Okay, so a good friend Kim recently posted a "you know when your 3 1/2 year old is sick when... and she gave her version. Here's mine.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
You Know Your Baby is Sick When...
Okay, so a good friend Kim recently posted a "you know when your 3 1/2 year old is sick when... and she gave her version. Here's mine.
Camdynism
I made hot cocoa for the kids today when they came in from the snow. Cam was particularly excited and exclaimed,
"Mom! When I drink this hot cocoa really fast it feels like my throat is going to droop!!"
"Mom! When I drink this hot cocoa really fast it feels like my throat is going to droop!!"
After a nice run down the hill at the church. I tried so hard to get him to wear a jacket. 
Funky kids. They love having fun!!
Okay, so these pics are from "retro/tacky day" at school. I really don't know what Reilly was aiming at, but I think he hit it head on. And that's a pink, polka dot towel over his shoulder.
I thought she was good with just going 80's, but then she threw in a little "tacky" with it. She loved her hair. She asked me to do it again the next day.
Being our little "fashionista", McKinley really didn't want to wear this outfit. I'm sure you can tell that I MADE her pose and smile for the picture. However, I think she's the cutest 80's girl that school has ever seen! Reminds me of Napoleon (whatever the girls name was), only way cuter! And when she got home, she didn't want to take off her new outfit!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Christmastime
Shea's homework. Remember contractions? I guess she thought they forgot one. The "southernizing" of our sweet Shea...
Grandpa with the Christmas kitties "Buddy" and "Jovie". My dad is a cat magnet. 
One of the kids wanted to take some pics of mom and dad, so there's about 10 shots like this one. 
Oh, so cute. Looks a little uncomfortable to me. You know, I pushed for kittens, and to be honest, these little cuties have proven to be a pain in the neck. They wont stay off my kitchen counters or the dining room table. And they have plenty of their own food and water!! Tomorrow they're getting the squirt bottle approach.
Buddy certainly had a particular affinity toward my dad. But he is a licker. He licks my toes while I do dishes. He's always licking. In fact, both of them are. They lick feet, faces, arms, cupboards, tables, etc. A little strange if you ask me.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Finally, a Picture Update!
Well, I can never seem to get these in the proper order, so we're going from most recent backwards...first are some pictures from our little post Christmas getaway with some of our favorite people, the Bells. Jackson is the tallest, Lizzie is next to him, and Anna Kate in front of Lizzie. We love them! This was the indoor swimming pool. It was 20 degrees outside. Lots of snow on the ground. The kids thought it was great to get a swim in!
This is Mr. Mike Bell holding baby Dax. We stayed in a beautiful condo in Blowing Rock. It was amazing! Thank you Bell family! We loved our time with you!
The boys had their own room and enjoyed being together. True buds.
Lizzie and Kinley. Dax is obviously not wanting his picture taken.
Into town we hauled them all for some really expensive ice cream. It was frigid (outside) but we all had a great time.
This was our family on Christmas Eve at our sweet little theater in town. It only costs $2.00 per person. Our whole family can go for a mere $12.00 since Macy and Dax are free!! We love it, and frequent this place. Isn't it cute??
Christmas dinner all by little lonesome selves...as if that isn't enough for a par-tay!! We had a great time and I made lots of food-even cooked a ham. Mom, aren't you proud?
My first attempt at bagels for our Christmas Eve morning. The kids actually loved them! It really wasn't too difficult, and I only plan on making them once a year.
So this was a few days before Christmas. I let the kids make "gingerbread houses". Stale graham crackers, lots of cheap icing, and leftover halloween candy!! They loved it. I even made my own house. I think it's the one in front of Macy. The roof was all M&M's. I ate it.
McKinley and her good buddy Rachel. She is the youngest of 6 kids. There are lots of big families around here! These girls are so much fun together. Rachel is a sweet little ball of energy and she and McKinley get along fabulously. Many more pictures to come in the near future. I have lots of catching up to do!Friday, January 22, 2010
Mrs. Bell
I've been cracking up at Macy-Boo recently. She is quite the story-teller and is full of it. We were leaving church on Sunday and as we were getting into the car I was saying good-bye to a good friend Dave Duncan. Macy loves the Duncans. She shouted out, "Good-bye Mrs. Bell!!" (Hmmm...) Then we drove over and parked the car for a few seconds and were saying good-bye to another family and Macy looked at the driver (John McGrath) and said, "Good-bye Mrs. Bell!" (?????) So I think either Mrs. Bell has made a very strong impression on Macy, or she is really confused. She didn't bat an eye, nor was she being a ham. She was genuinely and heartily shouting her good-bye greetings...to all the "Mrs. Bell"s out there.
Driving...or trying to!
Okay, I forgot one more thing. Though I don't really miss the freeways in Los Angeles, I do miss the simplicity of them. To get to our old house from, say, Topanga, you would drive north on the 405, you would then hop on the 5 going north, then you simply took the Hasley Canyon Road exit. Turn right on the Old Road, left on Hillcrest, and right on Beryl. Simple.
I entered "Charlotte-Douglas Airport" into my iPhone map search and thought I had a short in the phone. From my housing development, here's what the map search came up with.
1. Head NW on 24th Ave. Ln. NE toward 14th St. Ln. NE
2. Drive 151 ft then take first left onto 33rd St. Ln. NE
3. Drive .3 miles then take the 2nd right onto 24th St. Ave. NE (yes, thats a different 24th than the first direction)
4. Drive 194 feet then take the 1st left onto 18th St NE/State Rd 1401
5. Drive .9 miles then continue onto 10th St. Dr. NE (wait, continue? Yes, it changes from 18th St to 10th St. Dr.)
6. Drive 1.8 miles then turn left at 10th St. NE (WHAT? Turn from 10th onto 10th?? Ludicrous.)
7. Drive 46 feet then turn right to stay on 10th St. NE. (Turn right again to stay on 10th St. NE????? City planners must be playing a mean joke on the citizens of Hickory or they were drunk while planning, or they are a very conflicted bunch.)
