Just Thinkin'...

I am not a fashionable person.

I generally feel less than stellar about how I look & dress.

Sometimes I think I should try harder.

But then I go to the mall, or Wal-Mart, or pretty much anyplace that people congregate.

Then I feel better.

Not judgin', just sayin'.



A Pretty Great Week So Far

I must be on a lucky streak!  Now I've won tickets to the Pima County Fair from another one of my fave blogs- Desert Deals Diva!

Pretty great, since these are the only 2 giveaways I've entered in about a year!

Donuts & fair tickets- what else will this week bring?

I Won!?!

I never win ANYTHING!  (Except a Ladmo bag when I was in 2nd grade.)  So imagine my happiness & surprise when I was notified that I've won a $125 Dunkin Donuts gift pack from my favorite blog- My Frugal Adventures.

This totally made my day!  (Check out her blog- she's awesome!)

Yee-haw!

Why Am I Weird?

When did common courtesy become so rare?

Last night I was at Safeway picking up some chicken that I had a couple of rainchecks for.  It's very complicated for the cashier to beep, subtract, beep again, enter correct amount, etc., so I went LATE- like 9 pm.  (Man, that makes me sound pathetic.  But moving on......)

Since the whole process is very time-consuming & I didn't need to rush home, I stood back from the only open line & waited until there was a break in the action.  When anyone got in line behind me, I got out of line & let them go ahead.  No big deal- I had nowhere to be.  It was then that I noticed a man, about 25-30 years old, standing a ways behind me & watching me.  I offered the spot in front of me, but he just looked at me like I he didn't even understand what I was saying & declined.  Oh well, I guess he can wait then, right?

But as I let another group of shoppers go in front of me, he strode right up to my cart & asked "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Why do you keep letting people go in front of you?" he demanded.  (His tattoos were a little intimidating at this point.)

"Oh, it takes a long time to ring up my order, so I just don't want to make anyone wait."

"Why not?" he asked.  (Seriously?)

"Well, I've got nowhere to be, so I'll just let everyone else go & I'll check out when there's a gap."

At this point I was rescued by another cashier opening up a line & thought that the discussion would be over.  But to my dismay, he waited for me to choose a line & followed me.  I almost made it to the cashier, but then 2 more people got in line, so I again pulled my cart out of line & let them pass.

This was almost too much for him to take!

"What are you doing?  Why are you getting out of line again?"  Again with the questions!

I again tried to explain that there was no reason for others to wait while I clogged up the progress of the line, so I would just let them go first, but he really just didn't get it.  At least by now he was just confused instead of borderline hostile.

And now- Hallelujah- it was my turn to check out.  As predicted, it took quite a while.

As my poor cashier worked to figure out how much each package of my 70+ pounds of chicken cost, my observer leaned over my shoulder & questioned me again. 

"Is this what you were talking about?" 

"Yep- it takes forever, right?"

"Yeah, it sure does.  That's amazing that you would wait for everybody else," my new friend told me.

At this point I had to just about bite my tongue off to keep from replying "Why?  Why is it amazing?  Just what exactly is wrong with this world that a grown man thinks I'm weird because I'm polite!"

But I didn't say any of that- I just smiled & continued checking out while he finished up his order at the next cashier & then came to watch me at the end of my line.

"Man, that's awesome," was his parting comment as he gave me one last long glance & headed for the door.

Do you think he was talking about the chicken?

Happy Heart Day!

Valentine's Day brought SNOW!  Everyone in the family was all a-twitter.  Well, everyone except James.  He was NOT a fan.  Poor Emma got home from school just as the sun came out & started melting off all of the fluffy stuff.  But never fear, she got a little "taste" of the snow day after all!

Daddy came home with these awesome V-day jammies.  I almost didn't put up a pic of the kiddos wearing them because Emma was crying, James was screaming & the middle 2 were poking each other.  But let's get real- this is our life & we love it!

February

February was NOT fun. Mostly because Frank looked like this for almost the whole month:

He developed pneumonia & missed something like 12 days of school in February.  Poor baby- he used up a 3 month supply of asthma meds in just over a week!

But we did have a few bright spots, like the Father/Daughter Valentine's dance at Emma's school,

and our own little Super Bowl party where Frank first dressed up like a "football player" and then ate so much food that I thought he was going to be sick!

And while I was busy taking care of Frank all month- the younger 2 were getting into all kinds of mischief.

And this is all that I can get in this post because Blogger is playing with my pictures & really ticking me off!  I'm going to upgrade to the new system & see if I can finish out February sometime before summer gets here!

Our Little Linus

This simple white cloth started out as a burp rag & has become James' bestest friend.

It works well as a toy, a sun shade, a pillow, a coat, a swirly dancing partner & a weapon to whip at the older brothers.

I'm so happy he has a buddy to keep him company.