I used to get a copy of all my comments in my email, but since the upgrade I haven’t been getting them, and I can’t figure out why. Not a huge deal, but it does make it harder to respond individually. Therefore I’m copping out on getting back to everyone and doing a general response here.

As an aside — I do have a nifty plug-in that allows me to respond in the comment thread, rather like on livejournal, but I haven’t been using it because I wasn’t sure if anyone would see the responses. I like the idea of keeping responses with the relevant post, however I’m not sure if you guys would like it or not.

Anyway. On to the comments.

In general, it seems I have to cave on the capitalization thing. Which I am actually pretty happy about, because if you haven’t noticed I’m rather ADDICTED to capitalization. But I felt vaguely guilty about being a grammar bitch and then going around CAPITALIZING THINGS like I DON’T KNOW ANY BETTER. But if y’all do it too, I’m not going to feel bad. And I’m not judging you, either.

Jill was wondering which foot I broke and if it would impede learning to drive a manual. It was my right, so no, but I still don’t particularly *want* to. I mean, I will learn, just in case someday I am riding in the car with Mark and he has a heart attack or flying monkeys come down and carry him away, and I have to take over to prevent a multi-car pile-up, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about. It is, however, one more thing which I can use as a bargaining chip, should the need ever arise: “Well, I learned to drive a stick so you could buy that car …. ”

It’s actually not a bad little car, and not nearly as bad as I made it sound. I do find it odd that the front seats have shoulder belts — the kind that pull up from the bottom and click in at the top of the door — but no lap belts. I don’t think this is safe, but Mark has promised to look into getting this fixed. Otherwise, it is in good shape — the interior is very clean, the radio and AC work just fine, all the pertinent engine-type things seem to run well. There are a few rust spots that do indeed look as if they have been painted over with white-out, but in all it’s not a bad little car. I wouldn’t want to go on a cross-country trip in it or anything, but I do think it is fairly safe for the girls to ride around town in.

Amy asked “OK, what happened to husband giving you more leeway with the choice of car since he got to pick exactly what he wanted? The van makes so much sense.”

It does. And I’m still working on it with him. When I said he was sneering at it, I didn’t mean to imply that he was putting his foot down and saying no in no uncertain terms, just that he wasn’t enthusiastic. He’d prefer another crossover with a third row, like the Ford Freestyle we have now. However, despite the fact that we’ve been driving the Freestyle for two years and haven’t had any problems, I’m a little leery of another third-row crossover. I’ve seen some safety reports that make me nervous, particularly as pertains to the passenger in that third row amd rear-end collisions, because there is not much of a cushion between that back seat and the rear of the car. In the Kia Rondo we test drove, Kev’s head would almost be touching the back window. I don’t think that would be good. The thing is, we DO need to tote around five people comfortably, and squeezing Kev in between two car seats in the back of a station wagon really wouldn’t be terribly fair to ANY of the kids. And I definitely do not want a big ol’ honkin’ SUV. So a minivan really does seem like the best bet. I’ll wear him down. Especially if I let him teach me to drive the manual. Heh.

The consensus from you guys on the princess thing seems to back up my first instinct, which is to suck it up and deal until it’s outgrown. I try not to overly encourage the princess thing, but I’m not going to ban them from my house and thereby make them more attractive. I don’t think a princess obsession in and of itself is inherently evil; it’s the marketing machine behind them that I object to. Does a little girl really need princess sheets, underwear, cereal, fruit roll-ups, camp chairs, light-up sneakers, and a bike helmet? Of course not. But at one time or another we have purchased or been given all of the above for Mimi. And as I mentioned, I am so not above using the princesses as a bribe. I know that in the long run our influence is far more important than Cinderella’s. I hope.

There may be more, but for now I am wrapping up my work (heh) day and going home a bit early. Happy Friday!