working out for Disney

[Sans Souci]

Good morning,

I'm not sure how I did it, but I got in a workout last night. We had gone out for my husband's 50th birthday meal earlier in the day (since softball, work and school would make it impossible to celebrate on or closer to the day). We went to a Brazilian steakhouse and I tried to focus really heavily on the meat. By the time we got home, I slept for several hours from all of it. Still, it was sooooooooooo good! Eventually, I biked for 45 minutes (about 14.5 miles), did about 10-15 minutes of leg work, and then some planking for my core. I may go for a walk later. Pollen is finally calming down here and it would be nice to get out. We'll see. It might be more gym time.

I also need to do more cake work. I decided to do a Dr. Who theme and I've begun work on the decorative elements.

EDIT- Holy cow! Maybe you remember how our neighbors complained to our HOA about our approved construction debris bin? So, you'd think they would want us to keep a nice yard if they're so concerned about the appearance of said construction debris, right? We just hired some lawn guys, because we haven't had much time to work on the yard. The wife comes outside while they are finishing up, screamed at them that they were creating too much dust and had to stop immediately. So, we can't have an unsightly construction debris bin, but our yard guys also can't do their job to help with the upkeep of our yard. It also wasn't crack of dawn either...like 10:30-11am-ish.

Do they expect you to rake the leaves? I've never seen any lawn maintenance service that will do that. It's leaf blowers or nothing.

I find it interesting they yelled at the lawn guys and made no attempt to talk to you directly. Very passive aggressive and non-confrontational.

 

[Sans Souci]

The boots were more of an off-white and had a taller shaft, but definitely of that era. I think the bulk of the fringe on my went down the back...or maybe it was the side. I can't remember if I had them in 7th or 8th grade, but obviously it's been quite some time. I'm pretty sure they were Nine West. I loved the boots and I remember having a skirt to go with them. The skirt had a denim yoke, and then it was some kind of white fabric below that. Like this, but longer...

View attachment 549179

That still just floors me about fringe being for prostitutes. I have to agree...tight leggings should have been more of a concern over things with fringe. Although, I guess at least the tops for the girls were long and didn't show as much with the leggings.

I think your mom might have had a heart attack if she saw our swing/show choir outfits for high school. While our three main choir dress ensembles were very conservative, show choir was an entirely different story. Once we got official costumes, I seem to recall them involving a black leotard, tights, a short red sequined skirt, a red sequined bow tie, and black dance heels.

All the talk about boots in this thread made me remember how I wanted the boots Madonna wore in Desperately Seeking Susan. I didn't/don't even like Madonna. But I remember seeing them on display (I want to say Bakers?) and thinking they were really sharp. My mom refused, and in retrospect, it was the right decision. I had to have been 11-12 at the time, so they were way too mature for me.

 

[Sans Souci]

I love the cake! I think it looks great. I've only seen snippets of Dr. Who, but my husband watched it, and my daughter watched for a while.

Hopefully the car business will be taken care of soon!

I found a new driving instructor today. I did a couple of test lessons with different schools, and I liked the guy this morning a lot. He's very mellow, and very kind, and gave me some helpful tips and didn't make me feel stupid for asking questions. My previous instructor had a kind of chip on his shoulder and acted like I should already know how to drive differently here. Like....you know how they do speed traps in the US, so you have to get your speed down before you reach a sign with the new speed limit on it. In my 2nd ever lesson, we were on a road that was 80 km/h, and were coming up to a 60km/h, so I started slowing down and the instructor says "Why are you braking?" And I said "Because the speed limit goes down there." And he said "Not until there!" And I said "Well, don't I need to be at that speed when I reach the sign?" and he says "Why??" And I said in America, we do. They set up speed traps. My instructor said "But where are we? Are we in America or are we in the Netherlands??" Like I should have known it was different here. How was I supposed to know that they don't do speed traps here? And that became a standard thing. Any time I would do something I would have done in the US, and he'd ask "Why did you do that??" And I'd say "Oh....is it not like that here? In the States, that's what we're supposed to do." and he'd say "But we're not IN the States. We're in the Netherlands!" And he'd just make me feel stupid for not knowing that they didn't do that here. Well if I knew all those things, I wouldn't need a driving instructor! I'm paying you to TEACH me these things, not judge me for being a foreigner!

