Last Tuesday I accompanied Ryan to his indoor soccer game with Gavin. OK, not really. I accompanied him on the ride to his indoor soccer game in Tukwila. Once he had his gear and was out of the car I hopped in the driver's side and went down the road a few miles to Babies 'R Us in the heart of Southcenter shopping hell. It, Southcenter, is the site of all things big and too much. But we had a baby gate that needed to be returned because it was missing some critical piece hence the trip. We didn't have the receipt since it was a gift from last year and I'm not that good at keeping track of such things. Correction: I wasn't that good. I'm better now. (I tell myself that if I keep telling myself that and I exert a little effort then it will become true).
I'm glad I took it back when I did because their exchange/return policy is changing effective August 10th. Currently as it stands you can return any item without a receipt if it was purchased from your registry. Cool. Not everyone gives a gift receipt, although we did get one with this gift - I just don't know where it is. Oh, wait. I think I know where it is. Too late.
Anyway, in the future you have 90 to return an item but it must be accompanied with a receipt. That means if you have a baby shower at 6 months and your lovely friends buy you stuff that is on your registry but don't give a gift receipts and you try to return something that just isn't working for whatever reason after the baby is born you are out of luck. Too bad. Stupid box stores.
I just watched a documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Cost". Grr. Stupid Wal-Mart. I always knew they were evil, now I just have facts to back up my opinion. Well, I had numbers to back up my opinions. Now I can just say, "Yeah, well, Wal-Mart expects their employees to take advantage of welfare and government subsidies to fill the gap in life expenses that their wages do not cover." Or, or, or...
Stupid short term memory. Between me and Ryan we have it made. His short term memory is great. Mine sucks. Ryan's long term memory is horrific, I'm surprised he remembers his extended family member's names sometimes. My long term memory is unbelievable. I'm surprised I don't remember the doctor spanking me after I was born. Seriously. I remember playing with my mom's hands, sitting on the living room floor making funny sounds with my lips, fighting sleep on my grandma's shoulder as she stood in her living room, my eyes heavy and blinking slower and longer and the red and white checks on her shirt coming in and out of focus as I blinked.
This is going farther and farther away from why I started this post. Back to Babies 'R Us. After returning the gate and getting store credit I walked back to the far corner of the store to pick up some diapers and to check out their baby food. I bought some stage 3 food for Gavin that was on sale - Earth's Best Organic, for those of you who care. Stage 3 is a big deal. It has chunks in it. Woo-hoo. Chunky food. 9 month old babies can eat chunks. Too bad Gavin has disliked every 'real' food in stage three except the fruit. No chicken and stars pasta, no spaghetti and cheese, no sweet potato and whatever bisque. I tried it and I don't blame him for not liking it. Bleh.
As I sauntered to the check out and was almost to the Kiddie Kandids photo studio I saw a display that made me stop in my tracks. I just stood there, staring at the clothing display trying to remember what month it was, I do have a bad short term memory after all. Maybe it was fall already and I didn't know it.
A sales associate very politely asked me if I was ready to check out. Still standing and staring at the display I glanced to my left to the nice young woman and said, "It is July, right?"
She replied, "Yes, but it'll all be gone by October."
Yes, all of the cute Halloween clothes will be gone by then because people see it on the store shelves in FREAKIN' JULY and think, "OMG! I have to buy it now because if I wait until a few weeks before Halloween (or Thanksgiving / Christmas / Valentine's Day/ St. Patrick's Day / Easter / Fourth of July) it will all be gone when I want to buy this $20 onsie that will probably be too small for my son / daughter / grandson / granddaughter / niece / nephew / godson / goddaughter when they can finally wear it for ONE DAY and I will be the worst mother / father / grandmother / grandfather / aunt / uncle / godfather / godmother EVER for not buying it in a timely fashion!"
Of course that rant makes me a huge hypocrite because I bought Gavin a Santa hat in October or November last year. How can you have a newborn at Christmas and not put a Santa hat on his cute head? It's impossible. And I have a Santa hat for him to wear for this Christmas but this one is a hand me down so neener neener.
That's right: neener neener.
I'm not one to brag. Unless its about my son - he is the CUTEST ever. I'm sure he's the smartest ever, too but I think its best to lay off the mental acuity challenges until he's the ripe old age of one year. Actually, I think the smartest baby is Isaiah in my mommy group. He was the first to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand up, walk (with assistance) and cruise and he says, Momma, Dada and dog. Holy cow! He's only 10 days older than Gavin. Oh, well. Gavin can't be the best at everything. Tough lesson to learn so young.
Where was I going with this? Oh, it has nothing to do with Gavin. I was just setting the stage for some bragging. It's easy to brag about this because I had absolutely nothing to do with it (other than "jokingly" planting a seed).
I get to watch the Blue Angels at SeaFair this year from a boat in Lake Washington! Woo-hoo! I am so excited!!! Ryan's friend bought a boat and his ridiculously expensive toy is going to bring me so much pleasure and maybe mild hearing loss! How do you say thanks for the best seat to the coolest show ever? Beer? Home baked snickerdoodles? Shortbread with chocolate drizzled on top? Biscotti with chocolate drizzled on top? Cash? Cash with chocolate drizzled on top?
And thanks to Heidi who is providing the greatest service of all: babysitting on said afternoon so I can partake of the greatest show on earth (sorry Ringling Bros. you can't touch the Blue Angels). Insert everyone's favorite song about not being able to touch it here. Ah! Now I have MC Hammer stuck in my head. At least its not ... ah, just thinking about it. My brain is burning! The visual in my head went from MC Hammer in parachute pants to the unfortunate video that I saw ONE time of him in those speedos. Ah, the humanity! Make it go away! Cursed long term memory!
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