The HDA Trophy Resurrected!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I should know better. I taught my kids never to volunteer me for anything and then I went and did it myself. Even in grade school, when they had to sign up to bring something in, I made sure to teach them to only sign me up for stuff like cups or plates or else. Nothing that I had to bake or cook ever. When they would come home from school and tell me they signed me up for plastic utensils, I would high five them and happily go out and get the crap items.

Well, in a weak moment I was drunk I volunteered my husband to fix the damaged HDA trophy. I know better, but when Sandy (Hattie and Theo) announced it had arrived broken from Nicky (Riley and Boris) all the way from Ireland, something came over me and I offered my husband's help. He was livid thrilled when I told him the news, and said he could probably fix it.

Today, the glued together trophy left our house and is on its way to the next HDA. I hate to toot my own horn, but I did have to remind John to fix the trophy a bunch couple of times and go with him to Home Depot to buy the supplies. Can I just say I hate going to Home Depot and I especially hate the time I will never get back as we wander from aisle to aisle.  Of course, I left all the complaining at the store and this is just restating the facts. I can't prove it, but I think Home Depot changes up their aisles from week to week so each time you go in there you have to try and locate what you are looking for and end up buying more stuff you see as you wander around. John will not ask where anything is and instead I follow him around begging him to get help before the store closes or I am forced to end his life with a Phillips Screwdriver, if only I knew where to find one. Thankfully, we got the right stuff the first time, because often times we don't and then we end up repeating the above steps or John goes back alone and I am usually on the verge of filing a missing person's report by the time he returns. 

The trophy is very fragile, so he encased it in a homemade carved out piece of styrofoam for travel.  It will not win any awards for presentation, but hopefully it will keep the trophy safe from place to place. If not, don't call us again. I was lucky enough to find a box for it at TJ Maxx which fit around it perfectly and will help even more to keep it safe. I hope

I have added up all the costs in time, labor, and parts, and DoodleKisses owes us about $173.00. Here is the breakdown.

Styrofoam - free

Box - I lost the receipt, but I think it was around $5.99. However, because I was forced to go into that store and I ended up buying more stuff, I feel DK is responsible for all my purchases. Also, I tried AC Moore first and bought some stuff in there, so all totaled, I am rounding this up to $48.00 and I think you got off cheap.

Super Glue - Again, no receipt, but let's just say $14.00.

Postage - $15.25, plus I hate to do it, but I am going to add on $20.00 because I was forced to listen to the lady at the Post Office talk about the weather for quite some time and my time is valuable.

Labor -  Counting the nagging and threats, time involved was around 5 hours and the breakdown is this: 4 hours, 30 minutes for my part and 30 minutes for actual work done by John. $15.00/hour seems cheap to me, so all totaled that is $75.00.

This brings the grand total to $172.25, if I did the math correctly. I only accept cash or checks.

As always, I was more than happy NOT to help. Next HDA'er, If the trophy arrives in a million pieces, please keep it to yourself until AFTER we have been paid.

P.S. Who has the Intercourse Shirt? If that is lost, DK will need to add $10 to my invoice!

P.S.S. It may seem like a lot, but that trophy and Intercourse shirt are priceless!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

LOL...Karen, I don't know how I missed all these comments. I think it has something to do with that darn calendar :)

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

Who does JD represent?  Poor guy is going to have a conflict of interest.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

He'll represent whoever signs a retainer first, lol. 

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

that a boy

[F, Calla & Luca]

But Jay unless he represents me, not sure I remember all the details anymore, but Laurie is extorting money from me and accusing me of making murderous threats, JD will lose because as I like to tell Laurie often res ipsa loquitor. Now she'll accuse me of writing in German : )

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

Lol.  I don't know what res ipsa has to do with it, but you guys crack me up.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think it applies because if you read Laurie's nonsense there is no case because the thing speaks for itself. In all my years of watching legal shows and reading books on trials I feel fully entitled to throw legal terms around. I am truly surprised I haven't been granted a law degree : )

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

I think res ipsa is for when you are trying to show negligence but you can't prove that the defendant actually acted unreasonably.  The example I remember from law school was an old case where a keg of beer rolled out of an upstairs window and injured the plaintiff.  He couldn't prove that a particular act or omission of the defendant caused the keg to roll out of the window, but the court found negligence anyway - because kegs don't just roll out of windows without someone up there doing something wrong.

[F, Calla & Luca]

All well and good. But the very nature of her false accusations have besmirched my fine reputation. and she fits perfectly in terms of acting unreasonably, my reputation would be intact if not for her. I of course have done nothing wrong and suffered immeasurably due to her actions. My spelling however needs some work.

In the common law of negligence, the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur (Latin for "the thing itself speaks") states that the elements of duty of care and breach can be sometimes inferred from the very nature of an accident or other outcome, even without direct evidence of how any defendant behaved. Although modern formulations differ by jurisdiction, the common law originally stated that the accident must satisfy the following conditions:

1. A "duty" exists for a person to act "reasonably"; and
2. A "breach" of this duty occurs because a person [or agency, etc.] acted outside this duty, or "unreasonably"; and
3. There was "causation in fact"...the result would not have occurred "but for" the "breach" of this duty;
4. There was actual legally recognizable harm suffered by the plaintiff who did nothing wrong (i.e., no contributory negligence).

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

Well I agree you will definitely need the services of competent counsel like JD!  (BTW, what you would be talking about isn't negligence but defamation.  Laurie might argue that such a claim is not available to you because of your status as a public figure. LOL ).

[F, Calla & Luca]

Wow, talk about cutting comments, although admittedly JD is a fine attorney. We'll ignore the detail about negligence. A public figure, now there is a howler. I never quite envisioned myself as that : )

[Carol and Banjo]

LOL......so funny to wake up to this on going 'discussion'....