**Kid's Eat Free in Denver--UPDATED!**

Don't you hate out-of-date websites? Especially ones with the lure of actual good info? Me, too!! Turn's out, restaurants close all the dang time and the original list is totally out-dated. Sorry!

I have faithfully scoured the web to find these. I have called every restaurant to double-check that they participate in a Kid's Eat Free night. This is a work in progress, but I thought I'd at least post Monday Kid's Eat Free (and cheap) for ya'll to get started.

PLEASE call first before you go or count on any of these deals. Restaurants change management all the time. And even though you might think I rock, they never call me to tell me if they mess with the Kid's Eat Free night.

DISCLAIMER
I have helpfully supplied the website so you can call the location you want to visit to VERIFY the info here. They ALL have some kind of restriction (certain hours or with adult meal purchase or if you do the chicken dance, etc). As the date of this post, I have called to check that the restaurants listed do have a Kids Eat Free (or cheap) night.

Also, if you check the website (ya know, to get the number so you can call them to verify the deets), there are oftentimes coupons or deals on the website. This is called positive reinforcement.

MONDAY

Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant

Buffalo Wild Wings (Kids eat for 99 cents)

Cinzzetti’s (and Tuesday)

IHOP (every night)

Islands Fine Burgers and Drinks (Boulder) (and Tuesday)

Gunther Toody’s

La Estrellita Mexican Restaurant

Casa Grande Mexican Food
(no website, but this link will give you directions and the phone number)

Yard House

Texas Roadhouse
(*Note, not all locations participate, so double-check!)

Brothers BBQ (and Tuesday)

More to come. Please email me or post to the comments if you know of other restaurants or to keep the list current!

How you, too, can do a bad job potty-training your child and still make it!

I hadn’t meant to potty-train Lady Bug. Well, let me re-state that, I hadn’t meant to *re-start* potty-training her before our big road trip this week. Let me catch you up…

We started potty-training way back in December when she was just shy of being 2.5. I actually had no interest in potty-training her. In fact, I had high hopes that between me and her two sisters, she’d just figure it out on her own. HA! But she was displaying all the “readiness” signs and I figured that a “good mom” would put aside her own personal feelings of horror at the prospect of having to spend the next 6 months sitting on the edge of the tub, cheering on every bowel production with a little song, candy and stickers. Maybe occasional confetti and a parade…Clearly, I needed the “good mom” points.

So, I plied the child with copious beverages, put her in a sweater and naky buns and she and I spent a week locked in the hardwood portions of our home. While she had lots of accidents, she seemed to be getting it. Finally, on Day 4, I couldn’t stand being trapped in the house and we ventured out. This expanded my experience to spending LOTS of time dashing to bathrooms with “false alarms”, only to get to wipe out the shopping cart or wash the car seat later. Grr.

Months later, we were still working on it (mostly because I am a total pansy and caved to those lovely, lovely absorbent-and-easy-to-clean Pull-ups far too often). The day she stood there, and peed on the bathroom floor as I hurried to set her potty seat up finally un-did me. I needed to take a break or take up drinking for her and I to survive this experience.

So we took a break. For about two months. I figured after our travel this summer, I’d start again (with Preschool looming as the incentive for me to finally get it done). Then, a few weeks ago, I awoke with a start: vacation Bible school (i.e., a chance for the children to learn about Jesus and the mom’s to get a bit of a break!) started the next week. But she had to be potty-trained to go…this would be the first year all three girls could go....you see where I was going with this. When her chubby little feet hit the floor that morning, I whipped off her sagging diaper and told her that we were “all done diapers”.

Aside from a new morbid fear of automatic flushing toilets (Sorry! That was her screaming like I was killing her at Sam’s last week! Screaming kid echoes reach all the way to the snack aisle…as an FYI), we’re doing remarkably well. Apparently, all I needed was a little incentive.

Next up: How to survive a potty-training child and travel, without Pullups or alcohol…I think.

How (exactly) did we end up with a dog?

If you’ve seen my Twitter updates, you may have noticed that we, the kinda anti-pet family, now have a dog.

And, it’s going fairly well, considering we are all so woefully lazy when it comes to pets. Our previous dog, who shed copious clumps of black hair everywhere, is happily ensconced with my sister. Her dog of many years died, and she wanted to ask for our shedding dog about the time I was ready to get rid of said shedding dog, so it all worked out. That was almost 2 years ago. We have baby-stepped our way back into the whole pet thing, cause it seems like people with 3 kids, a minivan and a house with a big yard in the ‘burbs should have a dog. In fact, it’s possible that it is in my homeowner’s association contract.