The guy this morning wasn't like that at ALL, and he seemed genuinely interested in the differences. I explained that the driving style was different and I needed help changing the habits, and the speed traps came up and he just said "Really? Oh wow! No, they don't do that here." but he didn't make me feel like I was a bad driver just because I had learned a different way. And one of the things that my previous instructor wouldn't let me do, this guy told me I AM supposed to do that. I wasn't allowed to keep my foot on the break at a stoplight. I was only supposed to use the clutch, and it took me forever, and I still have problems remembering to take my foot off the break. But the guy today said I actually AM supposed to use the break, so that people behind me can see that I'm stopped. It was so different and so relaxed. For once I didn't come out of my lesson with jelly legs, and I don't think I will get an upset stomach every time I have a lesson anymore, either.

I'm glad your instructor is better this time around. I don't know why your previous instructor thought you would automatically know the difference in styles? It sounds like he is just used to teaching first time drivers and not people who need to "unlearn" previous driving habits. I would imagine it's probably a much better learning environment for you. I think I would have been a pile of nerves with the other guy and messed up a lot out of anxiety, if I was in your shoes.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I have been doing pilates and walking the past week. I am trying to find something that doesn't irritate my glute. It's not bad, it's just different. It's supposed to be a higher intensity pilates.

I was able to get a vaccine appointment much closer to home for the same time and date. I am hoping to visit my grandmother once I am fully protected. Currently, Illinois is only letting 1 vaccinated person per week for 30 minutes visit family in long term care facilities. So, I think I'll just fly in and out for one day. There is no sense in staying any longer if that is the rule. I haven't seen my grandmother since Thanksgiving 2019.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm glad your instructor is better this time around. I don't know why your previous instructor thought you would automatically know the difference in styles? It sounds like he is just used to teaching first time drivers and not people who need to "unlearn" previous driving habits. I would imagine it's probably a much better learning environment for you. I think I would have been a pile of nerves with the other guy and messed up a lot out of anxiety, if I was in your shoes.

I'm not sure what was going on with the other guy. I can't really put my finger on it, but it just seemed like he didn't care whether I learned or not. Like....he figured he got paid either way, so who cares? Like...one of the things you have to do in your test are specialized maneuvers, like parking on a hill using the hand brake, parallel parking, pulling in backwards, etc. When we were practicing pulling in backwards, I was having a really hard time. He was telling me that when I could see the license plate of the car next to the spot in the passenger side back window in the corner, I needed to start turning. But every time I did that, I ended up smack dab in the middle of 2 spots with the line right down the center. Obviously, that spot in the window wasn't quite right for me. We were getting to the point that I was about to take my test and I had yet to successfully park backwards into a spot. So when I did it wrong AGAIN, I asked him if I could try again. He says "Do what you want. If you want to spend the whole lesson on this, it's your choice." Like he didn't really care if I got it or not. And you only get one shot in the test. You can't start over if you aren't aligned correctly...which is kind of stupid because in a real traffic situation, there's no law against that and situations are usually not ideal. People are parked crooked, or parked too close to one side....rarely are you going to find the perfect spot where you have plenty of room, no one is waiting behind you and you only need one try. So it's not really very realistic to expect new drivers to be able to do that. Not to mention that I'm way more comfortable pulling in forwards...and if I find a parking spot, if I could pull in backwards, I could pull in forwards, too, so I'm not going to CHOOSE to back in. If I were pulling a trailer, ok, but I won't have a license for that. Anyway, it just seemed so weird that he seemed impatient that I wanted to try again when I hadn't ever been able to do it and might have to do it in my test. Shouldn't he WANT me to be as prepared as I can be? It was like he wanted to indermine my confidence. I'm wondering if, because of the lockdown where they couldn't do lessons for several months, he was trying to make up some of the money by increasing the need for more lessons....draw it out a bit so I had to take more lessons and pay more. I hadn't bought a package because all the packages had like 30-40 lessons and I figured really what I needed was to learn to drive stick shift, and learn the differences between the US and the Netherlands. I didn't think it could take more than 15-20 lessons. They advise you to get a package because it's cheaper per lesson, but those are people who have never driven before. I didn't expect to need that many lessons, and I would pay a lot more if I bought a package of 35 lessons and only used 15 of them. So I decided to just pay by the lesson, and the lessons cost more that way. I paid 42.50 per lesson, where with a package, it's like 40 per lesson, which adds up over time. So I'm wondering if he wasn't maybe milking me to make up for the loss during the lockdown. Get me to take more lessons at the higher rate. Most people had packages and had already paid for them....they wouldn't be making more money off those people because they had a set number of lessons. I didn't. I could be wrong, but it's the only explanation I can think of.

