We adopted my son from foster care. With the adoption tax credit (he was deemed 'special needs' based on race and a heart condition), we received money at the end of the process. That was, let me assure you, not the point. We wanted to be parents to someone who needed parents.

I wrote this somewhere else, but the gist is that there were two separate databases breached. The first (40 million), announced in December, was a breach of the payment card systems. The second (70 million), announced in January, was a marketing database. After the first was announced, Target offered credit monitoring…

Given the Target breach + getting your stuff stolen, I'd probably go ahead and take advantage of the free year of credit monitoring. Might as well make sure you're okay.

There were two separate databases breached. The first (40 million), announced in December, was a breach of the payment card systems. The second (70 million), announced in January, was a marketing database. After the first, Target offered credit monitoring to the 40m potentially affected. After the second, Target…

That is awesome. Hook 'em (up with some cookies)!

There are not a lot of things I consider worthy of actually yelling about, but if I were in any way connected with this situation, as a parent or an administrator, I would not be using my inside voice when addressing to the people responsible for this bullshit.

On my commute last night, I had the choice between one NPR station airing an interview with Rand Paul, and another NPR station doing the first day of their Winter pledge drive. You better believe I chose pledge drive patter over Ron Paul. Thank you, WHYY!

It sounds like just one district was considering doing that. I live in NJ, and my kid's school sends home an IOU.

Seriously. Our school does IOU's. It comes home, you send it back stapled to an envelope with some cash. Fin.

I know that my kid wouldn't understand 'billing snafu, it won't happen again', and then every morning, when he started getting hungry for lunch, he'd worry about whether he'd be able to actually have lunch that day.

Rock on, Engineerlady's Mom!

As I said, she was batshit. I'd be really interested in an answer from someone who is a bit more sane.

Ugh. It infuriates me, but in the end, I figure that if you don't WANT to parent a child of color, then that child sure as hell doesn't need you to be his/her parent. Transracial adoption is a marathon of educating yourself, checking your privilege and humbling yourself, asking for advice from people who have…

I once asked the same question of a classmate who was marrying a guy in the service. She told me that deployments mean better pay (I'm not sure how, I didn't ask), and salaries paid when a service member is a combat zone are not taxed. To her, bringing troops home was unpatriotic, because it meant paying them less.…

If you haven't heard it already, I recommend the Fresh Air with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Teri Gross snorts with laughter.

My BFF is a friend of Bill W, and she has told me that 'anything you have to control, is out of control.' I think about that frequently. Not shilling for AA, just offering food for thought.

My aunt & uncle took a second mortgage on their home when their daughter got married. I think part of the general relief when I eloped was that it had shattered the expectation that anyone else in the family would be expected to do something of that magnitude.

We eloped too. No one was upset, really. Once they considered it, everyone said something to the effect of 'Of course you eloped! You hate being the center of attention!' We just wanted to be married. The wedding wasn't a priority to us. It wasn't a matter of being holier than thou, it was a matter of doing it the…

That your fiance took out the loan against your advice and then blew it, like you knew he would, might be an indication that you guys have some stuff to work on before you get hitched. Or not. I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but marriage is hard, it helps to hash out as many pre-existing issues as you can…

I am sorry for your pain.