So it’s Monday.  Again.  The bright side is that it’s the last day of August.  Don’t let the door hit you in the rear on your way out, August.  I’m onto to bigger and better (and cooler) things.

Still, as happy as I am to see August end, I wouldn’t have minded another day or two of weekend.  It was a busy one around here and busy weekends always seem to be over way too soon.

Kile got paid on Friday night and since he gets paid once a month (the joys of being a state employee), we do the bulk of our shopping for the month when he gets paid.  Unfortunately, this stresses Kile out since he doesn’t like to spend money, no matter how necessary, and when he gets stressed he gets crabby.  And when he gets crabby, it rubs off on me.   Still, I did a pretty good job of deflecting his crabbiness all weekend.  And if I had remembered to take my thyroid pills yesterday, I probably would have been able to deflect it yesterday as well.

Alas, I did not take my pill and alas, I did not deflect.  By the end of the day, I was tired and I just absorbed it.  And when I absorb a bad mood off of someone… well it ain’t pretty.  And it’s not fun.  But the upshot is that I took my pill FIRST THING this morning.  I wasn’t interested in having another down day today.  It’s a Monday and I need all the help I can get!

ANYHOW… Saturday was our monthly B.O.O.S.T. (Big Ol’ Obnoxious Shopping Trip) at Walmart.  We actually went to Kohl’s first to look for shoes for Harry.  That child’s feet are growing at alarming rates.  He’s almost out of kid sizes!  We weren’t able to find anything though and as Kile was crabby, we decided it was best to just move on.  We had lunch at Chili’s before heading over to Walmart and that was nice.  We don’t eat out at sit down restaurants that much anymore.

The grocery shopping went pretty well and I think we remembered almost everything on our list.  Which is impressive because we had a LOT of stuff on our list.  We chinzed on our shopping last month because of the trip to Florida, so we were pretty much out of pretty much everything.  It was not a small trip and it was not cheap.  But at least now we have everything we need for the month, for the most part.  Perhaps maybe now lunchtime won’t be a source of stress around here!  It’s hard to find food to give the little ones when you have just graham crackers and granola bars.  Even moreso when one of your wee ones is as picky as Liam is.

Believe it or not, this all took up the better part of the day on Saturday.  We were wiped out come Saturday night!

Sunday brought more shopping through.  We headed over to Legends to do some more shopping for shoes.  On the way, Kile stopped at In n’ Out and we grabbed some burgers and fries to go.  We ate at one of the picnic tables at Legends which was really a fabulous idea.   Or it would have been fabulous if it hadn’t been so windy.  Until Subway opens up over there, there just aren’t a lot of options for quick, cheap dining.  That would be my only complaint about it.   Otherwise, Legends is awesome.

We finally found Harry some shoes at the Sketchers store there.  We also got the little ones some croc-style shoes that were on a fantastic sale.  After that we checked out the Carter’s outlet store.  We were hoping to find some clothes for Liam since we never seem to have enough clothes for the poor kid these days.  But we did get him and Evie their Christmas jammies.  So one present down, many to go!

But our shopping was not done there!  We headed over to Michael’s where I had some specific things to look for: a container for my cloth diaper laundry detergent, some knitting notions, and a scrapbook for our Disney vacation memorabilia.  Sam’s Club was next and we had some very specific things to get there.  Including chips and snacks for Harry’s lunches, frozen stuff for the deep freeze, etc and so forth.  Luckily, we thought ahead and had a cooler in the back of the van.  We packed the frozen stuff in there before heading over to Whole Foods.

Yep, we weren’t done yet.  We ALWAYS have to go to Whole Foods!   We got some fruit, some cheese, some laundry stuff for me… and we got a pizza for dinner!  Which meant:  it was time to go home.  At last.

The pizza was awesome.  But of course it was!  And it was the perfect dinner because were all beyond tired.

Like I said, last night was kind of hard emotionally for me and I entirely blame the lack of thyroid medication yesterday.  I really do need to stay on top of taking those pills.  At the very least.

And now I feel like I need another weekend to recover from my weekend.  OY.

So what did you do this weekend? Did you spend as much money as we did?  Because I’m starting to see why Kile was so crabby about it.  UGH.

Dear lady working the counter McDonald’s inside the Walmart Supercenter in Northwest Reno:

I need to give you a little background before I discuss what went down between us this afternoon.  See, I was at the store alone with my three kids.  This isn’t probably a big deal to a lot of moms, but it’s a HUGE deal to me.  I hate leaving the house with the kids by myself.  But we’re out of food at home and I pretty much had to go.  I timed the trip specifically.  So that we could be home by lunch and the kids could then get their naps.  I also timed it so I could easily grab lunch at McDonald’s before going out to the car.  We could take it home and eat it there.  Easy peasy!  This works for us because for whatever reason, the drivers-side window on our minivan won’t roll down.  So drive thru’s are difficult and there’s just no way that I’m getting all three out of the van to go into some joint just to order lunch.  I’m not THAT crazy.

