If You Confuse the Gas Pedal for the Brake.......

......you end up with this:

{And a traumatized teenager.}

It was a "Perfect Storm" that played a part in the "incident":

• The State of Utah says they can get a Learner's Permit when 15 yrs. old....so he's old enough to get a Learner's Permit, but not old enough to enroll in the actual Driver's Ed. class, yet.  (Which means he's just suppose to practice driving with his parents in the meantime.)
• He had only had three practice driving sessions under his belt so far; one in the church parking lot, two on a real road.
• His dad is not equipped with a voice that can carry with enough volume when yelling the word, "STOP!" or "TURN LEFT." OR with a quick reflex, in his state of shock, to reach over and crank the steering wheel away from the brick column.

Oh, the joys of having teenage drivers!
No wonder the cost of insuring a TEENAGE BOY is sky high!

To make it [kind of] a little bit funny.....on their drive (just a minute before the "incident"), they passed one of our son's friends who was walking home, and Matt yelled out the window (jokingly), "Sam, stay off the roads!"
Needless to say, when the brick column tumbled over, it made a very loud noise.
Sam heard it, but didn't see it, from down the street where he was still walking and he (jokingly) texted our son, "What was that noise? Did you run over another curb?" (because that's what happened on a previous practice drive).
Our son later texted him back, "Not quite."

Saved by My Own Stupidity

While the majority of the time I enjoy the great perk of working from home with my job at jetBlue, occasionally it is required to go into the office for team meetings, etc.

TODAY was one of those days. 

The same strict attendance/tardy policy applies for these meetings, too.  (And as a side note, I'm just one tardy away from being in SERIOUS trouble!)  It's a 30 minute drive to the office.  The meeting was at 12:30 p.m., so I planned to leave at 11:45 a.m. (just to be safe) but actually left at 11:55 a.m.  (Oooooo, cuttin' it close from the get-go).

THEN, I noticed (re-noticed actually because I'd seen it the night before, too) that the gas light was on.  Because I'm not the only driver of that car these days, thanks to a teenager, I had NO IDEA how much it had been driven, and how close the gas tank was to bone dry.

I knew if I ran out of gas on the freeway, it would be NOT be good for my "on-time performance" so I decided to take the first exit and find a gas station fast.  EXCEPT when I exited, there was no gas station to be found.  I first went down one main road, then turned around and went down another main road, and there wasn't a single gas pump in sight!  It wasn't a place I was familiar with, so I didn't know there wouldn't be one.  The only thing I knew about this neighborhood was that it was rumored to be kinda shoddy....so, I FOR SURE didn't want to run out of gas there!

So, I got back on the freeway (5 minutes lost).  This time, I figured I'd call Matt to tell me where the gas stations were in the Salt Lake area, so I wouldn't waste anymore time.  Well, by the time he looked anything up on the internet, I had already passed a few more major exits, and I was nervous about missing gas stations, so I got off on the next one.  And I found myself right in the middle of a
tear-up-the-road construction zone where ALL 256 cars were being diverted to one lane of traffic in each direction. 

THE CLOCK IS TICKING!

I finally make it up the street (it wasn't right by the exit) to a gas station.  I pull up to the pump - WHEW!  I'm not going to run out of gas! - open my purse, and NO WALLET.  I have a flashback of me taking my wallet up to my bedroom last night.  It must still be there!  I can't buy gas without money!  But, I have a check book - I know, one of the last people on earth.  I run inside and ask the guy if they accept checks for gas.  NOPE!

I get back in the car and drive down to another main road.  AND the railroad crossing barricades start coming down in front of me.  No, No, No!  My first instinct was literally to speed up and beat them!  You see these train/car accidents on the news sometimes, and we're all like, What idiots!  What were they doing on the train tracks?  Well, now I know!  ;)  But, I DID stop and waited.  Aware that more time was working itself off the clock.  I found another gas station and went inside and asked about if they were "check friendly."  NO GO!

