Hi all! Sorry I've been a bit MIA, house has been busier than usual. Sister is healing well, but still don't like leaving her alone for long. Not sure how that's going to work with my needing to go into work this week, but I'll try to figure that one out today.

Meanwhile it was the kids' first day of school. Franny the fifth grader very much looking forward to it, Isaac pretty much dreading it. I hope it goes better than he anticipates. Really the main thing is I hope his friend Caleb is in his classroom.

Ugh ita, wish I could be more help to you right now, Polgara too.

Don't know about CA, but here it takes a bit of time to get the disabled tag.

The Ramen Burger.

My family would love that so much that I have to try it. Personally, I don't eat ramen or burgers so I'll pass.

Also, I'm weirdly offended that loss of both hands gets you the disabled plate. You can still walk with no hands! (Also my hat's off to anyone with no hands who can drive, but I realize we would use my grandmother's disabled placard when she was just a passenger....)

To some extent, it's all about the spoons, rather than a simple measure of if the person is able to walk from a parking spot at the far end of the parking lot into the place of business. I imagine that a person who has lost his or her hands has a great deal of other things that take a zillion times more energy than it would take for someone who does have all limbs present and working to capacity. Parking a little closer to the building allows that person to save his or her spoons for the things that really are draining, but that can't be wished away with a handicapped parking placard.

Daniel's doctor approved one for him on the grounds that a slip and fall on ice that causes even a tiny scratch could prove disastrous to him. Doc preferred that Daniel do his walking inside the store. And he does. We expected it to be only a temporary one, but doc checked off the five year box.

Dang, CA schools start early! NYC is still on summer break until Sept 9. (Normally the first week of school is right after Labor Day but this year Rosh Hashannah falls during that week too.)

I don't know if the temporary disabled tag is faster than the permanent one.

Hubby has actual disabled plates on his car. He's become very militant about the handicapped parking spots at stores. Apparently it's common at Brigham Young University to tell out of state students that they can park in handicapped stalls. Hubby is pleased to correct that misunderstanding via police ticket books. He's even been the instigating force in getting a college scholarship athlete arrested when said athlete threatened Hubby in front of said ticket-writing cop and then belligerently challenging the cop's right to write the ticket. When Hubby was finally able to park, the athlete was facedown on the tarmac being handcuffed for demonstrated stupidity.

It's the little things that bring him joy these days. I think the cops tell each other to follow his vehicle around because they know fun will ensue.

ita !, I know in the past there was a more simplified process to get a temporary handicapped placard. When I was in a multiple month asthma episode, my doc encouraged me to have one so that I had a quick escape from work if I couldn't breathe. I think it was good for something like 3 months and I never asked to renew it, but it did help a bunch while I had it.

It makes me CRAZY when people are parked in the handicapped spots without a plate/placard. There's someone in my office building who is often parked in the van spot by the door and I can't decide if I wish I knew who it is or not

There's a new things stores are doing, they're getting handicapped plates for their shop vehicles so they can park near their front doors. I don't know how many branded delivery vehicles I've seen with handicapped plates.

That seems illegal, Connie. Unless, I guess, if they hire handicapped delivery people.

Jesse- what is that glorious good stuff with a man trying to keep the kittens contained from! It is adorable!