 

[Songbird76]

Hello-

I have been doing pilates and walking the past week. I am trying to find something that doesn't irritate my glute. It's not bad, it's just different. It's supposed to be a higher intensity pilates.

I was able to get a vaccine appointment much closer to home for the same time and date. I am hoping to visit my grandmother once I am fully protected. Currently, Illinois is only letting 1 vaccinated person per week for 30 minutes visit family in long term care facilities. So, I think I'll just fly in and out for one day. There is no sense in staying any longer if that is the rule. I haven't seen my grandmother since Thanksgiving 2019.

Will this be the first shot? Or the 2nd? Why only 1 per week if they are vaccinated? That seems REALLY low. I'm assuming she's been vaccinated already as well, right? So your protection should be pretty high. If they have all been vaccinated, and all the visitors have to have been vaccinated, I would think the risk would be pretty minimal.

 

[MinnieM123]

Still nice and cool in my area, but that's going to change soon with warmer temps on the horizon. Yesterday, I took out a few capris from my spring/summer storage bin. Tried one on, and it was too big! I've dropped 15 pounds from last year, and I think a few inches, too. (It happened over a period of months; all I did was cut back on a lot of the junk I was eating, and kicked up my exercise routine. Guess it worked. )

 

[Sans Souci]

I'm not sure what was going on with the other guy. I can't really put my finger on it, but it just seemed like he didn't care whether I learned or not. Like....he figured he got paid either way, so who cares? Like...one of the things you have to do in your test are specialized maneuvers, like parking on a hill using the hand brake, parallel parking, pulling in backwards, etc. When we were practicing pulling in backwards, I was having a really hard time. He was telling me that when I could see the license plate of the car next to the spot in the passenger side back window in the corner, I needed to start turning. But every time I did that, I ended up smack dab in the middle of 2 spots with the line right down the center. Obviously, that spot in the window wasn't quite right for me. We were getting to the point that I was about to take my test and I had yet to successfully park backwards into a spot. So when I did it wrong AGAIN, I asked him if I could try again. He says "Do what you want. If you want to spend the whole lesson on this, it's your choice." Like he didn't really care if I got it or not. And you only get one shot in the test. You can't start over if you aren't aligned correctly...which is kind of stupid because in a real traffic situation, there's no law against that and situations are usually not ideal. People are parked crooked, or parked too close to one side....rarely are you going to find the perfect spot where you have plenty of room, no one is waiting behind you and you only need one try. So it's not really very realistic to expect new drivers to be able to do that. Not to mention that I'm way more comfortable pulling in forwards...and if I find a parking spot, if I could pull in backwards, I could pull in forwards, too, so I'm not going to CHOOSE to back in. If I were pulling a trailer, ok, but I won't have a license for that. Anyway, it just seemed so weird that he seemed impatient that I wanted to try again when I hadn't ever been able to do it and might have to do it in my test. Shouldn't he WANT me to be as prepared as I can be? It was like he wanted to indermine my confidence. I'm wondering if, because of the lockdown where they couldn't do lessons for several months, he was trying to make up some of the money by increasing the need for more lessons....draw it out a bit so I had to take more lessons and pay more. I hadn't bought a package because all the packages had like 30-40 lessons and I figured really what I needed was to learn to drive stick shift, and learn the differences between the US and the Netherlands. I didn't think it could take more than 15-20 lessons. They advise you to get a package because it's cheaper per lesson, but those are people who have never driven before. I didn't expect to need that many lessons, and I would pay a lot more if I bought a package of 35 lessons and only used 15 of them. So I decided to just pay by the lesson, and the lessons cost more that way. I paid 42.50 per lesson, where with a package, it's like 40 per lesson, which adds up over time. So I'm wondering if he wasn't maybe milking me to make up for the loss during the lockdown. Get me to take more lessons at the higher rate. Most people had packages and had already paid for them....they wouldn't be making more money off those people because they had a set number of lessons. I didn't. I could be wrong, but it's the only explanation I can think of.

