The Law.

Piglet is obsessed with the law. If I want him to do something, I just inform him that it is for sure, most definitely a law, and he will oblige. So far, eating breakfast with a shirt on is the law. Making your bed before coming downstairs is the law. Answering when mommy calls you? Law. Anytime I ask him to do something, he says, "Is that the law?" Why yes! Yes, it is.

The downfall comes when I'm driving the car. "Mommy? Are you going the speed limit?" Errrrr.....yes. (Now I am.) Mommy? Are you speeding? There's a police officer. Is he giving people tickets? Are they going to jail? (No, you just pay a fine.) Is that the law? YES. It's kind of endless. I found some cute signs in a store the other day that are a stoplight, a stop sign, and a detour sign. I'm thinking about easing the transportation theme in his room over to law enforcement. I'm surprised he hasn't written me a ticket yet. Santa is bring him a police costume that Santa may have picked up 75% off at Target after Halloween. His head will probably explode on Christmas morning. Best to tell him that's against the law.

In other law-related news, I had a really annoying snafu with my property taxes that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. To review: the county now charges a percentage based fee for paying online, which wound up being $86, as opposed to last year's $3 "courtesy fee" which I found annoying at the time. Clearly, I huffed and puffed a bit before deciding to mail that bad boy in with one of those old-fashioned and highly expensive stamp things.

It was mailed on a Friday, due on a Monday. Should be a piece of cake, being that it was local, in-town mail. HA HA HA. You know nothing is ever that easy. After stalking the website and my checking account for a week, I called last Thursday. The man who politely asked how he could "hep" me told me that as long as it was postmarked by the due date, I had nothing to worry about. Imagine my irritation when my taxes finally showed up on their website as paid, but with a $34 fee due. BAH!

I called in again and got a very lovely woman this time who asked how she could "hep" me. She pulled up my file and found that the envelope was not delivered to them until the following Friday (that's four days late. I don't DO late.) and, AND?? That it wasn't postmarked. "Honey, that stamp is as clean and fresh as the day you slapped it on there." So there's no proof that I mailed it on time - or three days early! I'm so vexed. Annoyed. My only consolation is that the $34 is cheaper than the $86 convenience fee that I would have incurred had I paid online. VEXED!

I'd better not tell Piglet about this. He might turn me in.