The Peanut is NOT a Wimp

Yesterday I had to pick my sister's daughters up from school, Peanut and Eeyore. Since E only has a half day she came with me. We ran a couple of errands ending our running around with a trip to the grocery store. While we were in the produce section picking out an onion, Eeyore started picking on her little sister the way only big sisters can.

"Peanut is so wimpy, she can't even shut a door!"

Now Peanut is small but she's no wimp. However she is the baby and she is a lot like her Aunt Sara. She uses charm and her baby-of-the-family status to get out of having to do any strenuous work. I know this because it's exactly what I do, er, um, did. So I defended her and said, "Nah, women in this family aren't wimps. We're strong."

E chimed in by saying, "I'm strong. I can pick up a gallon of milk."

Peanut, silent no longer said, "I can pick up a gallon of milk too!"

Well a gallon of milk just happened to be on my list so we made our way to the dairy department where all three girls, striving to prove their non-wimpiness, each picked up a gallon of milk. "Er, ladies, I only need one gallon so two of you will have to put your gallon back," I said.

Immediately three voices called, "Not me!" They proceeded to play the "not me" game until finally Eeyore was the last to say it and she had to put her gallon back. We stood there for a little while longer while the two younger girls continued to shout out, "NOT ME! NOT ME! NOT ME!" in unison over and over until finally I said, "Ok we're obviously going to have to move on to Rock, Paper, Scissors."

I held both gallons of milk and stood there while the girls played the elimination game. E threw paper, Peanut threw scissors. Peanut was victorious and E had to put her gallon of milk back. Peanut was very happy with herself as you might imagine.

So as we go to walk away from the milk case, I look up finally and see there is a line of people waiting to get a gallon of milk. ROTFL! I blushed, apologized and we took off for the check-out.

We got around the corner and Peanut declared the milk was too heavy and I traded my onion for her gallon. LOL

The best part of the story though... I got home and was telling Steve about our adventures in the grocery store and once he got done laughing he said, "You do realize we have two other gallons of milk in the fridge downstairs, don't you?"

Shopping

I love shopping online! I found these wonderful prints at AllPosters.com for my living room and


I found a place that custom makes scrubs and I managed to get two made in fabrics I haven't been able to find anywhere else. They're well made and fit beautifully. They're a little more than what I'm used to paying but I've been spoiled by the outlet. They have a fantastic dragon fabric that I want to order next but here are the two I just received Saturday.

New Spread for the Bed

I've been un-enamored of our bedding for a little while now but Steve is not keen on change so even though our spread is almost ten years old and even though it's a bright pink, purple, yellow and green plaid and even though he never much liked it in the first place, he really didn't want to get a new bedspread. Well finally it started ripping and now the rip in the spread is so bad there's no choice but to get a new one.

So today I was at the Pennies outlet looking at scrubs (they have the best prices) and on a whim I went upstairs to look at the household section and wound up buying a new comforter. It's jacquards, velvet and silk and best of all because I got it at the Pennies outlet it was only $60. I still need to get the shams and curtains but they didn't have them in the store. I'll have to order online. I guess since right now our walls are pink it's time to get out the paintbrush again. I want to paint them that buttery tan color in the spread.

A Volunteer, Army Style

I was in Wal-Mart today with my three youngest children. Granted we were not in a section that was of much or any interest to them but their behavior was above and beyond wild and obnoxious. Finally I had enough and as I turned around with flames in my eyes Ty grabbed G by her shoulders to stop her. I said, "Who wants the first spanking???"

Ty very subtly gave G a little push forward.

I tried to be mad, I really did.

Holiday Party

Here's another thing I can share with you now that we know that Steve will be staying with his current employer... This year marks his tenth year of employment. The HR director called me a month ago and asked me what Steve would like for his ten-year gift. She gave me a dollar amount and told me it was supposed to be a surprise. Well there's no way I'm going to pick out his ten-year gift without his input so together we decided on a cantered hutch for our dining room made by our friends, the D's. They own a furniture store in a nearby town. We helped them in very little ways when they got started several years ago as friends are wont to do. Ed has said that he'd like to give us a dining room set as a thank you but Steve and I were never really very comfortable accepting such a lavish gift. As it turns out when we ordered the cantered hutch, Ed happened to have a return on a table. He is insistent that we accept the table and four chairs (we'll have to order a couple more to fit our family) and he's finishing my cantered hutch to match the table and chairs. So in a round-about way we're getting a whole brand-new dining room set! Now I'm trying to talk Steve into restoring our floors while all the furniture is out. At the very least I've talked him into redecorating the downstairs rooms.

What does all this have to do with the Holiday Party? Well that's when they'll present Steve with his "surprise." It's a fun party with good food and a DJ and I get all dolled up. Unfortunately we didn't know what his employment status was going to be so I did agree to work the weekend of the party but I'm going to see if I can get that night off and if not we'll at least go for the dinner part. He doesn't really like to dance anyway.

