Some days, you have to wonder if it even pays to get out of bed.

Yesterday, my day ended...well, at 1:00 a.m. this morning. Today started at 5:00 a.m. Then I dozed with Robby on the couch until 6:00 a.m. when Beth marched out demanding milk and waffles. Hrmph. That little troll needs to learn the fine, time-tested art of sleeping in!

I had an in-house appointment at 9:00 a.m. with a company who shall remain nameless as I signed a form stating I would not disclose any information from our meeting to any third parties. So for two hours, I let Rob sleep in. He agreed to stay home today and watch the kids so I could focus on the appointment. So we did the chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off cleaning of the downstairs...that was fun, let me tell you. I definitely didn't get a shower this morning - I definitely needed one.

Anyway, they came, we interviewed, I got my incentive (those free groceries I mentioned a while back) and I came home. I then had precisely an hour to go to Safeway, buy lunch for us, get back and eat before Boy showed up.

He shows up at 12:30 p.m., when his mom informs me he's coming down with some sort of cold. Great. WONDERFUL. He fell asleep about 45 minutes into his stay here today, and didn't wake up until I woke him for dinner. Then I spent the next four hours trying to keep him a safe distance from my children to hopefully avoid them getting sick.

Somewhere in there, I had to go back to Safeway to finish our grocery shopping, so I Snuglied Robby up and away we went for one of the most stressful shopping trips I've had with him to date. I put him in the carrier facing forward so he could look around...nice mommy, right? That's what I thought. Then I got to the produce section. Every time I tried to get a plastic bag out to put my bananas/pears/mangoes in, he was after it. With every piece of fruit, he lunged forward. This little boy's a go-getter, and I can certainly appreciate that, but for Pete's sake!!! Let me bag some fruit, man! Finally, he started to get tired. And bored. And hungry. I had no food for him and I forgot the binky at home. I was in for a real treat! I spent ten minutes in the freezer section, rocking back and forth, letting him use my thumb as a binky, humming Brahm's Lullaby. I'm pretty sure I memorized the prices of frozen vegetables this afternoon. You can get a 16 oz. bag of broccoli florets for $3.19.

Then Beth was being an ornery pain in the rear tonight. Just babbling constantly, whining, fake crying, asking for stuff she knows she can't have at night (cereal, milk, snacks in general). Between her and trying to make Boy understand that he has to keep away from the other kids until he gets better, I had a couple of confused and annoyed kids on my hands!

Couple that with the migraine that's been building all day and I ended up giving myself a time out on our front step. I had to get out. Thank heavens my husband was home with me to sort of grant me that little reprieve! I swear, some days I don't think I'd make it through, mentally speaking, if it weren't for him.

Tell me I'm not alone...that you all have days like this too!

And THIS is why "they" don't want Walmarts in California...

I'm a shop-on-a-shoestring mama. I love a bargain and I run a pretty tight budget when it comes to groceries and necessities. Hence, I shop at Walmart on the regular. I buy baby formula, diapers, wipes, bottle supplies, toiletries, and most of the kids' clothes there*. You just can't get those things cheaper anywhere else!!!

But I absolutely HATE shopping at California Walmarts! When I lived in Pennsylvania, it was almost a treat to take a trip to Walmart. To begin with, we were privy to a Walmart Supercenter, the mecca of discount shopping. I really, really miss that - getting it all done in one shot. *sigh* Furthermore, you were guaranteed to run into someone you know, catch up on gossip, and make empty promises "to get together sometime."

Out here, all you encounter are rude, pushy, and ignorant people who don't give a hoot about you and your little brood. They will ram into you (front OR back) with their carts if you don't get out of their way, they give YOU dirty looks if you're in the way and simply can't move, they completely trash the shelves, and nothing's where it belongs and half of the packaging is destroyed. The best example of this: back in December, we went to Walmart to buy a megapack of Huggies for Robby. You know, like 116-or-so Size 2s.

All of the packages had been ripped open and diapers had been taken from each package. I understand that hard times come about and moms do what they gotta do, but damn...don't steal. We've hit rock bottom but we just bought the cheapest diapers we could find (Parents Choice, White Cloud, Target brand, etc.)**. The end result of stealing diapers from Walmart is that you're now a pain in the ass to us honest people who just want to diaper their baby, you've broken the law, and because of you, the cost of diapers will go up another fraction of a cent to make up for the loss. Thanks.

People are animals at Walmarts out here! I know it's marketed towards the less-affluent end of society, and I make no claims to be high-falutin'. If anything, I declare with complete honesty and a tinge of pride that my little crew bare red necks. ;-) But c'mon folks, keep it nice for everyone! We don't shop there, really, because we want to, it's because until our youngest is out of diapers and formula, this is where I need to shop.

After that, I'm on to Target. Shampoo can't cost that much more there!

Lane Change: I had a really good day with my family. We're being guilted into dutifully headed up to my in-laws place tomorrow for Father's Day, so we're celebrating the holiday for my husband today. We took the kids to San Gregorio State Beach on Highway 1 to look for seashells and introduce the baby to the Pacific Ocean. We left early, around 8:30 a.m., and got there a little after 9 a.m. Beth was fine, until her feet got too cold...then she sorta fell apart. The baby loved it! He was smiling and kicking his legs in the Snugli the whole time!

Afterwards, the kids napped in the car and we drove down to Santa Cruz, had lunch at a Chinese place, and headed back home. This evening, I was talking to Beth before she fell asleep and here's how the conversation went:

Beth: I like the ocean.
Me: Oh yeah?
Beth: Yeah.
Me: Do you want Daddy to take you back to the ocean?
Beth: No.
Me: No? Why not?
Beth: I'm sleepy. It's sleepy time.

I was so amused, I had to bite my tongue to stifle my laughter! I forget, quite often, how literal little kids are; she thought I wanted Rob to take her back tonight!!

Ah, kids.

Pictures from our morning...