Pet Peeve Time

It's time for another airing of the pet peeves so maybe I can stop stewing over it (well, at least a little bit).

• I get that the weather up here is typically pretty mild. I get that you can leave your dog in the car most of the year without worrying about them overheating. But I'm sorry, it's NOT okay to leave your 5 or 6 year old in the car alone. Aside from them being big enough to wander off, or accidentally put the car in gear, or be kidnapped, or be inadvertently kidnapped if someone steals your car, I assure you that the inside of your car will very rapidly warm to unsafe temperatures when it's sitting in the sun and it's 90 degrees outside. The relatively mild weather does not magically protect you from this heating phenomenon us Texans know so well.
  
• Scary homeschool people. I've talked to quite a few nice, down to earth homeschoolers (really, they exist! I hope I'm one of them). What I haven't found is a homeschool message board or list serve that isn't completely overrun with outrageous, completely false email forwards. I'm not talking about people discussing opinions (which I'm WAY okay with), just generic forwards that would take all of 10 seconds to discredit. It scares me that these people are solely responsible for their children's education when they have so little discernment and/or fact-checking ability. Of course, I know plenty of teachers that pass on the same things, so it's a bit of a lose-lose.
• Towns using a major highway as a main thoroughfare. The only highway in this area goes right through town. It's mostly unavoidable if you want to go anywhere. Every weekend, it's nearly impossible to get around because that road is so busy and there aren't many left turn lights. Even worse, the speed limit through town is only 25, which the locals (I assume) adhere to while the vacationers that are just passing through (again, I assume) try to get away with 35 or 40, so the spacing between cars is all jacked up and openings in traffic are few and far between.
  
• Teenagers that think they're edgy and cool. Seriously guys, it was bad enough in College Station, but you live in a tiny town in Montana...you're about as non-scary as you could possibly get.
  
• People who habitually spend money on unnecessary things then claim they just can't make ends meet. It's called a budget. Make one, embrace it, save up for the things you're going to buy. If you choose to spend $300 a month on hair/nails/waxing/make-up (or a multitude of other non-food/shelter/medical care things), more power to you, just don't turn around and complain that you just CAN'T find the money for something else you want. The money was there, you made your choice, live with it.
• "West-Mex". What's up with that? You don't serve tater tots with a taco. I've yet to find decent Mexican food around here and I just don't have the energy to make my own enchiladas at the moment.