Why do clothing makers insist on putting tags on the sides of shirts right above your pant line?

Inevitably I spend each day scratching at my side because of the label or I cut it off and end up splitting open the seam.

I have thought about buying only shirts that have the label info printed directly on the shirts, but this limits me to primarily workout gear, which would be fine if I were a P.E. teacher....

I'm half way through the holidays and thought I'd spread some Christmas "cheer" courtesy of Toys R Us (But Customer Service Is NOT).

Today, we ventured to the above mentioned store to return a remote-controlled car that a relative got my daughter.

The car does not work and hasn't since my daughter opened it on Christmas Eve. I explained to the clerk that the person who gave it to us did not give us a gift receipt and all we wanted was a working version of the same toy. The 15-year-old clerk said without a receipt there was nothing he could do even though the car was still in its original box with a Toys R Us label on it and clearly hadn't been run into the ground over the last 72 hours.

I asked very nicely to speak to a manager, but was told they had all gone home for the day (it was 2 p.m. -- those managers at Toys R Us must really have it tough....) In lieu of a manager, I got a 16-year-old clerk who stood there snapping his gum while I explained the situation. He too said he couldn't do anything for me, so I dumped the non-working toy on the floor and said "Well, now that I won't be shopping here ever again, I guess you can have this broken piece of junk that you sold back." (I'm not positive but by the way the clerk jumped back 5 feet, my guess is the car bounced off his foot. Oops....)

Whew ... now that I've vented I feel much better.

Aside from that, we had an enjoyable Christmas and are headed into the home stretch with my mother's annual New Year's Eve bash.

Dear ol' mom is from another country and likes to do it up big for the new year. This year, she had king salmon flown in from some polluted waters off the West Coast. Because she's always off gambling away my inheritance or playing Bingo, she had the fish delivered to my house today. I thought it would be a pound or two of salmon that I could throw in my freezer. Little did I know that she was having a WHOLE salmon delivered and said salmon is as big as my 7-year-old.

Thankfully we're in deep freeze mode here, so the fish is residing on my back porch for the time being. Meanwhile, I'm wondering how much I can get for it on eBay....

As I was leaving the boudoir this morning, I slammed into the open linen closet door. Fortunately, my knee took the brunt of the impact. But unfortunately, it ripped the door right off the hinges and split the wood beyond repair.

I will now be shopping for a new closet door and possibly a new kneecap as well.

I thought briefly of just leaving the whole mess until after the holidays, but the man of the house is throwing a Boxing Day Buffet (even though we don't live in a country where Boxing Day is celebrated) and I'd prefer that the whole neighborhood doesn't see the messy state of our linen closet. The closet in question resides outside the boudoir/master suite and down the hall from the primary guest bathroom so it is very noticeable.

So much for being done with shopping....

I woke up to winter this morning. Mind you, it was almost 80 degrees Monday. Today, we'll be lucky if it tops 20 degrees.

As I have aged (gracefully, mind you), I have grown to hate the cold. I don't particularly like wearing sweaters, boots, coats, mittens,and the such.

Yet, I try not to hike the thermostat above 65 degrees or so. So I'm always bundled up. Yet, it still seems that my feet and hands are always freezing.

It doesn't help that my office sits over a crawl space. I fully expect to walk in one day and find icicles hanging off the ceiling.

This year, I got wise and invested in a space heater. It appears to be warming things up a bit; or, at least, that's what everyone who walks in my office tells me. The only way I can tell the difference is to walk out of the office and into another part of the house. Then come back into the office. For a brief moment, I get that "Ahhhhh ...." feeling that one gets when they are all warm and toasty. Then I go back to being frickin' freezing.

Such is my life...

I just have to get this off my chest:

In between volunteering all day at my daughter's school and working countless hours on job No. 2, I got called in to work today by job No. 1 because one of my coworkers called in because she was "just too busy to come to work."

Fortunately, I was not home to answer the phone and my boss had to leave a message, so I blew it off. I'm hoping she'll say something to me about it, so I can tell her not to ever call me in because someone else is "too busy" to work!

Almost as serious as my debting with money problem is my debting with time. I overbook myself regularly to the point of exhaustion -- and rarely on insignificant things. I'm either working, volunteering, taking care of my family or, well, working. Sitting down to veg in front of the TV or going out with friends just to hang out are things I rarely have time for.

Yesterday, however, it all caught up with me because on top of everything else I'm just tired of taking care of everyone else's crap. Mini Me stayed up late the night before eating candy while I worked at the office job and her dad snoozed on the couch. Yesterday morning she had an hourlong meltdown as a result of too little sleep and too much sugar -- a meltdown over a shirt, nonetheless.

My husband left his dirty breakfast dishes on the counter and stepped over the screaming wild child on his way off to work while I was left to clean up the mess and haul Mini Me to school, where I was scheduled to volunteer all morning. Then I had to entertain Mini Me all afternoon since it was a half day of school. This, while trying to get some work done for my other job, which requires a certain amount of concentration, quiet and solitude.

Oh, and in the middle of this, one of the dogs used the dining room floor to relieve him or herself.

Needless to say, I was not happy and I let everyone know about it.

Mini Me is now in detox -- no sugar and in bed by 8:30. My husband has been put on notice about his messy ways and being considerate of my time and work issues. And, I even had a talk with the dogs about what would happen if I found anymore "packages" left behind by either of them.