8. Drive 512 feet then continue onto Lenoir Rhyne Blve SE/State road 1534. (CONTINUE ON? So you have to follow all of these turns to do your best to stay on 10th St. Dr. NE, and then they just pull the rug out from under you and change it to Lenoir Rhyne Blvd.??? All for naught. Unbelievable. I give up.)
9. Drive 1.7 miles then merge onto I-40 via the ramp to Asheville. Ah. The first simple driving instruction. However, it's about to get insanely crazy.
10. Drive 1.8 miles then take exit 123-123A-123B for US-321 toward N Carolina (you mean the state that I'm in??)127/Hickory/Lenoir/Lincolnton/US-70 Say it isn't so. If I hadn't seen it on my very own iPhone, I'd be tempted to disbelieve. I really thought there must be some mistake when I saw the directions on my phone, but was convinced that my phone was only trying to confuse me. What topped the shock charts was that the iPhone had the exact wording of the freeway sign. Verbatim. I know, because I nearly caused an accident while comparing the two- which took around 10 minutes with my mom's help ("driving time"- kinda like cat years). No way. Invitation to car crashes. I just checked the internet for accidents around this interchange, but obviously the city planners have been removing them from public access. :)
So, I wonder to myself, why on earth is driving somewhere made to be so complicated? Most people search their directions on mapquest before they leave their house, right? So once you're on the road, wouldn't it be easier if the sign just said, "321-South"? Maybe I'm just too simple. Maybe I'm missing something. Actually, if we stay in Hickory, and my kids learn to drive here, maybe this will help them to gain some trouble-shooting and problem-solving skills, and serve to improve their SAT scores. They'll learn how to read faster, that's for sure. Hey, combined with the DMV drivers test, they'll be ready for grad school before you know it. Maybe I owe a big thanks to the state of North Carolina for the bettering of the education of my children through hands-on practical life quizzes. That is, if their mother doesn't crash and severely injure them before they turn 16!
Or maybe the bottom line is this: I miss L.A. Freeways!!
By the way, my NC driver's license arrived in the mail yesterday! I'm official!
I entered "Charlotte-Douglas Airport" into my iPhone map search and thought I had a short in the phone. From my housing development, here's what the map search came up with.
1. Head NW on 24th Ave. Ln. NE toward 14th St. Ln. NE
2. Drive 151 ft then take first left onto 33rd St. Ln. NE
3. Drive .3 miles then take the 2nd right onto 24th St. Ave. NE (yes, thats a different 24th than the first direction)
4. Drive 194 feet then take the 1st left onto 18th St NE/State Rd 1401
5. Drive .9 miles then continue onto 10th St. Dr. NE (wait, continue? Yes, it changes from 18th St to 10th St. Dr.)
6. Drive 1.8 miles then turn left at 10th St. NE (WHAT? Turn from 10th onto 10th?? Ludicrous.)
7. Drive 46 feet then turn right to stay on 10th St. NE. (Turn right again to stay on 10th St. NE????? City planners must be playing a mean joke on the citizens of Hickory or they were drunk while planning, or they are a very conflicted bunch.)
8. Drive 512 feet then continue onto Lenoir Rhyne Blve SE/State road 1534. (CONTINUE ON? So you have to follow all of these turns to do your best to stay on 10th St. Dr. NE, and then they just pull the rug out from under you and change it to Lenoir Rhyne Blvd.??? All for naught. Unbelievable. I give up.)
9. Drive 1.7 miles then merge onto I-40 via the ramp to Asheville. Ah. The first simple driving instruction. However, it's about to get insanely crazy.
10. Drive 1.8 miles then take exit 123-123A-123B for US-321 toward N Carolina (you mean the state that I'm in??)127/Hickory/Lenoir/Lincolnton/US-70 Say it isn't so. If I hadn't seen it on my very own iPhone, I'd be tempted to disbelieve. I really thought there must be some mistake when I saw the directions on my phone, but was convinced that my phone was only trying to confuse me. What topped the shock charts was that the iPhone had the exact wording of the freeway sign. Verbatim. I know, because I nearly caused an accident while comparing the two- which took around 10 minutes with my mom's help ("driving time"- kinda like cat years). No way. Invitation to car crashes. I just checked the internet for accidents around this interchange, but obviously the city planners have been removing them from public access. :)
So, I wonder to myself, why on earth is driving somewhere made to be so complicated? Most people search their directions on mapquest before they leave their house, right? So once you're on the road, wouldn't it be easier if the sign just said, "321-South"? Maybe I'm just too simple. Maybe I'm missing something. Actually, if we stay in Hickory, and my kids learn to drive here, maybe this will help them to gain some trouble-shooting and problem-solving skills, and serve to improve their SAT scores. They'll learn how to read faster, that's for sure. Hey, combined with the DMV drivers test, they'll be ready for grad school before you know it. Maybe I owe a big thanks to the state of North Carolina for the bettering of the education of my children through hands-on practical life quizzes. That is, if their mother doesn't crash and severely injure them before they turn 16!
Or maybe the bottom line is this: I miss L.A. Freeways!!
By the way, my NC driver's license arrived in the mail yesterday! I'm official!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
North Carolina vs. California
Okay, so I've been noting some "differences" between North Carolina and California and have found some things quite interesting. I won't bore you with the way they talk here or things of that nature. However some of the things that have made my list are pretty benign. They're just different, and I think it's interesting, so I'm blogging the differences.
1. There is NO dust here. None. I haven't dusted in forever, and I never see dust on anything. I must have dusted once a week in California, and it was still so dusty. All the time.
2. Here in NC, the grocery store has sticks of butter vs. cubes. I had maybe seen sticks (much longer and skinnier than cubes) in California, but not often. And I haven't seen cubes yet here. Life-changing, I know.
3. They don't sell refried beans at Sam's Club here. I guess we're just a bit too far from Mexico. I had a very hard time finding them at the grocery store too, but finally found them in the "foreign foods" section. Needless to say, there is no "Tresierras" Mercado here.
