oh snap!

Last week I was in one of my MILs (that's mother-in-law) favorite stores with her. It isn't exactly my primo shopping store but I have gotten some really nice, classic pieces of clothing from there. Shoes too. For the most part, it's totally a "mom & grandma" store & I don't mean that in a 34 year old MILF-wannabe sort of way either.

My all-time favorite jeans actually came from this store. I had 2 pairs in a size 12, a different style than my favorite pair but the fit was still stellar. 1 favorite pair in a size 10. I was so excited when I was able to buy them in an 8. My friend Anisa finally told me to shut up one night when we were out when I reminded her for the bajillionth time that *I* was wearing A SIZE 8!! Hey, I was excited. ;)

What I was most excited about was that I was able to buy the 8's on sale. The original pairs cost me (or rather, MIL) $70 a pop. I bought the 8's for $29.99 and I was giddy over the price but not so giddy when I discovered they were on sale because they've been discontinued. Ugh.

When I was in our local store last week with MIL I commented to a salesperson that they were making a mistake discontinuing such awesome jeans. She agreed with me and told me they were her favorites too. She asked me if I'd looked online for them. I said I had. She said she'd be right back.

She went online internally and came back, all excited, that she was able to find me a size 6 at one of their outlets for.... get this.... $9.99.

"Oh my goodness, how many can I buy?!" They only had one.

"I want 'em!!!"

They came in the mail in just a few days and fit great. Yay!

Then I got to thinking. My 8's still fit me quite well and I haven't even dried them yet. For $9.99 I wondered if I could possibly score an 8 at that same outlet. I wondered why I hadn't thought to ask last week.

I went into our local store, got a different salesperson who had like NO idea what I was asking her to do for me. She didn't know when my former salesperson was working again so I couldn't ask her. Basically I was shot down. I left defeated. Ugh.

Yesterday I had this eureka moment when I realized I could just call this outlet myself, using the number on the receipt that came with the size 6 pants.

I called. Awesome saleswoman answers. So helpful and so apologetic that my local woman was such a douche. Puts me on hold and goes to see if they have any 8's left on the rack. She comes back on and says no but they do have a last pair of 6's she found. So much for them only having 1 pair last week. Having to pay $5.95 in shipping twice isn't my thang but hey, I did get my FAVORITE pair of $70 jeans for $9.99 so I felt I hardly had wiggle room to complain.

She scanned them and said they were actually $29.99, not $9.99 and she wasn't sure how I got that price initially. Silence. She had pulled up my order on the computer so she could clearly see what I ordered and what I paid, no scamming over the phone involved.

Since the local woman had been no help to me, for my inconvenience she'd honor another pair for $9.99. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. I'd have paid $29.99 but hey, $9.99 is much, much better.

They're already on their way to me. SCORE!

To go from a size 16 to a 6 is one of the most awesome feelings in the world. Far better than any slice of pizza or fat, juicy rare cheeseburger I've ever eaten. :D

"I was not a teenage mother."

I've said the above statement probably multiple dozens of times over the past nearly 14 years. Sometimes in jest, sometimes in defense, sometimes just plain sarcastically when one of my son's friends' moms gives me the up & down upon meeting me, realizing she's got a good 10-15+ years on me. It started in preschool and hasn't let up yet. The realization that I don't get looked at that way with my elementary school age children at all confirms to me I haven't made up these sneers all these years. Some teachers are as bad as other parents. I hate that. However, I do appreciate the awe & change in attitude once they realize I may be young enough to be their own child but I do take this parenting, school & education thing pretty darn serious.

(That there is a nearly straight A 8th grade student you're looking at!)

Throughout the years there have been some significant drawbacks to having a child as young as I did. You know, like being spontaneous in just about any capacity. Hanging out in bars at 21 with friends had to be scheduled, planned and if someone came up sick, I was screwed.

My friends just got in their car and went. I had to make sure I had enough money in the budget to pay not only for the gas in my car but my rent, insurance, school, diapers, daycare, food, unexpected trips to the doctor, medicine, etc... my life had no spontaneity. None.

It probably didn't help that I wasn't married at the time. I wasn't a "single mom" as I learned recently. More accurately, I was an unmarried mom. "Single Mom" is an oxymoron. Single implies alone, one. I was hardly alone - I had a little boy who relied on me for his every need. Hardly single.

