More Driving Lessons

When I was 16 and had my license for 13 days I was making a left turn onto an on-ramp, misjudged how much time I had, and a car hit me. The poor couple that hit me was getting married in a couple days and I believe their car had to be towed. It was my fault and I received a ticket for “failure to yield right of way”. My dad was so kind and went with me to a driving class that took some money off the ticket amount and some points off my record.

Yesterday I was sitting as a juror in a criminal case of “reckless driving that resulted in an accident which caused injuries” for a 21 year old who made a left turn in front of a couple and their two children. I was grateful that my ticket was so minor and could really feel for the defendant and felt sorry for him. We all make mistakes and here he was facing criminal charges against him. I’m not exactly sure why they were criminal charges, but I do know he did not have insurance (he said he thought his mom had it on him) and the couple that hit him did not realize they did not have uninsured insurance. If the defendant was found guilty then the victims could receive compensation for the car that they had saved up to buy and had $11,000 worth of damages.

The defendant had a spinal cord injury which really messed up the way he walks and a supposed brain injury that caused long and short term memory loss. This memory loss allowed him to not remember much about the accident, except that the light was green for him. The wife in the other car had injury to her knees and still has pain 17 months later and their son had a head injury too. The other 5 jurors and I found the defendant guilty. The judge was very nice and talked to us afterwards. She said he could get 90 days for reckless driving and a year for causing injuries, but she couldn’t see sending him to jail, so I’m not sure what, if any, punishment he’ll get, except restitution.

So this is what lessons I learned and relearned from being a juror on this case:
1. Drive carefully, especially when flustered and you miss the road you were to turn on
2. Drive defensively
3. Wear your seat-belt (I don’t know if the defendant did or not)
4. Have insurance
5. Have uninsured insurance
6. Do not immediately admit guilt if you are in an accident
7. Being on a jury is an interesting, educational process and really isn’t all that bad. I would love to do it again, as long as it wasn’t longer than a few days.

Mice

I was making dinner yesterday and I could hear a noise coming from the corner cabinet area. "Great, another mouse". K had told me earlier that she thought she heard a mouse. She even told me how she wanted to make a trap to catch one alive. She went through all the details of how she would do it with a box and string and wood.
We've killed a few mice in this house. I won't go in the gross details of the one that was still alive and couldn't escape, because it was still attached to a trap, or the one that killed itself by gnawing on our dishwasher's electrical wire and we found it through its smell. We even had a baby mouse that was suppose to be eaten by a pet ball python. The snake wouldn't eat it for some reason, so we ended up nursing it with a syringe for 5 days until it died.
So back to the story of yesterday. I decided I'd better sweep the floor and take care of the bag of garbage on the floor that was waiting to be taken out and set out some traps. I cautiously grabbed for the trash can under the sink to put a new bag in it, because I didn't want to be startled by any mice that might be behind it. I didn't have to worry about that though. There was a mouse IN the trash can. I screamed very loud and the girls hurried downstairs. The poor little thing was so scared that it kept on trying to jump out of the can. Yes, they can jump pretty high for being so little. This freaked me out even more. It calmed down a bit. So I calmed down a bit, seeing that it didn't seem like it could jump out, or it would have jumped out before.
It is a young mouse and I think it must have somehow got into the trash can from crawling on the sink pipes. The girls were trying to convince me that we should keep it. I could just imagine all the diseases and germs that it had. I couldn't just outright kill it though. We gave it a couple drops of water, some food and put a mesh tank cover over the can. I decided that we'd take it to the field today and let it go. The problem is that after having temperatures of up to 70 this week, it quickly dropped to highs of 9 degrees the past couple of days. I just couldn't be so mean to a baby mouse and let it freeze, so for a couple of days, until it warms up a little, we have a "pet" mouse named Jack (in-the-box).

Potty Talk

The other day M asked "What happens when you get flushed down the toilet?" I tried to reassure her that she couldn't get flushed down the toilet. I even showed her how in the toilet the hole was just too small. "But what if just your arm or leg gets flushed down?" I told her that it couldn't, because they wouldn't come off her body. I'm not sure she was convinced.

Class of 2022

Today I had to go early to register M for Kindergarten. I wanted to get her in the A.M. class, so I made sure to get there right when they started at 7:00 a.m. When I arrived, there were people who had already filled out the paperwork and were standing in line to hand it in. They had obviously started a little early and I heard that people had been there since 5:30! I guess others really wanted to be sure they got a certain class. It's the a.m. and all day kindergarten classes that fill up first. We have open enrollment, so others come from other school boundaries, but they have to be put on a waiting list.
I also volunteered in M's preschool class today. It was fun seeing how they learn through play. They write and draw what they are going to do in a chosen center. They are already learning to separate the words and sound out parts of the words they are writing. I think when I was going to school we were just learning the alphabet in kindergarten! M loved being the line leader, because I was the volunteer parent and we had fun playing with the wooden train track and trains. I also had the "privilege" of having a little girl sitting next to me (not M) lean over and wipe her nose on my arm. Luckily I had long sleeves, but EWWWWW!!!!

Mia Maids

AC was made the Mia Maid 1st counselor today. Actually 2 weeks ago she was, but today she was officially set apart. I also gave my first lesson today. I guess it went okay. It was titled "Jesus is the Christ". I read the last stanza of this Hymn, but I really like the whole thing. I often read through it during the sacrament.

Reverently and Meekly Now

Rev’rently and meekly now,
Let thy head most humbly bow.
Think of me, thou ransomed one;
Think what I for thee have done.
With my blood that dripped like rain,
Sweat in agony of pain,
With my body on the tree
I have ransomed even thee.

In this bread now blest for thee,
Emblem of my body see;
In this water or this wine,
Emblem of my blood divine.
Oh, remember what was done
That the sinner might be won.
On the cross of Calvary
I have suffered death for thee.

Bid thine heart all strife to cease;
With thy brethren be at peace.
Oh, forgive as thou wouldst be
E’en forgiven now by me.
In the solemn faith of prayer
Cast upon me all thy care,
And my Spirit’s grace shall be
Like a fountain unto thee.

At the throne I intercede;
For thee ever do I plead.
I have loved thee as thy friend,
With a love that cannot end.
Be obedient, I implore,
Prayerful, watchful, evermore,
And be constant unto me,
That thy Savior I may be.

Hymn #185

Swimming again

We went swimming again today, but as the whole family. We were having fun playing and such, but after just 50 minutes they made everyone get out and go to the locker rooms. The fire department was there and we found out it was because of high level of gasses in the pool areas. Probably chlorine or something. The youngest two were very disappointed, but we were able to get a rain check, so we can go back in the next little while for free. M said on the way home "I know why there must have been so much gas. Because too many people (passed gas)".

Calvin and Hobbes

AR decided to re-enact a scene from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. Here we have snowman #1 bowling with snowman #2's head

Close up of #2's head and the bowling pins.

Close up of snowman #1 and #2 looking for his head.

The next day, #1 had fallen over and his head was smashed a little. I think #2 pushed him over for revenge :)