Monday Musings

So much to tell you, I don't know where to start.

I am now the owner of skinny jeans, oh yes I am. You may remember my attempt to pretend that my other jeans were skinny, and shove them into boots, but these are the real deal. My cheap self found some on sale at Target for $6.24, and I didn't pass them up even though they were a few sizes too small and smelled strangely like chemicals.

Even though I have to grease myself down to get into them and use a pair of pliers to hike them up a la my Gloria Vanderbilts circa 1983, my 9 year old suddenly thinks I'm cool! I took her out for pizza, and when an adorable young man said hi to me, I said hi back. When Molly asked me who he was, I said, "I'm not sure. Maybe he's a former student." She said, "No, I just think he likes your skinny jeans." Hmmm. Is that kind of approbation worth getting a yeast infection? We'll see.

And in keeping with the fact that Tom and I are obviously teaching our kids to value what is important and true, we had this conversation about being a grandmother.

Molly: "I feel sorry for grandmothers."
Me: "Really? Why?"
Molly: "They can't wear skinny jeans and bikinis anymore. They only get to wear FLARES and fuzzy sweaters."

Alrighty then. For the record, although I now possess skinny jeans, let it be known that Molly has never seen me in a non-skirted bathing suit.

Shadow got a clean bill of health at the vet today, and despite eating cooking grease and several loaves of bread lately, she had managed to lose 3 lbs. The vet was happy. I wasn't so happy with:
1. driving around with a stool sample in the car
2. Paying $475 for well-dog care. We just canceled our $400 pool membership to save money, so while we're inside watching too much tv this summer, I'll just remember to be grateful that Shadow is worm-free.

I spent Friday night staying awake at a church lock-in for 5th and 6th graders. 107 of them. The good news is that despite staying awake sitting in a chair all night (he was afraid if he unfurled his sleeping bag he'd doze off,) Jake survived the next day without any colossal drama like last year. We wisely cancelled an all-day boy scout outing and basketball game, but he still had to muddle through baseball practice and neighborhood interactions. Things may have started to unravel around 6 pm the next day, but we think we did pretty well.

Speaking of drama, when I dropped Jake off at school today he was about to cry. Not only was he debuting a new haircut, he was without his security blanket-- a navy blue sweatshirt. One parenting expert has written about how kids LOVE LOVE LOVE hooded sweatshirts, and Jake is no exception. So, having managed to misplace 2 navy sweatshirts in one weekend, and having no winter coat (don't judge-- why buy a coat when he's just going to wear the sweatshirt?) he went to school in a gray wool thrift-store coat I found in the closet. Should be an itching good time. Sorry, teach. The upside? Tom located one of the navy sweatshirts a few minutes ago, frozen solid in the neighbor's back yard.

In other news:

Almost all of our Girl Scout cookies have been delivered. We are about $23 short, which considering we had to collect $700, doesn't seem so bad. I love how helping my daughter earn her "Cookie CEO" patch, which you know I'll never get around to sewing on, has challenged my math skills, used up a lot of gas and postage, and made getting into my skinny jeans that much more of a challenge. In honor of Girl Scouting, we bought a tub of Thin Mint ice cream yesterday. Like.

Well, there's always more to share, but if you have made it this far, you may be yearning for your freedom right about now, so I'll just say I hope you have a fabulous Monday!

I'm heading to a chi-chi fabric store, so here's my question: sweatpants or skinny jeans?