The 18 month old is in a No, I really don't have time to eat, thank you phase. Her favorite food for three days at lunch? Will magically no longer be her favorite food.
EVER. AGAIN.

It's so frustrating (not to mention the mental exhaustion of trying to plan not only good for you food, but to decipher WHAT good for you food will be acceptable at this meal but probably not two days from now).

As a parent you'll try anything to get your kid to eat.

ANYTHING.

So after an OK showing at breakfast, a marginal lunch and then a no-go at dinner, we were exhausted. So I did a Yo Gabba Gabba throw down.

ME: *to Ella* You know, Yo Gabba Gabba's carrots want to go to a party in their tummy...
Todd: Yeah! *singing* ♫ There's a party in your tummy, there's a party in your tummy... ♫
Ella: *looking from me to Todd* YO?
ME: *Excited! Breakthrough near!* YES! Yo Gabba Gabba! ♫There's a party in your tummy...♫
Todd: ...♫so yummy! So yummy!♫
ME: So...can the carrots go to the party in yoooooour tummy?
Ella: *looking from me to Todd* *shakes head* No Yo.
Us: *collective sigh*

I've blogged before about business signs (or building signs, or signs in people's front yards). Mostly, I've blogged about the misspellings on signs. This time, let's concentrate on the craziness of signs in general, shall we?

Businesses are a great place to start for some fun making. I mean, you have to wonder what some people are thinking? Obviously, malfunctions in signs can give off the wrong information. VERY WRONG INFORMATION. Take this clinic sign for example.

This was on one side of the building.

This was on the other (malfunctioning) side of the building.

Do you think the clinic is wondering why they're getting a sudden influx of people talking about issues with their bowel movements? Hm.

But (heh heh, transition pun intended) sometimes well-intended business signs can backfire. I mean, REALLY, this happens so often that this store had to make a sign for it?!?

Has this EVER happened to you?!? (That's what I thought...) This might be saying more about their merchandise than they think.

One of my all time business sign favs is this little gem we found during our beach vaca this year:

SIGN: Government Hotel, Bailout Denied, Stay Here Cus We Need the Money

(It must be working - I see there was no vacancy.)

Sometimes, signs are just about placement and wording. When we lived on the East Coast, a popular fast food chicken chain posted "Dark Family Meal $4.99" on their sign. It stayed up there for one afternoon before it was reworded. *duh*

So, wording placement is key to getting across what you mean. For example? I really don't care how cheap Porta Potty water is, I'm still not drinking it.

Sometimes it's just fun to create your own sign placement so that you can blog about it later (heh heh). (Wonder what kind of fish "baby bait" catches?!?)

Speaking of using your baby for fun and games (until someone puts an eye out...):

When you're dealing with baby stuff, you find some pretty interesting signs and labels. Many leave you scratching your head in the "HUH?!? WHAT THE...?!?" kinda way. Recently, I found this choking hazard on a solid piece about the size of a large, tall thermos. NO ATTACHMENTS. NO PARTS.

Now, if my baby can get this down her throat, I would expect some kind of choking. (Well, perhaps not even choking, just sudden asphyxiation and then death. Or, at the very least, a large, goiter-like protrusion the rest of her life.)

But thanks for warning me about THAT hazard...

This caution sign found on one of those storage tubs really bummed me out.

APPARENTLY you can't put your baby in one of those big, plastic storage tubs. Imagine my disappointment when this information ruined a Friday night out on the town for me. I also had to rethink packing for vacation.

Sometimes even smart people have stupid signs. For instance, this bumper sticker is on the back of a SAAB *ahem*:

Don't worry. You'll get it later...

Lastly? I leave you with this sign that can be found in my home office:

'Nuf said.

So, what's your sign?

What goes hand-in-hand with a rainy day?
Well, OK, a NAP. But since we were out, we didn't have that choice. Instead, what screamed RAINY DAY COMFORT for us was a coffee.

And perhaps some chocolate chip cookies.

Out of convenience, we chose a fast-food-type drive through (an establishment known only in the north to those of us near Canada). We ordered two coffees and - OH LOOK! they have a half-dozen cookies for $3.99 - SOLD! They throw the total on the screen: $10.19.

FOR TWO CUPS OF COFFEE AND 6 CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.

Clearly something was amiss.

So we get to the window and my husband says, "UH...are you sure that total is correct?" and he repeated our order. At which point we were assured it was correct because they were having a "promotion" on the chocolate chip cookies.

And here's where it started to get interesting.

According to the manager, the chocolate chip cookies were on "PROMOTION" this month so we couldn't buy them at the $3.99 for 6 price (roughly .67-cents each), but instead had to pay $1.00 each.

My husband and I look at each other in that "HUH...WHA..." confused Labradoodle way.

My Husband: Shaking his head "So, they're on promotion so we get to pay MORE? For a cookie ON PROMOTION?!?"
Manager: Yes. These are smile chocolate chip cookies. They're for a fundraiser.
ME: yelling across my husband and through the drive-thru window But we don't want the SMILE COOKIES. I don't even know what a SMILE COOKIE is, we just want the chocolate chip cookies...
My Husband: ...6 for $3.99
Manager: I can't sell you 6 chocolate chip cookies. They are on promotion for $1.00 each. But you can choose any other flavor 6 for $3.99.
My Husband and Me: blink-blink-blink
ME: Again, yelling across my husband into the drive-thru window So let me get this straight, we can't have the cookies we want at the normal price, but we CAN buy them at a higher price for a fundraiser we don't even know if we want to support?
Manager: *sigh* We can't ring chocolate chip cookies 6 for $3.99 right now. There's no button.
My Husband and Me: blink-blink-blink
My Husband and Me: CACKLING LAUGHTER
ME: Tell ya what, forget the cookies all together, we'll just take the coffees.

Moral of the Story? If you want to do a promotional fundraiser, raise your prices by 33-cents and insure that customers only have a choice to buy or not to buy. (See how well it worked on us?)

And that, my friends? Is promotion math and fundraising at its finest.

God Bless America.