I'm no longer unmarried. My son was wanted and adopted by my husband shortly after we married. I wasn't looking for a 'baby daddy' nor a 'sugar daddy'. I was content in my little home, and by that point, quite stable, in caring for us both. I consider my husband the luckiest of the 3 of us, and I mean that in complete seriousness. My son & I rock the casbah and Garth was the lucky one who got to come into our lives, not the other way around. In truth, Garth is pretty great too though. :)

So are there perks to having a child at age 20? Hmmm, tough question. I wasn't ready to be someones mother while still needing my own on a pretty much daily basis -- and that there is some truth I tell ya.

There are, however, perks NOW to having had a child young. I'm 34. I've got a teenager. He is nearly self-sufficient and I helped him become that way thankyouverymuch. He can cook a few things, unloads a mean dishwasher, helps me immensely with his younger siblings and for the most part, doesn't mind it. He's still very much a teenager though: absent-minded, self-centered, sleeps a lot, sulks, has the common sense of a drunken gnat at times. Much to his chagrin, I'm also one of the very few moms who even stands a fighting chance at being labeled a MILF by his peers. I snicker & smirk at that assessment but hey, why fight what's true?! (snort!)

I wouldn't trade him, nor our experiences together, for anything. I've said before that he's like a little brother to me sometimes, and it's true. We rib each other differently than I do with my younger kids, we have experiences they'll never have with me, we talk about things I never talked to my mother about. But make no mistake, little brother relationship at times or not, he knows when I'm pissed, concerned, or its time to be parented/sidelined/reeled in, I'm allllll mom, no longer the teasing, joking, fun big sis.

This morning I found a new perk to having a teenager. Being almost 14, I figured it was time he pick up a new trade. "Trades are important, ya know", I tried to convince him. He said he's going to college but he'll keep trade school in mind just in case.

I taught him, step by step, how to make me a pot of coffee. Garth wasn't around, coffee wasn't made and I needed some. I was going to have to break down and make it myself anyway, dang it, and there was no time like the present to have him stand next to me and have me show him how to do it. I took it slow, but methodical, and hopefully I'll only have to show him once. Guess tomorrow morning will be his test.

I'm currently sipping some Brenden Brew and it is heavenly. He will make a fine barista someday if those college plans don't pan out. There ARE perks to not being a teenage mother, but close. Tell me which of your children born after you were of appropriate age made you a pot of coffee this morning. Huh? Huh?! Yeah, thought so. ;)

An added piece of goodness -
Last night the kids and I picked our first hoard of summer yummies from the garden:

2008, my year of change.

-------------------------------------

January 1, 2008:

I've changed. Not just my body changed in 2008. My brain is no longer the same. I pray my mind stays forever changed and remains focused on being healthy, active and positively health conscious, without beating myself up when I occasionally overindulge. I hope I have the willpower to never have the word obese next to my weight on my medical chart again. For that matter, I hope I never fall back into the overweight category either. I didn't come this far to turn my back on myself, ever again. That's -52 lbs of lard ass I'm no longer sporting!

Jan. 2008 - July 2008

Wondering what a tummy tuck looks like?
late June 2008 vs. late July 2008:

no longer too cool for sunscreen.

Yesterday was a rare thing: a beautiful sunny summer day with low humidity and a slight breeze. It was incredibly wonderful.

Our step mom decided rather than a fancy birthday dinner per our usual birthday tradition, she wanted to do something totally different. She wanted to spend an entire day together with everyone, children and grandchildren, at a park that is newer to our town and she wanted to eat KFC for lunch. "KFC?!", we all asked. That's what she wanted. It ended up being some seriously greasy goodness. Wow, I hadn't had KFC in many, many years. I ate it, enjoyed it and tried really hard not to think about the caloric content.

Did I say the weather was gorgeous? It couldn't have been a more perfect day had I put in a personal request from God.

I wasn't too cool for sunscreen on this venture out. I slathered it on my face at home and twice on my body at the park. It worked. I got a little color but no painful sunburn. I won't be too cool to go without it ever again. Lesson learned & a few new sun/age spots to prove it.