The girls (the same two who would’ve let their hamster’s and fish die of starvation if not for parental intervention) have begged for a pet for months. Sunshine even did a PowerPoint presentation (no joke) and research on the best dog for a family with a) no actual tolerance for all the trouble of a pet and b) no plan at all of paying hundreds of dollars for a pet. Then, Darling started working really late. And even as a grown up, our house seems to make lots of creepy noises when the big strong man of the house is gone. Then, there were a rash of break-ins in our area.

So, we capitulated. Though I did have some really strict parameters:
--NO puppies! There is no way I have time to train a puppy. And I totally know that no one else in the family will, despite their pleadings. The next living thing in our home to be potty trained will be the toddler.

--Dog MUST match the carpet. I almost took a carpet sample with us.

--Dog MUST be of a low(ish) shedding type. Really anything after the shedding black dog would be better. (As an fyi—German Shepherds shed year-round, as in ALL THE TIME, just so you can’t say no one told you. ‘Cause no one told us.)

--Not too needy. I already have a toddler, 2 other kids and a life to deal with. Must be able to entertain themselves and not stalk me from room to room.

Phew, well. I bet you’re thinking we should just get a stuffed animal. You’re right, but they won’t bark when someone’s at the door.

We decided to rescue a dog from the animal shelter. Darling watched the website and the cute pictures for a few weeks and one Sunday he said we should go look. I clarified that he actually wanted to walk out with a dog that day, cause there really was no way 3 little girls were going to go see a bunch of cute dogs and not get one. He said he was ready, so off we went. (PSA—the Denver Dumb Friends League intake nearly 100 pets everyday. Amazing.)

It cracked me up that the girls automatically walked past all the kennels with black-haired dogs. Good girls. After much ado, we brought home a yellow lab mix. She has pooped on the carpet twice, barfed once, makes a bee-line for the door every time it is open, gets into the trash can, and doesn’t like to be left alone.In addition to matching the carpet, she is gentle with the girls, loves chasing a ball and barked at the UPS guy. Life is a bit hairier and droolier, but good. So far.

An open letter to The Disney Channel

Dear decision makers at The Disney Channel:

I have waited a few weeks to see if you would come to your senses but apparently, that is not going to happen.

I don't know if you realize it, but you have replaced Little Einsteins--a show about smart, adventurous kids who expose preschoolers to music and art, with Oso--a show about a chubby bear who is so dim as to require everything in his life to be broken down into 3 simple steps. To a jaunty tune.

Why? Is this your idea of a joke? An expression about how you view American children?

Oh, and I'm sure you didn't know so I'll tell you that Little Einsteins is Lady Bug's favorite show and it was the only way this momma could get a full shower.

So, you have pretty much jacked up my life.

Thanks so much,
a (smelly) mom in the 'burbs

No good pics of the mom, or how to crop a kid out of your Facebook picture

What is up with having no good pictures of just the mom? I recently spent waaaay too long trying to find a good shot of JUST ME. I searched all the way back to 2004 before I found one where you could see my whole face and that I could crop the kids out of. Is using a picture that is 5 years old considered cheating? I did have good hair that day...

But seriously--what is up with that? Doesn't anyone want pictures of me? Me all by myself? Looking vaguely cute?

Apparently not.

But, you know, this isn't just about me. I mean, it kinda is, but I noticed a trend as I searched years worth of pictures. Before we had kids, Darling took pictures of me. Pretty good ones. It seems that after Sunshine arrived, he lost the ability to take a decent shot of me. Either that, or I did actually look that bad. Hmm.

Once Pixie was of an age to have an opinion, she was in most every shot along with her sister. Poor little thing doesn't have that many shots of just her. When Lady Bug arrived on scene, good luck getting a shot of ANYTHING that doesn't include a kid streaking into the picture.

To be fair, I didn't notice that many pictures of just Darling by himself (except the one I tried to take for his passport--which they couldn't use because the background wasn't white, as an FYI). He always appears in pictures with a child climbing or dangling off of him. Though, to be fair, those are a little easier to crop out.

