Well, we’ve been without a car for an entire weekend now.  I’ve gotten over the shock of temporarily losing my driving privileges, and now I’m moving into “okay, let’s deal with it” mode.

On Saturday, my kids and I had a big “adventure” and took the bus to do a fairly large shopping trip (had to take everyone with me so we’d have enough hands to carry full bags back home on the bus).  It actually didn’t go too badly, and my kids thought it was cool how simple it is to get around by bus here locally.  When you have easy access to your own transportation, I guess you just don’t really think about the fact that it’s still possible to get around without a car of your own.

Anyway, the kids were laughing as we walked home from the bus with our grocery bags in tow.: “Being without a car has changed shopping from just a simple errand into a well-planned family activity!”

It’s also forced life to move at a slower pace.  We either need to walk where we’re going or we need to plan around the bus schedules.  There are also no spur-of-the-moment “let’s hop into the car and make a quick trip through the drive-thru” excusions on lazy days, either.  Everything thing needs to be planned carefully and thought through.

It reminds me a lot of when my kids were little and we only had one car in the family … I was “trapped” at home every day while my husband was at work, but it really never felt like being trapped.  We just ended up doing a lot of walking — to the park, the library, the store, the coffee shop, McDonald’s.

I’m looking into using one of those grocery delivery services for heavy items (cat food, kitty litter, canned goods).  The delivery cost is about equal to the cost of round trip bus fare for the four of us, so it won’t really be any more expensive to have our major grocery items delivered than to do the shopping ourselves.  But we’ll have to make it regularly to the one store in town that carries the gluten-free products my daughter needs.

My oldest daughter was also looking for a job this past week, and after receiving a number of job offers, she wound up picking the place that was the easiest to get to on her own using her feet, her bike, or the bus.  Funny how this is effecting so many various parts of our lives.

My kids are also quite proud of how “green” we are right now — using public transportation, walking places, using reuseable cloth grocery bags.  So we’re doing our part for the environment, too. 

Yes, it’s frustrating on many levels.  But it’s also been interesting and educational to be forced into seeing what it’s like to live without access to personal transportation.  It’s not only possible, it actually has some definite benefits, as well.

I was on my way to a funeral yesterday when I got pulled over for expired license tabs on my van.  Ugh.

The tabs had only expired a couple of days before, so it shouldn’t have been that big of a deal.  Or so I thought.  But much to my surprise, the police officer suspended my driver’s license right then and there because of an old traffic ticket I’d forgotten to pay (going 22 in a 20 mile per hour school zone … one of those photo things “caught” me going 2 miles over the speed limit on a day when school wasn’t even in session because of a summer vacation … oy, don’t even get me started about THAT one).

Anyway, I really thought I’d paid it ages ago … but evidently not.  So now my license is suspended at least until the 24th of this month when I have a court date. 

As if things aren’t crazy enough around here already, now this.  And it’s my own stupid fault, too.  That just kills me.

The officer was just about as unpleasant as he couldn’ve been, too.  It scared me really badly because his demeanor reminded me a lot of the way my husband would act just before one of his full-on rages would kick in.  I became so flustered and scared, I couldn’t even find my car registration or my proof of insurance!  I actually do have both, but when I couldn’t find them, that set the officer into “Mr. Unpleasant” mode even more.  He made it quite clear he thought I didn’t have either one.

So between the stress of being pulled over, being told my license was suspended, trying to find a way to get myself and my car back home, missing the funeral of a friend, etc., etc., I also had to deal with the weird stress response that the officer’s demeanor generated in me.  Just thinking later about how the man was standing and his tone of voice was enough to make me start hyperventialting and crying.  I’ve never had that response before.  Even looking at the photo I uploaded for this post just now had me feeling like my breathing was getting tight.  This is so not fun.

And here I thought that I was doing so well after all those years and years of stress and trauma I endured.  But now, out of the blue, I’m feeling almost incapable of even following through on basic things some days (like paying traffic tickets, I guess).

:::sigh:::

Hopefully this is just a phase … just part of the healing process.  Prayers would definitely be appreciated, though!

It was surprising to find that the last posting I made to this blog was way back near the beginning of September.  So much for my good intentions about posting more frequently.

