"If you give a mouse a cookie, he will ask for new tires"

Recently, I had to deal with a series of events that started out with needing a simple car registration renewal and ended up with me having to buy 4 new tires for my car. The whole incident reminded me of a children's book that I grew up reading that is called "If you give a mouse a cookie". Basically, it states that if you give a mouse a cookie,  he will ask for a glass of milk; if you give him a glass of milk, he will ask for something else; and so on, and so on.

So in my case the story went like this: if you need a new car registration they will ask for an inspection; if you need an inspection they will ask you to get a new tire; if you need a new tire, they will tell you that you really need 4 tires; and so on, and so on.

It occurred to me that by reading "If you give a mouse a cookie" I should have been prepared for this unexpected life event. Most adults don't look to children's books to learn their life's lessons, but I'm thinking that I may need to go back and re-read some of my favorite stories in order to prepare myself for other inevitable life lessons that may be heading my way.

Here is a list of other stories that I feel we as adults should re-visit:

1) Cinderella. Lesson: house work is very necessary. And if you get it done in a timely manner you can get all gussied up and head out for a night on the town. Just be careful, once the clock strikes midnight make sure you have appropriate transportation arranged in case yours turns into a pumpkin.

2) Sleeping Beauty. Lesson: a good night's sleep really can do wonders for your looks. Sleeping Beauty slept for a very, very long time and she woke up looking like she hadn't aged a day.

3) 101 Dalmatians. Lesson: always spay and neuter your pets.

4) Alice in Wonderland. Lesson: don't do drugs.

5) Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Lesson: If life just gets to be too tough, you can always move to Australia.