You've GOT to be kiddin' me!  The clock now read 12:27 p.m.  I was about in tears!  Three minutes until my meeting started.  I was about 20 minutes away IF I drove straight there and didn't run out of gas.  BUT, we had been warned that if we were more than 15 min. late to the meeting, that we would not be admitted, and it couldn't be made up.  Maybe if I sped....?  I started to drive there, but I had a bad feeling I would run out of gas, though. 

Well, whatever I did, I figured I better call into the office and try to get a message to my supervisor BEFORE I was officially tardy (the one that might give me the AX!)  I spoke to the Supervisor on Duty and explained to her that I'd had a Series of Unfortunate Events and now I was going to be late for my team meeting. 
She asked who my supervisor was.  I told her.  She told me that the meeting was at 1:30 p.m.!!!!!  No, I told her it was at 12:30 p.m.
She said she hoped not because she was suppose to attend, and that would mean she was late, as well!  I said I hoped not because that would give me some time to get everything straightened out!
She looked at the master meeting schedule while she had me on the phone and verified that, in fact, my team meeting did not start until 1:30 p.m.  

OH!  I was SOOO relieved!!
It almost seemed like a dream - that I would wake up from, and still be late, in reality.

But, I swear, I had been told it started at 12:30, so I called home and had the girls look at our calendar for the time I had written down.....sure enough it said 1:30 p.m.  I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I GOT 12:30 IN MY MIND!

BUT, I was glad.  It turned out to be a blessing!

I then called Matt at work, asked him to leave and meet me at a 3rd gas station WITH A CREDIT CARD so we could fill the tank up with gas.  And he did (after he rescheduled a conference call that was about to begin).  I told him he was My prince to the rescue!  ;)

And then after that, my cell phone went dead.  Whew!  Another blessing - just in the nick of time.

Between the time I had to wait for Matt to drive over to meet me, and the time it took me to drive the rest of the way to the office, find a parking spot in a fuller-than-normal parking terrace, and walk in and sit down, I only had 5 minutes to spare.

BUT, I made it.  IN TIME.  Only because I [unknowingly] left my home an hour and 35 minutes before the meeting started), but I made it!  And that's what counts!  For ONCE, my mistake actually SAVED me!  Haha.  :)

This Weekend:

* While the boys were at Youth Conference...

*The rest of us headed down to Zion National Park for

a Brenchley family reunion in a 7,000 sq. ft. "cabin."

*We hiked the Riverside walk (the trail that leads to The Narrows)

 and had a sack lunch at the end, while some of us played in the water,
then we went back down to catch the shuttles to our cars in the parking lot.

*Some of the ladies stayed up way late talking.

*On Saturday, after our boys arrived (they drove down separately after YC),
we went to another part of Zion's where there are some hieroglyphics

 & more hiking...

*That night we all went to the Ponderosa Ranch for a buffet dinner put out just for our group.

*We moved from the restaurant to the playground. 

{How many grandkids can get on ONE jungle gym?}

Some of the older kids started having a swing contest - to see who could jump out the farthest.

{Kyle won}

*We played the "Loaded Questions" board game - there
were so many people, we only did one round and it still lasted hours.
There's always some real funny answers!  :)

*Some of the ladies (& Ryan 'til he fell asleep on a bench) stayed up really late talking again!
(Even usually-in-bed-by-9:00-p.m.-Julie!!!  Woo Hoo!)

*On Sunday, we drove to a small town, Orderville, about 30 min. away to attend church.
  Interestingly enough, their program was made up of a dozen or so
youth who were reporting on their youth conference they had gone to recently.
There's was called, "Journey to know Him" and it sounded like it was
similar to ours in that there was reenactments and a Christ experience, but
there's covered scriptures in the Old Testament, New Testament, & The Book of Mormon.
(All scriptures about Christ).  My boys were saying they wanted to do
that Youth Conference, too!!
(Except Ryan has run out of "youth" years.)

