Irritated, Amused, Addicted, and Entertained!

Irritated
The state of Iowa, in all it's wisdom, has downgraded our son's license from a full license to an intermediate. Why? Because of the accident he had on a Sunday in Des Moines. If anyone of us would have been driving, we would not have been able to avoid the accident. He was driving at an appropriate speed, an appropriate distance from the car in front of us, and with appropriate attention to his task. Even the police officer said that he himself would not have been able to avoid the accident and as a result did not ticket him.

But because Michael is under 18 and was in an accident, the law requires that his license be downgraded. That means no driving between 12:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. (that doesn't matter to us). But what does matter is if he gets into another accident (including someone hitting him) or has a violation, he will lose his license. Stupid! It assumes all teenagers drive irresponsibly. If an adult would have been in this same accident, there would have been no consequences.

Although the person from the DOT was nice, the fact that he had to write a mission statement indicating how he would drive responsibly in the future and listen to her read statements about how teenagers are poor drivers and what they should do to avoid accidents was a little over the top.

The armored vehicle that was 40 feet ahead of us slipped on black ice while going around a curve, blocked the road, and when Michael applied the brakes, he slipped too and could do nothing. Ever see the video clips on the news showing cars sliding everywhere on black ice? That was us! There was no indication that ice was even on the road. The temperature was frigidly cold and there had been no precipitation in the previous 48 hours.

The fact that he was penalized for this accident, even though he was never ticketed for it, is ridiculous. Punish the kids doing reckless things, not the ones who are driving in the their car with their family on a Sunday morning.


Amused
My mom, sister Krista, two nephews, and two nieces came to visit about 10 days ago. We had a GREAT time! I miss my family so much (Note: Tom & Rita--please bring the girls down soon!). It was a treat to have them around to help with the move. My mom sewed a valance for Michael's room and was a huge help with decorating ideas/advice, and my sister organized Drew and Rach's rooms. But the best part of having them here was the constant giggling.

Just their arrival into Cresco brought laughter. They drove into Cresco and told the kids that they still had an hour left of driving but they had to stop to go to the bathroom. They convinced them that it was o.k. to stop at a stranger's house in order to do so. They unloaded all of the kids and rang the doorbell. Mom and Krista thought they really were at our house and just wanted to surprise the kids. Krista swears that she saw David and my wedding picture on the piano as they were waiting for someone to answer the door. Imagine their surprise when it was a stranger who did indeed answer the door. The kids thought this was o.k., because they thought they were at a stranger's house in the first place. Krista thought I had a friend answer the door because she had been playing jokes on me on the way down. (She told me they got a two hour late start among other little white lies.) It turns out they did not really follow their GPS (nor the directions I sent them) and they were a block away from our house. The good news is apparently our neighbor is very friendly and helpful.

The part I find the most amusing is that they made it to Cresco without getting lost. I love my sister dearly, and she has many talents, but she was not born with a sense of direction. So it was amazing that they even got to Cresco on time. But funny as heck that when they did get here, they ended up in the wrong spot. You can always count on Krista for side splitting laughter.

Addicted
My dad sent me a book that he just finished reading, and I am addicted! Strangely enough, the book is about coffee, which I really am addicted to. It is called The Coffee Trader by David Liss. I have not read a book that has captured my attention like this in awhile. Maybe it is because we are done moving and I can finally concentrate on something other than planning and worrying. Whatever it is, I look forward to any opportunity to read it and I never leave home without it. I mourn the fact that it will soon be over.

If anyone has any suggestions for my next read, please send them. (This is where I should probably mention that my book list on the left side of this blog is TOTALLY outdated. It's a pain to constantly update it, so I just don't.

I have been listening to a lot of good books on my IPOD. The Pillars of the Earth was a great listen!)

Entertained
Our family has been taking in some great entertainment lately. We all made it a point to watch America's Best Dance Crew on Thursday nights, but now that the show has ended, we had to seek out other entertainment. Last night David, the kids, and Shelley met me in Decorah to see Nordic Choir from Luther College perform Carmina Burana, in addition to some beautiful spirituals. The performance was well worth the late night on a school night, and I daresay that the kids will never look at another Gatorade commercial again without thinking of Nordic Choir sing O Fortuna.

After the show we went over to Marty's (named after Martin Luther) and had the traditional post concert drink. Rachel had her Chai, Drew, Shelley, and Michael had strawberry margaritas, and David and I split a chocolate malt.

Click here to see our favorite episode of America's Best Dance Crew. I've linked it to our favorite dance crew's (JabbaWockeeZ) performance on the Thriller night. The kids are now playing Michael's Jackson's thriller videos all the time.

Click here to see/hear Nordic sing Psalm 50 Movement 3. Personally, I love it when they sing Give Me Jesus, but apparently that did not make it on You Tube.

Click here to see/hear Nordic sing Carmina Burana O Fortuna.


Until next time.