When we were in California, I saw about 8 different grocery store ads spread out over my husband’s parent’s table and I was in pure shock! I’ve never seen such a thing. I had no idea one city could have THAT many different options to buy groceries. I have to admit, I was really jealous. Do you know how long it takes to make a “quick run to the store” here? At least 45 minutes. Because you have to park 10 miles away from the front door of the Super Walmart and then walk through crowds of people, stand in line forever, not to mention, walk around the gigantic store just to get to the milk. Ugh.

So anyway, a friend of mine works at Walmart as an over night stocker and I have heard horror stories left and right from her about how they treat their employees. Ridiculous things like the managers telling the employees they HAD to come to work, even if they were sick. WHAT? Do they not know what spreads the flu and other illnesses?? GERMS. FROM SICK PEOPLE. So how does that make you feel? Knowing that some joe schmoe who has the H1N1 flu is stocking your baby’s formula or your cold medicine in the pharmacy? Ugh. Sickens me. Also, said friend had a horrible flu and then fell down a flight of stairs and they reprimanded her for MISSING WORK. She even showed them the bruise covering half of her back from the fall and they just blew it off and still reprimanded her.

Also, have you seen this movie? I’ve only seen about 3/4 of it and it made me want to puke.

So anyway, we have boycotted Walmart. We are shopping at the local grocery store and if there are things we can’t find, then I guess we’ll live without it. There are only 2 things that I will HAVE to go into Walmart for and that is my shampoo (because their salon sells it, but luckily I have about a year’s worth in my cupboard) and possibly Zoey’s baby formula because I think we’re going to switch to Parent’s Choice Organic formula to help save some $$.

So besides those couple of things, I am not going to be shopping at Walmart. I’ll do without anything else I can’t get at other stores. I’ll keep checking back in to make sure I’ve kept my word and not shopped there.

Ok, I promise I’m not going to actually punch my dog. I mean, how do you punch an animal anyway? That seems a little weird. The whole concept. If it wasn’t gross, I’d totally bite him. Cause I think if you bite a dog, they would totally understand your anger towards them. If you punch a dog, I don’t think they have any way of knowing that you really mean business because in their little doggy world, they don’t have fist fights or boxing matches. Ok this is WAY too much discussion on doggy punching.

I don’t have much to talk about, if you can’t already tell. Today I took Z to the doctor to have a quick weight check because she has been fussy the last few days and I thought maybe it was time to up her dose of acid reflux medicine. Well, she is now 13 lbs even and just turned 15 weeks old on Tuesday. My little peanut is growing and although it is really exciting, it isn’t sitting well with me. My heart aches for that tiny little newborn again.

So the doctor said no to upping her medication and actually suggested we start her on Enfamil AR or some other special kind of formula. Gene & I decided we aren’t going to rush into changing her formulas right now. She has been on this formula since she was about 8 weeks old and has been doing fantastic on it. I’m thinking she just had a bad few days. Maybe a little stomach bug? She was AWESOME today! We were at Target for a good 4 hours and she did magnificent there and has been doing wonderful ever since she’s been home. We had lunch with my mom and my sister (they both work there) and did a little shopping. I only went to get Level 2 nipples for her bottles and ended up spending $60. How? you ask. Let me tell you thy way of spending the quan.

So I was sitting in the changing room area and talking to my sister and feeding Z when I get a phone call from a number that I don’t recognize. I answer it “This is Candace” because that is what I do when I don’t know the number because I am a huge dork and like to tell people MY REAL NAME WITHOUT KNOWING WHO IT IS FIRST. Oh my gosh I just realized how stupid that is. I’ve got to change my ways!! Anyway back to the story… It’s my mom! She is calling from the Guest Services (where she works) desk to tell me that she forgot to tell me that there was a huge clearance going on in toys. She said people form the flea market were buying baskets full of toys from there.

So like any good mother would do, I yanked the bottle out of Z’s mouth and hurried as fast as I could over to the toy department. She was fussing a little and again, like Mother of The Year, I shoved a paci in her mouth and told her if she wanted toys she needed to be good. Because, you know, a 15 week old infant knows EXACTLY what it means to be good, let alone GET TOYS!