*Nicole brought us all a "4th of July" craft for the ladies to do.  (Thank You!)
We painted, papered, & mod podged together in the afternoon.

{Here is the finished product on my shelf at home now.}

*Later the USA soccer team was playing their game in the World Cup.
In honor of this, and the fact that the Brenchley's are such a "soccer family",
the reunion "T-shirt" this year was actually a Team USA soccer uniform!

{The Matt & Suzanne Team}

Then we all (well, not all) thought it would be a 'Ton of Fun' to build a grandkids pyramid....


Step 1: Organize the rows by child's size

Step 2: Build it one row at a time.  Base row hold very steady!!!

Step 3: Ta-Da!!!  Hold & Smile until we can get a picture!  (While still pleading the "unsure" stragglers to join the human grandkid [+ a few parents] pyramid.)

Step 4: AND THEY ALL FALL DOWN!
(You knew it was going to happen!)

*I made dinner and I'm proud to say that ALL the food & supplies for dinner made it safely to our cabin at Zion's.  And the 42 peeps were happy they got to eat!  ;)

*Each family took some time to give "updates" on each person,
then we opened it up to questions from the "audience."

*The couples played "The Newlywed Game".
There was some heated "discussion" amongst the players about what was a "correct" answer or not.
If the answers of husband & wife were NOT an exact match in wording,
but kind of meant something that resembled the answer, according to that couple's inside knowledge - was it correct?

*Some of us stayed up semi-late talking.

*On Monday, it was time to pack up and go home,
and say good-bye to the cabin.

EXCEPT WE DISCOVERED WE HAD A FLAT TIRE!
(There was a nail in it.)
We got air put in it at the nearby Ponderosa Ranch - just enough to get us to Orderville again.
WELL......funny (or unfortunate?) thing, when we'd been at church the day before,
we'd heard them announce a funeral of one of the members - and that's where the owner of the service station WAS, and the teenager left to man the place didn't know how to fix our tire.
So, we went down the road to another station.  Well, that guy was way backed up
with so many jobs (because of the overflow coming from the other low-staffed station?) that he said he didn't have time for us.  And that we'd have to move on to the next town!
So, we drove another 50 miles on borrowed air & prayers to Panguitch.
There was a REAL tire shop there, and no line!
A guy came out to help us, got down on the ground by our tire with a couple of tools,
and in no time at all he was all done and said, That'll be $20.
What?!?
We were all thinking we'd have to get a whole new tire and that it would run us
HUNDREDS of dollars!  Instead....Bang, botta, boom - same tire and it's all good!
What a BLESSING!!
Then we felt like we had $$ to eat lunch at Henrie's Drive In which was great
since we were quite hungry (& stressed) by then.

* We got home with just enough time to unload and head over to Katelyn's
primary class SHAVE ICE party that her teachers were having for Family Night treat.
She even put vanilla ice cream in the bottom of the shave ice cups!
{YUM!}
It's good to be home again.

Told You So

I have this little sign in my home:

It speaks the plain truth!

(Although no one wants to admit it!)

Case(s) in point:

