Tuesday, January 13, 2004

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01/13/04
Okay, I’m the lowest of the low.
The Holy Wife had a deaconess meeting this evening. I noticed the guinea pigs were out of timothy hay. So… I asked the kids if they’d like to grab a bite at Steak & Shake. That would be Steak & Shake- the restaurant across the parking lot from the Wal-Mart that has the Thunderbolts. The kids like Steak & Shake. They were agreeable. So off we went on a little journey to satisfy my obsession.
All the T-bolts were accounted for. They still cost $35. The only difference was that somehow they got a Cobra gunship too. Cool. But we’ll have to wait and see.
While there the kids found stuff they wanted. Everybody falls under the spell of Sam Walton. Trainboy saw a box of Transformers he wanted. He asked how much they were. “$12” was my reply. “Is that a lot?” “Well, kind of. But you have $30 in your allowance account so you can buy it if you want to. That would leave you $18.” Sold.
Ms. Pikachu found more Pokemon cards. She selected a couple decks, then, “Can I buy a big box?” “Sure, you’ve got enough money in your account.” When it was clear she’d be paying for them she settled on what she’d chosen and gave up on the box. Economics can be brutal.
By way of explanation- the kids get a weekly allowance of $1/year. Currency doesn’t actually change hands; we just keep track of their balances. It’s kind of like direct deposit into the 1st Parents Bank.
We checked out and headed across the lot to Steak & Shake. While we waited for our order Ms. Pikachu decided to work on one of the paper table mats with the supplied colors. One of the projects was to complete a picture of a person. She gave it purple Japanese anime-type eyes and an open purple mouth with green teeth. On its blouse she wrote ‘Kiss the Cook.’
Another project was to complete a story by filling in the blanks with adjectives, nouns, and verbs. In her story the customer asked for 73 bowls of fish and chips, and the cook… farted. I told her she did weird stuff. She acted like she’d just received the highest compliment.
I couldn’t eat my sandwich because the facial pain kept threatening to trigger. Ms. Pikachu went up to the counter and got a box to take it home. She’s very self-confident and that makes me happy.
Then we headed for home. It seemed the prudent thing to do since the Holy Wife would be home shortly. The Holy Wife was already home. Is this an ‘uh oh?’ No, because 1. She’s a wonderful woman, and 2. She got my sandwich.
She took the kids up to bed and I fell asleep watching… something on TV, can’t remember what it was. The smart money would be on the History channel though. Then I woke up, and figured I dash this off. It took more than a dash, but I’m off to bed.