4. Street lights all "hang" on electric lines here. There are no posts, just yellow hanging street lights.
5. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH, there is no traffic. I didn't realize how much this would mean for me. It takes 7 minutes for Kurt to get home from work! Never more than 7 minutes. Some days in California, it would take him an hour or more. I don't miss that!
6. Granulated sugar is less granulated here. Seems the crystals are bigger. Strange observation, I know. Maybe I'm baking too many cookies. (see #2)
7. "You might could try this..." ??? We hear this phrase all the time. A mind bender. I actually said it once.
8. Restaurants have smoking sections. When you walk in, you are asked, "smoking, or non-smoking?" I haven't heard that in SO long.
9. Ever heard of a "rising 4th grader"? That's a phrase used here all the time. I heard it mostly in the summer of kids that were entering 4th grade (or whatever grade was next). Interesting.
10. EVERYTHING in Hickory is "5 minutes from there". Everyone lives 5 minutes from everyone else. If you ask how far it is, if it's in Hickory, it's 5 minutes. At least that's what they say.
11. People shop second-hand here. There's lots of second-hand stores- I mean lots. I've always loved second-hand stores, and now I'm in good company. And they're ALL just 5 minutes away from my house! :)
12. "Pocket-book" = purse. Got it.
13. Hickory has the strangest city street plan in the entire world. I'm convinced. It's so bad, that people don't even use street names (or numbers). It would only confuse people. No joke, when driving to McKinley's friends house, we drove past FOUR 10th Street Blvds, Drives, Places, etc before arriving at the correct 10th Street Avenue that we were to turn on. Here's how we give and receive directions. "Turn right at the Walgreens on 127, drive past where the old gas station was, and turn right. When you see the row of trees, turn left. Drive past the road construction and turn left again. It'll be on your right." HA! We live on 18th Street, but all of the other addresses here are "St Dr", or "St Ct" or "Ave Dr", and even some with THREE. "Avenue Boulevard Place". Even our fellow Hickorians don't approve. The nice thing is, once you live in Hickory for 6 months (because it's pretty small), you are pretty familiar with all of the important landmarks (except for the ones that don't exist anymore and people STILL use them to give directions!!) and navigating isn't too difficult (as long as you can see the sun or have a compass with you). HA! Our friends did give us directions using street numbers, but we got lost. It was tough when we had to turn off of 4th St Dr onto 4th St Pl.
Well, that wraps it up for now. We miss our friends in California, but love it here. Come visit us. Just take 24th Blvd until it turns into 10th St Dr. When it turns to 14th Blvd Ave and crosses 29th St Pl, stay on it until you see the neatly groomed row of trees. Turn right just before those. Turn right again at the entrance to the housing development, and when you hit the L in the road, turn left. Our house is second on the right.
1. There is NO dust here. None. I haven't dusted in forever, and I never see dust on anything. I must have dusted once a week in California, and it was still so dusty. All the time.
2. Here in NC, the grocery store has sticks of butter vs. cubes. I had maybe seen sticks (much longer and skinnier than cubes) in California, but not often. And I haven't seen cubes yet here. Life-changing, I know.
3. They don't sell refried beans at Sam's Club here. I guess we're just a bit too far from Mexico. I had a very hard time finding them at the grocery store too, but finally found them in the "foreign foods" section. Needless to say, there is no "Tresierras" Mercado here.
4. Street lights all "hang" on electric lines here. There are no posts, just yellow hanging street lights.
5. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH, there is no traffic. I didn't realize how much this would mean for me. It takes 7 minutes for Kurt to get home from work! Never more than 7 minutes. Some days in California, it would take him an hour or more. I don't miss that!
6. Granulated sugar is less granulated here. Seems the crystals are bigger. Strange observation, I know. Maybe I'm baking too many cookies. (see #2)
7. "You might could try this..." ??? We hear this phrase all the time. A mind bender. I actually said it once.
8. Restaurants have smoking sections. When you walk in, you are asked, "smoking, or non-smoking?" I haven't heard that in SO long.
9. Ever heard of a "rising 4th grader"? That's a phrase used here all the time. I heard it mostly in the summer of kids that were entering 4th grade (or whatever grade was next). Interesting.
10. EVERYTHING in Hickory is "5 minutes from there". Everyone lives 5 minutes from everyone else. If you ask how far it is, if it's in Hickory, it's 5 minutes. At least that's what they say.
11. People shop second-hand here. There's lots of second-hand stores- I mean lots. I've always loved second-hand stores, and now I'm in good company. And they're ALL just 5 minutes away from my house! :)
12. "Pocket-book" = purse. Got it.
13. Hickory has the strangest city street plan in the entire world. I'm convinced. It's so bad, that people don't even use street names (or numbers). It would only confuse people. No joke, when driving to McKinley's friends house, we drove past FOUR 10th Street Blvds, Drives, Places, etc before arriving at the correct 10th Street Avenue that we were to turn on. Here's how we give and receive directions. "Turn right at the Walgreens on 127, drive past where the old gas station was, and turn right. When you see the row of trees, turn left. Drive past the road construction and turn left again. It'll be on your right." HA! We live on 18th Street, but all of the other addresses here are "St Dr", or "St Ct" or "Ave Dr", and even some with THREE. "Avenue Boulevard Place". Even our fellow Hickorians don't approve. The nice thing is, once you live in Hickory for 6 months (because it's pretty small), you are pretty familiar with all of the important landmarks (except for the ones that don't exist anymore and people STILL use them to give directions!!) and navigating isn't too difficult (as long as you can see the sun or have a compass with you). HA! Our friends did give us directions using street numbers, but we got lost. It was tough when we had to turn off of 4th St Dr onto 4th St Pl.
Well, that wraps it up for now. We miss our friends in California, but love it here. Come visit us. Just take 24th Blvd until it turns into 10th St Dr. When it turns to 14th Blvd Ave and crosses 29th St Pl, stay on it until you see the neatly groomed row of trees. Turn right just before those. Turn right again at the entrance to the housing development, and when you hit the L in the road, turn left. Our house is second on the right.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I PASSED!