• My two youngest daughters think it IS ABSURD that I tell them to put their shoes away, WHEN they take them off, in their closet, that it will make their life (& mine) so much easier.  (At least, I'm assuming they think it's absurd since they totally ignore my counsel on this matter.)     AND THEN, they frequently get to experience the mad dash, frantic searching, & whining/tears which comes from not being able to find their shoes - and often still produces no shoes - and results in being late to school, church, & dance lessons.
• Since Friday is "early out" from school and really the only day that works out to play with friends after school, I tell my oldest daughter that she should do all of her reading before school, so she is free to play after.  Well, apparently it's another absurd idea because it's much more fun to just hang around doing nothing before school!       AND THEN, she has this one friend who seriously calls to play THE MINUTE she walks in the door from school.  And guess what?!?  She can't play since her reading is not done.  This is followed by MUCH weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth!
• My friend's daughter's basketball team had a couple players get injured and they were now short on players and asked about my daughter playing with them.  When I mentioned it to her, she protested, I don't want to play!  I told her it would be fun and she would be good - she's quite tall, after all.  Her sports lovin' older brother actually told her she didn't have a choice, that she WOULD play ball!  ;)  She went out in the garage to practice dribbling, and she tripped over some boards and fell down, so she shouted/cried at me, You should've never gotten me into this!  I told her not to trip on boards - there wouldn't be any on a real basketball court - and that she needs to try it and she would have a good time.     AND THEN, she did go play in the basketball game.  She was all smiles whenever she looked at us in the "stands" and beaming afterwards.  Her first words to me at the end of the game?  "I want to sign up to play basketball next year!!"
•  I tell my family to keep their elbows off the table.  They think I'm being too proper, that I'm obsessed with "old school" manners in our own home.     AND THEN, we average 9.2 spills a week.
• I function by the "A place for everything and everything in it's place" idea and like to tell my family members this quote. NO ONE else in my home buys into this.  Why would they?  It's SO MUCH easier to just drop things along the way without paying any attention.    AND THEN, *someone's* wallet is ALWAYS missing (along with all their money!) when they need to go somewhere with it.
• I've suggested an "after school routine" for my very distractable, can't-remember-what-she's-doing-when-she-walks-from-one-room-to-the-next daughter.  It goes like this:

4:00 Arrive Home

4-4:15 After school snack

4:15-4:30  ONE page of assigned homework

4:30-4:50 Practice piano

4:50-5:10 Read

So, by 5:15, she is DONE with EVERYTHING, and FREE to do whatever she wants until bedtime!!! 

She has chosen NOT to adhere to this whatsoever UP UNTIL last week (when we had to have a "duct tape intervention."  Meaning we took all 23 rolls away from her until she could go a week demonstrating responsibility & initiative.)  So, she follows the schedule, and she discovers what "free time" with no checking up from parents feels like - what a novel idea!!!  And she says to me, "This is so great!  Why haven't I been doing this all along?!?"

• But, probably THE BIGGEST "I told you so" incidences that's been on my mind [almost constantly] this week has something to do with the fact that after being a 3 car family for just a mere 5 1/2 weeks, we are back to being a 2 car family.  This is a result of our 3rd car now being deemed "undriveable" due to its extensive damage it has sustained by it's *driver* who was driving it in a way that was contrary to the ways I had always told them to drive!  Let alone, what really COULD HAVE happened to the *driver* if they weren't so lucky blessed to come out unharmed - at least physically!!!  But, what do I know?  I grew up in the 80's!  (*that person's* favorite line to say to me.)  As if "defensive driving" was ONLY applicable when I was in my youth!?!  

 Grrrrrr!
What do they say?  You learn 20% of what your hear, but 80% of what you experience.  You have to experience it to learn it.

And then it still comes back to this:

This Weekend:

It has been a tradition of Matt & mine, over the last several years, to go on a "recovery" overnighter at a hotel sometime between Christmas and New Year's.  We usually have our niece stay with our kiddos, but this year she is on an LDS mission in the Canary Islands.  And my other niece (the sister to the above mentioned niece) is getting married on New Year's Eve this year, and she planned her pre-wedding temple day on the Friday evening that we would've gone on the overnighter.....so, it didn't work out this year.  We decided to substitute an "all day date" instead.  Matt took the day off work on Friday.

* Breakfast at Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon

(No outdoor seating this morning in the frigid temps where the sun was blocked by the mountain the patio backs up to!)

* Then we looked at some cars at about 4 different dealerships in Salt Lake & Davis County.

Can I just say that some car salesmen are in the wrong job!  They're really bad!  NO people skills!

(One really good car had been sold just 20 minutes before we arrived and the buyer was still there 

doing paperwork and the car was, too, getting detailed!  Miss!)

