Dirty Business

I changed the oil in my car today.

Yay me.

It was really, really easy. I honestly thought that it would be a lot more difficult. The only sticky wicket I had was trying to get the oil filter out. It was in a really awkward place, but I got it eventually. I'm ridiculously proud of myself, and I feel just a little more self-sufficient than I was before.

The only part of the whole process that really bothered me was the possibility of the car falling on me. Shudder. 

Does that make me weird?


Don't answer that.

The IRS

So, how screwed are you when you're so poor that even the IRS won't collect on you?

I'd really appreciate it if someone would let me know because I'm apparently there.

I'm still a little shell-shocked to tell you the truth. Because believe you me, it was with much fear and trepidation that I called the IRS to tell them that I wanted to do something to take care of the insanely large (well, at least to me) amount of money that I owe them. So, I finally pulled myself up by the bootstraps, called and explained myself to the surprisingly nice lady on the other end of the line. She asked for my financial info, and based on that, my account is considered not collectible at this time.

Hmmm.

Like I said, you're some kind of screwed when even the IRS understands that they can't get any money from you.

Too Sweet

Alex woke up really early last Saturday, and can you guess where I was? Yep, where any responsible parent would be. Still in bed.

Cough.

So I finally drag my butt out of bed and go downstairs to make myself some breakfast before Sarah wakes up, and I'm kind of confused to see a glass of juice and a full bowl of cereal on the counter. Alex comes downstairs, cheerful as only a seven-year-old can be at such an ungodly hour, and I ask him if he's eaten breakfast. He tells me he has.

I look at him, he looks back at me, "So, what's with this bowl of cereal and juice then?"

"Oh, I made you breakfast."

I had conflicting emotions at that point. Gosh, it was so sweet of him to do that. Gosh, how long had that cereal been sitting in the milk for?

I couldn't not eat it after he had gone to all the trouble of fixing it.

So, I sit down at the counter and take a bite. The cereal was Frosted Mini Wheats, and they had turned to complete mush and soaked up most of the milk.

The milk was warm.

Ewwww.

Have I mentioned that I love being a mom?

What I Know For Sure

When I was at work last night, the cover of Oprah's magazine caught my eye.

It said on the cover, "What do you know for sure?" And that got me to thinking, what are things in my life that I know to be true regardless of my opinions, emotions, or circumstances?

So, this is what I came up with. This is what I know for sure:

My God loves me.

I love my kids.

I'm in a lot of trouble right now.

It could be a hell of a lot worse.

Not a huge list. Not very significant things, at least as far as someone else might be concerned, but ones that are terribly important and reassuring to me.

It's nice to have some things that I can be sure of.

Shakespeare

So I was at work the other night, and I was startled to look up and see a tree coming at me.

No, I'm not kidding.

We had ficus', ficuses, ficusi? Anyway, we had ficus trees on sale and this gentleman had two or three in a buggy. I sold him the trees and was chuckling about it after he had gone through. The next customer noticed and said, "Hark, a moving forest."

I laughed and nodded, "Yep, Macbeth."

He looked kind of surprised, "Wow, you know your Shakespeare."

It's a comfort to know that I'm not wasting my education working at The Grocery Store.