That’s the beauty of a McDonald’s inside Walmart.  I can swing by on my way out to the car and grab lunch to take with us, easy.  This was my plan.

Of course, my youngest was rather unhappy.  She was tired and hungry and thirsty and just plain tired of shopping.  I was looking forward to getting her a sippy cup full of lemonade to keep her happy for the drive home.  Maybe a fry or two to tide her over.  So yes.  She was crying.  Loudly.  She was past being humored.  I had done that moments before while in the checkoutline.  We just needed to grab our lunch and go.

But it wasn’t that simple.  Becasue apparently your card swiping machine was on the fritz.  And whomever you were yelling at in the back didn’t care enough to come to the front to help you out.  And I think you got flustered.  And you asked if I had cash.  No, if I had had cash, I would have paid with that upfront.  I don’t carry cash.   I don’t like to carry cash.  It makes me feel itchy.  I prefer to deal with debit cards.  And you had several of these swipers.  But I guess if one goes down, they all go down.

Did you say nicely and apologetically to me, “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to cancel your order then”?  Nope!  You chose to holler out to whomever is in the back, “Cancel that order! She doesn’t have cash!”  This was for the benefit of everyone in the line too, who was now staring at me and my crying child.  My oldest had already taken his cup over to the fountain to get his soda and you snapped (yes, SNAPPED), “I need to have that cup back now.”  This was while I was already telling him to bring the cup up.   He got flustered and confused and started to cry.  Becasue I had promised McDonald’s as a reward for making it through shopping without makingme want to slit my wrists.  And now he had done something wrong?

Nope, but he got snapped at anyhow.  At this point, I was so angry, I didn’t stay and tell you what I wanted to say.  I left as quickly as I could, all the eyes in the vincinity upon me and my kids as we hurried, shoulders hunched, out of the store.  I wanted to ask you, “Can you please be a little nicer?  I’m just a mom.  And I’ve got my hands full.  I’m sorry I don’t have cash on me, but a LOT of people don’t have cash on them these days.  You don’t have to announce my business to a restaurant full of people.  You don’t have to snap at me and my son.  I understand if you’re feeling pressured, but that’s no excuse for losing your manners.  You are PAID to provide a service to customers.  And today, you just lost one.”

Next time, put yourself in your customers shoes.  Maybe stop for a second and see that the mom with the three kids is just trying to hold things together and maybe give her a little consideration.  Just because we’re busy doesn’t mean we need to lose our humanity.

And I will be hard pressed to step foot in that McDonald’s again.  Not as long as you’re working there (and you have been there quite a while… I see you there almost every time we’re at the store).   There are plenty of other fast food restaurants nearby that I would rather go to now.   I was HUMILIATED and shamed and I did not a damned thing wrong.  My kids were upset that they weren’t getting McDonald’s for lunch and they didn’t do a damned thing wrong either.  Thankfully, there is another McDonald’s located just across the street and we were able to go over there.  I made do with the broken window by opening the car door.  Not ideal but at that point, I had promised my kids and I was going to live up to it.  Even though all I wanted to do was go home and crawl under a rock and die.

Oh, and thanks for reinforcing why I don’t like to leave the house with the kids alone anymore.   I was starting to think my mistrust of people in general was misplaced.  Guess not!

Love and Kisses,
Marilyn

- Drink a Rockstar Punched which has an INSANE amount of caffeine in it.

- Be led to believe that I won’t be getting a MacBook on Friday after all.

-Literally “squee” when my husband shows up a hour later, MacBook in hand.

- Ditch Charter cable and get DirecTV.

- Wait an extra hour and a half for satellite installer to show up.

- Wait another hour and a half for him to finish and LEAVE ALREADY.

- Discover that the installer has turned off not just the Charter cable but our phones and Internet too.

- Witness my husband restore my Internet pretty much effortlessly.

- Have pizza and do a little shopping at Best Buy and Walmart

- Have a hell of a time falling asleep and blame it not just on the uber-stimulating day I’ve had but on the can of Rockstar Punched.  Seriously, that stuff is HARD CORE.

- Fall down stairs while carrying laundry basket full of freshly cleaned cloth diapers and knock the wind out of myself in the process.  Also procure impressive bruise on my hind quarters.  Nice.

- Dress daughter in new knit capri pants I finished this last week and get no less than 4 separate people stopping me to tell me how cute they are.

- Go to Ben Franklin Crafts and get some plain wool yarn to practice some dying techniques on.

- Go to Target and drool over all the loveliness there.  Walk away with some mighty fine snacks to munch on (Chocolate Chip Cherry Oat cookies!).

- Go to Sam’s Club where I am floored and completely and irrevocably spoiled by the purchase of a Canon PowerShot SX110 IS camera.  The same one I’ve been wanting for several months now.  Fall head over heels in love with not just the camera but my very generous husband.  Again.