Wow, that was a long post. Anyway, if you hadn't been on facebook, you might not have heard the good news. I PASSED! I decided that I had had enough, and didn't feel the need to go back for more (decided not to fail on purpose as I had previously considered doing). The questions were repeating already and I had seen most of them. Okay, so I did as promised and smuggled the iPhone into the testing area. I felt so high-schoolish and so nervous that I might get caught! (That is sadly how I lived during those years). I successfully took MANY pics but don't know if I can figure out how to get them from my phone to the blog. I posted one of the licensing officer ("Hello California Girl") on facebook but none of the test yet. Okay, he was a real sweetheart. I may just have to rent the movie he recommended to me "Julia Julia" (about Julia Childs?) because he was so sweet. There is such a strange vibe there- all of the "officers" are so sweet, but all of them take their job SO seriously. I'm telling you, not one person will ever get a North Carolina drivers license who hasn't taken the proper steps and passed through their fine-toothed comb! Anyway the officers gave the girls lollipops while I took the test and we were out of there in a flash. I only missed ONE question!! The questions today were ridiculously easy! (Must be the test Kurt got yesterday :)
Okay, so today's events were not quite as humorous as yesterdays, but I'll break it down a little for you. First of all, I'm sure you would have gotten a good laugh if you were sitting in the car with me before I walked in. I was trying to figure out how I was going to smuggle the phone in there and to the computer area without getting caught. I was tucking it here and there, and even took a few practice pictures. I decided it might not work out, but still made sure to keep my phone on me just in case. I was SO nervous when I walked in there! The office was much more crowded today, so we had to wait a few minutes longer. They were just as friendly today, and welcomed me back with kind words. "Back again, are you?" and "Ready to try again?" They were all cheerful and sweet with the kids. Thankfully I didn't have to go through the vision test thing. However, I had studied the sign shapes and colors just in case! So once again, I was sent back to the computers. Yes! They sent me to the furthest one away. I decided to put Dax on the chair next to me in his car seat, to help camouflage my picture taking. He wasn't quite high enough... and the glaring lady was there at the same desk again today. However...after the first two questions, Dax woke up and started crying. Hmmm....my wheels started turning...perfect! I carefully unstrapped him (so as to let him cry enough so no one would be suspicious of why I would choose to hold a baby while taking the test). I held him in my left arm while taking the test, and my camera was safely tucked out of sight! Picture taking was a breeze! And the office was so busy, no one was really paying much attention to me!
In case you're wondering about the "woman" question, I got it again today, with a picture as well. Here it is. "Studies have shown which of the following to be a serious traffic hazard?"
A) Middle-aged drivers.
B) Slow drivers.
C) Women drivers.
For REAL. That's when you start to look around you to see if there are hidden cameras on you. Are you kidding me? Put the ACLU on that one! But seriously, I would like to know who wrote that question and what in the world they were thinking. Really. And then I have to wonder how many people have chosen C as their answer.
Here's a question that I liked. "When litter is thrown from or blown (??)from a vehicle:
A) It's a problem only if it hits someone.
B) The driver is held responsible and may be charged with littering.
C) It's no problem, since someone will eventually pick it up.
My four year old got this one right. And the picture. Litter on the highway median. Excellent. I was thankful for the questions that had only one logical answer, and thankful for fun pictures.
Okay, one more complaint. The question first.
"If a driver refuses to take the breath test, which of the following will happen?"
A) The driver is assigned to a driver improvement class.
B) A six month revocation of the license by the department of motor vehicles.
C) A twelve month revocation of the license by the department of motor vehicles.
Now, is it really important to have this fact memorized? I do understand and am glad to comply with knowing certain driving facts that actually affect the drivers around me or the safety of those in my own car. But they really expect us to tuck this one away? I don't save space in my brain for things like this. And I think this is the one I got wrong. But it was completely worth getting it wrong just to see the picture of the guilty woman with the Breathalyzer in front of her facing the sheriff. I snapped one of this too.
Let me break down the pictures and then I'm done.
The question was about littering (I got two of them). The second question had the best picture. A red car driving down a nice road, and a hand stretched out the window holding a piece of trash in it. Accurate representation of littering.
Another question about giving your license to an under aged person to allow them to purchase alcohol. The picture was of two women (one younger than the other) under some trees (obviously hiding) and doing the hand-off of the drivers license- passing it back to the older lady, alcohol in hand!
And my favorite picture...the arrest of the black-sandal white tube sock man!! Check him out on facebook unless someone can tell me how to load my iPhone pics onto a blog.
Okay, enough already. Thank you for reading and for rejoicing with me in my victory!
Okay, so today's events were not quite as humorous as yesterdays, but I'll break it down a little for you. First of all, I'm sure you would have gotten a good laugh if you were sitting in the car with me before I walked in. I was trying to figure out how I was going to smuggle the phone in there and to the computer area without getting caught. I was tucking it here and there, and even took a few practice pictures. I decided it might not work out, but still made sure to keep my phone on me just in case. I was SO nervous when I walked in there! The office was much more crowded today, so we had to wait a few minutes longer. They were just as friendly today, and welcomed me back with kind words. "Back again, are you?" and "Ready to try again?" They were all cheerful and sweet with the kids. Thankfully I didn't have to go through the vision test thing. However, I had studied the sign shapes and colors just in case! So once again, I was sent back to the computers. Yes! They sent me to the furthest one away. I decided to put Dax on the chair next to me in his car seat, to help camouflage my picture taking. He wasn't quite high enough... and the glaring lady was there at the same desk again today. However...after the first two questions, Dax woke up and started crying. Hmmm....my wheels started turning...perfect! I carefully unstrapped him (so as to let him cry enough so no one would be suspicious of why I would choose to hold a baby while taking the test). I held him in my left arm while taking the test, and my camera was safely tucked out of sight! Picture taking was a breeze! And the office was so busy, no one was really paying much attention to me!
