Why Nice Drivers Aren't Always Good Drivers

We've all appreciated the nice driver who paused among heavy traffic to let you make that right turn so you could join the hundreds of other drivers slowly inching their way among the streets to their destinations. Courteous, patient drivers, who are alert to their surroundings make a happier world...

Except for when the "niceness" goes too far. When the niceness leads to traffic jams and car accidents. That's when I sit in my car screaming, "Just drive people!" I encounter this a lot living in the Midwest, where people can be too polite for their own good.

For example, if two people pull up to a four-way stop sign and one person decides to be nice and wave the other person on, then that's nice. The other person should continue on their way, not insist they be the nicer person and wave the other ahead. This is one way a traffic jam happens at a four-way stop sign. Another way is when four people pull up to the stop sign (obviously coming four different directions) and the first person at the stop sign decides to politely wave another person forward. First, it would be faster for you to just keep driving than it would be to be polite, and second, just because you were the first person at the stop sign doesn't mean you get to choose who goes forward next. Everyone knows that it is whoever got to the the stop sign first.

Next example, someone is trying to turn left or right onto a busy road and is waiting for a break in the traffic. You are traveling down the road when you see this person trying to turn. You should not then stop in the middle of the street to let this person go ahead of you, this is how accidents happen. First, the people behind you might get impatient and try to go around you making it impossible for the person turning to try to turn. Second, if they are trying to turn left they have a whole other lane of traffic (moving in the opposite direction) to contend with. Third, there might have been a pause in traffic after you drove by (had you maintained the speed limit) that the said person was going to take advantage of, but because you slowed down and stopped in the middle of traffic you have not only confused the person, but you have allowed the gap to close with more traffic! You have done no one a favor by being polite. (Not to mention the potential fender-bender because you stopped in the middle of the road).

And don't even get me started on merging! I will just say, pay attention and let people in, and to the people merging, speed up and try your best to match the pace of the traffic.

With the holiday season approaching let us all practice good driving manners. Be patient and courteous, pay attention to what's happening around you, follow the rules of the road (remember that driver's license test you had to take oh so many years ago?), and most importantly stay safe.

We Are Golden Muffins

So, I was planning on ranting about the provocative Hot Mormon Muffins calendar. The "Hot Mormon Muffins: A Taste of Motherhood" calendar features 12 women who claim membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in vintage pinup picture poses. Each month also has a muffin recipe.


I was going to go on and on about the offensive way the calender's creator, Chad Hardy (the brain behind the controversial Men on a Mission calendar), is supposedly breaking down stereotypical barriers by parading about women who claim to be Mormon in next-to-nothing. I considered discussing all the different ways this is offensive to me, an actual Latter-day Saint mother, and how it drags the morals and reputation of the Church through the mud. Believe you me, I was planning on going on for quite some time.

...but then I figured y'all have already heard my opinion on the over-abundance of sex in the media, especially regarding women, and figured I'd leave the ranting to you in the comments. So, I threw that idea out the the window and instead, decided to share one of my very favorite songs and videos ever, We Are Golden by Mika (thanks Megan!).

I love basically anything by Mika, but this one in particular makes me smile. It takes me right back to the heady highs and lower-than-lows of the angst-ridden teenage years. Who doesn't remember dancing around the house with the music blasting? Whenever I turn this song on, I can't help but bounce around like I'm 16 again, much to my children's eternal amusement. I hope you love it even one iota as much as I do. Enjoy!

Must share

Okay, so I am probably a little too excited about this, but I just had to share with all of you other Moms, Moms-to-be, or friends of Moms who were wondering what would be the perfect gift to give this year.



It's a Bumkin waterproof bib! No, not just a bib, a practical t-shirt. With pockets to catch the food, a tie in the back (your kid will no longer be able to rip off the velcro), easy to clean, and comes in cute designs!

For more info click here.

I'll take the sex, hold the baby please.

It's no secret I like to have sex. I mean, really, who doesn't? (well, I suppose, nuns probably don't and any teenager probably shouldn't, but you know what I mean). It would seem, however, that there is one inconvenient side effect that comes with having sex...that would be children. As I've oh-so-recently done the whole three kids three and under thing, I'd reallllly like to avoid another adorable little side effect any time soon.


For the first time in nearly forever (or so it seems), I'm neither currently pregnant or nursing. Which, excitingly, opens up a vast array of birth control options. My husband and I have always been fans of (ahem) raincoats but, well, frankly the (double ahem) interruption* is starting to annoy me. The thought of all those interrupted fêtes between the bedsheets ahead of me is a little frusterating...so, on to Plan B...no, no, no, not the morning after pill, I meant something other than condoms.


