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Weekend with Mimi

by Claire on July 24, 2011

IMAG1194My oldest daughter, Cindy, and her husband, Cody, went on a little get away this weekend. I have been camping out at her house with the boys. It’s fun to spend time with them because they are so easy and well behaved. Of course, there’s the typical boy antics you’d expect with a three and a six year old, but really, they listen pretty well and are a delight to take places.

We started off the weekend Friday night by doing some errands. I still have to find the perfect new mirror for my mom’s remodeled bathroom, so I took them to TJMaxx. That store has lots of great stuff for very little money. I didn’t find the mirror but the boys did each find a toy. Neither of them has let go of that toy all weekend. Total investment: $15. Total fun factor: priceless.

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Saturday we were up at 7…OMG. I thought I could sneak downstairs and have some coffee before they woke up, but oh no… they were too excited that Grandma was here…oh wait. It was that they wanted to play with their new toys. Ha ha. So we lolly-gagged around until about noon, hanging outside in the sun while they played on the trampoline and then went down to my mom’s to get her and head off to IKEA. The idea was that I was still on the quest for the mirror and mom wanted to go. I don’t think she really remembered quite what a zoo IKEA can be but since she wanted to go, she came along. We got her one of those motorized carts and I’ll apologize publicly now to any other customers at IKEA who had to quickly get out of her way as she was quite the speed demon. We were half way through the place in under 10 minutes. New world record set. I wonder if anyone’s thought of having a motorized cart NASCAR-like event? I bet that would be hil.ar.ious!

Sorry, I digress.

IKEA was a blur. Literally. Remind me next time I want to go there not to take my mom. I love my mom but I don’t think she had the patience for it, particularly with two boys in tow. They were great however. I let them play in Smalaand for a bit and then we had a snack of chocolate milk and cookies. The mirror didn’t pan out, so I’m still on the hunt.

I did, however, win the prize for being able to get in and out of IKEA for under $30. (No, not a typo.) I only spent $21 on kitchen stuff.

After that, we took mom home – well, to the ex-roomie’s new place – as she had dinner plans with her. The landlord there is a total bad word in all caps. Seriously. I parked in his spot, unknowingly, because it was closest to the stairs mom had to go down and he was PISSED. I explained she was 91 and couldn’t walk far and I would only be there for a minute, and he couldn’t have cared less. “Well, for future reference, there’s parking across the street.” Man, dude, I hope karma comes back at you when you’re 91. What the hell?

After that, I met my younger daughter, Stacy at Red Robin to take the kids out to dinner. OMG, that was another cluster. The crazy was going from bad to worse. We had the worst service and the only thing that helped mediate that was the manager comped the bill in half. On a positive note, I asked Cayden later that night what his favorite part of the day was and he said the Red Robin ice cream sundae. Ok, then it was all worth it.

Here’s some cuteness from Red Robin, however. You’ll have to pardon the blurry pictures from my cell phone – moving kids are hard with my crappy Droid Eris. Evan and Laila absolutely ADORE each other. It’s priceless. They were hugging each other and Laila kept kissing on Evan, and yes, pulling his hair once. He’s so good natured with her, he just smiled.

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Finally, last stop of the day, we went to Target. I was on the hunt…still… for the mirror, but also for bed sheets. Found neither. But we did all walk out with new jammies. I should have asked their mommy what size they wore because poor Evan – his fall off his bum. I even got new jammies, but sorry – no pics of that for you!

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Snuggled up on the couch while I wind down for bed.

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It was a late night because the neighbor’s dogs were barking until midnight. Argh. I was about ready to go bang on their door or shout out the window, but finally they calmed down.

Today, Sunday, I’m still waking up. And it’s 10:30.

Lots of this is in order.

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And I made us this for breakfast. So NOT on my food plan.

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Plan for today is most likely to load up the bikes and go for a bike ride. The weather here this weekend is fantastic. Finally, Seattle is getting TWO, count ‘em, TWO days of summer. I’m sure our bike ride will allow for plenty of pictures.

Later!

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Shifting focus. Parteee Tyme.

by Claire on March 7, 2010

There’s an end in sight to what I should call my daughter’s never-ending pregnancy. The doctors had us convinced that she would deliver early due to risk factors in this pregnancy and early contractions that started back in January. So we’ve had false start after false start, only to be sent home and my daughter told to take a hot bath and relax. It’s been very frustrating not to mention that the contractions has caused my daughter’s fibro to flare too. (Yes, we both have fibro. Great, eh?)

However, the great news is that baby Laila has proven everyone wrong. She is strong and healthy, and the doctors are estimating (as of last Friday) that she’ll be a “chubby” 7 and a half pounds or so. (They admit their estimates based on her size can vary by 15% or so.)

My daughter is now scheduled to be induced on her due date at 40 weeks. That’s this next Tuesday, March 9th.  Ah, the luxury of knowing something, at last. My oldest daughter had scheduled C-sections so we just knew on X date, she was having her baby. I really enjoyed planning for those dates. Not knowing is killing us!

This is good for me because once the baby gets here, my job of caring for my own daughter is mostly done, and the focus will shift to my daughter caring for HER daughter. I can get my life back to a somewhat normal routine of work and play.

Until this next party is over, that is.

Partay???? PARTAY!! My mom is turning 90 on March 30th, and I’m organizing a big party for her on March 26th.

For that event, I’m going to need a pretty new dress. Every girl needs a pretty new party dress, right? And considering I’ve had no time what-so-evah to sew, and what time I did have to sew for myself ended up in a major FAIL, I’m buying. (This is good news too cuz now I have a body that I can fit more easily! Go me!)

So, I went to Kohls.com (my favorite store these days as they seem to have clothes that fit me pretty well) and picked out three new dresses. Gotta love free shipping and Kohls Cash. I purchased all three of these for $132 (including tax) and got $20 Kohl’s Cash to spend in a store – thinking I’ll be needing some cute shoes to go with these dresses.

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Not sure which one I’ll pick to wear that night, but most likely the pink one. What thinketh you?

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Retail Therapy & Grandkids Cure All Sorrows

November 28, 2009

So, my evening last night pretty much sucked and didn’t turn out at all like I anticipated. I won’t go into details other than to say I felt very much betrayed by someone very close to me and essentially heard their message loud and clear. There is a saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing [...]

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