Best Laid Plans...

I am excited to report that I am a happy mommy today after getting some much needed time alone in, you guessed it, a mall. I bought more than a few new things for myself, thanks to some handy plastic, but relax because I actually have credit on this card thanks to some miscommunication with my husband. We both mistakenly paid the last bill so I was really shopping with “found” money, right? Unfortunately, I went a teensy bit over the card’s credit (at least I think there is a credit... or was that two months ago? Well, at least I know there isn’t a balance-phew, now I feel better!), but I felt entitled because the last time I did any shopping it was for my daughter-she was carrying an armload of stuff to the register while I carried one measly t-shirt. Boy, I still get depressed just thinking about it.

What about some shoes?

Now I also had a few dollars on me because I got paid Friday, so it was off to the shoe stores, because you just can’t enjoy a new outfit wearing old shoes, and I needed them-at least I tried to convince myself it was a need. But since my previous purchase total was still looming in my brain, I ducked into Shoe Depot and Payless in the hopes I could find some attractive but comfortable, and incredibly cheap shoes. I had better luck at Shoe Depot, and though they weren’t as economical as I would have liked, I still thought I made at least one good purchase. (I found a two toned brown patent with a 2 ½ inch heel and I was in love, but I am not sure about its twin-a two toned patent in black and grey. One shoe seems wider in the heel than the other, so sadly, this pair may be going back.)

You get what you pay for

I waltzed into Payless, and couldn’t have been happier when the sales lady announced the buy one pair and get the other half off. I was only looking for a brown wedge to replace the one the dog chewed up, but if I could get two pairs, it was like Christmas-see my logic when it comes to my love of shoes? I found a rather plain but still attractive fake leather-is that what they call “pleather”– wedge that was pretty comfortable, so it was time to find my bonus shoe. I picked a black patent flat with silver loop buckles, and after paying for my two-but really one-purchase, I believed all was right with the world, until I got home. I anxiously tried on my patent flat for my daughter so that she too could “ooh,” and “ah,” but when I started walking around, I heard this strange squeaking and it was coming from my feet! My daughter said, laughing, “Mommy, your shoes are farting!” Very ladylike, I know, but she was sort of right in her observation because it did sound like my very cost-effective pleather shoes were, well, you know. So let’s do some simple math-4 pairs minus 2 pairs leaves only two lovely new shoes, although suddenly I am not so crazy about the plain brown wedge...

At least you'll get that chick flick movie

I grabbed a quick shuteye before it was time to get dinner started and get ready for the Homecoming dance. The kids were thankfully preoccupied, and so was hubby, so I collapsed on the couch hoping for about 20 minutes of non-interruption, but my daughter had other ideas. “Mom,” she whispered so loudly that it was almost not a whisper, and she did it inside my ear! “What?” I answered without opening my eyes with the hopes that this little intruder would realize that she was disturbing me, but it didn’t work. “You know, you took me to your Homecoming dance last year.” Oops, I completely forgot how much my daughter had enjoyed getting all dolled up and accompanying me last year while I snapped some shots. She loves seeing all the “big girls” in their pretty dresses -pretty skimpy dresses if you ask me, but anything goes (almost) at Homecoming- and I think helping me makes her feel pretty important, so I had a dilemma. If I took her I could get my shots, get her back home, change, and still meet my young teacher friend back at the school. (We only live 15 minutes away...) So I agreed and looked forward to spending some quality time with just my daughter.

Best Laid Plans go awry,

After dinner and a quick shower, I started wondering why I hadn’t heard from my young teacher friend all weekend, and why she hadn’t said anything to me before she left school on Friday. The last time we had talked about our plans for Saturday night was Thursday, and I was still pretty wishy washy about the whole thing-remember my blog? But what I didn’t tell you was that she had been hinting around about me actually staying the whole night (margaritas were also discussed so I was tempted)-she was pretty freaked out in her house without her fiancé-but I thought that a night thing was a bit much, so I suggested just a late night movie instead. Now that I think about it, I don’t know if she really liked the idea or not. I was curious about what her reaction would be to having my daughter along, and I decided to keep quiet about our plans.

I am not sure if she was upset or not when she saw me with my daughter, but I didn’t care because my daughter was so excited, and I was really having a good time with her. I did finally approach my young friend when I saw her by herself, and I explained that I was going to drop my daughter off then change, and I wanted to know if we were still on for that movie. Well, she said if she called me before 9 it was still on, (there were family things she needed to take care of), but otherwise... I let her off the hook and said that we could do this again some other time, and she agreed, but as I walked away, I was more than a little disappointed. I expressed my disappointment to my husband later that evening as we were hovering over the pictures I had taken, and he reassured me that my friend might have been disappointed as well, and it wouldn’t be long before we moved passed this. Sometimes men can say the right thing.

maybe...

I thought I missed something Saturday night, but as I write this I am remembering the look on my daughter’s face as she watched the parade of fashions go by, and how she held my hand tightly as we made our way through the throngs of (at least to her) giants, and about how nice it was to hold her hand since I do so little of it anymore. I remember kissing her forehead and leaving a rather large lipstick smudge that she quickly worked at removing, but she still held onto my hand. She wants to be a big girl and a little girl all at the same time, and I now understand this after Saturday night-I didn’t miss a thing.