More odds and ends

I like the list posts. I have 1000 things bouncing around in my head to blog about but none of them ever get fleshed out into real posts. So you all get pictures and lists :)

Ms Thang's face is better. Thanks all for the concern. It is scabbed over but not looking so raw and painful. She did ask to wear her sunglasses to the park so no one would see it.

We had a playdate at the park. I left feeling kind of icky. It made me sad.

At the park, we ran into J and his mom. I chatted with her for a bit while the boys played. They did a great job not being brats!

After the park we went to Mejier to buy The Boy a new pair of sandles because his broke. I wasn't going to do it since it is the end of summer and he could just make do with his flip flops and crocs, but since we are going on vacation next week, I decided to go ahead. Neither of his other shoes are good for walking or for moving rides. He needed something that would stay on his feet.

I like the new Kid Rock Song "All Summer Long"


I also think it is a little bit awesome that he Boycotts iTunes. Not that anything is wrong with iTunes but he has a valid point about record companies.

My fruit leather has partially failed. The strawberry, 24 hours later, was still almost totally liquid and there were little fuzzy blossoms on it tonight :( the cherry and blueberry look like they are almost done and nothing fuzzy on them. Not something I will likely try again.

I feel a little bit bad that I bailed on my conversation with Rogers last night, telling her I was going to bed because I was tired. I always read while I floss before bed and I got sucked in, hard core last night. Instead of going to bed because I was exhausted, I stayed up reading until after 1, so that I could finish the book. Sorry Rogers :(

My house is really dirty. We have no plans tomorrow so we are going to stay home and clean it up.

Ms Thang doesn't want to go to preschool. She says "they will oppress me at that school, if you make me go, I will be oppressed" I'm fairly certain she means "depress", however it is really funny to think about "the man" keeping her down while at school LOL. Anything school related stresses her out right now.

We have taken The Boy to get hit with a Jesus stick (for you Lost fans out there, that is a reference to Charlie's conversation with Mr. Echo about his "Jesus stick" having blood on it in season 2). We go to the First Christian Church on a fairly regular basis to play at their FANTASTIC indoor playground. For months, they have had signs up, promoting vacation bible school. They all show science-y stuff and TB was enthralled. He begged to be allowed to go so I signed them both up for it. It started Sunday, which is a dumb day to start VBS, but whatever. We missed day one because of the afformentioned dumb day but I went ahead to take them last night. After her day (no nap, busted face, etc), when she begged me not to make her go, I decided not to push it. Turned out to be a good thing since when I stopped in her room to tell her teachers that she wouldn't be coming after all, I saw a little boy that we know in there that she has a "personality conflict" with (which is a nice way of saying he is a bully and she doesn't let him get away with any crap and he whines and cries about it). TB loves VBS and asks every day if he will be allowed to go back the next day. He is gonna be upset when he finds out it is only a week long.

We got caught in the crazy ass downpour that hit town while we were picking TB up from VBS. It was raining so hard I could barely see. It looked like they were evacuating the classes when we got there. I ran back out to get the van to pull up under the over hang to get everyone loaded. The water, although it didn't look that deep, was to the middle of my calf. Too bad I wore my leather sandles out there :(

Personally, I'm opposed to being hit with a Jesus stick but I found that out for myself and my kids deserve the same chance. He can decide if he wants to do something more with it as he gets older. I will absolutely take hm to church, should he choose that route.

Speaking of school, Tb has such different interests from me, it just boggles my mind. I'm all about books and reading and English (which could explain why a large portion of my friends are English majors) and he is so into science and little math. He is forever asking what numbers added together are and has started talking about subtraction. Heaven help me when he gets much older. I could barely pass basic algebra and had to take remeidial math in college (which I never did pass, preschool teachers really only have to be able to count to 10 so it isn't that big of a deal LOL). There is no way I'll be able to help him at all once he is past the ad subtract multiply and divide stage.


The Boy has decided to start doing chores again. For the last half of the school year, he had chores that he got paid a dollar a day to do. We had a good routine but once school got out, it all went to hell! He didn't do any the entire month of June and now most of July. Then suddenly, out of the blue, he promised Ms Thang he would buy her a Barbie doll. When pressed on the subject, he said that he wanted to buy her one because she deserved it for being good. News to me, but ok. I told him he needed to get back on doing his chores so he could earn some money to fulfill his promise. He started by putting away all his laundry yesterday. Today was crazy busy (park, Meijer, McDonalds, rest, pool, VBS, dinner, bed) so he didn't have time to vacuum, but I'm going to make him earn it tomorrow! :)

Shoe update

I bought these shoes at zappos.com. They are being shipped and should be here today. I took dh shopping to find shoes today and while I was there, I saw basically the same shoe in blue instead of black. They were $21 instead of $58. I also found out that I need like a size 10.5 (which apparently isn't made in women's shoes, anywhere, ever) instead of the 9.5 that I bought online. I went ahead and bought them and I'll be returning the ones I bought online. With all the money I saved, I went ahead and bought myself a pair of snow boots. Now, I don't have to wear dh's old work boot style snow boots anymore. Dh is very happy because he got a new pair of tennis shoes and he gets his boots back :)

