Carol's random babble

I have mentioned before that I have been without a car since the end of October . Donna has been driving me to work and home, shopping and occasionally to church. It's all been very inconvenient for everyone concerned. I got my tax refund on Feb. 15 and went car shopping. I had checked out various dealer websites, but wasn't having much luck in my price range. I'm not willing to get into a loan situation and don't want to give my friends' contact information for the application in any case, so my search was limited to what I could do with the cash on hand. One dealership had a car that was okay, but I only drove it around the lot a little because the brakes seemed a little squishy and it didn't move for a few seconds when I pressed on the gas - leading me to think there might be a transmission problem. Another dealer didn't want me to test drive the car further than "around the block." The belt was screaming, so it needs to be replaced, whi...

School vote today for increase to PPEL in Fort Dodge. Why I will vote yes and what could happen if it fails: My daughter has orchestra, and FDSH is the only school in the area that offers it. It's a big reason why I don't open enroll her elsewhere (like MNW where they have school-issued laptops, for example). Orchestra is frequently at risk of being cut for budget reasons. If the physical needs of the schools are taken out of the general fund, orchestra may go away. There goes my main reason for keeping her at FDSH. So maybe I open enroll her at a different school and FD schools lose the money for her, making it more difficult to pay for things. Or maybe I decide that we'll move out of the area - to Ames or DM or somewhere else with an orchestra program. That would mean that all the money I spend here for rent, shopping, etc., now goes somewhere else. Now imagine if 50 or 100 parents do this. Maybe I don't have the math right, but I think it means if you have a $100,000...

Before I start this, here's some background information: I've been separated from my husband since September 2008 and we have no plan to get back together. I have no plan to marry anyone at this stage. It would be premature to even entertain the notion, as I am still married. I love Doctor Who. I have a friend Veronica who is a bit sad that she is not in a romantic relationship. She also loves Doctor Who. We both live in Iowa, which has legalized gay marriage. We are both LDS, and heterosexual, so there's no chance we would take advantage of gay marriage being legal. The conversation is not verbatim, as it was several hours ago, but I think I have the gist of it. Conversation in the car today after hearing a radio ad about a jewelry store where they went on and on about their engagement rings (the driver declined to be identified for reasons that baffle me): (There was an extremely detailed radio commercial for a jewelry store in Des Moines, detailing how they...