Good riddance. How many lessons are you taking with the new instructor?

 

[Sans Souci]

Will this be the first shot? Or the 2nd? Why only 1 per week if they are vaccinated? That seems REALLY low. I'm assuming she's been vaccinated already as well, right? So your protection should be pretty high. If they have all been vaccinated, and all the visitors have to have been vaccinated, I would think the risk would be pretty minimal.

It will be my first shot and she is vaccinated. I think they are worried about asymptomatic spread. I am hoping as more people get vaccinated, the Illinois will drop the "one person per week for 30 minutes" visitation. We have a hotel booked to visit her in early July, but I'd like to get out there sooner.

 

[Sans Souci]

Still nice and cool in my area, but that's going to change soon with warmer temps on the horizon. Yesterday, I took out a few capris from my spring/summer storage bin. Tried one on, and it was too big! I've dropped 15 pounds from last year, and I think a few inches, too. (It happened over a period of months; all I did was cut back on a lot of the junk I was eating, and kicked up my exercise routine. Guess it worked. )

Wow. Fifteen pounds is really good. Now you have buy some new summer clothes!

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning.

I did a pilates class this morning. I had been scoffing at this program, thinking it was not quite intense enough. I logged in this AM, and queued up the workout. Wow. I wish I'd had another cup of coffee before starting it. I was expecting 30 minutes of variations on leg lifts. There was jump rope and other things to get the heart rate up, but also traditional pilates moves. Don't get me wrong, it's not like a real HIIT workout, but it was pretty intense for a pilates class.

It's supposed to be 75 here, so I'm going to go for a walk and continue my yard work. I'm toying with the idea of making some sourdough bread, too. It's been a while, but if I start today, I won't have bread until Thursday AM.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Do they expect you to rake the leaves? I've never seen any lawn maintenance service that will do that. It's leaf blowers or nothing.

I find it interesting they yelled at the lawn guys and made no attempt to talk to you directly. Very passive aggressive and non-confrontational.

I'm not sure if it was being done in retaliation or if they just failed to see the hypocrisy in their actions, but last night, this neighbor was using a pressure washer to clean the underside of their 2nd floor deck. All kind of spray and dirt were getting into our driveway, to the point that it looked like a hurricane out there. It wasn't awful, but it got both vehicles in the driveway and the side of our house. If the wife hadn't raised a fuss about our guy leaf blowing, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. My husband told me to let it go, but I'm not in the mood for that.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Oh I would have loved that skirt, but I wouldn't have been allowed to wear it. My mom would have thought it looked ridiculous. That's why I wasn't allowed to peg-leg my jeans. She thought it looked ugly. Same with the stonewash jeans....she didn't like the marbly white on them. And the mall hair. But leather and fringe were for prostitues. She wasn't happy when I bought a suede-look jacket in college, but she couldn't do much about it. The style when I was in about 5th grade was these short, full skirts with biker shorts underneath, and they were attached....it wasn't a skirt and short leggings combo. It was sewn together and I SO wanted one of those....I loved them. But my mom thought it looked stupid, so I couldn't get one. I also remember a lace dress that was really popular around Easter one year. THey had it in several pastel colors and all the "cool" girls had them, but mom didn't like it.

It was a lot like this, but then in pastel colors like lavender, pink, white, etc...

Dames Splendidly 80 's Royal Blue drop taille Lace - Etsy Nederland

Verwen jezelf met deze geweldige heldere Royal Blue jurk uit de jaren 80 met pure kant lange mouwen, Lace bodice met drop taille die leidt tot 2 rijen van prachtige ruches en bekroond met een grote strik. Front toont een boothals en valt in een v-vorm in de rug die leidt tot een 14 lange rits. Jurk

www.etsy.com

Basically anything my mom didn't like, I wasn't allowed to wear, anything form fitting, leather, or with fringe I wasn't allowed to wear, etc....and because my mom grew up in the 50s, her style was REALLY different from mine. My mom wore the same pleated, polyester pants in different colors every day with a button down blouse. I didn't like button-down blouses, I HATED floral prints....it felt like wearing curtains, or like I was wearing a bright marquee saying "Look at me!!!". Now I'm ok with some floral prints, but I'm kind of picky. But shopping was always difficult, because I wasn't allowed to buy anything she didn't like, even if I was using my own money. I had to buy my own clothes from the time I was 13, but mom had veto power. Mostly in high school, my wardrobe was baggy grey, hunter green, or blue sweatshirts and black pants. I really tried to be invisible.

