Sunny 9 for 2006 October 5

This week I have been able to hang out with my mom more than usual. Every Friday or every other Friday we usual go to Sam's and Costco together and grab lunch- with Lily in tow. This week though I have been able to tag along with my mom a couple days. Monday we went to Garden Ridge Pottery all the way in Schertz, and to a lady's house that my mom was ordering "yard art" from. Painted wood in different seasonal varieties. I really wanted to order the Halloween candy corn set. It was soo cute. It was 3 candy corns that were dressed in Halloween costumes: one with a bag over itself, one with a bandana over his eyes, and the other with the fake glasses and big nose and moustache schtick. They were about 2 feet high and all three for $40. The painting detail and shading was amazing for painted wood that I have ever seen. I didn't buy anything because we are still waiting for our reimbursement check to come from the military. Plus I have learned not to buy tons of things without Aaron. He likes to be apart of the buying process funness, and I admit, sometimes I can let myself get carried away spending money.

We also went to Chili's for lunch, mom and I sharing a salad, and Lily taking bites of her chicken tenders kid's meal in between coloring the kids menu. She is about 80% now with her colors. It is funny because to bribe her to behave I sometimes take a mini pack of m&m's with me, and sometimes when I give her one I ask her what color it is. Apparently she likes that game because if I don't ask, she gets it and says, "color?" and I then ask her what color it is and usually she is right.

Yesterday my mom picked me up so we could go get my new recliner I bought at Lack's. We also stopped by Wal-mart to get some milk and mom wanted to see if they had a brand of lettuce there. When we got home and got the recliner in the house (so far no premature labor from helping to carry it in) we decided spur of the moment to go by Hobby Lobby and a fabric store. They have a pretty good sale going on and plus mom is in search for 12 particular photo albums. Fabric store was on the agenda because every time mom comes over she suggests that I get new curtains. I recently bought these curtains I have now, but after putting them up to the wall, I don't love one color in the curtain with my wall color. I agree that they don't look the best, but they were cheap and aren't too bad looking. Plus all the other curtains I like are more than twice as much and we already spent a lot of money that I didn't want to spend any more.

My original hope was to have my mom help me make curtains that I wanted and I knew I would like because I would buy fabric I liked for them. Mom is often very busy and so I lucked out when she offered it as her idea that she help me just make curtains that looked good because being the master mind in all things home improvement, my mom was bothered to see those other curtains hanging that were clearly a fashion faux pas. It really is hard to find cute curtains that go well with your stuff and color scheme and that are inexpensive. I was delighted to find the perfect fabrics (and half the price of the curtains I have now) to make my own. I am really excited to see how they are going to turn out and Aaron is even more pleased with this new fabric because it blocks out the light so the glare on the TV is gone when he plays his video games.

I really like going places with my mom because I can barely wrangle Lily into her car seat half the time let alone lift her and carry her when she gets tired of being in the cart and run after her when she gets away. Mom is very helpful in holding her for me and doing the grunt work. She is so helpful that while we were in the fabric store (a very boring store for children-I know because it is the exact fabric store my mom used to drag all us kids into when we were little) Lily wanted me to hold her because she had had it with all our errands. Mom is good at setting boundaries for little kids so they know they aren't going to get away with stuff. I picked Lily up because the whole store was becoming aware of her wailing and mom offered to hold Lily for me and Lily said, "No Bam-ma, away," as she waved her little arm back and forth. I shouldn't have laughed just like I shouldn't have laughed when she told Aaron, "quiet papa," but you can't help it when you finally hear your two year old in their own words stand up to you. It is funny and almost cute.

Also, before we headed off to the stores, I went back in the house to grab Lily some more milk and snacks for the long journey. I was in there long enough that mom would have been able to get Lily in her car seat, but I was surprised when I came out to see Lily was not in her car seat yet. She had thrown herself on the grass and was throwing a tantrum and mom was trying to scoop the flailing arms and legs up. I asked what had happened and mom said, "oh, just a little difference of opinion." Apparently, Lily didn't want to get into her car seat, much like when she is with me. I literally have to wrestle her into her straps. I still snicker when I picture Lily running away from mom and mom catching her and mom nonchalantly describing the scene as a difference of opinion. So true.