In case you're wondering about the "woman" question, I got it again today, with a picture as well. Here it is. "Studies have shown which of the following to be a serious traffic hazard?"
A) Middle-aged drivers.
B) Slow drivers.
C) Women drivers.
For REAL. That's when you start to look around you to see if there are hidden cameras on you. Are you kidding me? Put the ACLU on that one! But seriously, I would like to know who wrote that question and what in the world they were thinking. Really. And then I have to wonder how many people have chosen C as their answer.
Here's a question that I liked. "When litter is thrown from or blown (??)from a vehicle:
A) It's a problem only if it hits someone.
B) The driver is held responsible and may be charged with littering.
C) It's no problem, since someone will eventually pick it up.
My four year old got this one right. And the picture. Litter on the highway median. Excellent. I was thankful for the questions that had only one logical answer, and thankful for fun pictures.
Okay, one more complaint. The question first.
"If a driver refuses to take the breath test, which of the following will happen?"
A) The driver is assigned to a driver improvement class.
B) A six month revocation of the license by the department of motor vehicles.
C) A twelve month revocation of the license by the department of motor vehicles.
Now, is it really important to have this fact memorized? I do understand and am glad to comply with knowing certain driving facts that actually affect the drivers around me or the safety of those in my own car. But they really expect us to tuck this one away? I don't save space in my brain for things like this. And I think this is the one I got wrong. But it was completely worth getting it wrong just to see the picture of the guilty woman with the Breathalyzer in front of her facing the sheriff. I snapped one of this too.
Let me break down the pictures and then I'm done.
The question was about littering (I got two of them). The second question had the best picture. A red car driving down a nice road, and a hand stretched out the window holding a piece of trash in it. Accurate representation of littering.
Another question about giving your license to an under aged person to allow them to purchase alcohol. The picture was of two women (one younger than the other) under some trees (obviously hiding) and doing the hand-off of the drivers license- passing it back to the older lady, alcohol in hand!
And my favorite picture...the arrest of the black-sandal white tube sock man!! Check him out on facebook unless someone can tell me how to load my iPhone pics onto a blog.
Okay, enough already. Thank you for reading and for rejoicing with me in my victory!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Who Wants to get a North Carolina Driver's License??
Okay, I know I have been slacking, but I promise a few posts here in the next few days. I am compelled to write today because I am slightly annoyed, and I'll tell you why. I think it'll make me feel a little better.
A few months ago, we were warned by some friends that it's not really easy to get a drivers license in North Carolina. Admittedly, Kurt and I were sure that we would not face the same difficulty that they did. Then we heard it again. "The computerized test is quite a deal..." We've kind of put it off for a while, and then we've faced several difficulties (Ugh, I hate to admit it...). Anyway, as of today, we've been to the drivers license office a combined total of... well, more times than we've wanted to. Anyway, we've had to pull together way too many documents to appease the "licensing officers" (who, by the way, look very official in their cop-like uniforms), and we were SO excited to have all of the papers we needed in one envelope ready to go today. Finally we arrived at the office with all of the acceptable documents in order. Before we were even asked, we plunked those papers down on the counter proudly, and were granted our number tabs. Ahhh, the relief and sense of accomplishment! You wouldn't believe the crazy hoops we've had to jump through. We sat down with the other fine citizens of Hickory and waited our turn. Our numbers were called simultaneously, and behind the official counter we went to sit down with two different officers for our next set of challenges.
With my documents paper-clipped neatly together, I sat down with a pleasant middle-aged officer and handed him the goods. "Hello California Girl", he said with a smile as he took my old license (don't be fooled). He muddled through the papers and asked me a few questions about my vision, and something else. "Okay, now look through this (some sort of vision testing thing) and read the first line for me. "B, A, C, D, R, O, M, X." Pretty sure I passed. "Okay, now what's on the next line?" "Um, a Stop sign, a yellow circle sign" "Ah, yes," he interrupted. "Now what does that yellow circle sign represent?" My heart is now beating a little faster. "Um, railroad crossing?" "No, it's (shoot, I've already forgotten what he said)______. And what about the next one?" Stink!! I'm looking at that sign that's like a yellow square with a yellow triangle on top of it, but I know that's not what he's asking! However, I have to say something. "Uh, it's a yellow square with a triangle on top???" "And that represents... what?" I think I resigned that I was done. I would have to take home the manual and do some studying. "I don't know. Pedestrians?" "No. School Crossing." Well I recognize that sign if the people are in it!! After a few more of these, and not knowing what any of the shapes represented, there was a sense of defeat. Oh well. Now really, who in the world knows what the SHAPE and color of a sign represents?? Isn't that why they make signs with words or pictures?? And I don't remember studying these in drivers ed.
After I finished the vision test, I was a little surprised that he didn't shut me down and send me home, but instead sent me over to a computer where he had set me up to take the computerized part of the test. He gave me some clear instruction and sent me to the last computer for my multiple choice test. "There are 25 questions, and you have to get 20 of them correct. Skip the ones you aren't sure of, and come back to them at the end." Okay. I haven't taken a test in who knows how long, but I felt like I was ready. How hard can it be? After all, I have been driving for nearly 20 years and have never been pulled over for a traffic violation. And, I usually like taking tests. This will be a breeze. I sit at the computer and carefully read the directions. "There are pictures to the side of the question to help you. If you want to zoom in on the pictures, simply drag the mouse over the picture and double click. After you've chosen your answer, the computer will ask you to confirm. 'Is A your final answer?" Click on the box that says 'yes,' or the box that says 'no'." Welcome to "Who wants to get a North Carolina Drivers License!" (Okay, that's not exactly what it said, but the "final answer" part is true!) And I'm guessing that the odds of winning the prize are about the same.
