So I decided to be brave and, fed up with not having a sitter, thought it might be a good idea to get out of the house and go to the local mall with my two munchkins. I have found that when I do hire a sitter so I can shop peacefully or do whatever it is I want to do, I feel extra horrible about spending some cash because I then have to pay a sitter and sitters just aren’t cheap these days. I kind of view it like this – let’s say you find a great sale at Macy’s and save a ton of money on a sweater (or whatever – you fill in the blank) but then you have to go home and pay a sitter so it’s like you never found the sale to begin with…Yes, I know, it could be more if you bought the sweater at full price AND paid the sitter but alas, the stay at home mom in me would NEVER do such a thing. But, I digress…Luckily, I have befriended the sitter I often use, Ashlee, who is a student at the local college and absolutely wonderful. She called today to see if she could come over and do some laundry (remember the Laundro-Mat days of college? I gave her free-reign to do laundry at our house whenever she wants so she never has to do laundry in a Laundro-Mat again). Bubba Boo awoke from his TWO HOUR NAP (yes, if you read earlier posts, you are reading this correctly – TWO HOURS. He woke up after 20 minutes and cried for three minutes then went to sleep!!!!! PRAISE JESUS, HALLELUJA! Again, I digress…) as I was emerging from a fantastically wonderful and incredibly rare afternoon shower so I dressed and quickly went to scoop up my smiling peanut with the cute dimple and cover him in kisses for being such a good boy. Missy Moo, on the other hand, decided that today would be a good day to attempt a three hour nap and did not get out of bed until 4:30 – at which point I WOKE HER UP (yes, I know, Cardinal Mommy Sin #1) so she would be able to sleep tonight. Trust me, I have heard the child awake and playing “Keep Away From Nemo Fish” at 11 p.m. – it happens. After a long emergence back into the waking world at which I had to rock her in the rocking chair for a good ten minutes and bribe her with a snack of animal crackers and a forbidden Minute Maid juice box reserved for such occasions (OH- Cardinal Mommy Sin #2 – Do not use food to bribe your child) we piled into the truckster for a trip to the mall. Ashlee being Ashlee decided to join us as she did not really have any plans and I guess thought it might be fun to peruse the mall with a SAHM that doesn’t get out much and her two babes. First of all, the production of going to a place such as the mall is exhausting within itself – I had to try to figure out my new Maclaren stroller that I hate so much I actually kicked across the garage last week…Yes, I know this does not sound like something I would do but I really hate it and it always seem to be a bear when I really need it not to be…I then must make sure that I am packed with all the essentials…Bottle filled with eight ounces of water? Check. Formula container with enough formula for eight ounces of water? Check. Sippy cup of water? Check. Continuation of animal crackers snack? Check. Size four diaper? Check. Size three diaper? Check. Cell phone, sunglasses, wallet, etc. – you get the drill. I am ready for bed before I even pull out of the garage. I do admit that I often love the travel time once I get into the car because I am guaranteed at least ten minutes or so of peace since we are driving in the car and I cannot find the Potty Power DVD case, turn on the princess movie, locate the bunnies, or any of the other various tasks that I am called upon to do throughout the day – I can actually have a completed thought! Oh the joy! So anyway, we arrive at the mall, park the car, get the hainted stroller out of the back and pack in Missy Moo and Bubba Boo side by side. Though the Maclaren is touted as able to fit through doorways, it does not navigate well through aisles of department stores – cannot even begin to tell you how many things I knocked over and bumped into – so much that Ashlee declared that she was buying me a new stroller…I simply wanted to check out the possibility of new pillows so my beloved hubby and I could trash the dust-mite infested pillows we have been using for far too long but are too lazy to do anything about. I also thought it might be nice to find one of those cute new jacket sweaters that are so en vogue right now and maybe a few other things…However, this was all halted after Sarah let out a wail that made me think maybe her foot was caught in the wheel of the devil stroller. I deciphered a “Mommy, I want to go home!!” through her sobs as she pointed hysterically to the headless mannequin modeling the latest goods in the store – and they were everywhere. Who in God’s name would have ever considered the fact that a mannequin would be scary to a two year old? Ashlee and I both quickly concluded that they WERE indeed scary – why do some stores use headless mannequins? They ARE creepy and though I admit it is something I have never really thought much about or noticed before, seeing the world through the eyes of Missy Moo changes my own perception of the world, too. So, we decided it was to time to just exit but of course, avoiding the stores with headless mannequins was darn near impossible – EVERYONE seems to be on the headless manneqin horse these days! We did enjoy three iced pumpkin cookies and Bubba Boo got some good giggles from watching everything that goes on in a mall then we were pretty much ready to reload into the truckster. Of course, Missy Moo then began to ask if Bubba Boo was really going to turn into a pumpkin since I told Ashlee that he would if we were not home by his holy-grail bedtime of 7 p.m. Little did I know that the toddler ears listening in would take this literally and begin to worry that her little brother was in fact going to turn into a pumpkin if we did not get him home in time for bed. The good news of the night is that we did get him home in time so that we can confidently say that Bubba Boo did not turn into a pumpkin. The bad news is that once I got him down and thought a bowl of Grape Nuts sounded good for dinner, I opened the silverware drawer to find a drugged-out, sluggish fly hanging out in the corner. Yes, the fly had gotten trapped in the drawer and was most certainly buzzing around and crawling all over the utensils we use to eat our food with. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the night washing its contents. And these are the days of Missy Moo and Bubba Boo…
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