My mom probably let me get away with a few too many things. She also wanted me to learn how to put stuff together, so there were a few days when I went to school in absolutely ridiculous get ups. Of course, one was picture day. In hindsight, it was the 80s and people should have been good with it, but I guess horizontal thick pastel stripes on a skort style jumper paired with black and red thin striped tights mixed with white gum sole ballerina flats probably was pushing it. I eventually learned, but I learned from those mistakes.

I could see how that would be very tough if that was her style she was OK with and wouldn't let you wear things she didn't like. I could also understand trying to be invisible if she was pushing you into clothes you didn't like.

I love the cake! I think it looks great. I've only seen snippets of Dr. Who, but my husband watched it, and my daughter watched for a while.

Hopefully the car business will be taken care of soon!

I found a new driving instructor today. I did a couple of test lessons with different schools, and I liked the guy this morning a lot. He's very mellow, and very kind, and gave me some helpful tips and didn't make me feel stupid for asking questions. My previous instructor had a kind of chip on his shoulder and acted like I should already know how to drive differently here. Like....you know how they do speed traps in the US, so you have to get your speed down before you reach a sign with the new speed limit on it. In my 2nd ever lesson, we were on a road that was 80 km/h, and were coming up to a 60km/h, so I started slowing down and the instructor says "Why are you braking?" And I said "Because the speed limit goes down there." And he said "Not until there!" And I said "Well, don't I need to be at that speed when I reach the sign?" and he says "Why??" And I said in America, we do. They set up speed traps. My instructor said "But where are we? Are we in America or are we in the Netherlands??" Like I should have known it was different here. How was I supposed to know that they don't do speed traps here? And that became a standard thing. Any time I would do something I would have done in the US, and he'd ask "Why did you do that??" And I'd say "Oh....is it not like that here? In the States, that's what we're supposed to do." and he'd say "But we're not IN the States. We're in the Netherlands!" And he'd just make me feel stupid for not knowing that they didn't do that here. Well if I knew all those things, I wouldn't need a driving instructor! I'm paying you to TEACH me these things, not judge me for being a foreigner!

The guy this morning wasn't like that at ALL, and he seemed genuinely interested in the differences. I explained that the driving style was different and I needed help changing the habits, and the speed traps came up and he just said "Really? Oh wow! No, they don't do that here." but he didn't make me feel like I was a bad driver just because I had learned a different way. And one of the things that my previous instructor wouldn't let me do, this guy told me I AM supposed to do that. I wasn't allowed to keep my foot on the break at a stoplight. I was only supposed to use the clutch, and it took me forever, and I still have problems remembering to take my foot off the break. But the guy today said I actually AM supposed to use the break, so that people behind me can see that I'm stopped. It was so different and so relaxed. For once I didn't come out of my lesson with jelly legs, and I don't think I will get an upset stomach every time I have a lesson anymore, either.

Thanks! My family watched Dr. Who when I was a kid and my husband and I got into it when it was brought back in the early 2000s. I don't necessarily love all of it, but I like the concepts and creativity.

That's great that you've got a new instructor. Hopefully things will go better this time now that you're with someone who gets it.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

All the talk about boots in this thread made me remember how I wanted the boots Madonna wore in Desperately Seeking Susan. I didn't/don't even like Madonna. But I remember seeing them on display (I want to say Bakers?) and thinking they were really sharp. My mom refused, and in retrospect, it was the right decision. I had to have been 11-12 at the time, so they were way too mature for me.

I remember Bakers! I seem to remember all of the lace and eyelet pattern booties becoming popular around the time of that movie. Some had higher heels and some were kitten heels...if I'm remembering correctly. I think I was obsessed with a slightly different style bootie around that point and was pushing for those. So, I guess my mom missed out on being begged for Madonna heels

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It's been a week and it's only Tuesday. I will be the first to admit that I fell off the wagon with working out and eating well after starting off so well last week. I have to admit that kid stuff and car stuff has really messed with me and it's making it hard for me to want to do anything beyond eating cheese and all sorts of really bad things.

