christmas poopourri

Some assorted randomness from the last week...

1.

I had just arrived at my visiting teachee's house, had taken off my coat, and had sat down, when I discovered something wet on my back left side. What was it? Vomit. A total vomit splotch on me. Since I was at someone else's house and there were four kids around, I cleaned myself up with a rag from the diaper bag and played it cool. I asked my kids later who barfed on me, and neither claimed it. I will never know how it got there. It was UNDER my coat, over my shirt, not too large and manageable but still random and weird and gross. Clothes went into the wash the second we got home.

2.

The kids have been begging to go swimming. I finally got my ducks all in a row and we went last Wednesday to the Lynnwood Rec Center. It was kinda awful since Wesley's swimsuit didn't make it into my bag (well, I claim it was taken out at some point, but regardless), so we had to come home after buying our passes then go back, but luckily we had a good 90 minutes of water time.

There are two kid-friendly parts of the pool, one part that is like a "beach" -- not sand, just very shallow wading water height. It gets a little deeper and holds a play structure with slides, stairs, etc. They can turn on some water features so there are play water guns, fountains, etc. Some of the features were rough for the smallest (like Laurel), so we also went to the other kid-friendly place, a section off the bigger pool that's just 3-feet deep total, AND to have it even shallower there are these 2-ft platforms in the 3-ft sections so kids can stand on them and play with water toys, like pails, duckies, etc.

I carried Laurel to a platform and expected Wesley to follow us. I thought he could walk it himself (he's almost 4 ft tall), but it turns out he was having a tough time as it got deeper so I put Laurel down with a toy and went back for Wesley. As I'm bringing Wesley over, and I can see this happening right before my eyes, Laurel is excited about showing me a toy and walks right off the platform into the water. I'm shouting Laurel stop, Laurel stop, Laurel stop, but she doesn't listen and boop, plunges feet first into the pool. She's literally underwater for probably 2 seconds, as I'm bolting in THE WATER over there to get her. But remember, I'm carrying Wesley, this ridiculous unhelpful dead weight, and with all the chaos he's hanging off me and PULLS MY SWIMSUIT DOWN and I flash the entire pool. I totally played it cool with my boob hanging out as I save my daughter from drowning. There was, I think, a mom and dad and a baby there, and another mom and her two kids and like, her FATHER (grandpa), and I think that was it. It wasn't totally packed with people, so lucky me. Regardless, it was a total fun morning and we're all OK, and my boob got some fresh air.

3.

I WON CHRISTMAS last week. Wesley is into numbers and all things digital so his Christmas presents include a new pedometer (a cool Boeing one Shane got him), a clock for his wall, and a watch. I took him to two or three stores and he showed me watches he was interested in. He expressed very specifically he wanted one that counted seconds (good to know), and of course the calculator watches piqued his interest. Well, finally at one point Laurel and I got to Fred Meyer sans Wesley and we looked at the watches. The standard black Casio watch was just OK, I wasn't in love with it, but it was our best option. I would have been about $15 with all the sales and coupons I had. However, at the last moment, we happen upon this white and orange Casio watch, which looked pretty cool. It was priced a smidge higher (because it was a cooler color), but I decided to go for it. It would have been maybe $16 or $17.




Well, we went to check out and I verified with the cashier that a watch is an "accessory," since my 20% off coupon was for "Apparel and Accessories." She went to scan it and the computer beeped at her, which usually means its invalid. I was semi-bummed, but she said she'd do it manually. She found the watch to void it, and lo-and-behold it was ringing up for 7 cents, with 3 cents actually coming off (20%?). She said, "ohh, it's only ringing up as 5 cents... it's a donation item." I had no idea what that meant, but she called over a manager who explained that it was a discontinued item and was supposed to be pulled off the shelves and donated to one of Fred Meyer's charity partners. I um, totally wanted it, and they sold it to me for FOUR CENTS!!!! She just rang it up as 7 cents, minus 3 cents. INSANE! This is Wesley's main present and he'll love it. And you can't beat the price. I guess if he destroys it with his love (which is how he treats most of his things), it won't really matter much financially :-)

4.

Lastly, here is a real thing that is freaking hilarious (the actress below is a BYU graduate, which is awesome) and I totally bought some for Shane's stocking. I can't wait to try it. (Since he doesn't read the blog really I can spill beans on his gifts, right?)

Enjoy! I watch it often because it's so freaking funny.



Merry Christmas. I'm typing this gingerly with my post-surgery right arm and it's going OK. More on surgery next time.