Wheels!

One of the advantages of buying a new car is reliability. Or so I thought. To say I was shocked and dismayed yesterday when my one year old car broke down is a gross understatement. Timing is everything of course so this happened when my husband's car was in getting an oil change , my 16 year old son was with me (and didn't leave his car keys at home), one friend was out of town and another was working. Wow. February in Nebraska is not exactly the best time of year to walk home. Thankfully my friend's husband came to get us so we could pick up my husbands car. (Thanks Bill!)

My car is still under warranty so certainly it will be fixed but I was bummed none the less so later that evening my husband took me on a pity trip to Target. While walking aimlessly through the aisles looking at stuff we don't need my eyes spied a bike. A pretty purple bike. A Schwinn. ON CLEARANCE! I flagged down the first Target employee I saw and had him get the bike down for me. He said he didn't think the price was correct so he scanned it. It was correct. A ladies 26 inch Schwinn for $48.00. Come to momma! The red clearance stickers showed the price at $199.00 then $136.00 then $99.00 and now $48.00.

What a deal.

What a steal!

My new purple bike waits patiently in the garage for Spring to come to Nebraska so I can try out my new wheels!

BUTT BREAD

There are many kids who refuse to eat the crust off their bread. Maybe if it was called something other than ''crust'' it might sound a bit more appealing. My two kids will eat the crust but the are adamant about not eating the ''butt bread''. The ends of the loaf is comprised of the same ingredients and baked in the same pan as the rest of the loaf but that argument falls on deaf ears. They will not touch it. My mother always called it the ''heel'' of the loaf. Another not exactly appetizing term.

Sometimes I turn the heel to the inside when making sandwiches. I rarely get away with that one with my teenaged son but my six year old daughter is still more hungry than observant when it comes to her food. I tried making croutons with the butt bread but that didn't turn out so well. Maybe there is a crouton recipe. I thought it was just stale toast. Butt bread is good for French onion soup. Just submerge it and cover it with some cheese. I haven't been caught at that one yet.

I keep a bread bag in my freezer and throw the butt bread in it each time I open a new loaf. I hate to waste perfectly good bread but I am not exactly willing to eat it either. For now I plan on keeping in the freezer until Spring when the kids and I can take it and feed the ducks when they come back to the local pond. They will love it, even if it is butt bread

Gear It In Gear

My son has been driving for a mere three months now but he learned on an automatic transmission. He is a good driver and a good kid so when he asked to trade in his ''granny car'' for one more befitting to a sixteen year old boy I had to think about it long and hard. With gas prices having such unpredictable mood swings switching to a more economical car might not be a bad idea. Having a smaller car might be easier to navigate in Omaha's traffic as well as parking lots.

The granny car was rather large and boatish so when an opportunity came up to buy a friend's car who was in the service and deploying to another country I told my son if he could sell his granny car then he could buy the sporty little car. His eyes lit up and he immediately got into high gear. He made flyers and posted them around town then he took pictures of his car and made a posting on Craigslist putting it up for sale. The granny car sold quickly and before our friend was ready to release the ownership of his car so my son used that time to read about stick shifts on the internet and watch You Tube videos on how to drive a stick.

I was skeptical and thought we were still going to have at least a week of frustrating, lurching, engine killing lessons. I was wrong. Sure he killed the engine a few times (five, but who is counting?) but withing two days my son was confidently on the road in a five speed Mitsubishi.

I am pretty impressed with how much he learned before he got behind the wheel and I think we are both very pleased with how it paid off.

Is Captian Chelsey ''Sully'' Sullenberger an athiest?

The miraculous flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River with no lives lost is not considered miraculous by all. Many atheist groups are trying to count the heroic Captain in their ranks. Much is being said about Sully's answer to a question posed by Katie Couric in an interview.

"Did you, at any point, pray?"
It seemed to be the only question that surprised Sullenberger, who had taken his plane from a normal take-off through a disasterous bird-strike that killed both engines to ditching in a frigid river in less than five minutes. His answer:
I would imagine somebody in the back was taking care of that for me while I was flying the airplane.

He has not professed any thanks to God for his life and the other 155 people on the plane. If he is a Christian he missed out on some great opportunity to praise God. If he is an atheist he doesn't seem to want to broadcast that. Perhaps he is not inclined to indicate his faith or lack of to the throngs of media who have been following him since this incident. He might just think it is none of our business.

What intrigues me most though is not whether or not he is a believer. I want to know how Katie Couric earns millions of dollars a year and doesn't ask this guy a follow up question.

What's Up Doc?

Seriously, What's up Doc? I just got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon after a weekend I would love to forgot but doubt that I will anytime soon. Numerous tests were done with no definitive answer as to what was wrong with me. The best guess the staff has is food poisoning.

Even if I didn't get answers I did get great care. The doctors and nurses were wonderful and the hospital was clean. I can't complain about the food since I didn't get any while I was there but the saltines the nurse snuck to me on the side were delicious.

Ironic that I had just written an article on safe lunch ideas for kids given the peanut butter recalls. Not that we know it was the peanut butter that almost did me in but still it makes me wonder.

Here is a link to my article just in case you are interested: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1407905/peanut_free_lunch_box_ideas.html?cat=25