Drinking the Kool Aid

I had a hard time coming up with a title for this entry.  "A Rite of Passage", "A New Chapter", "Every Girl's Dream" all came to mind, but drinking the kool aid seemed appropriate as well.

Mecca for girls. . .and their crazed mothers.

Yesterday we trekked up to Atlanta to the AG store so Sunshine could spend the gift cards that she received for Christmas.  Luckily, I had the forethought to ask whether she wanted to shop first or have lunch first.  And even better, I booked reservations in the cafe as there was a 5 hour wait for walk ups.

AG is an amazing place for little girls.  Dolls with every hair/eye color combination smile at you from every corner.  Historical dolls have these wonderful displays & suck you in.  Sunshine's decided that Santa will be bringing her Kit next Christmas.  I guess she'll be telling GoGo about it??

 There were little girls & their dolls EVERYWHERE.  And their mothers.  And their fathers looking like they'd rather be at the Starbucks outside in the mall.  And their griping brothers who wanted to be anywhere but AG.  We had a fair amount of gift cards to spend in the store but it seemed paltry in comparison to some of these people purchasing what looked like the equivalent of their mortgage payment.

We did some preshopping online & with the catalog so Sunshine knew how much she could buy.  Unfortunately the skating outfit & ballet outfits were sold out so we're ordering them.  It's amazing how quickly things add up in there! Sunshine went back & forth between the books, the historical dolls & the clothes.  Luckily, her doll came with pierced ears & we agreed that the next time we go (see the kool aid?  Next time we go) she can have her hair done.  We finished our shopping in about 30 minutes & spent about 15 working our way through the check out line.  I was actually impressed by how quickly it moved, all things considered.

We were about 15 minutes early for our reservation so I ran our bag out to the car while Sunshine waited inside with Hunter (who has taken to using a wheelchair in malls as it's easier than hobbling around on crutches).

New AG addicts at lunch

Our lunch was fun & luckily by the time we were finished eating, the store had almost cleared out.  The volume in the restaurant had died down considerably as well.  We had a 1pm reservation so I'm thinking the next time we go, we might want to do a later reservation or maybe do tea (as Hunter's aunt suggested later when we were visiting with her & her family.  For the record, her daughter was an AG fan as well & is the proud owner of Samantha)

Sunshine, her Elizabeth doll, her mini-Felicity doll & monster ice cream sundae

While Sunshine has decided that Kit will be her next doll, she's also decided that a regular size Felicity would be nice.  You know, for Elizabeth, since they're besties & all.  You know how you can't go into Target for toilet paper w/out spending $150?  They pump the same stuff into the air at AG.  While we were at lunch, I found myself scouring Ebay looking for deals on Felicity.  I had the sense to put my phone down while I ate & enjoyed the experience.  I fully admit to searching when we got home after 9pm & may or may not have a couple auctions saved into my watch list.

Our final haul of the day?  Two mini dolls (Felicity & Kit), 2 outfits, the Every Day Play earrings set, undies & 2 outfits to be ordered.  

Sunshine wants to go back for her birthday & honestly, I think it would be great.  I'm pretty sure that Kool Aid lasts a long time!

Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve. . . 

Final Counting Down of the season. . .

Opening presents Christmas morning. . . 

LOVE her!!!

And best of all, no more grief from Sunshine that Baby Jesus isn't out!

'Tis better to give than to receive

There is nothing better than surprising someone on Christmas.  Especially someone whose heart is bigger than the world.  Someone who does so much for so many.

I don't want to name names or say too much but early this morning, a friend of mine posted about how she was going to have a meager Christmas due to the inability of others in her life to plan accordingly.  Like I said---she does so much for those around her & is one of the sweetest people ever.

Knowing she wouldn't have a present tomorrow morning made me mad.  And sad.  It wasn't fair.  So, I sent out a few messages on FB & told various mutual friends that I was planning on sending her something & they could get in on the something if they so desired.

They did.  In the span of 2 hours we raised $200.  People, I can buy you nice things w/ $200.  So, a few clics of my touchpad later, e certificates were on their way to this darling girl.  Her email to me was awesome.  She said she was crying & we made her snot her mittens!

You know you've done something right when your gift recipient snots their mittens ;)

Sunshine is beside herself with anticipation of tomorrow morning.  We usually let her open a gift on Christmas Eve & this year is no different.  I have a special present in mind---it's a Cinderella snow globe that she picked out back in September.  You know, when the stores set up their holiday displays.

So she starts negotiating gift opening times.  "How's 7:30?" she asked.  At this point it was 10am.  I told her sure & went about my business.   We went around visiting our neighbors & dropping off cranberry breads & pumpkin breads that we baked yesterday.  Several of them had little gifts for  Sunshine which was really sweet.  We came home, had lunch & realized the Patriots game wasn't televised in Dixie.  Which wasn't very nice.  Hunter went to take a nap (he'd been out doing last minute shopping) & I was trying to get the game online.  Sunshine came out early in the 2nd half & announced that she'd made a mistake & could we bump it up to 5:30.  I said yes.

I'm sure she won't snot her mittens when she sees her presents, but will be thrilled with everything.   We're having a low key Christmas which is fine, but the weather is killing me!  It's 65 degrees!  This is NOT Christmas weather, people!!  I want snow!  I want below freezing temps!  I want to look out the window while we're opening gifts & see snow falling (like Christmas '08 at my parents house).  We've decided that next year we're going to VT.  Hopefully Sunshine will have the same Christmas break schedule (furlough days rolled into break rather than scattered throughout the year) & we won't feel we need to rush back.   But I can definitely deal with a week (or more!) in my beautiful home state during the holidays.  Sledding, snow, that chill in the air as you walk down the Church St. Marketplace.  Yeah, I'm ready to be home for the holidays!