I made out with a few goodies but nothing fantastical. Have you seen those magnetic toys that spell works, called Wordworld? They’re normally around $30 each and I got one that spells SHEEP and one that spells PIG for about $3.75 each. I got an awesome looking Cranium game that is normally $35 for $7. I got a bunch of sidewalk chalk and bubbles for really cheap ($1-3 each). These are all things that are WAY too old for Z anytime in the near future, however, I am a GREAT MOTHER and was thinking ahead! And I might only partially be mesmerized and entranced whenever I see those little red Target clearance stickers. It’s almost like hypnotism to me. It’s awful, just awful!

Anyway, my husband came home from work early because he was having a dizzy spell again. He gets these from time to time and all the doctors can really tell him is that it may be vertigo. He has been in bed since he got home. His hands, arms, forehead and face were freezing when he got home! I made Meatloaf, but wanted it to cook faster because I was hungry, so I scooped it into little balls with my cookie dough scoop. I glazed them with a VERY complicated and sophisticated sauce that I like to call Ketchup. I made Mac & Cheese and then I ate this by myself, on a small melamine Snoopy plate that is intended for toddlers. It was glorious.

Dishes are done, laundry is drying, Hubby is still snoozin’, Z is sleeping in her bouncy and I am just enjoying a few minutes of down time.

So.. while we were browsing through the gift shop at our resort in Disney World I just happened to find this little gem sitting on the top shelf:

The first thing I did was have a silent heart attack / scream fit. Then I realized I had to find Gene, like, NOW. So I found him in the store and told him I had something absolutely fantastically awesome that he had to come see. So I showed him and he looked at it and asked me if I wanted it. I frowned a little and said of course I’d love to have it but it’s about $30 and I don’t really neeeeeeeeeeeeed it….

And so a few days later at the last minute I ran in there and bought it because I couldn’t imagine my life without it.

We’ve been happy together ever since. The best $30 I’ve ever splurged.

This afternoon Gene, Malinda and I headed over to Pops on the historic Route 66 to take some photos and eat some grub. Pops is a new Gas Station / Convenience Store / Restaurant located in Arcadia, OK right off of the historic Route 66. Pops is a good 15-20 minute drive from where I live but totally worth it! I mean, who doesn’t LOVE to sit and stare at colorful walls of soda like the picture above? On any given day Pops stocks around 500 different types of soda. What do you like? Blueberry Cola? Blackberry Cola? Dr. Pepper made with Raw Sugar? Fifty bajillion types of Root Beer? Green Tea Soda? Bawls? Yes, they have it all! And they don’t always stock the same stuff. You may go back and find that your favorite soda is no longer there, but have no fear as they have FIVE HUNDRED other varieties that you are sure to love!

After our two and a half hour visit to this gas station (Yeah, you heard me right, two and a half hours at a gas station! Wanna make somethin’ of it?) we got in the car and drove to the city to go to a flea market. I was so proud of myself for not buying anything as we were almost done but then I ran across a booth where a very sweet old woman was selling all of the doodads and gadgets she’s been holding on to for the last fifty years. And it was amazing! I got myself a few vintage pyrex pieces and I am so stoked about them! I am going to wash them up and I promise to post a photo of them ASAP. I want to go back every weekend now to see if she has anymore Pyrex goodies!

Gene and I are just chillin’ around the house for the night. We may watch some Anime episodes and then see what else there is to do. We were going to do our grocery shopping tonight but the Deli is probably closed by now and I hate to make two trips to a store. Think we’ll save the shoppin’ for tomorrow.

After that we went to Kohls where we walked around for over 2 hours and now I feel absolutely brain dead and exhausted. I’m about to go take a shower and get ready for bed. I hate that I feel this tired because I got absolutely nothing done around the house tonight. I am vowing to stay in for the rest of the week, which I realize is only 2 more days… but I am sick of going out every night and not getting home until close to 10 PM. And did I mention the weather?

Oh the weather! It has really lost it’s mind. It got up into the 50s there for a week or so and tonight? Snowing! Ugh. Right now the computer says it is 27° outside with Light Snow. Seriously?? Yeah. Gene almost slipped and fell on the slick pavement when we were leaving Kohl’s. I saw a couple of cars that actually had mounds of snow built up on their windshields.

Ok I got a whiney dog begging to go out.

