Defensive Driving.......it can save your life!

Well as I mentioned last night I spent all day Thursday at a defensive driving course...paid for by work. It was fantastic and I feel so much more confident.....although it was a very scary and stressful day.

It started at 7.30am....we began with information about seat adjustment, airbags, steering, seatbelt and mirrors. Do you ever drive crossing over your hands?.....DON'T. They explained that if you were in an accident with your hand over the middle of the steering wheel and the airbag is triggered the injury you can suffer is extreme...not only will it shatter your wrist but the skin on your arm!!!!! I won't say any more except make sure you use the push/pull method to steer from now on.

Then we moved on to emergency braking.....thank god I have ABS brakes and don't have to worry about locking up my wheels....makes life so much easier trust me. We had to drive down a hill....to get the car up to 60Km....then drive straight towards the instructor and keep driving until he drops his hand to tell you to stop. It was so unsettling and scary to drive your car straight at someone.....I was so tense after it....but I know that I can safely stop my car in an emergency....hopefully stopping on time or at least reducing speed to reduce the severity of the impact. Then we practiced driving at the same instructor but the time for stopping was reduced so we needed to brake and steer around the obstacle....but stop before hitting the witches hats. This was to simulate a situation where a child might unexpectedly come out onto the road. A very good skill to get perfect.

Next we moved onto doing all the same emergency braking but with water spread all over the road....the instructor also indicated whether you needed to stop straight or brake and turn left or right.....this really increased the reaction time and made it seem all the more real....you have to make split second decisions...that can really save your life.

After lunch we had a demonstration of stopping distances....really I know all the theory about distances it takes to stop but to see it for real in front of you is very confronting. It can take you up to about 2-4 seconds to actually start braking once you realise that you need to....this time actually significantly increases the distance to stop. When John the instructor demonstrated driving with his foot near the brake...this halved the distance needed to stop...simply because it removed the reaction time. Therefore if you drive towards obstacles with the idea that you might need to stop...e.g. when there is a pedestrian....approaching the lights, driving over a hill etc....when you know that it is all safe then you go back to acceleration....really you won't loose anything but if you need to stop it could make all the difference. It was also hard to argue with the need to have 40km zones around schools....the ability to stop at this speed is undisputable and you save so much distance.....to see it in real life is just amazing! I think this demonstration should be part of ALL driver training. It is one thing to read it in a book but to see it in real life has so much more impact. Also part of this demonstration was the distance needed between cars.....you need to leave at least 2 secs....if not 3. This distance will mean that you could stop in time without hitting the car in front of you....any less than that time and there is no way you can stop.....the car that was following at a shorther distance ended up stopping 5 m past the other car....this would have been a really serious impact in real life.....if you value your life and the life of your love ones please don't tailgate.

The last activity was the skid pan....this is a concrete track that they pump water all over and then to make sure you skid they added diesel to the mix. You then drive around at 40Kms, when I started I could feel a little slippery but did not really skid....yeah! but that was not the aim of this activity so the instructor got into my car and off we went. On the first corner as I was turning he pulled the handbrake on.....the car skidded and I ended up spinning 180 degrees to face the other way. I had remebered to steer correctly but forgot to keep accelerating. My initial reaction was to try to stop....so then we kept going...the next time was better....I just ended up driving over the grass and then practicing again and again....eventually your brain learns what is needed to be done and I could easily recover. I hope I never have to use this skill in real life but it is so reasurring to know that I can deal with it if it happens.

After finishing off at 4pm I was exhausted but what a fantastic day!!!! I learnt lots of skills that could end up saving my life. I highly recommend this course to anyone who drives their car with thier precious loved ones...the skills you learn could end up avoiding an accident or minimising impact of one.

Bargain Craft Desk Upgrade

On Thursday I went on a Defensive Driving Course for work (OMG! what an experience....I will blog about that next) but on the way home I stopped off at IKEA. I didn't really need anything...just wanted to have a look and think about something else besides driving. I had dinner there for $3.95 (Chicken Schnitzel) and bought a few things. Before I leave I always check out the discount area...ad that's where I found 2 sheets of glossy white laminate (I think they might have been inserts for cupboard doors but I thought they would make a fantastic top on my craft desk.

Now for those of you who don't know I made my craft desk from 2 chests of drawers and a painted door....the door is attached with brackets to the top of the drawers. It has proved very successful as a desk excpet for the painted surface...I don't know why but it has always been difficult to clean and things get stuck to it. So let's hope the laminated panels will change that. The above photo is of the desk before I started.