We found 2 tables under some awesome sail-style sunshades (I want one for our new house, it really was cool), ate our KFC, sang Happy Birthday, ate cake and then packed up our things and moved down closer to the lake. I'm not a lake swimmer but the kids had a blast. I got wet up to about my calves - that's about all the lake water on my body I can stand.

My step mom marked the milestone of still being in her 40's while her stepdaughters are in their mid & upper 30's (our dad is one hip pimp). It was an awesome day, a superb idea and great change of pace. I hope we can all do it again before this too short summer draws to a close.

The birthday girl & my niece Dallas:

My sister & I: My niece Dallas:

My nieces Dallas & Dayna:

My Jackson, probably calculating quantum physics:

All 4 of my offspring:

My Wilson digging up on a chicken leg:

My niece Dalanie:

Garth, me, Dee & Dave:

My princess Everly:

Everly & Jackson, taking a break:

The most awesome dad in the world:

My step mom, 'da birthday girl:Everly, waterlogged:

Everly & I, after a long day in the sun:

The introverted extrovert.

You'd never know it when I'm out dancing with friends, chatting loudly, cackling with laughter, being the loud one with the sailor mouth...you know, the extroverted social one, that there is absolutely another side of me, ala Sybil, who is very much quite the introvert. I love to be completely & utterly alone. Alone in a book, alone in my thoughts, alone while shopping. Solitude. Alone. Alone. Alone.

I guess I don't know which side of my personality I favor more. I know I wouldn't be me if I didn't have both though. I'm a complicated mix of uncomplicatedness. (oh that sounds good!)

After a very social baby shower yesterday afternoon, I ventured to a mall that was near the shower, which was more than an hour away from my home.

I spent the next 4 hours alone. I loved every single millisecond of it.

I found myself back at the mall that Tiffany & I had conquered over the 4th of July weekend. This time, I was walking. No wheelchair for me. "Weeeeeee! I'm no longer flying!" (you had to be there).

As I pulled into the parking lot, I immediately eyeballed a store I didn't remember seeing when we were there last. The North Face. Oh snap. I've been searching for the right The North Face jacket for about 3 years now. I'm picky. I wanted the right fit, the right color, the right sale price. I've yet to be able to line up all of those dynamics together.

I found it! There isn't even a holiday in the near future to claim it as a gift to commemorate. I didn't care - I'd found it! I ended up spending a whopping $40 less than I was even willing to! Chocolatey brown yumminess and it's finally mine. It was shaping up to be a great shopping trip and the shopping trip had just begun.

Ultimately I ended up with quite some great deals. It was an outlet mall after all - just hundreds of deals waiting to be found...by me.

I walked away with my The North Face jacket, 2 pairs of shoes, a pair of capris and a pair of dress slacks for me, an outfit for school for Jackson, an outfit for school plus 2 shirts for Wilson and 2 pairs of jeans for Brenden. I also got my stepmom her birthday present - which we're celebrating today, nothing like waiting until the 11th hour to score that one, and a birthday present for my neice.

A day where the weather was beautiful, where I met Nadia's new baby (& Molly's too) and then spent a majority of its remainder completely alone doing what I do best (shopping) was wonderfully splendid and just what the PMS doctor ordered.

summer continues.

We're home from Toronto. Great shopping, great food, great wine, long drive.

I finally bit the bullet and, 100% on my own (shocker), upgraded my laptop with the software needed for my camera. My old PC is fighting its last breath and didn't have the memory capacity to even contend with one more photo upload so I've been carrying around my digital camera, loading more & more pics on it until finally, today, I figured it all out.

Holy shit is my laptop faster than my PC. With 300+ photos to upload, it would have easily taken my PC 20 minutes to upload them all, and froze a few times in between. It took all of about 1 minute to do it on my laptop. Hot damn!

Welcome home from the dark ages, Marissa.

I went to the gym today, my 1st day back since my surgery (one month ago yesterday), finished & folded 3 loads of laundry and managed to get 2 of the 4 kids napping at the same time. I'm like setting records around here this afternoon for productivity.

Welcome to the weekend, enjoy our most recent family pics:

You know your son is destined for nerd-dom when he asks for,
and receives, a My First Daily Planner for his 7th birthday.