Random Tuesday Thoughts. I like you, I really do, but why are you making so much work for me?

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time to get your random on!

There’s nothing I love more than stumbling upon a new blog, either on my own or with a friend of a friend of a friend’s recommendation.  I love sitting and reading through months worth of old posts.  Getting to know the back stories and little details that make a blog great.  And of course, once I decide that YES indeed, I do want to read more in the future, I am damn sure going to subscribe to the RSS feed.  But wait, where is it? Please, for the love of all that is bloggy, stop hiding the subscribe button! There is no way I can be counted on to remember to come back and read without adding you to my reader, I’m just not that with it.  So, that’s all on that.

I keep a notepad in my purse to jot down ideas I think would make great blog posts, for an impromptu grocery trip, things I need to do when I get home.  You get the idea.  This usually works really well, I have it within reach at all times, and rarely do thoughts fall out of my brain to simply be lost.  The problem with this method is that it requires having a pen handy.  Something I actually don’t tend to have.  Somehow I’ve got to make the pen stay near the notepad, but so far, I have failed at that.

I absolutely CANNOT stand the phrase “it is what it is.”  I mean, OBVIOUSLY that’s the case.  The phrase is so over used by just about everyone I know, and I just want to smack the words out of them.  I don’t, because I’m nonviolent and all.  But seriously people, it’s annoying.  Do me a favor, come up with something else, something that in six months is going to be just as overused. 

I tend to listen to the radio when I’m driving to and fro.  I have a horrible habit of listening to 3/4 of a song thinking, “I can’t stand this song.”  Yes, it takes me that long to actually change the station. And it’s not even that hard, the controls are on my steering wheel.  I guess it just takes that long for my brain to process the fact that I actually have the option of changing the station.  I’m awesome like that.

Now head on over to The Un Mom for more random!  GO!

Boxes, and Packing Tape, and Moving Trucks. OH MY!

I’m not sure if you know this, but I’m moving.  I know, shocking, right?  I don’t mention it often, since it’s rarely in the forefront of my mind.  As if that could ever happen!  I think about it constantly!  There are empty boxes everywhere, just waiting to be taped and packed and taped again.  There are half full boxes waiting for more things to be thrown in there.  There are full boxes waiting to be taken to the donation drop off which is only open on weekends.  Who thought that one up, by the way? I am BUSY PACKING on the weekends, I don’t have time to drop shit off until the following day.  Maybe I’m the only one with this problem though, who knows.

I’ve been scouring the internets for hints and tips and plans and everything moving related.  The husband likes to say that a little information is dangerous, and a lot of information in my hands is even worse.  He’s a real joker that one.  But I need that, I need to know.  If I don’t have a plan, I feel lost and confused.  And I think we all know I’ve got enough of those feelings to last long enough without adding to the mix.

My poor child is actually looking forward to moving to Texas, I’m not sure what’s going on in his crazy mind.  He is only two, that might have something to do with it.  All he knows is that he gets to fly on an airplane and he’ll be seeing Nana and Papa a LOT more often.  What’s not to like?  Every day he asks me if it’s time to go to Texas.  He is ready to pack up his toys and get on with the move.  I wish I could be a little more like him, but I’m not, I’m me.  And this me is slightly terrified.

We have to figure out how to get all of our stuff down there along with our super earth friendly Ford Explorer.  We had been planning to rent a GIANT truck (duh!) and a trailer and hook one up to the other and off the husband goes for his three day drive.  He won’t be alone, he’ll be getting in some father-son bonding time with my father-in-law, and they will share the driving duties.  Unfortunately after some online research it appears that our gas guzzler might be too heavy to tow behind a moving truck.  So now we’re trying to figure that one out. Oh, and the Explorer?  The AC isn’t working.  Awesome, right?

Anywhat, we are trying to figure all these little details out that add up to one GIANT move.  I know people have moved across the country before, even to different continents.  I’m not the first, I’m not original. But it’s the first time for me.  Maybe some of those brave souls who have had to trek thousands of miles with a few decades worth of crap cherished possessions can offer some times, maybe a little advice to keep me from going off into crazy land.  Please, tell this novice what to DO!!

Road Rage Is Alive and Well My Friends

I love driving in my car, the wind in my hair and singing at the top of my lungs to the greatest songs of the 80s.  Or I used to love these things.  That was before I started commuting to work.  When I first started this job the highway I had to take was under construction.  For almost two years.  The backup was horrific and what should have been a thirty minute drive could easily take 90 minutes.  Over the course of those two years, I learned a lot about myself as a driver (I’m exceptional!) and quite a bit more about my fellow commuters.  I’d like to share some of those lessons with you.  I’m sure you have you’re own, feel free to add them.

If you drive in Washington, there is a rule that MUST be obeyed!  Any deviation from this rule will result in very hostile drivers around you.  Simply put, if you want the person in front of you to speed up, try passing them on the right.  I know, I know.  It’s crazy logic, I mean normally the LEFT lane is for passing.  We have our own rule here though, so if you try to pass someone on the right, 95% of the time they will speed up for a few miles.  For some, the left lane is just a nicer place to drive, at whatever speed feels right.  Doesn’t much matter if that speed is 20mph under the speed limit.  This is also true of drivers from BC.  Don’t get me wrong, I love our neighbors to the north, but they are almost worse drivers than those from Washington.

Now should the worst happen, and your car catches fire it won’t do you any good to have a state patrol car drive by.  I kid you not, last week a car about 1/4 of a mile in front of me pulled off the road with flames coming out the front.  I thought surely the WSP car behind me would pull over to offer some assistance.  Nope, he blew right by the flame engulfed car, along with the rest of us.

I live and drive in the Pacific Northwest.  That means it rains here, frequently.  I would like to assume that most people are aware of how the rain affects the road conditions and are wise enough to alter their driving accordingly.  However there seems to be a rain freak out phenomenon that occurs for 9 months of the year, where drivers forget these lessons.

 I know there are more fine examples of little truths and lessons I have learned along the way, but I have lost my train of thought and so this is all I have to offer you.  Hopefully some of my kind readers will have some to share.