* We went to this movie matinee:

(It was interesting.  Walter is quite a delightful geek. ;)  We liked it.  Very clean (PG).
We got good seats this time, unlike my last experience at a movie. 

Spoiler Alert:  Matt's favorite part was when I screamed out loud and grabbed his arm,
practically jumping into his lap, when a shark came out of the ocean!)

* We had "linner" at Costa Vida afterwards.

We got the usual:  sweet pork for Matt, grilled steak for me.  (Salad, that is.)

* We went home and changed into our dress clothes, then went up to the Bountiful Temple

to attend a session with our niece, Maddie, and her fiance, Josh - and a lot of my 

extended family.

{Interesting note about Maddie's maiden name/married name:  Currently, her last name is Fowers (same as my maiden name)
and her fiance's last name is Baum (pronounced, "bomb").  So, when she gets married, she will be known as "Maddie F. Baum."}  haha!  ;)

* We went to my brother's house for dessert following the temple session.

There were a few choices, but I had peppermint ice cream pie with Oreo crust - YUM!

* Everyone (except exhausted me) did their Saturday jobs in the morning...which drug into

the afternoon for "some" (who shall remain nameless).

* Matt took the girls sledding

* The boys went to the movie, "The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug"

* Which meant I had the [quiet] house all to myself!!!!  And I read some more

from my book, A girl name Zippy: growing up small in Mooreland, Indiana

And then I fell asleep while reading, for about 1 1/2 hrs., until the troops [noisily] came home.

* We got together with some of the Brenchley adults for

Dickey's BBQ for dinner, card games, and visiting.

* Church on Sunday

I taught the Young Women two lessons:

This one and This one. 

As far as establishing a Christ-centered home, I found this helpful chart on Pinterest recently: 

{It's hanging on my fridge now, ready to go for 2014}

* Sunday afternoon was spent with a visit from my Visiting Teacher,

more reading, and a nap!

* We had a non-traditional Sunday dinner for Sunday dinner

(Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken), but it was

easy and allowed me to have a leisurely afternoon while

I am still recovering from the post-Christmas-run-over-by-a-truck feeling.   

* We never got to watch "A Christmas Story" during the month,

so we actually finished off the night watching it, even though it's after Christmas - that's OK, isn't it?

With the magic of Wikepedia and imdb, we discovered those "kids" (Ralphie & Scut Farkus) 

in the movie are like MY AGE! ~ weird.  

(the actors who play them, that is.)

A Silver Lining

My Mission President first taught me about "Silver Linings." As in, "Every cloud has a silver lining."
He taught that in the midst of difficulty - and there was PLENTY on the mission (our message was rejected, cancelled baptism dates, unable to receive permission from parents/husbands/friends who were opposed to and would not grant permission to their loved ones being Baptized, investigators dropping us, foreign languages to learn, WEIRD food, "No Shows" for appointments & church, The cold/wet/humid/scorching weather...on a bike, companion relationships, etc. - sometimes ALL in the SAME day! Aauuugh!)

But, then, he said, there was ALWAYS something GOOD that could come out of it.  Blessings were all around - even if we did not discover them until a WHILE after the desperate/unhappy/gloomy situations.


Soooo, in the middle of our Post- Ruptured Patellar Tendon life - and I say, "OUR" because it has totally affected our whole family...."Single parent" with one more "child" to care for, but only the same amount of [limited] time - and only ONE driver....

I found a SILVER LINING!

{compliments of our Orthopedic Dr.....I made the request, and a trip to the DMV, and voila!}

And what's better than having a handicapped parking pass?

Having TWO passes!  (One for each car.)

Being a whole foot shorter than Matt, with much shorter legs, I've always had to move along, it seems, with a slow gallop to keep up with him.  NOW.....I'm walking very S.L.O.W.L.Y. and I'm still in front of him.  So, the shorter distance he has to "walk" (what do you call it when one move on crutches?) the better!