One tradition goes away

Every Christmas we've taken Sunshine to see Santa.  She was 8 months old the first time.  It was ungodly hot that December & she's in short sleeves.  Santa must have been stroking out in his suit.  When she was 2 1/2, she was too afraid to see Santa so we took a picture of her standing on the side---watching him from afar.  There are 6 pictures of her with him, in pretty red frames, gracing my mantel.  It's something I've loved doing. Watching her little face light up when she caught sight of him &  telling him what she wanted.

That ended this year.  There will be no Santa picture with a 7 1/2 yr old Sunshine because today she told me she didn't want to go see him.  Not just today, but this year & probably next too.  Because, "Mommy, things are changing."

It didn't matter that Hunter talked to her &told her just how special those pictures are to me.  It didn't matter that I told her how special they are.  She didn't want to go.

We went to the National Infantry Museum to see The Polar Express at the IMAX theater, in 3d.  I admit, I had a secret plan to go to the PX on the way home &wow!  Santa's here---can't we grab a quick pic.  Don't judge.

Since Hunter is still on crutches, he was offered use of a wheelchair & we were escorted to the elevator up to the rear of the theater.  I have to say that it was the best view!  Forget sitting in the middle of the theater---next year, we're in the last row!

Sunshine proclaimed that she still believes in Santa &; that she could hear the bell ring because she believes, but still refuses to go see the big guy.

It makes me so sad to accept that she really is becoming this big kid.  I remember the Christmas that Santa brought her a sleigh bell & left it under my parents tree.  She had opened all of her presents & there, way in the back was this box with her name on it.  She opened the box & her eyes grew as big as saucers when she saw the bell.  The joy I felt that morning is a feeling I will never forget.

I know that we only have a couple years left where she does believe, probably one.  Maybe this will be the last year, I don't know.  

Olive Oyl's a skank

I know, it's the holidays & not nice to talk such smack about people, but let's call a spade a spade here people.

Last month we switched cable/phone/internet companies & went back to the provider we'd had for 10 years. We foolishly switched to another company when we bought our house as they were offering this crazy cheap deal.   A year later the rates doubled, the level of customer service plummeted & we found ourselves without phone/cable/internet intermittently for over a year.  It was nothing to have our phone out for 3-4 days & nothing other than an "oh we're so sorry" from this company.  

So when we switched back to the company we love we discovered we now get the Boomerang channel.  I was happy because Josie & the Pussycats  and Penelope Pitstop are regularly shown.  Sunshine was thrilled with those two but also that Popeye is on in the morning when she's eating breakfast.   I admit, I'm a Popeye lover from way back.  I credit him with my love of all forms of spinach.  Even canned.  Seriously, my mother will vouch for me.

It hit us the other day that Olive Oyl is a major skankasaurus.  Sunshine commented that OO wasn't "very nice to Popeye" because she threw him over to hook up with Bluto.  I'm guessing that if Bluto were on the Jersey Shore, he'd be known as a "gorilla juice head" & that both he & Popeye are on the juice.  Have you looked at the size of Popeye's forearms?  Those aren't natural.  

But OO does this all the time.  She's got this baby & we've never been told who Sweet Pea's father is.  Maybe it's Popeye, maybe it's Bluto.  Maybe it's another sailor from their ship.  Who knows.  But she'll be on a date or whatever with Popeye & ol' Bluto will show up w/ his big ol' chest, bad facial hair & swaggering ways & the next thing you know, Popeye's getting his butt beat, humiliated in front of skankapotamus OO & has to resort to his drug of choice----canned spinach.  Granted, he always wins in the end, but the humiliation factor is unreal.  How can his ego take this abuse day in and day out?

Hunter had his post op appointment today & it seems everything is going as hoped which is good.  We go back in 10 more days & hopefully he'll be given the green light to drive again.  

I'm on my way to school to be Room Mom & help the kids make glitterific ornaments.   I'm sure Sunshine's going to choose pink.  Luckily, I bought an extra package so we can make some in different colors for our family tree & for hers.

Happy Monday!!!

It's a conspiracy!

As we know, I am in need of a 12 step program for china.  In a bad way.  I started my Spode Christmas Tree collection in 2002 when Hunter & I first got married.  That year's purchase was a star shaped candy dish.  That one little dish turned into a yearly purchasing tradition.  Dishes followed, serving pieces, wine glasses, high ball glasses, candy dishes, ornaments, etc.  

This year I purchased bowls as we use our Spode as our daily dishes starting the day after Thanksgiving & until New Year's Day (or the day after).  I was thinking that maybe a few more salad plates & dinner plates would be nice to have.  

But there's something rotten in Denmark, or at least Columbus as NO ONE has the dishes.  Well, not entirely true.  Dillards & Macy's do.  But I'm looking at TJ Maxx & Marshall's as they tend to be a little cheaper.  We have 2 TJ's & 1 Marshall's store.  All 3 are sold out.  HOW is this possible??  Suddenly everyone is buying Spode??  They better be buying for me!

I'm debating going to Macy's/Dillards after Christmas & seeing what they have but GAH! No Spode?!!!!  

Piggy Backing

As I mentioned in my last post, my New Year's Resolution is to give up feeling guilty about things that are out of my control or at the very least, to not feel guilty when I say no to things.

A very wise woman whom I'm fortunate enough to call a friend shared this list on FB earlier today.

Food for thought, no?