This was a hard winter in Minnesota--we had days, then weeks, then months of sub zero temperatures!  That means I can't go out the damn house--without running the risk of turning into a damn chocolate Popsicle!

And it's been really hard cause that means I'm closed up in the house with a damn one year old child who is dying to get out.  Andrew loves outside and being free to run and roam at his own choosing.  But that has been hard to do with two feet of snow covering our yard.  The most we did this year was go sledding up a snow hill. 

Y'all know me, I'm a damn germ phobe and hypochondriac--so we ain't been to our little "baby classes" once a week--cause the last two times we did go, in January, Andrew got sick both times. Then two kids died from the flu--so our asses have been held up in the house hibernating.  And Andrew was going crazy--that little joker was climbing the walls.  And I was climbing them right behind him. 

I figured though since the snow started melting a little bit, and the flu season almost to a close, we would be safe going to the Children's Museum in downtown St. Paul.  It was a quick decision, and I was at home with my head scarf on, some jogging pants and a sweat shirt--but everything matched--I mean I wasn't sloppy. It was a little cotton jogging suit from Lady Footlocker. I had a red tank top underneath and my head scarf was red too.

I put Andrew on a comfy jogging suit and we jumped in the car and headed to downtown St. Paul.  My webmaster Justin and his wife Susie had gotten Andrew a gift card for Christmas, so headed for our free afternoon of fun.

Once we got there, we realized that the museum closed at 5 o'clock and it was 'bout 2:30--but that's cool--cause we weren't planning to spend the entire day there. Just a few hours of fun to take the edge off.  Wellllll, I get in line and other stay-at-home moms were there just like me, with their little ones--looking for a fun place to play.  They were all dressed pretty casual, just like me.  Sweat pants--loose fitting jeans--hoodies!  Nobody was dressed up like Princess Dianna or anything like that!

So I'm in line, edging my way to the front.  And when I got to the cashier, she looked at me like I had just left the food stamp office.  I handed her my gift card and told her I'd like to use it for my admission along with my son's ticket.  And girlfriend treated me like I was a single momma from the projects.

Cashier: "Ma'am, the museum closes in an hour and a half.  You'll be paying $7 a piece for less than two hours."
Me: "That's fine. We weren't going to stay that long anyway."
Cashier: "So that's 14-bucks. Is that going to be alright with you?"
I'm looking at this heffa wondering why is she treating me like I can't afford $14 (at the time I only had $12 in my account, but she had no way of knowing that, so I said) Me: "OK, I'd like to use this gift card."
Cashier: "Oh yes, I remember writing this gift card." she took it and looked at it, "You get a few bucks back in cash. I'm sure you can use it."
At this point, I wanted to slap the hell out of her for talking down to me, but handcuffs wouldn't be a good look for me, so I tried to keep my cool and not blow my son's fun afternoon. 

At this point, she leans into me and (says) Cashier: "You know, we have discounts for low income families."

All the other moms look at me like I'm trailer trash or something.  I start sniffing around to make sure I didn't stink--I couldn't figure out why this chick was taking her own life in her hands by disrespecting me!

But I couldn't pass up a good discount so I asked, Me:  "So how much is the fee for low income families?"
Cashier: "It's 20-percent off!"

So I was pissed, but I took the discount!

Andrew and I went upstairs in one of the play rooms and were sliding and climbing on the rocks and dancing along to Sesame Street tunes when one of the moms in line behind me said "Oh, she was so disrespectful. I saw what she did!  You should report her."

"Oh no," I explained, "I got a great discount for being a low income momma."

"Really?" she asked, "How much?"

When I told her, girlfriend came back with "From now on, I'm gonna be low income too. You got another one of those head-rags I can borrow?