Angel’s birthday is December 3rd (which would make him 7 this year.) Considering money has been really tight this year, I find it a bit difficult to try to make a distinction with buying his Birthday presents versus Christmas presents. With me being divorced, Angel gets twice the Birthday party and twice the Holiday celebration.

While I grew up, I never had this issue as my birthday falls in September. My younger sisters also did not have birthdays anywhere close to Christmas.

Toys are never the issue, but usually clothing is where I have a problem choosing which occasion to give him those.

1. Do I split the clothes and give half for his birthday and the other for Christmas?
2. Do I give all the clothes on just one occasion?

All of his clothes have the characters he likes or the colors he likes to wear. He is pretty easy to please. This might seem like a dumb ordeal, but I would like to know how other mothers decide on issues like this for their children who may have a birthday near Christmas time.

So the boyfriend and I finally got the chance to go out to the movies. We went to see Paranormal Activity. By the way, it was not scary and I thought it sucked. My boyfriend said the movie had an okay plot, but overall, it sucked. And yes, they tried to imitate the Blair Witch Project documentary angle, which was FAIL in my opinion. (To me, the Blair Witch Project was not scary.)

Anyway, the movie theater was packed, which we usually catch thethe movies that have a sparse crowd, but I felt like I was back in the city again where people actually do things. Well, with the crowd came the smooching teens, and cell phones. That is not what bothered me. What did was the constant traffic during the movie. I am wondering if people in Centralia have bladder problems. People were up and walking around like they drank several gallons of- beer, tea, soda or whatever beverage you want to insert here. It got so annoying that my boyfriend said out loud.

“How many times do you have to go to the bathroom during a movie!”

I wanted to laugh. I really did, but I elbowed him, and sent him a half-glare/ half-apology for elbowing. I was just as annoyed. When I was younger, I was told to try to go to the bathroom before leaving home. Public restrooms are frightfully dirty and you can get STDs from sitting on the comode. That should be enough to deter people.

Maybe they should put before the movie starts, since the previews take almost 10 minutes- to put a note up for people to kindly try to take a bathroom break before the movie.

What are your movie peeves?

This is a sore topic for me. I have heard the statistics on the percentage of accidents caused by driving while talking on the cell phone. In fact, for me, a person who went from seeing pagers as a thing that was banned in schools to seeing teens be freely given cell phones, this hits a sore spot since even before I had a kid. In fact, I saw an 10 year old girl with a Blackberry and I had to wonder who in the world was she talking to or why did she really need a phone?

There are so many times I have almost been hit by someone using a cell phone. Usually it was merging over into my lane, and sometimes running the red light or stop sign. My younger sister texts while driving and it scares me because the car veers to one direction or the other and her eyes are not on the road. It got so bad I refuse to ride in her car, but I worry for my niece’s safety.

I remember watching the news recently and heard that driving while using the cell phone was apparently the equivalent to driving under the influence of alcohol. I am not the perfect driver, but I usually refuse to use the cell phone unless I have a hands free system. It is a risk I cannot afford for myself or when I have others in my car with me.

I know a lot of people do use them and I am not condemning people, but wanted to know – is it a concern of yours as well?

This past weekend, my boyfriend took his son, my own son, and myself up to Springfield, Illinois. Along the way we ate breakfast at McDonalds on the road, and then later on we dined at a Chinese buffet. Until we were done and paid the bill, I realized something – McDonalds was becoming increasingly expensive to eat at, especially for families. (We went to the Chinese buffet, as my boyfriend knew they also had a sushi bar too.)

Our breakfast bill was under $23, while our buffet dinner including drinks was just under $28. We got more for our money at the buffet. It kind of got me thinking back to the days when I was growing up and my family just made sandwiches, put some food in a cooler, and overall, saved money. Though the Dollar Menu would have saved money, some McDonalds do not offer what other stores do. For example, some allow 2 hash browns for a $1 or even a Double Cheeseburger for $1, but other McDonalds locations do not.

I am certain this can be said about others, but this just happened to be a particular incident that came to me. I am beginning to feel like I should do what my family did when I was younger and just do picnics for dining on the road. It may be healthier too.

What do you usually do on car trips? Do you always eat out when on the road?