Special Snowflake Stories

[MissRose]

We got a call one night from a SS's mother. His cable stopped working all of a sudden. Does he call the cable company? Nope, he calls Mommy and has her call the cable company. To her credit, she sounded rather exasperated with him.

I asked DH what he though would happen if he called his mom in the middle of the night to inform her his cable wasn't working. Her response would probably be "What do you want *me* to do about it? Call the cable company!"

This old reply reminds me of something that happened while I was on holidays.  I was spending a few days with one of my best mates.  His dad rings him up and says his new cell phone is  not working right, and needs my friend to go into town to sort it out for him.  My friend was not impressed to say the least & had a few words with him.  His father is 50 something years old & cannot sort out his phone, and asks his son!  I was not impressed either but I kept my mouth shut.   And I won't even start on his father refusing to run a simple errand to help my friend out in return for going into the city centre to sort his phone!

[Midnight Kitty]

Look around you for a shoe repair store that does more than just resole shoes.  .....

Another possiblity would be a place that repairs saddles.  Look in the phone book for horse supplies or horse riding schools.

I know this post is going to make me sound like a SS, but I'll post it anyway and y'all can laugh at or with me.

I am jealous.  So many recommendations to go to a good shoe store, one that does more than put new tips on high heels, or the local Amish, or a place that repairs tack and saddles.  I love my shoes and would repair them if I could find a shoe repairman.  I also own a horse and have tack that could/should be repaired.  I live in Hawaii on the island of Oahu in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  There is one real shoe repair(wo)man left on this island.  She is a nice lady who bought this ancient leather repair equipment.  Her business was near the ranch where I keep Misty, so I would drop off my shoes.  She even modified my husband's saddle to fit his mare before she died earlier this month.   She moved her business closer to her home and much farther away from me.  She's now over an hour drive each way from my home AND the ranch.  She couldn't have moved farther away unless she moved to Maui.

Not only that, she does not advertise and her shop sign said "lawnmower repairs," which her husband did.  When our tack breaks, we buy new.  Everyone saves little pieces that could be reused and we learn to make some repairs, but we need that piece of equipment that sews through 3 layers of harness leather.

So, here I am, living in Paradise and complaining that we have no Amish around to repair my shoes, purses, and tack.

... and Mindy, I know you are out there ... somewhere ... and I will find you!  I will have a dozen pairs of shoes needing repair by then, so I hope you still have your incredible, ancient but functional, leather repair equipment.

[Virg]

Midnight Kitty wrote:

"So, here I am, living in Paradise and complaining that we have no Amish around to repair my shoes, purses, and tack."

This sounds like a business opportunity in the making.

Virg

[BabylonSister]

Midnight Kitty wrote:

"So, here I am, living in Paradise and complaining that we have no Amish around to repair my shoes, purses, and tack."

This sounds like a business opportunity in the making.

Virg

Order your Amish worker!  Now available in all 50 States!

[Adelaide]

As I limped out of my krav maga class, I made my way to the only spot where I had a chance to put my shoes back on-no shoes are allowed in most of the dojo. There's a bench by the entrance, which was the only conceivable spot to sit down, as there were classes going on and I wasn't going to disturb a class just to put shoes on. The bench was occupied by a very large woman who was jabbering quite loudly on her cell phone. She was turned slightly to the side with one arm draped over the back of the bench and she was chomping pretzels as she talked. I'm sure the class nearest the entrance could hear her chew and/or talk on the phone. The woman was complaining about having to take her kids to karate practice an how "violent" it all was on her phone. When she saw me approaching (again, I'm limping, have a leg brace, and I'm starting to get a black eye) she turned further to the side, adjusted her gut so that it took up more of the bench, and swept the pretzel crumbs off of her shirt onto said bench. She then gave me The Look. I ended up propping my feet on the edge of the bench as I put my boots on.

[doodlemor]

Special-Snowflake-Late-for-a-Dateus...........

Our section of western NY is undergoing days of lake effect snow, in addition to the bone cold temperatures and winds.  Most people are driving very prudently, because the visibility on many roads is poor due to the blowing snow.

A very special snowflake was driving on a major divided highway, and got caught behind a snowplow.  He was disgruntled because he was late to meet someone for a skiing engagement.  It can be iffy to pass these plows on a two lane sometimes, because the plow blade is so long that it can intrude a bit into the left hand lane.

Using reasoning known only to special snowflakes, snowflake decided that it would be a good idea to use the wide shoulder of the road to pass the snowplow on the right.  Apparently there was so much blowing snow that he didn't realize that not only was the plow clearing the road with the front blade, but the side blade was down to clear the shoulder.