Mommas--you have to hand the camera to someone else. And when they point it at you, don't act like your soul is being stolen away. I have about 30 shots of the hand and swinging hair of my SIL, but not her actual face. Ya know, 100 years from now, she is going to ask why no one has any pictures of her.

Get some girlfriends together and have a photoshoot. You (and your family, and your Facebook page) need some good pictures of you. Just you. Your entire face. And not a face that has the side of someone else's face cropped out.

Just sayin'.

Mom jeans (a sad, but true, story)

I cannot find an adequate excuse for what happened. Maybe I was behind on the laundry. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention when I reached into the closet. Whatever it was, I ended up in a pair of "mom jeans". Technically, they weren't jeans but the same rules apply.

You know what I'm talking about--the jeans that seem to just keep going and going and going, to settle somewhere nicely under your rib cage?

I've been wearing these pants (and cutely!) for years. I bought them out of the juniors section and they were pretty hip in their time (one baby and 6 years ago).

I didn't realize they fell into the mom jean category. It wasn't until I caught sight of my, um, backside in a mirror that I realized I was sportin' the look. The dark olive green cargo-style pants have no back pockets, so you get a long, unbroken line all the way up to the (high-ish) waistband.

These did not fall into the "mom jean" category a few years ago. Sinking waistband heights have created a new low (hahahaha!) for mom jeans. These sit right at my belly button. I only knew they were mom jeans when I had a sudden realization exactly WHY moms wear those kinds of pants.

The glory of high waistbands are that they HOLD POST-BABY BELLIES IN! And really well.

I did strip those puppies off and set them in the donate pile. But I DO sorta long for the tummy-retention they offered....bummer. Any chance waistband heights will be rising again soon? Or am I gonna have to go back to the gym? Argh.

we're either the worst parents on the planet, or brilliant

About a year ago, Darling and I discovered that our iPod is, quite possibly, our best friend. In fact, it's maybe our entire family's best friend. And not for the music.

I don't know about you, but the prospect of taking a toddler on errands or on any non-toddler-specific outing can be, um, totally and completely TORTURE. Not that we don't love Lady Bug (a lot!), but she is a total pain when she is forced to submit her little will to ANYONE ELSE IN THE UNIVERSE. Totally appropriate for development as a toddler, but a giant pain in the butt when it is not all about her. This is not shocking info for anyone, I know.

In desperation on a non-toddler-specific-outing with the family, we discovered iJoy. I think it was Darling's idea to bring the iPod in with us to the mall one day, as he eyed a particularly wiggly and cranky toddler and our list of errands. The man is brilliant. Seriously brill.iant. We had used the iPod for long car trips and such, so we had some of Lady Bug's fav cartoons on it.

Let me just tell say, you can get a lot done if you have Teletubbies on your iPod. I know, I know--putting that sort of abomination on a neat piece of technology is terrible...until you can shop in peace while the toddler sits happily in the stroller, her little headphones on. We're happy, she's happy, what's not to love?

But, you protest, think of all the wonderful, mind stimulating opportunities the mall can offer a toddler! Think of the brain time they are missing while mom picks out a shirt that actually FITS, without having to grab 3 things to try on later at home. And then return. And what about all the verbal stimulation they are NOT getting while the parents don't tell them (repeatedly), "Sit down!" "We're almost done! "Quit grabbing things! These pretty/expensive/shiny things are all NO TOUCH." "You want your binky/blanky/toy/sippy cup/$10 to quit making this miserable for us all?"

Well, if you have ever shopped with a toddler, you know.

Darling is brilliant. He whipped out the iJoy and plugged the kid in. Nearly instant peace and happiness. And Lady B was happy, too.

I was a little nervous about the public censure about using the Great Paralyzer in a mobile format. But you should see people's reactions. People without children say, "Oh, how cute!" And smile. Probably because Lady Bug isn't shrieking and ruining their shopping peace. People with children say, "That's brilliant." They look slightly dumbfounded that they hadn't thought of it themselves and I know they are rushing home to download an episode of Dora the Explorer onto their own iPod.

There is the drawback of putting your beloved iPod in the hands of a fickle toddler--Lady Bug has pitched it over the side of her stroller on more then one occasion. But so far, it has survived. And at this point, it's death would be seen as a worthy sacrifice for the family. And most of the metro area.

DMNS--"Nature Unleased" A Twitter-based experience

A few weeks ago, some bloggin' moms were invited to preview the new special exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, called "Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters". I got to go because I responded REALLY QUICKLY to the invite and the early bird gets the worm and all that.