On Friday, I found out that my settlement check would be overnighted to my local VW dealership. While things are going to take some time to clear, enough of the $ DH gave me towards a down payment has cleared for me to go in with something. Still, I was hoping to get this ball really rolling yesterday. Unfortunately, as of last night, the service manager showed no receipt of the check. I reached out to VW corporate this morning and was informed it was delivered at 9:37am yesterday. The service mgr basically said the check was lost, so I spent much of my day working with him, corporate and trying to work out all of the what if's and scenarios if this check was truly lost. Some time around 1pm, they found the check and a couple of hours later, they got all of the closing info. So, I'm supposed to go in tomorrow to finish everything with VW, then it's off to the bank to deposit the check, and then it's off to buy a new car. The bank clearing process is still frustrating, but I should be able to apply everything that hasn't cleared at time of purchase to the loan principal before I ever make my first payment. So, it's frustrating, but it should have a happier ending by tomorrow.

Unfortunately, just when I thought all was going good...I get a call that my younger one was exposed to Covid and was being sent home to quarantine. She has to stay home for 7 calendar days and come back with a negative test OR stay home 10 days and be symptom free. She feels fine, but we'll need to watch her and keep her out of pretty much everything. Her coach was telling my husband something about 3-5 days when he got his kids back in school for exposure. I'm not sure how he did that since the website is very clear and reiterates what the nurse told me. I recall thinking they were back in the mix too soon after their exposure, and now I know I wasn't imagining it. We're already upset by the matter...no need to make it worse by creating a greater exposure risk by messing with the system. So, she's going to miss softball, her band function this weekend, a visit with grandma, etc.

 

[Songbird76]

Still nice and cool in my area, but that's going to change soon with warmer temps on the horizon. Yesterday, I took out a few capris from my spring/summer storage bin. Tried one on, and it was too big! I've dropped 15 pounds from last year, and I think a few inches, too. (It happened over a period of months; all I did was cut back on a lot of the junk I was eating, and kicked up my exercise routine. Guess it worked. )

Go you!! I've lost some, but I need to lose a lot more. What do you do for your exercise, besides walking?

 

[Songbird76]

Good riddance. How many lessons are you taking with the new instructor?

It depends on how fast I can correct the things I need to correct, but he seemed to think we could ask for a new exam date within a couple of weeks of when I start, if I take a couple lessons a week. The nice thing is they offer smaller packages of only 10 lessons, especially for people like me who have driven and taken lessons, but need a refresher or are switching from another school after failing a test. The school I was with before didn't do that. You had to buy at least 30 lessons, OR do individual lessons, which were more expensive. Since I drove in the US, we didn't think I'd need 30 lessons, and I don't think I would have if I'd had a different instructor. He just confused me to no end, and with the lockdowns, it wasn't consistent. I had 4 lessons, then there was a lockdown for 4 months when driving schools were forced to close. Then they opened up, I got through to a week and a half before I was scheduled to have my exam, and there was another lockdown for 3 months. It opened again a week and a half before my exam. So the lessons were sporadic, and my instructor gave me conflicting instructions. One time he'd tell me I should NEVER shift gears in a curve...but then when I'd be stopped at a stop light, turning, when it turned green he would keep telling me to shift to 2 and he'd say I could do that in the curve. Or he'd tell me I had to shift down for a speed bump, so then I'd go to shift down and he'd ask me why I was doing that. Or, because someone coming from the right has the right of way, as we were coming up to an intersection where there were bushes or something, I'd slow down because I couldn't see if something was coming and he'd say I didn't need to do that, so then next time, I wouldn't and he'd tell me I needed to slow down and take that intersection in a lower gear because I couldn't see around the corner. I'm still really really confused about those things. So the reason I failed the test was because I was driving too carefully, and I didn't seem sure of myself....that's because I'm so confused. And like...you are supposed to allow enough room between yourself and the car in front of you that you can react if they hit the brakes, but then they tell you not to hit the brakes yourself because it will scare the driver in back of you because they might not have time to stop. Well...I can't control the person in back of me if they are driving too closely and sometimes I'm going to have to brake. If the light turns yellow, I'm supposed to stop if I can. I can't do anything about the person behind me....that's his own responsibility. So I've been feeling like it's really confusing and unclear. I'm supposed to stop if the light turns yellow, but I'm also not supposed to hit the brakes because the person behind me won't be expecting it and it might cause an accident. Which is it? So that's what I need help with from this instructor....correcting all the confusion for me, and helping me make sense of the rules.