Question number one. "If a driver is pitting and swerving, this is a problem with A)Brakes, B)Suspension, or C)Steering. WHAT??? First of all, WHO CARES what the problem is, I've just got to avoid him, right? Be safe? I'm not a mechanic, and I don't think I'm going to stop the guy and let him know what kind of mechanical problem HE'S having with HIS car. Or is it law in the state of North Carolina for me to identify others' mechanical problems and help them fix their car?? Don't you think the question should read, "If a driver is pitting (whatever that means) and swerving, should you A)speed up and pass them to protect yourself, B)pull off to the side of the road and call the cops, or C)slam on your breaks and stop all traffic behind you? or something like that. SKIP.
Question number two. It is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol level of A)0.5, B)0.05, or C)0.08. I have NO idea. I don't drink a lick, so I have no idea. Nor do I think it is helpful for the safety of any drivers around me if I have this tidbit tucked away in my brain. In fact, I think it's a silly question. I don't know of anyone who checks their blood alcohol level before getting behind the wheel to drive. Do you? SKIP. (Maybe that tucked away fact from drivers ed. 20 years ago will pop back into my head in the next 15 minutes even though it hasn't in like 18 years).
Question number three. When approaching a right hand curve in the road, you should A)Brake in the middle of the curve, B)slow down 30 feet before the curve, or C)gradually slow down as you approach the curve and drive at a safe speed through it. Hmm. B and C both sound good to me. However, I think if the word "safe" is in the answer, I better pick it. C it is. Final answer. YES!!! I got one right!! At this point, Kurt is now sitting two computers down from me taking his computerized test.
Question number 4. You will have your license immediately suspended if A)you are convicted of driving while impaired, B)you are convicted of reckless driving, or C)you are eating while driving. AGH! Two answers with "convicted" in them!!?? Both sound pretty bad to me! Isn't the point that I should NOT drive while impaired and NOT drive recklessly? Are they trying to get me to choose to drive either recklessly or impaired (whichever one won't get my license taken away?) SKIP.
Question number 5. If you are taking medications, you should A)never drive B)drive carefully or C)read the label on the medication to see if there are any warnings. AHA!! Got another one! YES! It didn't look so bad on the bottom of my computer screen to see "2 Correct, 0 Wrong". I looked up at Kurt. I was rubbing my hands together being silly and whispered "How are you doing?" He smiled and we were just giggling, when "SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH" went the official she-officer. Seriously?? We're not cheaters. I felt like I was in high school again.
Question number 6. When passing on a two lane highway, A)the law says you must have 50 feet of clearance (clearance where?)B)you should look both directions and make sure you have a safe distance (aha! "safe"!!) with which to pass or C)some other answer that didn't make sense. Pretty sure I got this one, but let's just sit on that for a while. SKIP.
I won't bore you with all of them, but I will tell you that I got going and gained some confidence with 19 right answers. I had skipped 6. I wasn't sure if I would cycle back to the same questions, or if I would be fed new ones, but sure enough, the same ones popped back up. At this point, Kurt was firing through and seemed to be pretty confident. I glanced at him, and just past him directly in my line of sight was she-officer giving me a nice teacherly glare, scaring me slightly. I really wanted to ask how he was doing, but was seriously intimidated. Anyway, with 19 right, all I had to do was to answer ONE question out of SIX correctly. Just ONE. That's all. No problem. Back at it. Trying to figure out what "pitting" is. Know what swerving is. Sounds like a steering problem to me. C. Final answer. WRONG. Stink. 19 correct, 1 wrong. Tainted score.
Blood alcohol. No idea. Guessed wrong. 19 correct, 2 wrong. Starting to sweat. "Um, I'd like to phone a friend??" Nevermind. I felt the glare again.
"Convicted" question. Reckless or impaired. Wrong guess again. 19 correct, 3 wrong. My confidence is waning. I give myself a pep-talk. I can beat this thing. Moving on.
50 feet of clearance, or "safe" distance. C'mon. Let's just be safe. B. Final answer. WRONG-O. 19 correct, 4 wrong. Yikes. Really? At this point, Kurt gave a little fist pump, and hopped up from his computer. I REALLY wanted to cheat at this point. But he was gone. I felt helpless. With only one question left, I started praying. Really. Lord, I do NOT want to get up from this computer and have wasted an afternoon. I do not want Kurt to beat me. (I am SO competitive! Still!) Lord, please help me to get one of these questions right. Please. I had to guess again. This was IT. Either I passed, or I didn't. It all came down to ONE stinkin' question, with three really obscure, meaningless, silly, answers. Wanna know the question? Here it was. Most freeway accidents are A)Rear-ending accidents, B)Side-swiping accidents, or C)Driving into the shoulder accidents. I guess we're supposed to really avoid one type, and only sort-of avoid the other two? And yes, there was a picture. Only it wasn't helpful at all. It was a picture of the freeway. Of cars. Driving at a safe distance from one another. Not of a freeway accident, (it would have been helpful if it was a picture of a car rear-ending another car). Just a picture of a normal-old freeway. I guessed side-swiping. I was wrong. After clicking the "final answer" button, I heard the horns go off, and saw the lights come up, and Regis said, "I'm sorry, you've just lost everything. No prize for you today." The computer told me I had failed, and sent me back up to the "officers desk" where everyone had a good laugh. Kurt was a gracious winner and the prize was bestowed on him with smiles and congratulations from all of the officers. They didn't seem to mind sending me away with nothing. They said I could come back tomorrow but could only take the test once a day. I sure hope I pass tomorrow.
Oh, and there were pictures with all of the questions. The alcohol question had a very helpful picture of alcohol of all different kinds. There was a wine glass, a beer bottle, and some other booze. And to think, I still got the question wrong. The "conviction" question even had a picture of a nice lady sitting in a police station having a discussion with a police officer. I couldn't quite tell what she was convicted of. She was facing the other direction, or I might have been able to read her expression.
And the curve question? Yep, you guessed it. A picture of a curve in the road. Now I guess it would have been helpful if they had foot markers on the side of the road labeled 30 feet behind the curve where the car happened to be, brake lights on, and a police officer giving a thumbs down to the car as it entered the curve. No such luck.