Anyway, I’d like to go on and on but I got some stuff to do. I just did dishes and wiped the countertops down and now I am going to work on my homemade recipe book. Now that I have a nifty printer, I want to start working on this binder a lot. Yay for being able to print decent looking photographs and paper!!! And yay for vibrant colors.

P.S. What is up with people who tap their brakes every two seconds?? What is it that they are so afraid of?? I saw several people today who did this. Actually it was worse, I didn’t just see them, I was behind them. What a freakin’ nightmare! By time I would get around them to pass, I would then realize that there wasn’t a car within’ 100 yards of them. So what gives?? Why are these people allowed  a driver’s license? Here they are thinking they are being extra cautious when they are actually the ones who are about to cause car accidents. Just go with the flow people, it’ll all work out. Ugggh annoying. Oh and I saw a lady almost run over the mall security guard’s foot today. He was trying to tell her to keep driving (she was trying to turn into an area that wasn’t open) and he went up to her car to tell her and she got all pissy and stomped on the gas pedal and almost took off the guy’s poor foot. Is there seriously any need for this madness??? I’m thinking maybe a combo Anger Management / Road Rage class would be a great requirement for people who get their driver’s license. I know a simple few-hours-long class wouldn’t change everything but damn people! CALM DOWN!

So it all started when my grandma was in the hospital. See, she has liver cancer and is not doing well. The chemo really kicked her hiney and she ended up in the hospital, almost dying of starvation. She looked awful and I really had lost most hope for her. I wasn’t sure if she would make it or not. There was one particular moment that I remember. We walked into her house to stay the night after we had just spend the whole day at the hospital with her and as soon as I stepped into the front door, the smell took over me. I couldn’t help but break down in tears.

I have soooo many memories of my childhood at their house. The smell has always been the same, for the last 25 years. Later on that night and the next day we were eating some pie and as I was looking through her cabinets to find a bowl, I saw all of these old bowls. So I started searching on the Internet for these patterns to see what they were when I realized they were vintage Pyrex bowls. I really hope that some day I can own at least one of her bowls. I’ll take the best care of it and I wont ever try to make a buck off of it on the Internet or anywhere else.

Soo… That is my new obsession. I won an auction tonight for some really nice vintage Pyrex bowls and a butter dish. I’ve always wanted to have a butter dish! And this auction was obviously put on by a seller who isn’t trying to make a boat load of cash off of the stuff because I appear to have gotten a very good deal on the stuff. I’m really excited and I can’t wait to get the dishes.

I think all in all, my new obsession with this stuff, is just because I feel like I want to decorate my house in my Grandma. I know that sounds like a strange statement but it makes sense in my head. I feel like I want all of the old orange 1970s lamps in my living room and I want her afghans draped over my couch. I want her little trinkets that are all over her shelves. No, she hasn’t passed away and she is still with us. But I’ve come to accept that she wont be with us forever and unfortunately, probably not much longer. We grew distant when I got older because I stopped going to visit as often. But she built so many wonderful childhood memories for me and that really matters to me.

But let’s get to the more important and fun stuff, shall we?

Gene and I completely lost our minds on Thursday and we purchased a teevee that is so ridiculously big and expensive that I thought I would tear up a little when I signed the credit card receipt. I can safely say that it is worth about 3 mortgage payments and the thought alone kind of freaks me out a little bit. It’s beautiful, though :) Our new baby is a 47″ LCD tv. I also purchased a new tv stand to go with it because.. if you’re going to spend that much money, why not splurge a little? Plus, we wanted something safe for our new baby to rest on :D And the picture next to this demonstrates our new found love. (P.S. the tv did not come with an Asian, as the picture may suggest. I had to go out and get that on my own, but even if it did come with one.. I would have totally returned it because I like my Asian the best of them all :D)

So we’ve been “working” on our spare bathroom. I have yet to take pictures of it, at all. And I totally forgot to take before pictures, so the only pictures we’ll have are the ones we took when we first moved in. We have it painted but have yet to do any touch up on the paint. Once the touch up is done, I can start putting the new hardware up. I need to go buy a new light fixture for it and my next big project in there is to sand the wood on the baseboards/door frame and re stain it. The people who owned it before us apparently never understood what painter’s tape is for and I need to fix all of their boo boos.