Hopefully it will only take around 5 lessons and we can get an exam date pretty quickly. That's another thing...my old instructor tried to scare me into taking more lessons. When the lockdown was extended, he sent me a message to say that all lessons through March 2nd were canceled and would resume March 3rd. I had a lesson scheduled for March 2nd. Per his message, that lesson was canceled and we rescheduled it for the 9th. My exam was March 11th. Then the week before the lockdown ended, it sounded like driving schools could maybe go ahead already on March 2nd, but I had already said I could work that day because my lesson was canceled. He sends me a message reminding me of our lesson. I tell him we canceled that and we had already rescheduled it. He says he still has it in his agenda. I tell him I have to work that day. He says no, I have a lesson and tells me to "keep in mind" that if I fail, I won't get a new exam date for at least 6 months. Well, I couldn't help it...he canceled the lesson and I was scheduled to work. So I ended up having to send him the message HE wrote that said that lesson was canceled...actually 2 different messages he sent saying that lesson was canceled. Then the government decided they couldn't open up until the 3rd anyway, so it was moot. Then he sends me another message saying that lesson is canceled. Yeah....it was canceled a month ago, Sherlock. So when I was looking for a new instructor, I asked one if there really was a 6 month waiting list for exam dates....she looked it up and I could have taken a test 3 days from then, or a week from then, or pretty much any time in May, or half of June. So that was complete bull that he told me to intimidate me, making me think I was going to fail and wouldn't be able to try again...to put pressure on me to schedule more lessons. So with luck, I could maybe have my license before the Summer vacation (starts in July) if I pass the test this time.

Sorry....long answer. Short answer is, hopefully I won't need too many. But even if I need a lot, this teacher is way nicer and doesn't confuse me or make me feel stupid, so I can handle it.

 

[Songbird76]

My mom probably let me get away with a few too many things. She also wanted me to learn how to put stuff together, so there were a few days when I went to school in absolutely ridiculous get ups. Of course, one was picture day. In hindsight, it was the 80s and people should have been good with it, but I guess horizontal thick pastel stripes on a skort style jumper paired with black and red thin striped tights mixed with white gum sole ballerina flats probably was pushing it. I eventually learned, but I learned from those mistakes.

I could see how that would be very tough if that was her style she was OK with and wouldn't let you wear things she didn't like. I could also understand trying to be invisible if she was pushing you into clothes you didn't like.



Thanks! My family watched Dr. Who when I was a kid and my husband and I got into it when it was brought back in the early 2000s. I don't necessarily love all of it, but I like the concepts and creativity.

That's great that you've got a new instructor. Hopefully things will go better this time now that you're with someone who gets it.

My mom picked out my clothes for me every day. I do remember a particularly ugly pair of kelly green slacks we had gotten as a hand-me-down, and they were really not in style and I fought her on that one. I was usually pretty....docile? But I was made fun of enough without adding that to it. And I remember my first day of 7th grade, because it was a new school and our school counselor had told us that the teachers had heard about our class and already hated us all, and that the seniors had vowed to give every one of us a swirley and the teachers weren't going to stop them. I was terrified and didn't want to stick out. My mom told me I had to dress up to "make a good impression" on my teachers, so I had to either wear dress slacks and a button down blouse, or a dress. I knew NO ONE was going to be wearing a dress, and the only pair of slacks I had was canary yellow. They were also hand-me-downs from one of the upperclassmen and she was shorter, but heavier than me. So the pants were a bit too short, but really baggy. And the only blouse that matched was yellow and white, wide stripes. I kind of looked like a rodeo clown, but it was that or a dress that looked like this but in purple.

