run-around-friday

A red helium balloon is on the ceiling. I figure if we're going to spend $355 at the grocery store, we may as well get Charlotte her free balloon. This particular balloon actually made it home, and in the door without going to balloon heaven. Which may have been the best option for it. When all those kids wake up in the morning, that balloon is going to be the most "shared" item in the house.

Molly was taking care of Charlotte Claire in the grocery store today, and a lady must have assumed that Molly was Charlotte's mom, and told her to just wait 'til she's a teenager. Molly is only 14, just turned 14 in March. It's alarming to me that she looks that old, but this has happened quite a few times. The other thing is that so many people are so negative about having teenagers. When Sam turns 13 this summer, he'll be the 8th teen we've had in our family.....and besides Benjamin, who seems to find trouble, even though he's a good kid, all the others are great. As long as I don't ask too much of them. Or honk when I get home with groceries, they hate that.

When I go shopping, I like to get bargains. When I decide to put something in the cart based on the price marked on the shelf tag, I expect to pay that amount. When an item rings up for more than the shelf price, I have to speak up. This happened today. I bought 4 bags of Tootsie Rolls and 2 bags of Tootsie-Pops, shelf price:$1.00 at the register, $1.99....I told the cashier, and she told the manager. He said, I can give you one or two of those without checking the price, but NOT ALL THOSE! Should I have to explain that I'm having a party? And what if I wasn't, what if I was just going to eat Tootsie Rolls all the way home...? Anyway, the clerks talk to each other like I'm not there...."SHE says they're only a dollar." They checked, the shelf said a buck, so my favorite guy came over and adjusted the price. Apology, please. ha. Last week, I bought some cocoa mix, the shelf price was 99cents, and it rang up $1.39. I had 5 boxes. The manager went and checked, and said, "Give them to her for 99 cents, but the tag is wrong." Wait, they have the price wrong.....and they're doing me a favor? Now, all this may seem petty, but it adds up.
And, it is the principle....

Suzanne and I practiced her spelling pretty thoroughly this week and she got a 90%....she spelled "child" as cild....she was so bummed! But I thought she did great. Sam had to bring a sheet to school to drape over himself as he presented his Greek God paper....poor kid, 6th grade. Sonja, my kindergartener, came home the other day so excited: she had won a prize at school! The kids all had fun speculating, maybe an Ipod, they thought. The next day she came home with a "Go Army" necklace. Wow. Kathryn and Evelyn both lost their MP3 players on the bus this week, and they suspect a boy who has a new one that looks just like Kathryn's. Do I call his Mom? What if it's really his, and Kathryn finds hers under her bed?

I'm always in trouble. I was late picking M. up at school, she waited 15 minutes for me. But I had my reasons: I made home-made macaroni and cheese, tried to leave all the pans clean, had to feed Charlotte Claire something healthy, and wash her up, had to nurse Camille, put a clean bib on her, find some cute socks for Charlotte that go with her white buckle shoes, pack some cookies for Molly......and M. doesn't even want to hear my excuses. Then, she finds out I forgot our list. Yeah, we were so organized this week, and I forgot the list. And, I forgot to grab my cell phone. I hate cell phones. I forget to charge it, charge it and forget to put it in my purse, don't even know my own number. And, I don't know which button to push when it rings. Good thing people who really need to talk to me are persistant. Anyway, then I go shopping, spend too much money, take too much time, and have to be mean to get them to carry the stuff in. And put it away....I bought some things for the little girls, but just put the Target bags in my room because I didn't feel like dealing with what for who and why not for me...

Yeah, it's a thankless job, but somebody's gotta do it.