Sunday, February 5, 2012

Sometimes you really can buy happiness...I just got some at Target yesterday


The main goals for the weekend were the same as they always seem to be- get through all of the laundry and put it away as well as cleaning the rest of the house since A.J. was home and could help manage the maniacs so I can make some headway.  We also had a couple smaller goals for the weekend one of which was for me to take Josie to Target to exchange a pair of jeans she got for her birthday and so that she could spend a gift card a friend had given her.  Despite the fact that my blue-eyed Monkey always measures out to be smack in the middle on the growth charts at her annual check up, she wears anywhere between a 4 and 6 in clothes depending on the brand or if it is a hand-me-down.  There really is no rhyme or reason and I am sure this frustrates all relatives and friends who ask me for her size before they buy her any clothes only to find out the items don’t fit.
So yesterday afternoon, Josie, Jimmy, and I head to Target and go straight to the returns desk- the cashier checks and supposedly the store has one pair of the exact jeans we need, but the girl points out they could be anywhere.  Not a problem, we’ll see if we can find them where they are supposed to be.  We head over to the girls’ section and are distracted by racks of winter hats and gloves for sale.  Josie picks out a somewhat crazy looking fleece hat with stars and peace signs of course and a pair of pink leopard-print gloves.  Jimmy is appeased when I tell him we will find him some as well.  We find the rack of polka dot jeans and I scan the remaining three pairs left hanging there, 10, 10….thank you, Lord, there is a 5!! Woohoo!  Can my shopping trip be this easy?!  Throw them in the cart and head for the boys’ hats and gloves.  Jimmy refuses the hats that would look somewhat decent and match his winter coat, instead choosing a pair of glow in the dark skeleton hand gloves and a Darth Vader winter hat.  I grab a pair of the skeleton gloves for Sawyer knowing he will want them as soon as he sees Jimmy’s and a silly fleece camouflage hat with a mohawky thing on top.
Jimmy for his part stayed very well-behaved in the cart as we went to the toy section for Josie and headed on to find a shelf for the bathroom for me.  Josie was another story.  Not sure what amount of sugar she had consumed yesterday prior to our shopping trip, but my oh so non-coordinated daughter came very close to being run over 4 times and that was just between the toy and bath room sections.  Finally while I was picking out some baskets for our new bathroom shelf/cabinet, and Josie was running her hands across every very breakable object on the shelf, I went into stern mom mode and very firmly told her to stop it RIGHT NOW!  Not a problem until I saw the look on some woman’s face as if to say I shouldn’t have raised my voice so much.  I’m sorry, lady, this is Target, not the library! 
Survive the rest of the store and get home.  A.J. was Mr. Fixit for me yesterday and hung curtains in the kids’ room and then went right into working on my cabinet for the bathroom.  Unfortunately for him, inside this fairly small shelf box were also about two hundred wood screws, bolts, hinges, and even wood glue.  He was a good sport and finished the entire thing in one sitting. Our very outdated bathroom tiles and strangely configured towel rack provided some amusement as A.J. had to remove the bar from said rack to fit our new shelf/cabinet thing around the toilet.  He went to yank the towel bar and with it came the one end of the rack and a large chunk of tile.  Thankfully the new shelf hid the hole. 
 The kids were meanwhile running amok, entertaining themselves with their new hats and gloves.  Who knew that such small cheap items could bring them so much pleasure?!  Actually I am sure every parent or person who is around kids much will tell you this.  Big ticket items obviously bring much excitement, but kids thrive on the small random everyday objects.  Their silly games last night kept my kiddos occupied for close to three hours.  And this morning, what were the first things they were looking for?  Their hats and gloves. 
And my new bathroom shelf/cabinet thing has made my week.  It is somewhat pathetic that this ordinary object is what I am getting so much happiness from.  But now I can see our 1960s gold flecked bathroom counter top again.  I got these cute little baskets for hair brushes and hair products, etc., to fit on the one shelf. Finally after four and a half years of going to grab these items out of the hall closet and everything spilling out, we are sort of organized.  And it looks great- even trendy if I dare say so.  Small victories, people.  I will take ‘em!  



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