Mmmm, what's this?

McDonald's has been begun charging for extras. Extra this extra that. I guess they have been doing so for a while now. It is a small smack in the face, but I suppose it is inevitable. I understand this, but don't really agree with it. Anywho...

Last night before gym class for Payton, we ate at McDonald's. Kathleen hates this, but the boys love it. I kinda like it too. I had noticed an extra charge on my bill the week before and the same charge appeared appeared this night. I don't care for onions and always have them omitted. I like pickles and order extra. On the receipt you can see I am charged 30¢ for the extra pickles. But wait, why am I not credited for having the onions omitted? I queried the manager about this. He said that I should ask to have the pickles substituted for the onions and then I won't be charged.

Now given this new pricing policy I would think that omitting an included item and adding something else, it is implied that I am substituting items. But I guess that just isn't the case. Oh well, 30¢ isn't going to break me, but next time - and there will be a next time - I will be more savvy in my ordering.

Parker solves a problem

Ash Wednesday

Kathleen and Payton got up early today. Kathleen took Payton to church and then to breakfast before school.

President's Day 2012

Today was a day off from school and from work for Kathleen. George Washington was visiting our local children's museum and we went down to see him. The boys like this place. They get to build things, dig things up and just play.

Later we went into Doylestown and had lunch at a new - new for us - restaurant. We walked the streets and shopped. We even bought a thing or two. We walked past a small street side park. We thought the sign was kind of funny. One best not bring their checkerboard to play a game. The city will have none of that! In fact, once you arrive you should just be on your way too. There will be no loitering either.

Parker (basement photo shoot)

Our Parker. Three years, five months and six days old. A handsome little boy - at least we think so.

No more dead battery (fingers crossed)

Few things are more frustrating than turning the key to your car and nothin'. Maybe you hear just click click click click. Either way you aren't going anywhere. It's happened to me with the van several times. Until the last time the van has always been sitting in the garage. Here I have a plug in charger/starter. But the last time me and boys were out at night... and it was a bit chilly... and Kathleen was out of town. Fortunately I was able to get a jump and the van quickly started.

I've had the van checked out and I'm told the charging system and battery are okay. I think the boys have left on dome lights and the battery has slowly drained. This last time I was sitting for an hour with the radio and DVD playing. Parker and I were waiting in the church parking lot while Payton was in church prep class.

I purchased and installed a gizmo to stop draining my battery. It is called PriorityStart. It monitors the voltage in your battery. If it drops to around 11 volts or so it disconnects the battery. The idea is to leave enough charge in the battery so that it will still start the car. I tested it by leaving my lights on. In about 5 mintues the PriorityStart kicked in - lights out. Hopefully I will never have this problem again.

Pizza and Bingo

Payton's school had a fun night for all the kids and families. Both the lower elementary (K-2) and the upper elementary (3-6) gathered at the upper elementary cafeteria Friday night for pizza and bingo. The pizza was pizza and the bingo was bingo, but more importantly Payton had fun with his school friends.

Our young basketball star

Payton's first basketball season is nearly over. It's been fun watching him and the other boys play their games this winter. This weekend will be the end of the season. I'll tell you, the different sports around here don't step on each others toes. One sport ends and another begins. Soccer starts up after basketball, then baseball, the football. The leagues don't overlap. Is it like this everywhere or am I being pessimistic?

Stuck

Today was a very nice day around these parts. It got up into the 60s. I went outside and tossed the basketball up at the hoop a few times. After one shot the ball didn't come back down!

Our house modeled in 3D...revisited

Google notified me that my 3D house model was rejected. All models require photo realism. I'll have to take some pictures of the house and stick'em to my model. I haven't done this before, but I know there are some tutorials on line showing how. I'll work on this and try again.

My original post on this can be read by clicking here.