Snowflake hit the side plow blade, spun out and around, and was then hit by the front blade of the plow as the operator was frantically braking and slowing down.

The snowflake and the plow operator were unhurt, as was the plow.  The snowflake's car was totaled.

[Zen]

And this is why you never pass a snowplow.

[LadyClaire]

And this is why you never pass a snowplow.

I wouldn't want to pass a snowplow. Being behind plows and salt trucks is a good thing when the roads are bad. I always feel safer driving behind them.

[sidi-ji]

  Marcel wrote :  " I followed him with my camera, and I saw 2 almost accidents, where both he and the oncomming car had to make an emergency stop."

In all, it took him a few minutes to get back there, then he would have to get to the tunnel to go under th channel, etc. Which takes a few more minutes. My estimate is that he will have saved at most 2/3 minutes by this highly illegal action that endangered both himself and the oncoming motorists.
[/quote]


Ack!  With all the motorists reporting this .. words escape me, hopefully his license to   behave idiotically has been revoked.

[RingTailedLemur]

Special snowflake icantbebotheredtogetthesnowoffmycarius: http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/21/snow-covered-audi-a3-pictured-driving-along-m4-motorway-in-south-wales-3359877/

[bopper]

I am going to go against the grain...I think that doctors/dentists have found that kids do better when their parents AREN"T there in general.
Likw how kids act better at school or the babysitter or at friends houses but save all their whining and annoying behavior for you.
One does have to make sure about safety, but for example at our dentist there is a big room with lots of people in it but parents are not allowed in.  Worked great for my kids and I am sure there would have been some clinginess otherwise.
Now for kids with special needs accommodations should be made but for a typical kid it works better.

[Hillia]

I am going to go against the grain...I think that doctors/dentists have found that kids do better when their parents AREN"T there in general.
Likw how kids act better at school or the babysitter or at friends houses but save all their whining and annoying behavior for you.
One does have to make sure about safety, but for example at our dentist there is a big room with lots of people in it but parents are not allowed in.  Worked great for my kids and I am sure there would have been some clinginess otherwise.
Now for kids with special needs accommodations should be made but for a typical kid it works better.

When DS was about 7 he took gymnastics classes, and the other mothers thought that I was a horrible, uncaring parent because I didn't sit in the observation room cheering him on.  If I was there, he spent all his time looking at me, but when I left, he focused on the instructor and the class.  So I would either sit in my car and read, or sit in a far corner where he couldn't see me.  There was one mom in particular who made a big point of cheering for DS every time he walked across the room, all the time giving me dirty looks and shaking her head. 

[MommyPenguin]

The dentist that I was taking the kids to had individual rooms and also a big group room.  My youngest kids (3 and younger) at the time would be seen in the private room with me.  I sometimes had to hold them, and the littlest ones would be held down across my lap, with their head on the dentist's lap, to be checked.  Older kids would be seen in the big group room, so they were independent of their parents but also weren't in a private room with a dentist and no witnesses.  It worked fairly well, and my oldest loved being independent.  I'm assuming that if the kid needed more than a cleaning and tooth check, they'd have it done in a private room though (for filling cavities, root canals, etc.).

My daughters take gymnastics, and the lessons are in rooms that only the child can enter (unless it's a Mommy and me class for the littles).  The rooms have big windows to the main hall where everybody waits.  The only problem is that the kids can see their parents through the windows.  Sometimes this isn't an issue, especially with older kids, but younger kids are apt to show off when they see their parents watching, or just be distracted.  My husband thinks, for the insane price we're paying for gymnastics instruction, that it would be nice if they'd put one of those one-sided films on the window so that the parents can see in but the kids can't see out.

[AfleetAlex]

Special snowflake icantbebotheredtogetthesnowoffmycarius: http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/21/snow-covered-audi-a3-pictured-driving-along-m4-motorway-in-south-wales-3359877/

I live in Michigan and we see similar people far more often than we ought to - i.e. they've cleared just the front windshield and nothing else. That driver, however, takes the cake - just one little hole to see out of??? Yikes!

[snowdragon]

Special snowflake icantbebotheredtogetthesnowoffmycarius: http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/21/snow-covered-audi-a3-pictured-driving-along-m4-motorway-in-south-wales-3359877/

I live in Michigan and we see similar people far more often than we ought to - i.e. they've cleared just the front windshield and nothing else. That driver, however, takes the cake - just one little hole to see out of??? Yikes!

 
  He needs to be stopped before he kills someone.