It was a crazy month.  Here are some of the highlights (and low lights, too) with a few prayer requests sprinkled in for good measure:

1) A friend of mine conducted an all-day educational workshop at my church.  We had about 70 educators and parents from around the Puget Sound area join us for a great time of teaching, inspiration, information … and lunch (it was a great day all around, wasn’t it, Kristina?).  Folks drove in from as far away as Yakima in Eastern Washington, and up from Portland Oregon, and even from Blaine near the Canadian border.  We had one lady plan on coming all the way from Singapore(!) but she wasn’t able to get a flight into the States on the right dates.

2) My uncle died two weeks ago.  He was the husband of my aunt who passed away on Mother’s Day.  Please pray for my cousin, Carol (an only child), who’s now lost both her parents this year.

3) I’ve been researching a lot about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Ugh.  (Don’t ask.)

4) My phone was disconnected for a bit.  Rather a bummer when it’s the source of my Internet connection, email, etc.  Anyway, it’s back on again now, thank goodness.  There are times when I really hate being dependent on so many various small sources of income just to make my basic monthly payments … sometimes if even one small check comes late, it throws everything into turmoil.  Everything should be back on schedule now.  Prayers for continued financial provision appreciated.

5) I took a post off of this blog that was receiving the lion’s share of visits.  I knew that it wasn’t giving me an accurate idea of how many regular people visit this blog, because that one post alone would garner as many as 500 hits per day from web searches (people looking for kitten photos, believe it or not).   And I knew it wasn’t translating from hits into new visitors because it was mainly children.  Anyway, now that the kitten page is gone and those searches have stopped coming this way, it’s amazing how small the numbers are now for the visitor count.  But it’s accurate … and I know it’s people who are actually reading the content, not just looking at kittens and then moving on.

6) Speaking of kittens, a neighbor’s cat had kittens under my house AGAIN this month!  After bringing the feral kittens inside so we could tame them and find homes for them, we’ve FINALLY been able to board up the opening under the house so this situation shouldn’t happen again.  I love kittens … but I DON’T love having a kitten “garden” growing under the house … especially when they’re kittens from someone else’s unspayed cat.

7) A friend of mine’s husband was in a serious car accident last week.  It was such a traumatic reminder of how none of us know what the future holds … in a single fleeting moment, everything can change.  Her hubby’s basically all right although it sounds like he broke and bruised his entire body.  It’s truly a miracle that he survived.  Pray for Bob’s continued healing.

8.) A sweet woman from our church passed away this week.  Marilyn will be missed by many … she was one of those people who always had a smile for me.  She made me feel special and like it made her happy just to see me each Sunday.   She wasn’t an overly perky person or anything annoying … but I just always felt like she was on “my team,” if that makes any sense.  People who can cheer you up and make you feel like your being in the room matters, just by looking you in the eye, are a rare thing.  She’ll be dearly missed.  Pray for her family and friends during this time of grief.

9) I started teaching a Sunday morning youth Bible study during the Sunday School hour each week.  Sort of a basic intro to the Bible and a survey through Philippians.  I’m really grooving on it.  I hope the kids are enjoying it, too. 

10) My favorite Oldies radio station changed format into a talk radio station.  Ugh.  I really, really miss their playlist.  None of the other local stations have it quite right for my family’s taste.  Nothing like a good Oldies station to sing along with while driving around town.

11) Our church is conducting the Alpha program this year, a ten-week basic introduction to Christianity.  Our first week’s session went really well last Wednesday.  There’s still time to sign up, if you’re in the area.  :-)  Pray for the Alpha leaders and the various folks attending the classes and discussion.

Well, that’s all for now.  Gotta run … but I thought I’d at least let you all know I’m still around and give you a brief update of sorts.

Keep on keepin’ on …

~Debi

• Shameless Self-Promotion Month (okay, here you go)
• Update Your Resume Month (oh, I hope I don’t actually need to anytime soon)
• National Rice Month (visit this site to donate rice & improve your vocabulary)
• National Preparedness Month (always a good idea)
• National Potato Month (recipes)
• National Chicken Month (more recipes)
• National Mushroom Month (I am SOOOOOOOO allergic!)
• Mold Awareness Month (more allergies)
• Library Card Sign-Up Month (King County Library System)
• Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month (All RIGHT!!  Now we’re talking!)
• Baby Safety Month (babycenter.com)
• National Honey Month (did you know honey is the only food that doesn’t spoil?)

And the first week of September is …

• National Waffle Week (Belgian waffles, please)

I pasted in the text from my blog post, “Where Things Stand Today,” and this is the graphic that Wordle made for me.  Wow.  It’s like a snapshot of my life.  (Just click on the Wordle below if you want to see a larger image.)