I love the museum. I got a chance to preview another of their special exhibits last fall (the dinosaur one) and so I was stoked to go see this one. I like weather a little bit more then dinosaurs, so it was starting off well.

I took Pixie with me, so she could relish in not being the middle child for a few hours. I was playing around with my new Twitter account and updated to it as we went. What follows is the actual transcript of my Twitter posts, with additional commentary where necessary.

A night at the museum meets Twister

heading to the Den museum of nature and science to preview a new exhibit. Got invited as a blogger! Woot!4:08 PM Feb 11th from TweetDeck

Made it to the museum. Waiting with some other blogging moms. Greeblemonkey and weebleswobble from milehighmamas.5:37 PM Feb 11th from txt

(it was insanely fun to meet some of the gals from MHMs! They're *real* bloggers (like I think they get invited to do stuff all the time and blog on important stuff)

Getting personal tour of nature unleashed exhibit from david grinspoon and tara hubner.5:47 PM Feb 11th from txt

(okay, that was WAY cool. we were like being escorted and stuff. it's a shame I had a bouncy 6 yo with me...and had forgotten my tweed jacket. at the last preview event, they fed us snacks, but we didn't have a personal escort--bloggers are moving up!)

The earthquake portion is interesting. Wild how many quakes there are worldwide.5:57 PM Feb 11th from txt

Watching some data on the quake that hit Indonesia a few hours ago5:58 PM Feb 11th from txt

(That was both interesting and a bit freaky to see data on something that had happened so few hours ago.)

Pixie's biggest concern is that a tsunami will get us. Have said repeatedly that we don't live by an ocean. showed her on map. No dice.6:26 PM Feb 11th from txt

(Pixie became increasingly concerned about natural disasters hitting us as we moved through the exhibit. They say the exhibit is designed for all ages, but I think they may have forgotten how scary these things are to kids...and the exhibit is over most younger kids' heads, especially if they are not yet reading at a 3rd grade level or so. Not a lot of manipulatives, no "kid section" with books or even a hands on demo, aside from the digital volcanoes that are mentioned below. A disappointment and a little disturbing from a kid perspective.)

Kids making their own digital volcano. No mess!6:36 PM Feb 11th from txt

(Despite Pixie's best efforts to hog the volcano making thingy, I didn't have enough time to read it or otherwise figure out how her actions of mixing lava and steam were impacting the volcano showing up on the screen, so who knows how interactive it actually was. I'm pretty sure, but not positive, that she doesn't know, either.)

Pixie and other kids like stomping to move the Richter scale6:36 PM Feb 11th from txt

(This was pretty fun. I hope the museum has factored in all the jumping up and down that is going to occur on that exact spot for weeks...)

Now she is worried about hurricanes. Jeepers6:41 PM Feb 11th from txt

Need to clarify, being escorted by dr. David grinspoon.6:43 PM Feb 11th from txt

(I have his card, so it was real. :)

The drawings by kids who lived through katrina are moving.6:48 PM Feb 11th from txt

(The Katrina portion, with artifacts and things from that hurricane, were probably the most interesting to me. Pixie liked the pictures the kids drew and we talked about what the kids were feeling. Spent the most time in this section.)

Pixie very interested in the mre's. Talking a lot about how we have better warning systems. Ya know, for all the tsunamis in CO.6:51 PM Feb 11th from txt

(Again, with the natural disasters that don't happen where we live! I can remember spending MONTHS convincing Sunshine that there was no way our house would be in a flood. Not only do we NOT live by a body of water, but we're at the top of our street! Jeepers.)

(They had a little tiny wall with some blizzard stuff, but I would've liked to see more on that, actually.)

Ending exhibit seeing debris from a tornado. Interesting, probably not for kids less then 7 yo.7:01 PM Feb 11th from txt

So, overall, I would say this is not a particularly kid-friendly exhibit, unless your kids are older or really, really, really into weather and not likely to be wanting to do family tsunami drills after seeing the exhibit.

Sigh. I hope the museum invites me back again...

We shoulda stayed to watch the cement truck

About 11 this morning, I discovered that it was a free day at the zoo. I was in my "let's get this house cleaned and that darn playroom finally organized" clothes. But it was almost 70 degrees outside. Zoo was free. I decided to ditch all productivity plans to be a fun, spontaneous mom and head to the zoo!