BUT!  I will not abuse it.  I have been in the car all by myself, and I pass the front, handicap parking stalls and find one further away, even though.....legally, technically, I could get away with it.

I've noticed others do park in those "reserved" spots EVEN WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE A HANDICAP PASS.  And THEN WE have no where semi-close to park.  I'm totally bugged by that.  Don't do it!  There ARE people who really need it!!!

And it's good for 3 MONTHS!  SCORE.  (Hope & Comfort among the challenges.)  It makes my "Gratitude List."

--------------
On the same subject of "Silver Linings" - did you think I was going to write about the movie?  I'm upset that Silver Linings Playbook is rated R.  It sounds like a great idea for a movie.....that I won't be seeing.  Hey!  You movie making people!  Why do you have to ruin all these movies with crap that brings them down to a disgusting & inappropriate rated R level?  Don't do it!

(I guess it's "Opposite NIKE Day")

Irony

I got rear ended today while driving in Salt Lake City.

While waiting for the cops to show up, we pulled over to the side of the road.  I turned my car around and parked behind him......

......and I noticed his van had one of THESE bumper stickers on the back:

 {But it had his REAL 1-800 number to call on the 2nd line}

 But, maybe he should consider changing it out for one of these instead:

hahaha :)

Another reason why I should just stay home!

I've Been Fired

I have a 15 year old.

He will be a 16 year old in a little less than four months. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN, I WANT TO KNOW!!?!
He is enrolled in Driver's Ed at school right now.
(He has flunked one Simulation Test, so far.)

He says it's because we never take him out driving. (always the parents' fault, ya know.)

It's true, he isn't choppin' away at his 40-hours-of-driving-with-10 hours-of-it-being-at night-requirement in order to get himself a Driver's License. There's this funny little rule about ONLY driving with adults....and when am I EVER in the car WITHOUT other little ones in tow?

I think he's completed about 35 minutes, to date.

Well, recently, we were at our church, and no kids were in the car, just Matt & I, and he asked if he could drive. (Sure?)

FIRST, Matt moved the car out of it's current parking spot that was flanked with two other cars and pulled into a parking spot with vacancies on each side of it -- THEN turned the wheel over to Ryan.

So, Ryan puts the car in reverse and starts backing out of the parking space -- WHILE LOOKING OUT THE FRONT WINDSHIELD!!

"LOOK, LOOK, LOOK!" I shrieked.

He slams on the brakes, and I explain to him (unemotionally and quietly, of course! HA!) that he needs to turn his head and WATCH where he's going!

So, he proceeds again to back out of the parking space, while looking out the back window at where he's going -- BUT GUNS IT while doing so!

"BRAKE, BRAKE, BRAKE!" I shrilled.

He slams on the brakes again.

"Mom is going to make me FREAK OUT!" he bemoaned.

Mr. Calm (Matt) suggests to him, to just let off the brake, instead of using the gas, and the car will move naturally.

So, he did that, and it did!

He turned into our driveway. Oh no! I hadn't considered that scenario when we told him he could drive! I had images of him smashing in the garage door, or taking out the door frame on the way in. Our driveway goes down slightly before the garage, but he didn't adjust his pressure on the gas pedal for this -- we were APPROACHING THE GARAGE DOOR TOO RAPIDLY for my liking!

"STOP, STOP, STOP!" I screeched.

"Mom can't do this." Matt declared with finality.

And that's the story of how I got fired.
{Honestly, I'm quite OK with this!}

So, this will be interesting. Mr. Procrastination and Procrastination Jr. are now in it together and fully in charge of getting in 39 hours and 25 minutes more of driving in the next 15 weeks.

Bona Fide P. M.

The Proof is in the Painting!

I'm one of THOSE Psycho Moms.

An authentic, positive,
certified, definite psycho MOM!

FYI: It is SOOO EASY to apply....to de-apply? Well...that's a totally different story! :0

BTW: This may be the first photo I've released of our minivan that replaced my beloved Suburban. sniff, sniff! :(