Then I removed everything...looks good when there is nothing on it don't you think?

Then I attached the laminate sheet with the sticky strips that come from the 3M removable hooks. If I am happy with it I am thinking about making it permanent with liquid nails. There is a small gap left at the back of the desk but with all the stuff on there I don't think it will be a problem. When I stuck on the second piece....there is a gap of 2 cm left at the edge too....wow! an almost perfect fit. I'm glad I didn't have to cut any off.

This is what it looks like all finished. I have covered the join in the middle with my craft mat and stampin up desk sheet.

I think it looks great....now how much did this revamp cost... a whole whopping $8. Yep! that's right it was $4 for each sheet. Really was a bargain.

Isn't it cute

On Tuesday I went to school to help Annette (not sure if I was actually any help, but I enjoyed chatting and catching up). After we had finished I went shopping....I'm looking for a new lounge suite that includes a sofa bed so I went to Everyday Living and Aussie Living at Morayfield. Now I didn't find what I wanted in terms of a lounge but came home with this.....

Isn't he cute???? Looks good in my white display cupboards (which are now finshed and I will take a photo soon to show you the end result)

Lego Land

When my nephew turned 4 I bought him large box of mixed lego pieces and a lego crane...I also sewed a storage bag (large 1.5 m circle with rope and eyelets to draw it up into a bag). He loved his lego and it was decided that lego toys were something that Nanna, Poppy and Aunty Peta would buy each Birthday, Christmas etc....to keep building the collection. Jaxon loves this and many a Christmas has been spent with him building the newest addition....trucks, cars, boats etc.

Last Christmas we bought him a whole police station playset and posted it to him in Cairns. Earlier this year he mentioned to Nanna that he had seen a police helicopter that he would love for his birthday. Every time I go shopping I look out for a police helicopter but have been unable to find one.

I then thought I would check out the internet and found it on the lego website for $14.99 AUD....I thought that was really reasonable but postage was set at $25. However if you bought up to $100 AUD the postage was only $30 in total.....so being a good Aunty I decided to buy more stuff to go with the helicopter so ....I got a Dump truck, Off road fire engine, Speed Racer and a Tow truck all for less than the $100. Now I just need to sit back and hope that it all arrives safely....so that my mum and dad can deliver it when they go to Cairns later in the year for his birthday.

Karcher Dramas

Before I start this blog entry we need to rewind to April 2009. I went t0 Bunnings to buy myself a Karcher. Then man in the shop talked me into buying the model up from the basic one....it was about another $45 but it came with another nosel and a longer hose etc and a 2 year warranty. I just loved it I managed to clean all the concrete paths at my unit and a large section of driveway out the front of my unit...then I leant it to my dad who used it to clean lots of their concrete and the caravan. It hasn't been used since then.

Now back in February I got it out to clean a carpet mat and it was broken.....what a shit!!!!After weeks of searching for the docket I returned it to Bunnings who just said yep! no problem leave it with us and we will send it off for a repair. It was back in just a week....very impressed........BUT not for long.

Got it home used it for about 15mins and then it broke again. So back to Bunnings I went....after lots of time spent waiting for the lady to serve me it was taken to be sent back for repair. I got a phone call the day after to say they had spoken to the Karcher Rep and they would make sure it was fixed ASAP. Then 2 weeks go by and I have heard nothing.

I really wanted to get my outside area cleaned over the holidays so I went off to Bunnings on Tuesday to find out what was happening. The lady tried to phone Karcher while I waited but they didn't answer. So I left with the promise that she would follow it up and get back to me. I did get a phone call back but the lady said that Karcher didn't know where it was and would look into it and ring me. Wednesday arrives and I have heard nothing so I go back to Bunnings.

The lady phones Karcher who said it was dispatched from them a week ago and to wait while they chase it up with the courier. The courier said it was delivered to Bunnings on 3oth March and it was signed for by a staff member. So then I was told they would just go out the back to look for it and it won't be long. 20 minutes and a cranky face later the lady comes back to tell me they can't find my Karcher in the store so I can just have a new one. WOW! that blew me away....rather than put me off again I walked out of the shop with a brand new Karcher....now that changed the look on my face...I am very happy with a new one.....and I have now cleaned all my front outdoor area. Very Happy!!!!!