Forty-five minutes later (spontaneity had to pack a lunch and rally 3 kids into shoes and potty trips and finding their sun hats), we hit the road. But not before checking with the nice men who are fixing the driveway. They dug it out yesterday and were pouring the concrete today. I kinda forgot about it, but they said they didn't need me to be home in any case, so off we went.

We shoulda stayed home and watched the cement truck. I think it would've been more fun for all of us. So, here is my little list of all the reasons a fun, FREE trip to the zoo was less fun then watching cement.

1 and 2) I had been warned that the parking lot was totally packed, so we parked a bit away and walked. No problem. Except I decided that this was the outing we would ditch the stroller and put Lady Bug on her little toddler leash back-packy thing. I wasn't planning on staying for that long, so I thought we'd be fine. Thus, I was lugging a backpack with our stuff. Not a big deal, but a little cumbersome to try to get anything out of it while holding Lady B's strap. And she's a toddler, so she ambles. Slowly.

3) Crowds weren't that bad, but we seemed to be making very little progress. After nearly 2 hours, we had only seen a handful of animals and had lunch. You'd think the kids would've been excited at this fun, spontaneous thing we did, but not so much. Sunshine had a friend with her so this should've been the epitome of fun. I think the lack-of-fun factor had something to do with the increasingly cranky toddler. That and the fact that I left the map reading in the hands of 9 year-olds. This explains why we circled Bird World a few times before I finally took the map away and found our way to the bathrooms (the ones INSIDE Bird World were too smelly, apparently).

3b) Did I mention that I left the sunscreen on the front seat of the minivan? Thought it was in the loaded backpack, but somehow missed it. Girls had their hats, but I'm a little pink. Darn it.

4) I bet you're wondering why the heck I didn't just rent a stroller. Well, for 2 reasons. One, it would kinda defeat the purpose of the FREE day at the zoo. I'm a stickler for rules. $10 on a stroller is not FREE. Also, I kept thinking we would be done soon and really didn't want to rent a stroller for $10 for an hour. This was, in retrospect, a bad choice.

5) I should mention here that the main reason I went to the zoo, aside from the FREE thing, was that I realized Lady B and never really been to the zoo since she was a baby, and I was having some mommy guilt that her only knowledge of animals was from looking at her little board books. I felt bad about that. I think she would've been just fine without today's little educational outing.

6) Pixie had her allowance money burning a hole in her pocket. Money always burns a hole in her pocket. I believe that the Target $1 bin is designed specifically for children like her. She had $8 from allowance and some extra chores. She had it in a little denim coin purse. She was happily carrying it around, setting it down to take pictures of animals with her little camera. Yep, it got set down and not picked up (well, it was picked up by someone, just not Pixie). I had been carrying Lady B around for quite a while at this point. I was doing a major animal-seeing push. We had just seen the new baby giraffe (okay, it was really cute--nearly worth some of the day's pain), and only had the polar bears left to see, so we pushed on before heading home (after checking with lost and found and tearfully (for Pixie) walking past the crap gift shop).

7) Zoo was not FREE because Lady B spotted the train ride thingy and I decided we should ride it, as everyone was having a fairly miserable time. The train did seem to bring some joy. $2 tickets. For about 2 minutes of ride time. It makes the fun zoo safari rental stroller look like a bargain, even if it were only for an hour. And Pixie lost the aforementioned $8.

8) Getting ice cream at McDonald's on the way home saved the day. That and the fact that Lady B fell asleep almost immediately.

We got home to see the wet cement and our beautiful driveway (that cost as much as a family vacation to Disney, just sayin'. We're going to look at the driveway all summer and draw mouse ears on it with sidewalk chalk). I suddenly realized how fun it would've been to stay home and watch the driveway get done. And I have ice cream in the freezer. And the house would be cleaned. And I wouldn't be (slightly) sunburned. And Target would've gotten Pixie's $8, instead of some meanie who wouldn't turn it in to lost and found.

Bum.mer.

How fun can flying possibly be, part 2

Thoughts on the madness of flying these days, and probably why we end up driving everywhere. Well, that, and the need to purchase 5 airline tickets...