Okay, now I'm actually looking forward to going back tomorrow. Just for the pictures. I'm going to look closer tomorrow.
I almost forgot. There was another silly question about someone driving poorly, and I'm going to make sure I ask about it tomorrow. No joke, the second answer read B)a woman.
Last thing. Now, I have to be careful how I say this. The most ironic part of this whole thing is when you consider who they handed that license to when we walked out the door. I'm NOT saying that Kurt is a bad driver. He is a self-declared "skillful driver" (and he likes to test those skills) though he is very sensitive to me when he drives. But I have to say that if you were to compare the two of us and the way we drive, hands down, without argument, 99.99% of all the people who have ridden with both Kurt and I would say that they are more comfortable with the way that I drive over the way that he drives. But he is the one who can now legally drive in the state of North Carolina. Me? Well, I get to do this all over again tomorrow. And I still may not pass if there are a bunch of those ridiculous questions on the test. However, I've determined I'm going to attempt to smuggle in my iPhone and get real photos of the test along with the pictures. Pray that I don't get caught! And I just might fail on purpose so I can read more questions and gather a few sermon illustrations for my husband along the way. (at least I'll say that now so I have an excuse).
A few months ago, we were warned by some friends that it's not really easy to get a drivers license in North Carolina. Admittedly, Kurt and I were sure that we would not face the same difficulty that they did. Then we heard it again. "The computerized test is quite a deal..." We've kind of put it off for a while, and then we've faced several difficulties (Ugh, I hate to admit it...). Anyway, as of today, we've been to the drivers license office a combined total of... well, more times than we've wanted to. Anyway, we've had to pull together way too many documents to appease the "licensing officers" (who, by the way, look very official in their cop-like uniforms), and we were SO excited to have all of the papers we needed in one envelope ready to go today. Finally we arrived at the office with all of the acceptable documents in order. Before we were even asked, we plunked those papers down on the counter proudly, and were granted our number tabs. Ahhh, the relief and sense of accomplishment! You wouldn't believe the crazy hoops we've had to jump through. We sat down with the other fine citizens of Hickory and waited our turn. Our numbers were called simultaneously, and behind the official counter we went to sit down with two different officers for our next set of challenges.
With my documents paper-clipped neatly together, I sat down with a pleasant middle-aged officer and handed him the goods. "Hello California Girl", he said with a smile as he took my old license (don't be fooled). He muddled through the papers and asked me a few questions about my vision, and something else. "Okay, now look through this (some sort of vision testing thing) and read the first line for me. "B, A, C, D, R, O, M, X." Pretty sure I passed. "Okay, now what's on the next line?" "Um, a Stop sign, a yellow circle sign" "Ah, yes," he interrupted. "Now what does that yellow circle sign represent?" My heart is now beating a little faster. "Um, railroad crossing?" "No, it's (shoot, I've already forgotten what he said)______. And what about the next one?" Stink!! I'm looking at that sign that's like a yellow square with a yellow triangle on top of it, but I know that's not what he's asking! However, I have to say something. "Uh, it's a yellow square with a triangle on top???" "And that represents... what?" I think I resigned that I was done. I would have to take home the manual and do some studying. "I don't know. Pedestrians?" "No. School Crossing." Well I recognize that sign if the people are in it!! After a few more of these, and not knowing what any of the shapes represented, there was a sense of defeat. Oh well. Now really, who in the world knows what the SHAPE and color of a sign represents?? Isn't that why they make signs with words or pictures?? And I don't remember studying these in drivers ed.
After I finished the vision test, I was a little surprised that he didn't shut me down and send me home, but instead sent me over to a computer where he had set me up to take the computerized part of the test. He gave me some clear instruction and sent me to the last computer for my multiple choice test. "There are 25 questions, and you have to get 20 of them correct. Skip the ones you aren't sure of, and come back to them at the end." Okay. I haven't taken a test in who knows how long, but I felt like I was ready. How hard can it be? After all, I have been driving for nearly 20 years and have never been pulled over for a traffic violation. And, I usually like taking tests. This will be a breeze. I sit at the computer and carefully read the directions. "There are pictures to the side of the question to help you. If you want to zoom in on the pictures, simply drag the mouse over the picture and double click. After you've chosen your answer, the computer will ask you to confirm. 'Is A your final answer?" Click on the box that says 'yes,' or the box that says 'no'." Welcome to "Who wants to get a North Carolina Drivers License!" (Okay, that's not exactly what it said, but the "final answer" part is true!) And I'm guessing that the odds of winning the prize are about the same.
Question number one. "If a driver is pitting and swerving, this is a problem with A)Brakes, B)Suspension, or C)Steering. WHAT??? First of all, WHO CARES what the problem is, I've just got to avoid him, right? Be safe? I'm not a mechanic, and I don't think I'm going to stop the guy and let him know what kind of mechanical problem HE'S having with HIS car. Or is it law in the state of North Carolina for me to identify others' mechanical problems and help them fix their car?? Don't you think the question should read, "If a driver is pitting (whatever that means) and swerving, should you A)speed up and pass them to protect yourself, B)pull off to the side of the road and call the cops, or C)slam on your breaks and stop all traffic behind you? or something like that. SKIP.
Question number two. It is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol level of A)0.5, B)0.05, or C)0.08. I have NO idea. I don't drink a lick, so I have no idea. Nor do I think it is helpful for the safety of any drivers around me if I have this tidbit tucked away in my brain. In fact, I think it's a silly question. I don't know of anyone who checks their blood alcohol level before getting behind the wheel to drive. Do you? SKIP. (Maybe that tucked away fact from drivers ed. 20 years ago will pop back into my head in the next 15 minutes even though it hasn't in like 18 years).
Question number three. When approaching a right hand curve in the road, you should A)Brake in the middle of the curve, B)slow down 30 feet before the curve, or C)gradually slow down as you approach the curve and drive at a safe speed through it. Hmm. B and C both sound good to me. However, I think if the word "safe" is in the answer, I better pick it. C it is. Final answer. YES!!! I got one right!! At this point, Kurt is now sitting two computers down from me taking his computerized test.