I then went to work last night in my home office -- and after everyone went to bed I even snuck in a three-episode Grey's Anatomy marathon via the 'net so I'm now caught up on the one and only show I sometimes watch.

This morning I slept in until 8 a.m., which never happens. And I let my husband deal with Mini Me all morning.

So far it appears to be working.

Mini Me had a smile on her face when she went off this morning for vision therapy, swimming lessons and the dreaded flu shot.

My husband managed to clean up the kitchen after breakfast -- and even threw away the nasty coffee grinds, which always make me want to puke when I have to deal with them.

As for the dogs, well, let's just say Doggie Diapers are in both their futures....

This coming week is shaping up to be a killer.

A coworker at the "office" job broke her finger, so I've been called in for some extra hours tomorrow even though I was already maxed out on my shifts this week.
I'm also scheduled to work Tuesday as well.

Then there's the classroom Halloween party that I signed up to help with. I have to make 40 monster fingers at the crack of dawn Wednesday, dress up like a witch (which should be easy for me), and then fly into school on my broomstick by 9 a.m. to feed the little buggers. The monster fingers consist of cocktail weiners wrapped in tortillas to resemble a surgical bandage, and then baked for a few minutes and dipped in ketchup so they look bloody.

That evening my whole family is coming over for trick-or-treating with Mini Me, so I have to feed them as well. My plan was to toss some leftover monster fingers their way, but that idea didn't go over so well with the Big Sis and her Germaphobe Hubby, so I'm whipping up some pasta, a caesar salad and bread after the kiddie party. Then I'll be dashing Mini Me across town for an appointment, then back here in time to eat dinner, then letting the kid and the rest of my family loose in the 'hood for some good-ol'-fashion begging.

Hopefully, soon after someone will toss a bucket of water on me so I will melt ala the Wicked Witch of the West, which would mean I can get some sleep before heading to the "J-O-B" Thursday to work a "double."

A "double shift" in my line of work is the equivalent of a regular 8-hour shift for the rest of you. But because of the nature of my work, we can only work in 4-hour increments or those around us tend to suffer.

And, lest you think I'm whining about having to work a mere 8 hours Thursday, I still have two projects lingering from my booming side business -- with another one expected to drop sometime tomorrow.

Oh, and then some brillant bureaucrat who obviously doesn't have kids of his own decided that Friday should be a half day at school, so after doing a couple hours of work on the side job, followed by a couple hours of volunteer work, I'll be entertaining Mini Me that afternoon as well.

In between all that, I need to hit the bank, dry cleaners, post office, Costco and Whole Foods this week.

Boy, I can hardly wait!

I took my daughter to the amusement/water park today. We have season passes, but they don't cover parking or lockers or food. Just admission. So we shelled out $12 for parking (it would have been $15 but I had a coupon). Then we hauled our stuff into the water park area and threw most of it in a locker for the day at the outrageous price of $12. Yes, $12!

We hadn't been to the water park side of the place before and I didn't feel comfortable leaving stuff lying out while we were in the water, so I shelled out the bucks. But next time I think I'll just save myself some money and leave everything but towels and sunscreen in the car until we're ready to move on to the amusement park side.

In the end, it was not a cheap day. I also spent $30 for lunch in the park because they don't let you bring food into the park. I also spent $30 on boarder shorts and a swim shirt for my daughter because she was cold and hadn't brought anything warm to wear after the water park. (Completely my fault for letting her pick her attire and forgetting that it's usually a good 10 degrees colder downtown where the park is located.)

I don't feel that bad about the clothes, though, since my daughter can use them. But the amusement park food was atrocious. It really ticks me off that they won't let you bring food into the place. All the other amusement/water parks that we go to allow picnics, but this one does not. We usually skirt the issue by eating before we go, but today we were there at opening and stayed until late afternoon, so had no choice but to eat there unless we wanted to picnic in the asphalt parking lot... Eghghhghg!!! It's just makes me mad thinking about it.

Despite having very good medical insurance, I am facing more than $3,000 in uncovered medical expenses for my daughter over the next 7 months.

In the big scheme of things, this is nothing when you consider those with no insurance or those with $2 million in medical expenses. Not to mention, my daughter's condition is not life threatening in any way.

But it still stinks to have that kind of expense staring you in the face.

I think I'm just going to go to bed and be depressed now....

My husband is going to ride his bike across the state with a bunch of other crazies in a couple weeks. Then, after two days at home, he'll be leaving for a business trip. He'll be gone 11 days in all.

Long story short, my daughter and I can not afford to go with him -- or even take a long weekend getaway this summer. Granted, we will be hanging at the neighborhood pool between OT and vision therapy appointments and all my jobs, but it's not the same. I WANT TO GO SOMEPLACE ON VACATION!

Sure, mini me and I can go to the amusement park and I can even farm her out to some relatives if the going gets too tough, but I STILL WANT TO GO SOMEPLACE ON VACATION!

Also, I've spent my first weekend off in a long time cleaning up the yard and garden and cleaning the carpets while looking after my daughter because my husband's been at school or work the whole time.

Yes, I am feeling a bit abandoned, lonely, ticked off, pathetic and generally unhappy. Living within my means really sucks right now. Where the %*#( is my credit card?!?!?!??!

The folks at Dollar Buy Dollar posted this today and let me just say that Discover has managed to wipe that smile right off of my face!