Steph, I feel for you, really, but this sentence made me laugh out loud. You are very funny when you are righteously pissed off.

Absomalutely. I reckon that for the rest of the day you get a pass on listening to anyone else's crap. Just tell them, "Did you lose a frikkin' NOSE? Then I don't want to hear about it!" Ok, Big!Boss gets a pass on that. Other than that, today they have no place in your ear.

Wally report! The woman whose name I misspelled has replied. Apparently she has a kid, although her profile says otherwise. I feel better about the name-typo.

Anyway, this gives me scope to talk about my nephew, which is always good. Oh, and another woman has replied, and I think I owe someone else a phone call. 'Tis the season and all that.

Oh my word, billytea. You'd be like the Disneyland of step-fathers. Whoa. That was over-stepping. Must have been some Wally fic I'd been reading.

Cindy, it makes me sad that Scholastic has gone downhill. I remember them very fondly. I think my parents were pretty adamant about spending any amount so soon after Christmas. I think the smallest gesture is a good lesson about self control and financial management, even at Miss J's age.

I think they still have plenty of good, but the garbage to good ratio (at least for the elementary aged kids) seems less favorable. I don't know what to do about Julia. I'm still chewing on it.

Cindy, is there some chore around the house that she could do to earn the money for the book?

Oh, ChiKat. You maybe just gave me an out. Bless you. I'm sure I could come up with something. She's been guilting me, because the last time Ben bought, I did give him some of the money (but it was better timed) and I've been trying to balance out sibling fairness with the money less.

That was supposed to say "money lesson". Pardon me, my slip is showing.

Oh my word, billytea. You'd be like the Disneyland of step-fathers. Whoa. That was over-stepping. Must have been some Wally fic I'd been reading.

Hee. Disney stepmothers never turn out well, I remember that. Not sure about the stepfathers. Or maybe I'm thinking of Virginia Andrews.

I like ChiKat's idea, Cindy. Have her work for it, somehow.

Peeking in after days and days away...

Vibing hard for Cass -- all kinds of peace~ma for you and your grandmother.

Also sending ~ma to Nora and Maidengurl and vw.

And Teppy -- WTF?! I keep rereading your post expecting it to make some sort of sense, but that's not happening. Your poor grandfather.

Cindy, it makes me sad that Scholastic has gone downhill. I remember them very fondly.

It's so true -- it always seems to me that there are more branded books than anything else. I used to think that letting them read anything was better than them not reading at all, too, but the thing about those Hello Kitty and cartoon-inspired books is that they're *awful*. Which doesn't seem like it will lead to a greater love of reading, you know?

Address (will be deleted shortly).

Got it. I was expecting you to email it, actually, but this works.