Other than that, not much going on. Just working around the house and having as much fun as possible when we can. We went to the Oklahoma State Fair last night as a kind of spur of the moment decision and we had a pretty good time walking around. Gene and I were pretty annoyed because apparently just having rides and scary carnies isn’t enough, so now they’ve gone super classy and brought in a few “circus freak” acts. I felt so horrible for these people. Just a quick rundown of the acts:

• World’s Smallest Woman – Advertised as a Real Live woman that is only 29 inches tall. You had to pay $1 to walk through to see her. Malinda went through and she said there was a woman that was about 2 1/2 feet tall sitting there, listening to her ipod while people walked through, staring at her. Can you imagine being in this situation? Sitting there for 12-15 hours a day while people pay to walk through and stare at you and your “freakness” ?
• Snake Woman – I can’t remember the exact name of this one. It was advertised as this woman that has no arms and no legs, a beautiful face and the body of an ugly snake. They repeated body of an ugly snake about 50 million times on the automated advertising thing and it was really disgusting that they can even act like this. Again, it was $1 to walk up and see the woman. However, on the advertisement it did mention an “illusion” a few times so I was a little skeptical on the realness of this.
• World’s Smallest Horse – This was advertised as a tiny horse that is no taller than the bales of hay they had (only stacked one high) on this platform. It said it was a real live horse and an adult, and not a miniature pony. Malinda paid to go see this one and what she found was they had the platform lowered where the bales of hay were so there was actually a horse in there that was a few feet tall. So technically, it WOULD have been taller than the bales of hay. Again, stupid.

I guess the best part of the State Fair this year was that I was in good company. I had Malinda, Gene and my little sister with me. There was a ton of laughter and that always makes for a good time. When we were leaving, it was well after 11 PM and everything was closing down. We walked by a food stand and I heard a boy shout “Half Price” and I swear I thought I heard him say half price french fries.. And being the french fry lover that I am, I stopped immediately and turned around and say “Huh?” and the older man in the stand shouted “Half Price Sausages” and we all immediately began cracking up. Typed up, it doesn’t seem as funny. I guess you would have to be there. But I mean.. Isn’t it funny anywhere you go and there is a man yelling “Half Price Sausages” ?

Well, I am sick and ready for bed. Yesterday at the fair I made a joke when we turned down the street that holds the majority of the food stands about how there should be a Biohazard Warning before you enter that area. We were walking down that street and I felt like the grease, smoke and trash was all sticking to my skin and absorbing into my blood. I then made a comment about State Fair Disease and Cancer. And wouldn’t you know, I had a horrible sore throat by time we got home from the fair and I’ve been pretty miserable all day today. Sore throat, congested, runny nose, sneezing, nauseous, dizzy… the whole bit! So, I think it’s time to get ready for bed, shower and then maybe a movie.

Not much else happened. We looked at LCD tvs at Circuit City, we shopped around Target for a while, we came home and have been glued to our respective computers since. I am pretty sleepy because we went swimming this afternoon for a little over an hour and that pretty much kicked me in the butt. Swimming can really take it out of you, that’s for sure!

Tomorrow is a day of going NOWHERE. I plan to play with the dogs outside and let them get as dirty as they possibly can and then it is bath time for them. I need to apply their K9 Advantix stuff and I always like to give them baths before I do that. I also would like to pick up some more sticks in the yard and put them in the dumpsters. And maybe do a little cleaning and tidying up around the house. I’m not going to over-do it or anything but those are the things on my list to accomplish. The dogs are a priority, though. I want it to be as much of a relaxing day as possible.

There is something about loading a dishwasher over the course of a few days (we are 2 people, not a full family), running it on day 3, unloading on day 4 and starting all over. For some reason, it annoys me soooo much to think about all of the dirty dishes sitting in the dishwasher waiting to be washed. And I am not a crazy hippie or anything, but I don’t like the idea of running a dishwasher when it is only half full and wasting THAT much water. Those things use a lot of water.

And I used to not really care but I think my new favorite dishwashing liquid is Dawn. I’ve been using it and I love the clean scent and I love how much it bubbles with a tiny amount. I was never a dish washing soap snob before, but I’m afraid I’ve already stepped over to the dark side :( Sorry guys… There are only a few things I am really, really snobby about. Toilet Paper (Charmin, duh!), Bread (Nature’s Own Light Honey Wheat) and now Dawn Dish Soap. I’m sure I’ll eventually add more to the list.. but hopefully not too much.