What!?

It doesn't take much to get me annoyed these days.  I can pretty much get worked up about anything.  Blame it on changing hormones.  Blame it on life turning upside down.  Blame it on the weather, politics, pets, whatever.  You get the idea.

I won't get into post-election day drama.  This platform is for mama drama.

Today is a beautiful sunny day, sunnier than usual it seems.  Today seemed like a good day to take care of some recycling.  I had researched where to take batteries: the hazardous waste facility here in Boulder and found out where to take an expired carseat: the CHaRM -center for hard to recycle materials. 

I didn't want to throw these things into the regular trash.  I wanted to do the right thing, even if it meant toting my 6 month old along while driving all over town.  First stop, HazMat Collections.  I pull up (they have great signage by the way, and I'm not being sarcastic), wrangle Little Man out of his car seat and walk in with my bag of batteries, baby on hip.  After calling four various numbers confirming this is where I needed to bring the batteries, I now realize I should have specified alkaline.  Am I the only idiot that didn't know I was supposed to throw these into the regular trash?  I've been stock-piling these things for 3 years.  Three years.  The old, used batteries have actually moved with us.  Insane.  Well, it wasn't a total loss.  They have shelves of home improvement materials all for free: paint cans, thinners, cleaning products, various art glues.  Not terrible.  Now I know where to go before Lowes.  

The next stop was where you get my "What!?" 

I should begin this next bit by stating I wanted to recycle a car seat that was given to me but couldn't use because it expired years ago.  I didn't know about car seats and expiration dates until about 2 months ago.  Eh, you learn as you go.  I remember laying on the dash of my parent's station-wagon while someone was driving.  I don't even think the rear back seat had seatbelts.  I realize safety has come a long way since the 80's and I totally get why carseats have expiration dates but I just wish I would've known before I accepted it.  I could have just thrown it in the dumpster but like I said before, I wanted to do the right thing. 

I follow the directions to eco-cycle's CHaRM location.  They also have pretty decent signage.  I pull up next to the sliding window where it says "check-in".  What is this, a hotel? 

He asks what I have to recycle.  I tell him its a baby carseat, stripped down. 
He says, "Great, that'll be just $3.00 then" 
I'm sorry, what?  $3.00?  What!? 
"Its a facility fee.  A fee to use the facility." 
So I'm getting penalized 3 smacks because I'm trying to do the right thing?  It's not even my car seat.  "You expect us to pay for you to recycle?"
Uhm.  Kinda. 
"This is a non-profit" 
Right.  OK.  So what you're saying is, I can throw this into a regular dumpster for free OR I can bring it here and pay. 
"I see what you're saying."  Pause.  "So can you pay the $3.00 or not?" 
Grr. I can pay the three bucks. 

I paid the three bucks and he directed me to the dumpster where I placed the stripped down car seat. 

Mother Earth, You're lucky I love you.  Grrr.

My lesson:
Next time, look a gift horse in the mouth, because if you have to pay the vet to put it down before you even get a chance to ride it your sunny day is all sorts of grumpy.