Cuddy: No, you cannot give him meningitis. And I'm not sparring with you this time.

Poor Dillo! I hope he looks a bit better this morning.

In a perverse way, I am glad to hear about all the other parenting struggles. I have to say that I'm really glad that Ellie hasn't figured out Em's definat peeing yet. A couple of times, I thought she might try it, but I don't think it's occurred to her yet.

In the Bad Mommy world, Ellie told all her teachers this morning about how her teeth were "broken." Oh, and she does not nurse much and I try to discourage it at bedtime, but last night, when she was totally fine, she tells me "teeth broken, I crying. Noo-noo?" (That's her word for nursing.) Totally made me laugh *and* let her nurse.

They are very smart, those small humans.

I don't know about butternut with bleu -- sounds like it could be weird, could be good.

It was good!

I love all the squashes but the butternut is my all time favorite. I've eaten about one million of them this fall.

That Ellie is no fool.

timelies.

today is feeling too much like a monday and DO NOT WANT!! traffic sucked, which made me late to work. i'm hungry, but also slightly nauseous. best part is that i was just told i need to pay my $40 for the bosses gifts and that "everyone else has already paid". WTF?! i was out sick yesterday. excuse me if i didn't make a special trip to work to pay you guys a ridiculous amount of money for gifts for people who can afford to buy anything they want! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.............. can i go back to bed now?

oh, man, tiggy, I think I remember previous years of boss gift-buying drama at your workplace. I say now as I did then, that whole process is total bullshit. Also, $40?????? I mean, maybe $10, even though the concept is still very WTF-worthy, would be a more reasonable amount to ask. God.

best part is that i was just told i need to pay my $40 for the bosses gifts and that "everyone else has already paid".

WTF, indeed. What kind of business is this??? I can't imagine this happening any place I've worked! Without there being a HUGE stink about it.

Can you just smile and say "no, it's not in my budget?" And then ignore them?

Oh, hell no.

I mean, maybe $10, even though the concept is still very WTF-worthy

yeah, previous years it's been $20. not sure when this $40 crap became the norm.

What kind of business is this???

we sell industrial lubricants. it's kind of like WD40.

Can you just smile and say "no, it's not in my budget?" And then ignore them?

I tried that one year when i had been out of work for two months and literally had no money and i was guilt-tripped about it and told to use part of the bonus money i had been given at the christmas party because the bosses "do so much" for me. so...unlikely.

Seriously, though, won't the guilt-tripping people just give up eventually if you don't back down. Or maybe there's one you can take aside and be very frank with?

man, this just burns my toast!