Why my tongue hurts

I know most people were running errands and getting ready for that last blast of summer BBQ on Labor Day. Some folks cleaned up their houses, other people headed to the grocery store for burgers and dogs. Still more of you mowed the lawn and watered the garden and maybe picked some veggies out of your gardens.

That's not what I did, however. I spent the day reading and snoozing because I stayed up all night long Sat. night watching America' Test Kitchen. What is wrong with me that I love that show so much? I love the product reviews, the recipes, and especially the tastings at the very end. Our local PBS station was hosting a marathon and I watched at least 20 episodes. I would have gone for more, but they put on those damn cartoons at 6 am.

But that's not all I did today. I also spent a goodly amount of time flattening my son's enormous jaw breaker because his tongue got so sore trying to get it flat that he could no longer feel it. Yes, his tongue was numb from the licking.

Never one to pat myself on the back unnecessarily, I flattened that baby in record time, scooped out the disgusting bubble gum in the center, and rinsed off all my germs. Tomorrow he can finish it.

I don't understand the fascination with jaw breakers that both my kids have. Usually they get about 2/3 of the way through them and then leave them someplace gathering dust until I toss them. They don't even taste that good, and they DO hurt your tongue.

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Got my first unpleasant comment in many months yesterday. A person seemed upset with me that I bought a television. She suggested cheaper ways of getting a TV. Like I don't really know how to live on the cheap.

I have huge issues with people who think they can run my life, or other people's lives, better than I can. What you read on any blog is only what the blogger wants you to know. I do not share everything in my life, and I certainly don't share what my day-to-day finances are. While I have no shame about being strapped, I don't think that it's some stranger's business to tell me how to spend what money I do have. Especially since her suggestion to check out craigslist was the very first thing I did when I realized our TV had broken.

There was not a suitable TV available on craigslist. I wrote to every person that was selling one, and they were all gone, or the people never responded, it being a holiday weekend. Of the couple of TV's that might have worked, one was way overpriced for what they had, and the others weren't the right size. We have specific TV needs. We need a lot of input/output leads as we have a lot of peripherals. Our old TV was a royal pain in the butt because every time we wanted to watch a movie we had to go back there and unplug A and then plug in B. And that's with double and triple plugs. That was annoying.

The other thing that was an absolute was a sleep timer and a V-chip. The older TV's have parental controls, but not a V-chip. And a sleep timer is essential to the way we live. We MUST have one. It's not your business why, just take it from me that it's not negotiable.

I could have waited for a few weeks looking for the right TV from craigslist. I also could have cut off my right arm. The pain would be similar. So I did what I had to do, which was to pool all our birthday money and buy a TV. My children, who are certainly old enough to help in any family decision we make, were all for getting a new TV. When we looked at some of the old crappy TV's in the store (all very small) they made the decision to donate to the TV fund. They knew that it might cause some hardships for the next couple of weeks, but they were willing to forgo other things in order to take home a new TV. So that's what we did.

And, had we kept trying to watch the old TV, would could have had a house fire. We carried the thing upstairs to the Boy's room and it's sparking now. So there really was no choice.

It really bothers me that I have to explain to a complete stranger just why I spent the money, like it's any of her business. But in case other people were thinking the same thoughts and had enough courtesy to keep them to yourselves, this is the explanation. Nuff said!

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