What's the point?

A mom didn't like what was on the front of some t-shirts at a store.  I get that.  She felt that they may have violated city law for where they live.  I get that.  However, the article says,

"Plus, she plans on returning the t-shirts for a full refund at the end of the store’s 60-day return policy."

If she doesn't want kids to be purchasing the shirts that she believes are inappropriate, then why is she returning them?  Does she realize that when she returns them, the store will either resell them at a discount or send them off to an outlet for discount pricing?  Just because she purchased them and held them for 59 days, returns them on the 60th doesn't mean that they will light a match to them.  In fact, a big hairy deal being made out of it just makes people more curious and honestly makes people want the mom banned item more.

I'm just sayin'.

I am picky about what my daughter wears.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't allow words stamped across the butt and frankly think that a young child should not be wearing a bikini.  I also watch cuts of shirts and shorts.  That doesn't mean that I run all over and throw a fit about it, expecting children to wear Dugger-like bathing suits and skirts to their ankles.

Thoughts?

Calamity Day 8: It's all of my fault.

Yesterday, I knew that there was a big, fat storm coming.  I decided that if I placed my spring wreath on the front door, it would take notice and dissipate. 

 Just in case you wondered, it didn't.  In fact, I think that it made it worse.

 It could be worse.  My driveway has walls, but I'm certain that up north scored more.

Today I decided to put out my "Welcome Spring!" flag.  I mean, maybe the spring wreath wasn't hint enough.  You can blame me when the epic storm of the century rolls through.  

In other news, K had an optional volcano to build for extra credit.  "She's doing great in science," says Hubs.  "It's extra credit and those opportunities don't come by often.  We'll be building a volcano."  We did!

We didn't have brown paint and it was Sunday and we were being snowed upon with about 4" then.  None of us wanted to go out, so Hubs suggested some gray house paint.  I mean, if it's good enough for the house . . .  I had some leftover Modge Podge from when Aunt Donna decided that she was going to save all of the puzzles that the puzzler ladies built downstairs.  It took once and she decided that once was enough.  K sealed it.  It sat on the floor near the heat vent for a day.  It was time for lava.  Well, since it was extra credit, I asked K if she wanted it to be rainbowy with glitter.  SURE!  Rainbow and glitter it is.  It has to work and frankly, I think her teacher cares none about the colors.  

An update to K's recent illness is that despite having a negative rapid strep in office, today I was phoned by the nurse to say that it was positive and she needs antibiotics.  Huh.  We were all surprised.  

I end with, my your snows be small, your warmth be much and may we not float away by the end of the week when all of this melts.  If Noah comes rounding the bend, I'll let y'all know.  

It tasted as if I had just licked a horse's hoof.

K and I decided to do the cheese tour.  You see, when you visit Heini's Cheese Chalet, you get to sample all of their cheeses.  It is delightful!  Yesterday, I tried some different cheeses I hadn't tried before.  One was kefir cheese.

It tasted as if I had just licked the hoof of a horse that just walked through manure.  Hubs was laughing so hard at my reaction that I seriously think he was on the edge of crying.  Seriously, it tasted like fresh manure smells.  It tasted awful.

If I were at home, I would have spit it out.  Unfortunately, I had to continue to chew and swallow, hoping for a highly flavored cheese down the line.  Thankfully, there were a few with onion that killed the flavor.

Whew.  I know that people loved it, but I had to share my opinion.  If you like the taste of manure covered horse hooves, Kefir cheese just might be for you!

:cringing face:

The 17 Year Traditional Anniversary Gift: Furniture, Fever and Flu or Fugazi?

The short answer in my house is that neither I nor my husband went traditional.  He went to the local CD resale store and purchased 3 Fugazi CDs and a DVD for me for our anniversary.  One CD is called "Furniture," so he gets partial credit, right?  I gave him a gift card to said resale store and Resident Evil 6.

On to fevers and flu.  K woke up and told me that she hadn't slept well and was feeling like garbage.  I took her temperature later.  Yup.  102.4 F.  The weekend plans were canceled.  :(  She cried.

The traditional colors of the 17 year anniversary?  Yellow and turquoise.  Well, yellow is on my CD covers and turquoise is on his game cover.  That counts.  Right?

Fugazi and killing zombies.  Wouldn't work for most people, but it works for us.  Until then, we have a strep culture test awaiting us at the pediatrician's office.  Good times!

Happy Valentine's Day!

ETA:  K had a stomach virus that had an up and down fever (no Motrin involved) with a spike to 102.9 F.  She was kind of food sensitive for a few days, but is now back to nearly full speed.

The $10,000 challenge.

It made your eyes perk up and it brought you here to read a story.  No, it isn't some get-rich-quick thing.  It is a story of my husband asking my father for my hand in marriage.

Hubs went to ask my father for permission to marry me.  They talked about a great many things, including the fact that I believe that my father thought I was high maintenance.  (I'm not no maintenance, but definitely not high maintenance.)  In the end, my father told my husband that before he could marry me, he had to have $10,000 in the bank.  That's a lot to ask of a young man who just graduated from college and who was doing an internship.  Hubs was doing his internship through the Student Conservation Association at the local National Park.  He was making 50 cents an hour and working full time at the internship, if memory serves.  He was also working a job at a plastics company through a temp service so that he would have money to pay bills.  Despite all of this, he accepted the challenge.  He had one year.  We had already decided that we would marry the following Valentine's Day.

