So I'm Kinda Scared of My Car...

I drive America's best-selling car: the Toyota Camry. Specifically, a 2007 Camry. More specifically, one of the death machines involved in the largest automobile recall in U.S. history. Even more specifically, as of today, one of the 8 vehicle models that Toyota is halting the production and dealership sales of. Yeah. Guess this is pretty serious.

Here's some background history because I know you're all concerned:

I purchased my car when it first came to the Toyota lot in June of 2006. I received a recall notice in 2007 or 2008, regarding the all-weather accessory floor mats. I didn't really pay much attention to this recall because, well, it involved floor mats. This past November I received another recall in the mail regarding the driver's floor mat. This recall involved 4.2 million cars. That's a few cars. Owners were asked to remove the driver's floor mat as it was thought that the mat could cause the accelerator petal to stick. Accelerator sticking? That's bad news bears. I had been watching news reports about this and decided that this time I would take the recall seriously. I (Who am I kidding? Truth be told, my brother removed my floor mat because I still wasn't taking it completely serious) removed my floor mat and have not replaced it, as instructed per the recall letter.

Within the past year, several Toyota models have become possessed and have taken the driver and passengers on a death ride. There have been many incidents of random acceleration (some 2,000 accidents), which have sadly ended in injuries and near 20 fatalities. There have been 60 new cases of runaway Toyotas since the floor mat recall notice I received just this past November.

This past week, Toyota announced a 2.3 million car recall (yes, me again) to fix the sticking accelerator pedal. Today, January 26, Toyota decided to halt production and to suspend vehicle sales of all models involved in the recall. Apparently the stuck accelerator remains a mystery to Toyota. They can't quite figure out what is causing it or how they are going to fix it. They first thought it was the floor mats, then they thought the solution would be to reshape the gas pedal. Now they're saying they will replace the gas pedal and install an additional braking system. Who knows. Toyota executives are still denying electronic or computer problems. However, I do feel that it's probably more of an issue in the computer unit/software. Owners have removed floor mats and are storing them in trunks as directed, yet these accidents are still occurring. There has to be more going on internally. Recalling the floor mats and reshaping the gas pedal are just 'band-aids' to cover up more of a serious underlying issue. Whatever the reason for the random acceleration issues, I hope a solution and permanent fix is discovered. And soon. In the mean time, I pray (and you should too) that my car doesn't go speeding out of control as a 'Runaway Toyota' as I'm driving down the road. Oh my.

Woo!

Yep. We got snow day #3 off. Woo to the hoo.

I said Brr! It's cold in here.

It's cold. Like, really cold. I don't like it. At all. It's pretty near impossible to get warm. My heat is on (duh- or I would be a human popsicle) but my house is still freezing. I could turn it up a little more, but that would result in a massive utility bill. I'm not about that. I mean, have my house a couple degrees warmer or eat next month? Yeah. You know what I'm going to choose. To stay warm I've been huddled up next to the space heater while using my Snuggie. Yeah, so. When I'm not by the heater or snuggled up in the Snuggie; I walk around the house dressed like a homeless woman. Mismatched clothes, multiple layers, no makeup, stringy hair. It's a sight for the eyes. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm turning into a reptile. I've gone through almost an entire bottle of lotion to try to hydrate my skin. Not working. My skin looks scaly and it feels like sandpaper. I'm totally over this whole winter thing. I need some hot, hot sun back in my life. My wardrobe needs it. My skin needs it. My sanity needs it. The one good thing about this coldness is that it provided a light dusting of snow. This dusting resulted in two snow days...Can I hear three? I've been quite lazy during these snow days. And I've loved not just every minute of it, but every second of it.

This incredible and mind-blowing amount of snow ended up giving us four days off school. This is why I love this place and my profession!

Magical Unicorn Fairy: FOUND!

Ashley! I totally forgot that you're the Magical Unicorn Fairy! In that case, I don't hate you. I just dislike your notifications.

2010?

So in case you haven't noticed, it's a new year. There's been some debate and confusion about how to say this year- 2010. There's "Two-Thousand Ten" or "Twenty Ten" or you can even do it a little urban and say "2KX". It's really whatever. You know what's really cool though? To say it as I did last week in a moment of moronicness (Yeah, it's a word): "Twenty-Oh-Ten". Yep, it's 20010. Man.

I hate the Magical Unicorn Fairy

You're logging on Facebook. You look to the bottom right corner and see the little red box with a number inside showing you that you have notifications. Maybe you get a little excited like I do when you see this. It's like a magical little surprise awaiting you. Did someone write on my wall? Who just commented on my photo? Is someone "liking" my activity or my status? Those are the things that I want to be notified about. I like knowing that someone is blowing up my wall or my status updates. I don't want to know about what's going on in YoVille or the "Nicest Person Contest" or whatever the case may be. The notification that really burns me up is this one: OMG! Today's Special Gift is Magical UNICORN Fairy For You!. Send this super special gift to the friend of the day!!! [ THE GODFATHER gives you 1000 reward points for the price of 100 rewards points!] What the heck is a Magical Unicorn Fairy? I don't even know what this means. And who is this Godfather they speak of? Well, today I took control of the notification problem. I finally figured out how to get rid of this crap. I'm putting a stop to all this madness right now. Take that Magical Unicorn Fairy. You too Godfather.

That's inappropriate

Today during Free Center time, one of my girls came up to me to tattle on another student that was in her center. These two students were in the Home Living center, which is always the most popular of all free centers in my classroom. That has absolutely nothing to do with this story, but I just thought you'd like to know. Just general knowledge. So apparently the boy that she's tattling on was pulling down the pants of the baby doll that lives in Home Living. She said, "He was pulling down the pants and laughing at the baby. I told him that was inappropriate because that's what you would've said." Aww. My kids know me too well. What they don't know is that I usually have to turn around and laugh after catching them doing things like that.