Anyway, as I mentioned before, I have little to no experience in non-condom birth control, so I was hoping you'd share some of yours. In my particular case, I'd love to have something that is fairly low-hormone, as my family has a history of being hormonally uber-sensitive. Also, personally, I'm hoping for something that doesn't take all that long to leave the system because it won't be too too long before we'd like to start trying to conceive again (have no fear for my sanity, however, it isn't all THAT soon either). Whether your particular form of BC fits those restrictions or not, however, doesn't really matter, I'd still love to hear your opinion on all things contraceptive related...even if it's just that your sister's roomate's cousin got pregnant with an IUD in and the baby came out holding it in his hand (that's possibly a true story too ;). Do tell!


*TMI*TMI*TMI: When I kept on misspelling the word interruption in the second paragraph, my automatic spellchecker kept on bringing up the option of int-eruption...which, considering we're talking about sex here, amused me to no end. Just thought I'd share for the dirtier minded of y0u.

Sometimes I feel like this:

P!nk - Please Don't Leave Me (Official Video) HQ
Uploaded by GaGa-Vision. - See the latest featured music videos.

Let me explain: I'm 30 weeks pregnant and this pregnancy has been very hard on me and consequently on my husband. I haven't had much patience with people and since I can't lose it in front of strangers or with my son, my poor husband receives the brunt of everything. The sane part of me, the normal part of me, says "you're being crazy, just ignore the fact that he is chewing too loudly." But the insane-pregnant side of me says out loud: "Stop chewing!"

My husband is extremely patient and loving. He is a middle child and therefore a peacemaker. It takes a LOT for him to lose his patience, but for the first time in our marriage I've pushed him that far. Of course, all that comes of it is basically him telling me I'm being a butthead. He's right of course, and I feel awful. I want to do something special for him. Something that shows him how much I really do appreciate all of the support, patience, and love he gives me.

So I have two things to request from our readers: One, any ideas of something special I can do for him? Two, And please tell me I'm not the only one who acts crazy...

P.S. The video is kind of creepy, therefore appropriate with Halloween tomorrow...

Cleaning Gets Old

I'm having one of those days. I'm so burnt out you might as well scrape me off like blackened toast. So, for all the other moms out there..

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What young girl doesn't need a bustier?

Normally I'm a pretty laid back, tolerant, live-and-let-live type of girl. I don't feel it's my job to hoist my opinions and beliefs on other people (I can hear my husband laughing now;), especially as I realize in today's world not everyone believes as I do...but I really have to rant about something I find highly inappropriate.

I was wandering about the mall the other day when my attention was caught by these huge advertisements in a store's windows. The posters showed larger-than-life pictures of girls scantily dressed in lingerie-ish underclothing. I was a little surprised because I knew I wasn't near Victoria's Secret...and then I realized I was standing in front of aerie, American Eagle's under- lounge-, and exercise-wear branch. I was bothered by a few of different things while standing there slack-jawed in the middle of a crowded mall on a Saturday night.

1~The girls in the posters were obviously very young.
2~Said young girls were dressed in nearly nothing and what they were wearing could hardly be called age-appropriate.
3~Nearly naked, underage girls were posed very provocatively.
4~Provocative, semi-nude young girls had sexually-charged captions on their photos ("sexy," "flirty," etc.).
and finally...
5~This was all on the outside windows of a store geared towards young, teenage girls.

Honestly, my first thought was, "that's darn near close to child pornography." While I realize the poster girls weren't actually fully nude or engaged in sexual acts, the photos were still of underage girls who were dressed and posed waaay too sexually for their ages.

Then my thoughts moved toward the fact that aerie is a store that is aimed at young, underage girls. I couldn't help but wonder what message the advertisers are trying to send: If you shop here you'll be fun and flirty? How about, boys will think you're sexy if you're wearing our underwear? Regardless of their intentions, the message they're selling is SEX. I mean, really, most aerie shoppers shouldn't even be showing any boys their underwear, let alone buying lingerie! Statistics show that "when compared to teens who are not sexually active, teenage boys and girls who are sexually active are significantly less likely to be happy and more likely to feel depressed...[and] are significantly more likely to attempt suicide." Everyday, 8,000 teenagers in the United States become infected by a sexually transmitted disease. Not to mention that teen pregnancy is rampant. If anything, we should be telling our girls (and our boys too, for that matter) to say No, NO, NO not Go, GO, GO!

Instead, what's aerie telling our girls? No need to wait until marriage, or heck, even until you're emotionally mature enough to handle sex. Unwanted pregnancy? STDs? forgetaboutit. It IS all about being sexy and titillating and catching those young boys by the balls...and have we got *the* cutest pair of garter panties and matching bustier to get you on your way.