I did get a dress today. Steve drove so he could give me his opinion and I took four dresses with me into the dressing room. The first one I tried on was acceptable but not fantastic. The second dress, he wasn't crazy about the stuff at the bottom but when I put on the third and stepped out of the dressing room his eyes lit up. He really liked the third dress and when I said I was going to try on the fourth he said, "Don't bother." It's nice to be able to make your husband's eyes light up like that.

Nutcracker Dresses

My niece Eeyore is in a production of the Nutcracker this month as a mouse. I can't wait to see her perform! G thinks Eeyore should be Clara but I think maybe she's a little too young yet. Anyway not only do I get to see my niece perform but because she's performing it also means I'm guaranteed to get to go to the Nutcracker this year. It used to be a regular Christmas ritual but has fallen by the wayside in recent years. So now we've picked our dresses!

E wanted pink. Don't mind the jeans and sneakers. I had her throw her dress on over her clothes to take a quick picture for you!	G tried on a lot but we thought the blue was the most flattering. Dad thinks it makes her look too grown up.

I'm Going to Buy Myself a Christmas Present

I received a catalog from Hallmark yesterday and they have this fantastic ornament in there. This always happens to me this time of year - I start finding little things that I'd like to have or that I need so I buy them for myself, wrap them and throw them in my stocking. Christmas morning I open the gift and ooh and aaah and thank Steve with big wet kisses for being so thoughtful. He just laughs and rolls his eyes.

Sadly, sometimes I forget that I am the one who bought and wrapped the item!

Only Big Girls in This House

We have been working with E for nearly a year now to try to get her to stop sucking her thumb. She got to the point where she would do very well all day and then suck her thumb in her sleep or when she was distracted. Finally about six months ago I struck a deal with her. I told her every time she went a day (24 hours) without sucking her thumb I'd give her a dollar and if she could go a whole week (7 days) I would take her to the toy store and she could pick out a Doodle Bear (She chose the Doodle Doll). Well guess what?

SCORE!

Last year, just before Christmas, Steve's dad bought a new big-screen tv. This year he bought himself a flat-screen tv and offered to give us his "old" big-screen. We gladly accepted! However the new-to-us tv is larger than our current center can hold and after a while I started to have some regrets. This free tv was going to end up costing us a few hundred dollars for a new tv center.

Saturday we hit Sam's Club for a few groceries and they were having their open house. It was mobbed in there! Because of the croud, we were re-routed from our usual direct path to the food side of the building and ended up somewhere around housewares. In the middle of an aisle, sitting on a flatbed was a nice looking entertainment center that had been marked down to $100! I found an associate and we asked why the heck this thing was marked down so much and were told it was the last one and all the parts and pieces should still be in the unopened box (sorry the pic is from the box so it's not great).


Now we just have to wait for Mel and Jer to get their living room ready for our old tv center and I think I'd like to repaint my living room now since this thing is black and my living room is blue and yellow. I was thinking of a nice coffee color...

The Great Shoe Hunt

G wears a dress as her uniform for school so I like to put a little dressier shoe on her. The first year I bought a rubber soled Mary Jane thinking she could wear it for gym also. I know I spent a pretty penny making sure they were good sturdy shoes only to find out they wouldn't let her wear them - something about her ankle. So ever since I have been on a hunt to find a sneaker that doesn't look so stupid with a dress. The Mennonite (Amish-like religion) girls in this area wear sneakers with their dresses and I detest the way it looks. Tonight I found out the girls are allowed to wear Crocks for gym class. This to me is a total load of BS. I am just beside myself that they can wear an open back piece of plastic crap on their feet for gym but not a sturdy rubber-soled shoe.

I digress.

Tonight we found a Sketcher that was kinda cute and I thought it might work. So I find a sales guy and I could tell from my first look at him that we were about to have an experience. The guy looked pretty normal but I just got that freak vibe from him.

I handed him the shoe and told him that I didn't know what size G would need and I asked him if he would measure her foot. His response?

"It won't do any good."

I was like...

So he says, "I can measure her foot but these things can be off by an entire size so it won't do any good."

I'm thinking, ok Loser if you say so. I won't mention that this has been the accepted way to measure a foot at least since I was a kid and I'm sure a lot longer than that. But I didn't say that. Instead I said, "Ok if you want to bring out this shoe in every size, that's fine but I don't know what size shoe she wears."

So he commences the foot measurer thingie hunt. He hunts and hunts and hunts. Finally I cried uncle and I had G take off her soccer cleat and look inside. "Look, it's a 1.5. Let's just start there."

With a massive look of relief on his face, he runs to the back with the shoe to find our starting size. In the mean time S3 looks under the chair he's sitting in and pulls out the measurer thingie. Ty walks to the chairs across from us and pulls out a second one. Doh.

After a few minutes the guy comes back out and says, "Do you have a backup plan?"

Again I was like...

He says, "This shoe only starts at a 2.5. Do you have a backup plan?"

I'm thinking, yes to get the heck out of here Loser but instead I said, "No, thank you." We walked to the other end of the mall where there is a Sears and bought the exact shoe in G's size.