West Texas Mama

Lady Luck is a fickle woman. You know that you are being set up and cannot count on her to help you, but you play her game anyway. And, then, once you are in the midst of it, you realize once again that you will lose. I told Jake he could only ride three rides. Of course, being the child that negotiates for EVERYTHING, he offered two rides and one game. I accepted the deal I would later realize was more Faustian in nature than I could have predicted. Finishing his two rides, he made a bee-line for the carney game.....toss a ping pong ball in a bowl of water and win a gold fish. No way can he win that, I thought, and I won't get suckered into the "upgrade" scam for nasty, cheap stuffed animals. Emma and I hustled to keep up. The carney saw us coming. I could see the glint in her eyes from 20 paces. "How much?" I asked. "One dollar for three, 10 for $3", she replied. I hand over $2 and tell her three balls for each kid. Emma, while enthus...

There are a plethora of TV shows now that highlight extreme couponers and their uncanny ability to pay next to nothing for hundreds of dollars of groceries and household items. They spend hours finding coupons and shopping and have built huge stockpiles reminiscient of the whole communist scare of the Cold War. I half expect some of them to strap on a metal helmet and run bomb-shelter drills for the neighborhood. I remember when I was growing up how my mom would sit with all of her newspaper ads and clip coupons. We'd set out for the stores and she'd slowly navigate the aisles looking for the best deals. The only difference between now and then is that she didn't need a calculator to figure the best prices, but that is a commentary that would take me down the path of railing against modern education. We'll save that for a later date. I read recently that couponing has long been a frowned upon practice reserved only for the poor or classless. But, I think my fe...