Shoes

Typically, I wear Birks. Unfortunately, it is now cold and snowy and I can't wear them because my socks get wet. :( I bought some camo slip on Chuck's last year for my birthday. I spent far too much on them but they are crazy cool looking so I'm ok wearing them. They solve the wet feet problem of the Birks, but present a problem of their own. They are FLAT. They have NO SUPPORT of any kind. This wasn't a problem in the past, but I have recently come to the conclusion that they are the reason that I've been having back problems. I bought some shoe inserts that were supposed to help with that but they were too tall and pushed my foot clear out of the back of the shoe when I walked. I got some lower inserts but they haven't really helped. So, I have no shoes that I can really wear since our lovely snow the other night.

I was looking at Payless.com (since I can't afford anywhere else) for some slip on tennis shoes. I like the ones that look like real tennis shoes but have no back. I like slip on shoes because I can't stand and put on shoes (I have no balance) and I don't like having to lean over and tie my shoes because I'm fat. After seeing that there were no shoes like what I was looking for, I started browsing the rest of the site. I got distracted by the dress shoes (which I need a new pair of as well, but those are far less important than the tennis shoes) and I'm amazed at the number of "holiday party" shoes that are completely open. The reason I need new dress shoes is because my good ones are sandles and my feet get very cold when I wear them for "holiday" parties. Do these people not understand that it is winter time? That in a good portion of this country, you can't wear dress sandles in December? I do like the boots they have though. I might get a pair of those for dress (I have an old pair but they don't fit anymore)

I might take the kids shopping this afternoon and see if I can't find something that will work for one or both of my current lack of shoes :)

Apology to ES and my fun at Payless

I snarked about ES and their prize in the ADSR. Then I found out that they are having some SERIOUS issues. So my coupon issue is minor and I feel like a tool for griping about it.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Payless to buy some new tennis shoes for the kids. While I was there, I noticed a sign saying that the toddler sized Airwalk Croc knockoffs (dh called them Krocs LOL) were being recalled because the strap tab could pop off and pose a choking hazard. Both kids have a pair that were in the size range (although entirely too small for both of them now) and purchased during the time that the recalled shoes were sold. I finally got around to taking the shoes in tonight to get them replaced.

They determined they were recalled and told us to go pick new ones. C picked a Shrek pair and it was fine. Lizzie was the problem. There were NO Krocs in her size, AT ALL. There was only two pairs in a size that was bigger (not even the next size up they were 2 sizes bigger) and they were black racecars. Lizzie proclaimed them "blech" LOL I asked the girl if we could get a different pair of shoes since there was nothing for little girls and she said that was fine. Lizzie picked a pair of sparkly pink princess shoes (which I proclaimed "blech", but that matters not LOL) and we took everything to register to do the exchange. Lizzie ran and hid because she thought we were going to make her take her new shoes off! They had to call somewhere and get an authorization code and whatever so mom took the kids to the car, because they were getting antsy. They get the code, punch it in, scan the new shoes and tell me "your total is $17.89" WHAT! I think not. I brought in RECALLED shoes to EXCHANGE. I did not come in to buy new shoes because I just did that a few weeks ago.

I ask for an explanation and they tell me that C's shoes were only $5 and that because we picked non-Krocs for Liz that it couldn't be an even exchange. First of all, C's shoes were 14.99 when I bought them, not 5. Second, you people told me that I could get different shoes because you didn't have the ones I needed. They decide that they would give me the full credit C's shoes but still wanted to charge me for Lizie's. I said forget it, I'll go get the shoes and then I just want my money back. My plan had been to bring Lizzie in the store, sit her on the counter and tell them "you tell this baby that she can't have her princess shoes and you get them off her feet" and then let her scream the store down in a Lizzie fit. Lizzie's fits are enough to stress someone used to dealing with her. I figured they would relent, just to get her out of the store.

Instead, my mom went in and had at them. They told her they couldn't do anything but the manager would be in tomorrow. Mom says "well I'm here now, not tomorrow". They tell her that she can go over to the mall store and talk to the manager at that store. Uh, also not an option. Two kids, who are cranky and tired and ready for bed? So not dragging them all over town. The girls end up giving her the number for the other store and she talks to the manager. After explaining that whatever they sold the shoes for, they are now selling them for $19.99, so that is the amount that we should get for exchange since we can't buy them for the original price and also the princess shoes were only $17.99 so $2 cheaper, the manager agreed with her and they did an even exchange.

Lizzie is so excited about her shoes, she wanted to sleep in them. Boy did she kick up a fight when I took them off. I had to put them next to her bed and promise her she could put them on her feet the second she got up in the morning.

Also, I'm hungry. I didn't eat dinner because I had a frozen coffee thing that filled me up. I may go dig out a cheese stick or something and then go to bed