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came up with the idea. The school sent each student home with fifty Chocolate Crunch candy bars, and we were supposed to go out and sell them to our neighbors But I don't know a single kid who didn't eat at least three or four candy bars before they even got home. In fact, I ate fifteen by the time Mom found out and put a stop to it. So a lot of families like mine had to write a check to the school just to cover the cost of the candy bars their children ate. It's possible that nobody sold a

single candy bar during that fundraiser. Saturday Speaking of money, Uncle Gary spent all of his allowance this week and asked me if he could borrow some of MINE. When Dad found out, he was pretty mad. It turns out Uncle Gary spent his money on scratch tickets at the convenience store. Dad told Uncle Gary he's got a better chance of getting struck by lightning than winning the lottery and that he's is just wasting his money. Dad probably should've chosen his words more carefully, because now Manny won't step foot outside if it's raining.

Scratch tickets are a sore subject for Dad anyway. A few years ago Dad bought Uncle Gary a nice winter jacket for Christmas, and Uncle Gary gave Dad a scratch ticket. Dad seemed a little annoyed that he'd spent all that money on Uncle Gary and Uncle Gary just gave him a gift that cost a buck. Dad scratched off the little squares on the card with a coin and he got three cherries, which meant he'd just won a hundred thousand dollars.

But it turned out the ticket was just a gag gift, and it was a fake. We still can't mention that Christmas to Dad, because it just puts him in a bad mood for the rest of the day. What Dad REALLY wants is for Uncle Gary to get a job so he can move out of our house. I'm starting to wish Uncle Gary would get a job, too, because lately he's been spending a lot of time in my room playing on the computer. He's addicted to this virtual-game where you can be

anything you want, like a policemen or a construction worker or a rock star. But in the game, Uncle Gary is just a guy who doesn't have a job and buys a bunch of scratch tickets every day. FEBRUARY Thursday There have been some pretty big developments at school this week. It all started on Monday at the last student council meeting. The meetings are held in the teachers' lounge, and after the Treasurer, Javan Hill, went to use the bathroom, he came out with a roll of Pillow- Soft Ultra toilet paper.

That means the teachers have been treating themselves to good toilet paper while us kids are stuck with the cheap stuff. When Eugene Ellis confronted Mrs. Birch, she knew the teachers were totally busted. Mrs. Birch said that even though the teachers use Pillow-Soft Ultra, there's not enough money in the budget to stock all the kid's bathrooms with expensive toilet paper, but she did agree to compromise. She said the school could allow kids to bring in their OWN toilet rolls from home. And when the announcement came over the loudspeaker, it was a huge victory for Eugene Ellis and the rest of the