Spoiled goods

Truly heartbreaking. Poor girl. The most sickening aspect of this is her family's reaction: they are more sympathetic to their daughter's rapists than to their own victimized child. What is wrong with people? And no, I don't want to hear politically correct arguments about cultural differences and validity of different societal norms. This is just wrong. Plain and simple.

Got milk?

We have been long time Ikea patrons. As a matter of fact, most of our furniture at home is from Ikea. For the longest time our living room looked like a page out of their catalog (that is before kids started ruining it). We were very happy when they opened their store in Red Hook, which meant we no longer had to travel to New Jersey if we wanted to go to Ikea. What we discovered very quickly though was that the staff in the new location is less than friendly. Security guards reminded me the Soviet era customer service and why exactly everyone hated it. A few times I had an argument with guards when they insisted they knew better than me where I needed to go in a store and whether or not I can take a shopping cart there with me. Whatever. Ikea in Elizabeth is so much friendlier. And sales tax is only 3%.

So I am not surprised that a nursing mother in Ikea, Red Hook got a less than stellar treatment. Thankfully, such an incident never occurred to me, but now I wonder if I should continue patronizing this location. If not as a matter of principle, then simply because I don't want to be herded asked by a rude security guard to nurse in their bathrooms.

P.S. the article has a very comprehensive guide on the rights of nursing mothers. Some things might come as a surprise even to seasoned moms. For example, did you know that employers are OBLIGATED to provide breaks for pumping? I only found out a few months ago, and this guide has this info.

First tooth!!!

I saw it yesterday, but wasn't 100% sure because the baby didn't want to cooperate with inspection. Today it's cofirmed!!! We got first tooth, barely four months of age. Spoke to Mom, and she asked me why I was so happy. As far as she can remember, that usually means biting while the baby nurses. And I had to concur.

Still, first tooth!!!

The milk thief strikes again

Our company, one of the biggest health care providers in the country, is the only company I have heard of that doesn't provide coffee for its employees. Well, maybe in some other departments they do, but I somehow doubt that. Since they don't pay for coffee, they, of course, don't pay for the milk either. Therefore, from time to time I bring milk from home. I use it mostly to lighten and sweeten my coffee, so I don't really mind sharing. As a matter of fact, I tell a few people I am friendly with that I have brought milk and they are more than welcome to partake.

The problem is that today I have found my bottle of milk 1/3 empty. I had only used it once and knew for a fact neither I nor the people I have offered my milk, took it. (I did not conduct an investigation, they have simply been out of the office either on vacation or training.) And that's not the first time this had happened. Almost every time I bring in milk, someone takes quite a big chunk of it. And that, frankly, ticked me off today, big time.

As I was standing in the kitchen making my coffee, visibly upset, one of my co-workers came in and asked me what happened. I told him, but then the pushover in me started feeling like a cheapskate for complaining about something so small. And I started going on how it's not about the money (it really isn't), but about inconvenience (I can't just run out to Duane Reade to replace it for several reasons) and me being left without breakfast on several occasions because someone decided, for no good reason, that their bowl of cereal is more important that mine.

And now I am mad at two people. The first person is,of course, the person who has been taking my milk. Honestly, what gives? You know it's not yours and you know that the company doesn't provide it, so why the heck would you feel entitled to it? Seriously? That's stealing, pure and simple. And if you are hungry and desperate, all you have to do is ask. That bottle literally has my name on it, for goodness sake!

And the second person is myself. Why was I so apologetic about my feelings to another co-worker? After all, I am the one who has been wronged, no matter how insignificantly. I didn't do anything wrong.

And then it got me thinking. In any office, there is one or two individuals who do this kind of thing. I remember in another place I worked at, there was a candy thief. During tax season the junior staff would take turns bringing in chocolates and sweets. And those sweets would go suspiciously fast. Other people on the floor complained that their candy would disappear from their desk drawers. One night while staying in very late, one of us found this candy thief. It was one of the senior partners who waited for everyone to be gone to go on the prowl. The guy made more money than all of us, junior staff, put together, and could certainly ask the office manager to supply him with chocolates.

So really, what gives?

Think you are covered? Think again.

Yep, I am at it again. Whining about our health care system. Here is something to put a human face on a serious problem. And lest you think this is liberal imagination gone wild, at least one woman mentioned in the article testified in the House subcommittee.

But hey, so many celebrities are dying. Why mention some cancer stricken nurse and our little health care crisis?

***Note: the link has been updated. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Rhetorical question.

Purely rhetorical question for the audience.

What would you do if you came home and found children's clothes hamper empty? Because your husband washed them all. Without pre-treating stains. Or sorting, of any kind. And dried it all on the highest setting. Shrinking your son's favorite gray and black wool sweater. And assuring that baby's cute new outfit now will forever be adorned with the yellow spit up stains? Purely theoretically, would you yell? Would you cry? Would you politely smile and thank the perp because he was just trying to help? Or a little bit of each? You see, I wouldn't know what to do. Which matters not because it didn't happen to me. No, no, no. All purely theoretical.

Completely unrelated question, does anyone know if the wool can be unshrunk?

Sing for a laughter, sing for a tear - part II

You can call me a recidivist singer because I have done it again. And so did DS.

DD and I were singing something last shabbat when we overheard DS giving us his own version of Police. He was singing, "I can't, I can't, I can't stand music; I can't, I can't, I can't stand music..." for the full five minutes. This time I wasn't speechless. I was literally grasping for things not to fall on the floor from laughter.

Blogging and such

Yours truly has been featured by Suburban Correspondent, in all her might and glory. I have submitted - in the comments - a mangled version of My Heart's in the Highlands and inadvertently have entered the contest for the best appliance poetry. Don't ask. Just check it out. And in case you want to vote, the poll is on the left part side of the site. Left side. Left. Not right. Or center. Unlike some other contestants, who are heavily lobbying their blog readers to vote for them, I am simply mentioning this little factoid, for no reason whatsoever. Though I am not above begging, you know. You see, it's not about winning, it's about enjoying your blogging experience. And since I now have received two votes (I have a sneaking suspicion that both of them were cast by Suburban Correspondent herself out of pity), I am not even worried about getting no votes at all. But please, please, please don't let me come in the last in the voting! It's an honor to just be nominated. Oh, c'mon, go vote for me, pity votes count just as much as the real ones!

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Few days ago I read a brilliant post on the recent news coverage by SuperRaizy. I highly recommend. If you are in the mood for more on the topic, then you can reread my take on some other very important news announcements of the past: Dumbledore's coming out, news coverage of this earth shattering news, and Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy. I know, both of these events made such a difference in our lives! (if Jamie Lynn's mom is reading my blog, I apologize. On the second thought, nah).

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Oops, forgot to include the title in the original version.