- Have dinner with the family at Applebee’s where Liam sits in a booster and Evie in the high chair.  The kids are growing up.  SIGH.

- Buy a fabulous brownie at Whole Foods and proceed to die and go to Chocolate Heaven.

- Watch “Enchanted” with the family and decide it’s a very cute movie.  Also decide that DirecTV kicks Charter’s ASS.

- Drink seriously caffeinated coffee for breakfast and literally develop the shakes.  Maybe it’s time to cut back on the caffeine.

- Head out to do some more shopping.  For the third day in a row.  Oy.

- Buy mostly grocery stuff, so nothing very exciting.

- Decide while at Walmart that everyone who has run there for a last minute trip before the Super Bowl begins totally SUCKS and I hate their guts.

- Am very happy that the store has cleared out by the time we go to checkout and the lines are mercifully short.

- Talk to my mother on the phone and wish her a happy birthday.

- Help put away groceries.  Well.  Mostly, anyhow.

- Turn on the rest of the Super Bowl… not for the game but for the commercials.

- Become a major nerd when I totally geek out over the “Transformers” sequel commercial with my nine year old.  Seriously.  That movie looks BITCHIN’.

Annnnnd…. that’s it.  So far, at least.  WHEW.  I need a nap.

I’m sorry about yesterday’s lame photo post.  We were out and about for a good part of the day, mostly to get away from the house.  The wind was AWFUL the night before and the rain and snow and general gloominess of the day were rather oppressive.  Though I imagine it is preferable to the unseasonable temperatures we’re having otherwise.  Today and tomorrow will be normal but we’re supposed to get into the 50’s this next week and that just ain’t right.

***

I think Evie is getting her first cold.  This is a rather unhappy business.  She seems to maybe have a touch of a sore throat and a cough to go with it and her nose has been running clear.  Though she’s been doing so well at sleeping in her crib, last night she was up every 30 minutes to an hour before we went to bed, fussing and sounding generally miserable.  So when we went to bed, we just brought her in with us.  Kile even set up the vaporizer and rubbed her chest with VapoRub (which she LOVED, it totally blissed her out).  And from there, she slept pretty well.  I imagine we might try the vaporizer and VapoRub combo tonight in her own room and see how that works.  Poor thing!

***

We’ve been having a good time playing around with the new sewing machine.  Kile has helped me convert a few onesies and add some sleeves to a couple of t-shirts.  He even sewed up a duvet cover for our down comforter using two flat sheets.  I found some super cute knee high socks at Target the other day and we turned them into homemade baby legs.  Today I’m going to try making a fleece soaker from a pattern (it’s something you put over a fitted diaper or prefold to make it waterproof) and I also have a pattern for a simple dress to make Evie, provided I ever get up the guts to try it.  Look at me, being all crafty n’ stuff.

***

To all the haters at Walmart who gave me dirty looks when Evie was crying:

You can just eat me.

Love, Me.

***

Seriously though.  She was tired and hungry.  I would have been happy to take her to the bathroom and feed her but HUH both bathrooms were closed for cleaning.  Isn’t that against the rules or something?? And I don’t think the haters would have liked it much had I just whipped out my boob there in the middle of the electronics department and fed her in front of everyone.  I guess to these people’s way of thinking, I simply shouldn’t ever leave the house because I have children.  I mean, the NERVE of me bringing my children out into public where people without children have to LOOK at them.  The horror!

***

I hate it when I write a post and then forget to finish it and post it so that it’s nearly 6:30 at night and I still don’t have a post up on my blog.  (It happens a lot more often than I’d like to admit, actually.)

I must be getting old.  I’ve noticed that lately whenever things start getting busy that my mind turns into a piece of swiss cheese.  I can’t keep a single thought in my head for more than five minutes at a time and balls are getting dropped all over the place.  I find myself flitting from one activity to the next to the next and NOTHING is getting done and I’m falling further and further behind.  Come on, Marilyn.  FOCUS.  

Ahem.  That aside… 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Kile is out at WALMART.  No, not groceries (we did that last night and I am still recovering from the LINES).  Not presents either.  No, he’s getting a new tire for his van.  So, you know, we can go to church this evening.  OY.  Nothing like the last minute, eh?  He went with his dad and the two boys so I’m at home with my mother in law and Evie and Evie is napping so… woo hoo!  

I will be putting up a more meaningful post at some time, either later today or tomorrow.  But right now I seem unable to keep a thought in my head for long enough to make anything make any sense.  (Please tell me I’m not the only scattered one today!)

Right now, while I’m waiting for snow that I’m still not sure will ever come (hello, it’s SUNNY outside right now!), I’m hoping that all of you are having a lovely holiday.  Stay safe, drink some booze for me and enjoy your families and friends.  Open a present or two and think of me.