Question number 4. You will have your license immediately suspended if A)you are convicted of driving while impaired, B)you are convicted of reckless driving, or C)you are eating while driving. AGH! Two answers with "convicted" in them!!?? Both sound pretty bad to me! Isn't the point that I should NOT drive while impaired and NOT drive recklessly? Are they trying to get me to choose to drive either recklessly or impaired (whichever one won't get my license taken away?) SKIP.
Question number 5. If you are taking medications, you should A)never drive B)drive carefully or C)read the label on the medication to see if there are any warnings. AHA!! Got another one! YES! It didn't look so bad on the bottom of my computer screen to see "2 Correct, 0 Wrong". I looked up at Kurt. I was rubbing my hands together being silly and whispered "How are you doing?" He smiled and we were just giggling, when "SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH" went the official she-officer. Seriously?? We're not cheaters. I felt like I was in high school again.
Question number 6. When passing on a two lane highway, A)the law says you must have 50 feet of clearance (clearance where?)B)you should look both directions and make sure you have a safe distance (aha! "safe"!!) with which to pass or C)some other answer that didn't make sense. Pretty sure I got this one, but let's just sit on that for a while. SKIP.
I won't bore you with all of them, but I will tell you that I got going and gained some confidence with 19 right answers. I had skipped 6. I wasn't sure if I would cycle back to the same questions, or if I would be fed new ones, but sure enough, the same ones popped back up. At this point, Kurt was firing through and seemed to be pretty confident. I glanced at him, and just past him directly in my line of sight was she-officer giving me a nice teacherly glare, scaring me slightly. I really wanted to ask how he was doing, but was seriously intimidated. Anyway, with 19 right, all I had to do was to answer ONE question out of SIX correctly. Just ONE. That's all. No problem. Back at it. Trying to figure out what "pitting" is. Know what swerving is. Sounds like a steering problem to me. C. Final answer. WRONG. Stink. 19 correct, 1 wrong. Tainted score.
Blood alcohol. No idea. Guessed wrong. 19 correct, 2 wrong. Starting to sweat. "Um, I'd like to phone a friend??" Nevermind. I felt the glare again.
"Convicted" question. Reckless or impaired. Wrong guess again. 19 correct, 3 wrong. My confidence is waning. I give myself a pep-talk. I can beat this thing. Moving on.
50 feet of clearance, or "safe" distance. C'mon. Let's just be safe. B. Final answer. WRONG-O. 19 correct, 4 wrong. Yikes. Really? At this point, Kurt gave a little fist pump, and hopped up from his computer. I REALLY wanted to cheat at this point. But he was gone. I felt helpless. With only one question left, I started praying. Really. Lord, I do NOT want to get up from this computer and have wasted an afternoon. I do not want Kurt to beat me. (I am SO competitive! Still!) Lord, please help me to get one of these questions right. Please. I had to guess again. This was IT. Either I passed, or I didn't. It all came down to ONE stinkin' question, with three really obscure, meaningless, silly, answers. Wanna know the question? Here it was. Most freeway accidents are A)Rear-ending accidents, B)Side-swiping accidents, or C)Driving into the shoulder accidents. I guess we're supposed to really avoid one type, and only sort-of avoid the other two? And yes, there was a picture. Only it wasn't helpful at all. It was a picture of the freeway. Of cars. Driving at a safe distance from one another. Not of a freeway accident, (it would have been helpful if it was a picture of a car rear-ending another car). Just a picture of a normal-old freeway. I guessed side-swiping. I was wrong. After clicking the "final answer" button, I heard the horns go off, and saw the lights come up, and Regis said, "I'm sorry, you've just lost everything. No prize for you today." The computer told me I had failed, and sent me back up to the "officers desk" where everyone had a good laugh. Kurt was a gracious winner and the prize was bestowed on him with smiles and congratulations from all of the officers. They didn't seem to mind sending me away with nothing. They said I could come back tomorrow but could only take the test once a day. I sure hope I pass tomorrow.
Oh, and there were pictures with all of the questions. The alcohol question had a very helpful picture of alcohol of all different kinds. There was a wine glass, a beer bottle, and some other booze. And to think, I still got the question wrong. The "conviction" question even had a picture of a nice lady sitting in a police station having a discussion with a police officer. I couldn't quite tell what she was convicted of. She was facing the other direction, or I might have been able to read her expression.
And the curve question? Yep, you guessed it. A picture of a curve in the road. Now I guess it would have been helpful if they had foot markers on the side of the road labeled 30 feet behind the curve where the car happened to be, brake lights on, and a police officer giving a thumbs down to the car as it entered the curve. No such luck.
Okay, now I'm actually looking forward to going back tomorrow. Just for the pictures. I'm going to look closer tomorrow.
I almost forgot. There was another silly question about someone driving poorly, and I'm going to make sure I ask about it tomorrow. No joke, the second answer read B)a woman.
Last thing. Now, I have to be careful how I say this. The most ironic part of this whole thing is when you consider who they handed that license to when we walked out the door. I'm NOT saying that Kurt is a bad driver. He is a self-declared "skillful driver" (and he likes to test those skills) though he is very sensitive to me when he drives. But I have to say that if you were to compare the two of us and the way we drive, hands down, without argument, 99.99% of all the people who have ridden with both Kurt and I would say that they are more comfortable with the way that I drive over the way that he drives. But he is the one who can now legally drive in the state of North Carolina. Me? Well, I get to do this all over again tomorrow. And I still may not pass if there are a bunch of those ridiculous questions on the test. However, I've determined I'm going to attempt to smuggle in my iPhone and get real photos of the test along with the pictures. Pray that I don't get caught! And I just might fail on purpose so I can read more questions and gather a few sermon illustrations for my husband along the way. (at least I'll say that now so I have an excuse).
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