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Everyone else was wearing stonewash jeans and tshirts. I was literally the ONLY girl not in jeans and I was teased mercilessly. Even my best friends, who were all LDS and conservative were wearing jeans. It was seriously embarrassing, and rather than making a good impression on my teachers, it made me look like....well I'm not sure, but it didn't make the impression she wanted. They weren't so much thinking "She looks like a nice girl who has been well-brought-up", but more "Oh my. That girl doesn't even know how to dress herself."

Your picture day outfit sounds classy! I remember having a huge fight with my mom when I was in first grade. It was "spirit week" for homecoming, and every day was a different dress up day. Crazy hair day, or hat day, or school colors day. Your class got points for how many kids were dressed up. One day was twin day, so you were supposed to find someone else to dress alike. So one of my friends and I wanted to dress alike and we kept asking each other "Do you have this? Do you have that?" And what we had in common was, we had both been in the Missoula Children's Theater production of Johnny Appleseed when they came to our town. So we both had a red Johnny appleseed shirt, and we both had pink corduroy pants. My mom didn't want me to go to school with pink pants and a red shirt. I told her I HAD to because that's what Khara and I both had, and it was for twin day! We wouldn't get points if I didn't dress up! My mom was so insistant that people would think she dressed me in mismatched clothing and they would think she was a bad mom. In the end, I threw such a fit she let me go in the clothes I picked out, and I don't think anyone was paying attention to the clashing colors...it was all about school spirit and all that mattered was that you dressed up for the theme that day. But oh man, I remember that fight. I asked Khara if her mom had told her she couldn't wear it....her mom hadn't said a thing. She picked out her own clothes every day. And that was when we were 6!! I didn't get to pick out my own clothes until high school and even then, I couldn't wear it if she didn't like it. How old were you when you wore the pastel striped jumper with the red and black striped tights?

 

[Songbird76]

It's been a week and it's only Tuesday. I will be the first to admit that I fell off the wagon with working out and eating well after starting off so well last week. I have to admit that kid stuff and car stuff has really messed with me and it's making it hard for me to want to do anything beyond eating cheese and all sorts of really bad things.

On Friday, I found out that my settlement check would be overnighted to my local VW dealership. While things are going to take some time to clear, enough of the $ DH gave me towards a down payment has cleared for me to go in with something. Still, I was hoping to get this ball really rolling yesterday. Unfortunately, as of last night, the service manager showed no receipt of the check. I reached out to VW corporate this morning and was informed it was delivered at 9:37am yesterday. The service mgr basically said the check was lost, so I spent much of my day working with him, corporate and trying to work out all of the what if's and scenarios if this check was truly lost. Some time around 1pm, they found the check and a couple of hours later, they got all of the closing info. So, I'm supposed to go in tomorrow to finish everything with VW, then it's off to the bank to deposit the check, and then it's off to buy a new car. The bank clearing process is still frustrating, but I should be able to apply everything that hasn't cleared at time of purchase to the loan principal before I ever make my first payment. So, it's frustrating, but it should have a happier ending by tomorrow.

Unfortunately, just when I thought all was going good...I get a call that my younger one was exposed to Covid and was being sent home to quarantine. She has to stay home for 7 calendar days and come back with a negative test OR stay home 10 days and be symptom free. She feels fine, but we'll need to watch her and keep her out of pretty much everything. Her coach was telling my husband something about 3-5 days when he got his kids back in school for exposure. I'm not sure how he did that since the website is very clear and reiterates what the nurse told me. I recall thinking they were back in the mix too soon after their exposure, and now I know I wasn't imagining it. We're already upset by the matter...no need to make it worse by creating a greater exposure risk by messing with the system. So, she's going to miss softball, her band function this weekend, a visit with grandma, etc.

That's a lot of stress! I don't blame you for wanting comfort foods. Maybe just try to limit it? Allow yourself to have it, just not as much as you might want?

So do all of you have to quarantine, or just her? My son's teacher for Mondays and Tuesdays has to quarantine because one of her kids had a friend over who turned out to have covid. He was supposed to go M-W-F this week, but had to stay home Monday because the teacher wasn't there. Will you get her a test to go back after 7 days or just wait the 10 days?

 

[Songbird76]

I got in almost 5 miles today. I took a scenic route through the park to the centrum to pick up my meds and then another roundabout way to get home, then went to the grocery store. It still says I haven't done 10,000 steps...I don't see how that can be accurate, but whatever. I should be at 10,000 by the end of the day.