there.

(do I smell a backstory?)

Bill and his minion
(I dared not ask his name)

put my car up on the lift and they were able to break through the now defunct safety assembly to get the spare, but it nearly cost them both their lives. But get it out they did, and change the tire they did, like the pros that they are.

And now I have no spare b/c the one that was flat is like, beyond repair.

Guess if this one goes flat I'll call Triple A again.

I'm sure they'll be happy to send a Bill out for me.




Throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs? Just one click of this button (below) and you've voted. You can vote every day!



Thank you, thank you, thank you!


Image courtesy adcouncil.org



By the by, I'm taking part in The Saturday Pet Blogger Hop today


linking up with my post on Sunny's ear surgery. Check it out!