happy friday!

Everyone went to school today except for Evelyn Joy. Her heel hurts. She doesn't feel well. hmm. The second trip bus hasn't arrived yet, but the three younger kids are out there enjoying the morning. Rosie is lying tolerantly in her cage, like she does every morning so she cannot escape and chase that big yellow monster that steals our children. Hey, Rosie and I think alike!

Yesterday.....Mirielle and I ended up going on a little shopping excursion. She came home from class and reminded me she had to get her car inspected. The first time she tried to get it done, the Valvoline place had run out of New York State inspection stickers. So yesterday I dressed the little girls, brushed my long tangly hair and put on some bye-bye clothes....but she couldn't get her car inspected at the place in town because something or other was down, and she should come back in a day or two, blah blah...New York state law, yearly vehicle inspections...poor girl is TRYING to obey, albeit just to avoid a ticket.

Anyway....we went to the mall, which we both hate. The two little girls thought we were going to the library, they were just latched to that idea, so we stopped there first. It is a big beautiful library, and I still can hardly believe that for free, one can bring home FancyNancy books, and the Shaggy D.A. movie, and a lift-the-flap book, and Anna Quindlen's latest novel....

The little girls are fascinated with that library. They like to do the wood puzzles and look at the finely detailed dollhouse in the glass case. They also like the special children's bathroom, and little drinking fountain.

Then on to the dreaded mall. We went there on a tip from Kim, that there were Zhu-Zhu pets with cage thingys, for $5.50. We got the whole stack of them, plus $40 in gift cards for free because we spent $50. Now if I can just get them onto ebay without the kids seeing them and wanting them for Christmas. Zhu-Zhu pets.....I thought they were stupid until I saw how cute they are. They make this little sound when you pet them...

Then to the grocery store....(I excercised some self-control, for once, and stayed the heck out of Target!)....I think I got the meat dept. guy in trouble. There was a coupon for stew-beef, $2 a pound. The packages were tiny, and the coupon was for one package, but no limit on the size. So, since they have a full service meat dept. in addition to the help-yourself section, I asked for a large package of it. The guy just grabbed two smaller ones and said they would do. Okay. At the register they made a huge deal about it and said I couldn't get both. I told them I showed the coupon to the guy back in the meat dept., and he really didn't care, just didn't seem to want to be bothered to package up a bigger one. The manager and the cashier were so mad at him! I told them I didn't want to get him in trouble, he just seemed busy and distracted...they were doubly mad. rats. I hate getting anyone in trouble. The manager let me have both packages. I thanked her. She knows me. She knows one package wouldn't do it for us.

So we came home with stew beef and carrots and potatoes....tomorrow it is going to be much cooler than today, which is going to reach almost ninety. I planned to make this nice stew tomorrow, then I realized that Paul, Emily, Abigail, Mirielle, Joseph, and Aaron are all working at the football game at the Carrier Dome. They won't get home 'til 8 or 9, and they get some food for working there... Oh well, stew for just the rest of us.

I buy cheese in five pound bags, shredded mozzarella, and cheddar, for $9.99 a bag. If I buy pizza doughs for around a dollar each, for four, I can make pizzas so cheap. Yes, I know I can make them cheaper if I make the dough from scratch, I have done that but it is quicker to throw it into the cart...

I am boring myself here.

Today.....our beach plans never got off the ground. I don't know if I will end up going with the girls here and Mirielle, or if we will just stick around here and play. Mirielle still wants to go. I don't know. The kids are at school, should I pick them up? I don't want to lie to the school, but I also don't want to say that I am picking them up to go to the beach....