1.

More van drama.  The mechanic has had it for 5 weeks total now, on a warranty call.  It’s not looking like we’ll ever see it again.  Now another mechanic is saying the entire wiring harness needs replaced, $2-3k cost.  I don’t know what we’ll do.  It’s a catch-22.  We can’t afford another car unless we have another part time job (and have a few part time paychecks under our belt).  We can’t GET another part time job unless we have a car.  “We” means either husband or myself, whoever can get the best paying PT first for the most money.

Husband’s talking about working some shut downs again.  It’s good money, but I have no idea how that would work with no vehicle, Alli needing to go to specialty medical appointments, and no bus service in my area.

For those who don’t know – a shut down involves 80-90 hour work weeks in some God-forsaken land where there isn’t even a hotel and the workers have to be put up in man-camps.  A man-camp is glorified trailers centered around a cafeteria where a hard drinking woman named Boots feeds the menfolk fried food.  If there is a motel within a 30 mile radius, it most likely has carpet held down by duct tape and a fridge that dates back to the I Love Lucy era, but not in a cute retro way.

In Houston, a “shut down” often involves off shore oil rigs, but I don’t have to worry about that because husband dear doesn’t have  a passport.

2.

Turns out that MSG isn’t just a neurotoxin, it makes you fat too.  See?  Campbell’s soup isn’t good for you.  MSG is in all kinds of food.  Jen, the hostess of 7 Quick Takes, cracked me up today with her description of American food:

I tried to explain why here in the U.S. we like to take fresh food, pulverize it to death, add about 50 ingredients, shape it to look like something entirely different, throw in some sugar and MSG and call it a meal.

Too, too true.

3.

The workboxes are working out well, but it’s uncomfortable for me to force myself to be organized enough to load them up each night.  I think it will get better with practice.

4.

I tried making tortillas yesterday.  I used Keeper of the Home’s soaked recipe, and they were good, but not the tortillas that I’m used too.  A little heavy.  I think I’ll try again using half whole wheat and half all purpose flour, and maybe tweak it a bit based on Texas tortilla recipes.  Sonoran flour tortillas are very thin; Texas tortillas are puffy and chewy.

Mr X loved them so much he didn’t even wait for me to cook them.  Every time I turned around he was pinching off the edges of my circles and gobbling them up!

5.

Cash for Clunkers is dead. Too many people bought new cars and bankrupted it!  I think it was a bad idea to start with, and had nothing to do with being environmentally friendly and everything to do with getting people to buy brand spanking new cars.

Yeah, $1 billion dollars, spent for other people to have new cars.  Not that I’m bitter over my children having to pay for it eventually or anything.

Believe it or not, I don’t think our van qualified as a clunker, even though it was held together by duct tape, the window doesn’t roll down, and the AC is shot.  Let’s not even talk about what the upholstery looks like.  It gets more than 18 mpg, so the government doesn’t consider it a clunker.

6.

I broke down and bought 2 dozen Indian prefold diapers online (less than $40 including shipping, actually, what a deal!)  I LOVE them.  They work so wonderfully, and I haven’t had a leak.  They are soft and 2 dozen is a great number to have on hand.  I’m using them with Dappi Nylon covers.

Those Dappi contour diapers that I said were worthless?  I safety pinned them into Mr X’s underpants to make trainers.  They work better than Gerber trainers, anyway.  Too bad he has completely lost interest in pottying at all!

I’m still working up the courage to use cloth overnight.  Alli gets really angry if she’s wet or dirty, so I envision her waking up all night long demanding to be changed.

7.

This is a personal question.  HOW do you explain what “g@y”, “lesbi@n”, etc. mean?  The kids hear it everywhere in our culture – neighborhood kids, radio ads, the evening news, even some children’s shows are given grants by activists promoting that lifestyle.  I’m just at a loss to describe what it means to a 6 year old.