Toosday chat

. . . continuing Tina's rant: 

Agreed, those stories about people forgetting babies in the car are flabbergasting.  And even worse is when it's obvious the people DIDN'T forget about them -- they're just ignorant people who don't want to make arrangements for baby-sitters at home or something.  I can't remember if it was in Oregon or another state, but one story I always remember was about 2 kids who were left in a car for hours while the parent(s) gambled in the casino.  Seriously???

When you think of what some people have to go through to have children (or the people who want them but can't), it is just awful to think of how careless other people are with their kids, like they're just replaceable possessions. 

tacran

Jen, I hope you get the auto situation worked out before the weekend without having to buy a new one!  I can't imagine getting a new car on such short notice, but I'm one of those who has to analyze everything to bits, research, test drive, etc.  As for rentals, the Enterprise place here went out of business.  I assumed the whole company did, but maybe they just closed some locations.

They did close some of the locations, and one of the ones near here did close. They took my car in and haven't called me yet with any info, so around 2 I'll just go over anyway because I did tell them I needed it by 2 and take it either way. If it's getting the repair, I'll take a rental on my trip and leave it. I'm not totally doing this on a few days notice. It's a 13 year old car with 244000 miles on it. Also, I was looking around a bit previously with the car I used to have, because that one was also being kept around on the condition of keeping it till a major repair was needed. So, I've had an idea in mind of what I might be looking for a good 6 months. The thing now is that since I may need it quick, I may not be willing to drive out as far to check things out. There is a car I considered, but there is nothing at a dealership nearby. The dealerships have later hours than the car lots, so at least to look, I probably need to check out the dealerships. The nearest dealerships with some of my considerations are just too far to drive out to just to test drive. Actually, if I were buying this week, it would very likely be one of the two I just looked at based on what's available around the area. I thought about renting and buying next week, but then I thought if I am going to have to buy anyway, maybe I should just try to get this done and not put money into a rental if I am buying something new. The tricky part is, I can go back tomorrow to test drive and negotiate stuff if I were going to do it, but then I need my mechanic to look at one of the two if I go with it. So, maybe that could be Thursday or Friday during the day. I am done early enough tomorrow to do this. I work until 6 on Thursday, so I suppose this it's doable. I work until 2:30 on Friday, and my friend will be back at 4:30. I want to get on the road as soon as she gets here so that we aren't traveling till some odd hour of the morning. I also have no clue if my dad is available to come with me tomorrow, but I guess I can test drive without him.

My neighbor kids dumped their bikes in our parking spaces again. If my car were here...

 Karen, I have a meeting with FEMA tomorrow morning. I'll ask them where the money is ;) joking aside, I don't know if their program is anything like ours, but our agency is set aside an emergency relief budget for the entire year. Once that budget is maxed (which doesn't take more than one or 2 disasters), it takes an act by congress to get the budget increased. We all know how difficult it is to get anything out of congress these days, so that is typically where the hold up is. For us, emergency relief money could take years to get once we reach that budget cap. So, pay attention to news articles that have to do with emergency relief budgets for disasters. I never used to pay much attention to them until I started managing our ER program. Now I finally get it.

I guess that means we should all try and avoid being involved in a natural disaster (stop that tornado at the border, we're broke!!) if the budget cap for our area has been reached.  lol  It's ridiculous that we can spend so much money on so many worthless programs but when people are in desperate need, we can't somehow figure out a way to get them some help.  This congress is about as useless as breasts on a boar.

The software didn't like my slang word for breasts and it might bleep out the word breasts too.  Female mammary glands might get by but it doesn't have the same impact. lol

Sarah, sorry your new work schedule is causing such stress at home.  Hoping it will all get better as you all adjust. 

Tina, thanks for the Box Tops! Willa saw the envelope and right away said, "I know what's in here - BOX TOPS!!" lol We can't surprise her any more.

I've had a busy day and only 30 more kid-free minutes. I'd better get my butt off the computer and finish up stuff. 

You're welcome, Janice!

I feel for you and Sarah, as well as other working parents. It's no easy task juggling kids, work, dogs, etc. BTDT. It's why kids are for young people, more energy to keep up despite a lack of a lot of sleep.

 Janice I am just going to bring my box tops when we go camping because i can't seem to remember to mail them ;p

 Score!!!  Totally unexpected!  My boss occasionally deals with Disney folks and he's doing a closing with a lady this afternoon who works in "Promotions" ... she walks in and hands us a bag of Disney pins and says "Help yourself!" They're apparently leftovers from an old old promotion but some of you may know that the Disney pins are "collectible". (whole conventions of people come to do thath ).

I told her we do pet therapy at GKTW so I knew the two I took I'd give away.  She hauls this whole handful out and gives them to me to give away!  The kids will be thrilled! (it has Mickey "sleeping" and it says "Where Dreams Come True";).  It's a little thing but I know how stoked the kids get when you give them something like that there.  Except this time David and I get to win the smiles LOL.  So nice of her.  

We give away just paper certificates with the dogs' pics on them and I put their name on them.  NO big deal, but it's so much fun to see their faces light up.  (That's part of what's so addictive).

Gee whiz, I feel like I just won the lottery or something LOL

sharismom

I feel for you and Sarah, as well as other working parents. It's no easy task juggling kids, work, dogs, etc. BTDT. It's why kids are for young people, more energy to keep up despite a lack of a lot of sleep.

Okay, some sales guy for drive-thru equipment that I've talked to 3 or 4 times but never met (he's in Missouri) just tried to get my cell # so we could "chat" and possible meet sometime. I don't think so.

 haha Tina. You're the woman!