This started Hubs and I on the way to talking about finances and how to manage to save $10,000.00, have money to live on while paying for a wedding and I was still in school.

Hubs worked for The Davey Tree Company during the summer as a tech.  We agreed that whatever money he made, he would put away as much of it as possible.  I would pay for the wedding.

Then my wisdom teeth went south.  They needed to come out and while my parents had insurance for me, the balance left was $350.  I made payment arrangements with the oral surgeon's office.

We found a hall and loved it.  I made payment arrangements with them for the hall and food.

I paid an installment plan for my tuition.  All through college, I would pay as much as I could and take out as little as I needed in loans.

We agreed that we would get rid of all credit card debt before we got married.  Hubs had his credit card maxed out at all of $500 limit.  I had a card from Kaufmann's and a Visa card.  Neither one carried an overlyesque balance, but an agreement was an agreement.

October came and despite all of the different financial stuff we had going on, Hubs was able to present my dad with the savings passbook from the bank to prove to him that he was able to save $10,000.  My dad couldn't deny Hubs marrying me that coming February.

It was a crazy thought in the beginning, but 2 months after we were married, the wheel (yes, wheel) came off of my car, whirled through the air and landed on the front lawn of a local country club.  Damage to my car was $1400.  4 months later, Ohio eCheck blew my motor.  I still owed $3700 on my car.  We had to pay it off and get a new car.  We could only afford to lease a compact car, but we eventually bought that car after lease and  kept it for 16 years.

This is where I tell you that the money that my dad made Hubs save came in handy.  We had a savings from wedding gifts, too.  Still, it was nice to have it.

2 1/2 years after we were married, we bought a house.  We put a down payment on that house and though it wasn't a huge down payment, it came from that initial savings of money we had.

Many things have come up through the years, but we've continued to have savings.  We've had money stowed away in an account that we ignore.  My dad insisted that it all start that way and while it seemed like it was a tall order to ask of a new college graduate and a college student, but we managed it and we were glad to have it.

So my engagement was tagged with a $10,000 challenge.  We won! :)

Hooray for new brakes!

My brakes were making a weird grinding noise.  I couldn't tell if some large clot of snow or ice had gotten caught up in the wheel or if it was a bad brake thing.  I brought it up to my brother, my brake repair guy, a couple of weeks ago.  It was then that the weather went straight back down to -10.8 F.  Two weeks passed and I felt something grinding.  I gave him a text.  He texted back.  He got to business yesterday.

After several hours later in an unheated garage with the door wide open, having given us a lot of time to talk, he replaced the front brake pads, the back rotors and pads.  He said if it would have gone much longer, I would have had to use those front rotors we bought just in case.

Parts were $150.  I asked what I owed.  He said $40.   I paid $75.  (Hazard pay.)  He didn't want to take it, but I made him.  It was slave labor wage given what he did.  He even changed my windshield wiper blades and ribbed me for what the driver's side blade looked like.

I ripped it.  A lot.  I ended up pulling hunks of ice off of the blade and shredded it.

It's all fixed now!  Hooray for stopping!

Of kitties, cold and grades.

Miss Leia has extra toes.  We call them fingers since they are on the front.  Well, little miss thing uses these extra fingers as thumbs.  The opposable kitty thumbs are used to help her to grab things like the scroll work bowl holder (spilling water) and allowing her to take the clip off of the cat food bag, allowing her unlimited access to the bag of food causing her to get kitty food drunk.

Good times.

I purchased a latching lid container to foil those kitty thumbs only to find that Hubs forgot to put the lid on, giving Miss Kitteh full access to the food-- again!  UGH!

The lid ain't gonna work if we don't use it people!

It was -3.6 F when I woke up on Friday morning with a biting wind chill and wonder of wonders-- WE HAD SCHOOL!  Color me shocked.  My cousin said that her daughter's teacher told her that the kids had to stop missing school and that they just needed to get used to the cold.  At this point, it's not getting any better.  We're in a cycle and it's cold.  Above zero feels like a breezy day, so it is what it is.  My coat is filthy because it has been too cold to risk washing it and not drying it fully before I have to go out again.  K's is the same.  In fact, I'm going to try to sneak them into the wash here in just a bit.

To note, I did double check with the office staff and our guidance counselor to make certain that all kids have coats and that they don't need any.  I reminded them that the PTA has money set aside for such things and if they need, please let us know.  We don't want any child running around without a coat.  Brrr.

Finally, I try not to be a big horn tooter with this because we know where we've been and how it feels to be there, but look at what K brought home:

The "O's" stand for outstanding and they are for social skills and study habits.  :)

How a year and a different teacher makes a HUGE difference!  Her prize from me?  2 Harry Potter books and a new balloon air pump.  What did Dad get her to celebrate the occasion?  A new whoopee cushion.  :insert rolling eyes:  Needless to say, she loves it!  She actually loves all of them.  So proud of all of her hard work!

ETA:  The coats are laundered!  HOORAY!