1) The airlines basic premise: First, we are going to charge a ton of money. Then, we may or may not be on time, but you had better plan to spend several hours at the airport waiting on us. But don't bring any of your actual belongings on board (all the people with bad intentions always go though security and are forthright about their items). And since you can't bring anything on board, we are going to charge worse-then-concession-stand-prices for everything once you’re on the other side. Bwha-ha-ha-ha! We are also going to charge you per bag, for the privilege of us losing and or/damaging your luggage.

2) I think they should make the seats smaller and pack more people aboard. I am petite and feel like I have just enough space to not feel squished. I don’t know how normal-sized people manage. Meager-sized seats, potties, and even the aisles.

(A note on potties here, I know that airplane lingo designates them "lavatories", which I deduce from my high school Spanish has something to do with the verb, "lavar", or "to wash". But come on--I cannot imagine anyone being able to do anything in that tiny space aside from picking spinach out of their teeth. If claustrophobia doesn't get you, the scary sucking sound the drain or potty makes will.)

(Oh, another note on lavatories: last time I flew, I had at least two kids with me, one in diapers. I had no idea where to change Lady Bug who had decided the plane was a fine, fine place to poop [honestly, don't the rest of us have the opposite problem when we travel? But I digress...well, I digress more then I was digressing, which was a lot...anyhoo]).

3) Amazingly, through 3 kids, I can never remember having to actually change a diaper on a plane. I started to change her on the seat, banking on the fact that a helpful flight attendant would intervene if I wasn't supposed to. Yep, whadda-ya-know. No diaper changes on airline seats. (Now that I think about it, I believe I have changed a very little diapered butt on my lap on a plane--must've blocked that painful memory). The flight attendant informs me that FAA rules prohibit me from changing my baby on the seat (I thought she was joking for a minute about it being an FAA rule, and I barely stopped myself from laughing), but that there is a changing table in the lavatory. Really? In that little closet? Intrigued, I hauled poopy baby and stuff into 2ft space. Sure enough, there is a little table that folds down above the seat. Huh, who knew? I eyed it critically, 'cause it was exceedingly tiny. Only slightly bigger then the fold-down tray at my seat. Hmm. I should mention here that Lady Bug has always been a bit mistrustful of changing tables that dangle off of walls. She is okay with a nice, solid table, but attach a hinge to it and the girl gets nervous. She eyed me, clearly thinking I’m insane. "Are you sure? You tested this thing for weight? It feels wobbly, really wobbly. Not to mention germy, really germy. Hey! I'm slanting! Are you sure this thing is stable?" You can imagine her horror at the prospect of being on a tiny, hinged, slanting table at 30,000 feet. With slight turbulence. Poor baby. If she had been any bigger, I don't know what I could've done. Change her on the spacious, clean floor?)

4) On my flight to Boston, there was a notice in the lavatory that read something like, "If the fasten seat belt sign is on, remain seated on the toilet." This flight doesn't have that same notice (I checked, cause I wanted to take a picture of it for you guys). I think to myself, sure! That's where I want to be in the event of turbulence! On the potty with the sloshy blue stuff in it! Maybe they mean with the lid down, but still. Ick.

5) I recall a time when there was a little sign asking you to wipe down the sink after use, to be courteous to the next passenger. Well, they don't do that anymore. Apparently, it is totally fine to leave dirty, soapy water in the sink. I always hit the center "drain" lever before I figure out which one is for water, in any case. And then I nearly lose a hand trying to stuff the paper towels into the teeny trash receptacle with the hinged flap that’s on steroids.

6) All of the above is prefaced, though, by moving through the plane. With the wee, wee, close together seats, you practically have to sit on your seatmates laps to extract yourself from your row. Then, if you encounter someone coming the other direction down the aisle, there is the critical question of "which way do I turn to get past?" Turning away from them seems unfriendly, as you are basically offering them your butt. But (har-dee-har) turning towards them to pass is extremely, well, waaaay to intimate. (I know, I tried it for research purposes. Let me just say that there are close friends who I haven't been in that much contact with me. Something I just save for strange men on the plane, apparently. Was it good for you?

7) You sit next to strangers, sometimes on their laps, practically, you siddle past them, hopefully decently, and have them deposit your tray table in the lab when they recline their seat.

9) Oh, onto the tilty seat and airplane safety. Really? Having my tray table and seat in their upright, locked position makes a hill of beans? How is that possible, really? I think it is all part of the power mongering of the airlines. Just sayin’.

Remind me to come back and read this blog if I whine about driving somewhere instead of flying…