City Life vs. Country Life - Police Work

I've been living in the country for just over 2 months now and I've been through 2 roadside checks - one for seatbelts and one for up to date car inspection stickers. My husband has also seen them policing a certain stop sign, ensuring that people make a full and complete stop there. We've seen several speed traps as well. I would venture to say that we are more than adequately policed for traffic safety. I'm also guessing that there isn't much else to police around here. Sure, there's your once in a while domestic dispute but for the most part, I think it's safe to say we're pretty safe out here. In our 2 years in the big bad city, I remember one road side check (looking for drunk drivers on a long weekend). But let's face it, the police out there are too busy with gun shots, drug busts and general ruckus to worry about making sure everyone makes a full and complete stop at a stop sign.

Smock, Smock, Smock - A Little Calvin and Hobbes just for Jill

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

All My Squares

I finished cutting out my 30's quilt top this weekend and last night laid out all the squares to get a sense of randomness of the pattern. I had no idea that this quilt was going to be this big! It's so big! It's 15 x 15 with each square being 5 inches square. I know that it will shrink a little once it's all sewn together, but I really was surprised. Here's the randomness: I couldn't fit it all in the picture from either angle:

*please excuse the lack of light in the photo - these were taken last night at about 10pm.

City Life vs. Country Life - one more about the commute

This is the last post about my commute for a while. I know, I think about it too much, but I'm driving in it 3 days a week. So I was telling you all about the bizarre big line in the morning that stretches for 2 or 3 kms before you have to merge, leaving a big empty highway lane beside it. What I have discovered is the line up police are in stronger force than originally perceived. And they are dangerous. They see someone barreling down that empty lane and they just pull out, no signal, not caring that that car may in fact hit them and almost causing an accident, which would make them later than they wanted to be in the first place. So I decided to try waiting in this bizarre line this week, just to see how much of a difference it would make on my day. It's not bad. It does make it a little slower, but it does ease my frustration at these line up police guys. I really just don't want to get into a car accident in the morning. As I've been in this line, I have noticed that I'm not the only one wishing to buck the trend and take the empty highway lane. There's quite a few of them really. And I silently cheer them on! Good for you! Go for it! One morning this week I got behind a line up police and it was so frustrating. Because here's the thing. Here you are in the line up lane and here they are, half in the line up lane and half in the free lane. And really as they edge closer and closer to the free lane (still going line up speed) it becomes confusing because there actually is enough room for you to pull ahead and knock them out completely, but you really don't know how they will handle it. I mean this isn't the LA Expressway. There isn't that level of road rage here, but these guys are unpredictable. Will they knick your car, trying to reclaim their spot? Because that's a hassle I don't want to have either. And that's frustrating. Here they are, these line up police who are driving totally righteously and totally dangerously controlling everything. I don't like it.

Amber at Crappy Pictures Blog posted how she tortures her child with sunscreen application yesterday (you can read it here), which got me thinking about all the various tortures my children are under. The ongoing daily torture (which thankfully seems to be going away) is brushing teeth. "TEETH?!" is the big disbelieving cry that I hear after asking if they've brushed theirs that morning. You'd honestly think I'd asked if they could chop off a finger or something. Teeth, however, has nothing on TRIMMING NAILS! Especially if toenails are involved. It's a regular screaming, crying fun fest around here when that happens. For some reason, fingernails seem to be somewhat manageable, but maybe they have different sensors in their feet because toes are torturous! The latest and most frustrating is changing my daughter. Not diaper changes, but clothing. She loves her pajamas and gets so screaming mad when I dress her in the morning. Once she's dressed she's fine, but getting her there has become a real fight. And isn't that the most bizarre thing of all, the hugest protest in the world one minute which changes to complete happy singing child the next?

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.