Chaos & Conundrums! A Never Ending Story! (Plus Funny Video)

 

 

My Crazy, Chaotic Life, Continues On

 

7-30-2010 

(Only a couple days until 5 months…)

 

 

 

Yesterday was pretty insane.  Glad it’s over.  Not only are the girls teething so badly, that my little Annie-bug, can’t stop crying but for a 1/2 hr. out of the day, it’s really gotten quite bad, which doesn’t help things.  I say thank God for the laid back twin. Two crazies would be extremely HARD to tend to, though i still do have my 4 yr old, who’s a mega handful :lol:    (Ok…1/2 hr. I might be exaggerating, slightly. It feels like this statistic is true, but is a tad off the mark).

 

Anyhow, my daughter’s 5th birthday is this weekend so i had to hit Toys R Us,  for one final gift yesterday ( I almost tweeted from there, but Annaliese was screaming, I was trying to do math in my head, and I was too frazzled to stop and write)..  Now 1st off, my husband grilled me about money before I walked out the door, but somehow, it doesn’t always stick with me, when I leave the house, it just doesn’t  compute, or no pun intended, ‘Register, when I’m at the register’, so to speak.  Ok, maybe pun intended.  I don’t know, I’m too tired to think!

 

I truly have gotten SO much better, granted, I do get some credit for that, but when he gives me a card because I cannot have my own, and sends me out for some formula or something, he knows I’m not coming back with just formula, there is an extra $30 sometimes $40, spent there on these cute lil baby things, I just had to have.  but I still got to get even better than that.

 

This time, I did get formula as well (every 3-4 days..YIKES, getting expensive & what’s up, it was $32 and change, now suddenly it’s $34 and change per case, of Similac Advance, at toys r us for baby formula?  The way we go through it, $2 even, really counts. UGH!  We can’t even do powder, cause Annie gets soo gassy!  This is where breastfeeding could have saved us a small fortune, if the girls would have been up for such a job.

 

But I digress. I went there for one final gift, and the formula, and I saw these adorable Razberry teethers. I wanted these, had seen ‘em on Amazon, and had to have them, and grabbed those. Then it was buy 2 get the 3rd 1/2 off, of certain things, so you know how they get you there. I grabbed another MAMA pacifier clip, because silly hubby put the other in the sterilizer (microwave), and melted the darn thing.  Those are a definite in our home, otherwise you are chasing the dog around for the pacifiers all day long. If they fall, the little dog will grab them, so it’s completely essential to keep that nook from falling, so the clips are awesome, and necessary.

 

Anyhow, I grabbed some odds and ends, and I saw swim diapers on clearance for $5.99 (not the use once kind, the fabric kind), so i had to grab two, cause that is just what they needed, as the diapers blow up eventually in the water, an they do enjoy a nice swim, in mommies arms, so I felt it important, and a great discounted price.

 

Anyhow,  what my daughter wanted was a new doll and a stroller, soo….I had bought a doll at target for $20, nothing special. I had paid $90 last year for a baby alive with all the fixings, that had never been used,  as she wasn’t into them at that time, not until her sisters were born actually, and I just knew she’s gonna abuse the poor thing, so I didn’t want to spend a lot, just some basic features. Cry, giggle, simple stuff.  No diapers that need replacing, & food packets to need refills on.  That is how they get ya.

 

She wanted that,  and a stroller for her doll, and since she had like a $10 stroller last time, and it’s a continuous pain in the rear, I got her a nice $25 stroller, which they had $30 ones, so it wasn’t like I picked the best of the best, he he.  Hubby would say, some people get their real children’s strollers at that price on criagslist.  It is true, it’s a lot for a toy stroller, but it will last her much longer, and it’s pretty, and folds up into a little carrying case, converts to a pram and such, so it seemed worth it.  I bought a different doll for $25, because it seemed much more worth it, then the one I had bought over at target, and I had told hubby to keep the receipt, and be sure and have it handy because I may find something better,  and need to return the other.  Will talk about that 1 later.

 

So anyhow, i now have the few little baby teether/ pacifier/ diaper swim cover thingies, and the formula, and the baby doll, and stroller. I was good right?  Would have been, had I left there, and followed my own ‘Saving money’ advice.  (Oh by the way, where am I putting this all?  I forgot to say, I only took Annie with me. My goodness how simple is scurrying about, running errands, with only 1 child?   I never knew until now, what a breeze it truly is. I had completely forgotten.  I could actually use a shopping cart & not need a stroller, so I could put things inside of the cart. WOW, when did they invent such things?  HA.

 

See I had other stuff at home for Mikayla, that she had asked for, and so I could have stopped the bus here, but I continued to simply ‘browse’ for one last, SMALL ticket item, which can be extremely dangerous, to say the least.  Before you know it, I had this giant pogo stick sticking out of my cart, (Had to re-think that, was that for her, or was that secretly for mommy because she always wanted to try one, and only got the pogo ball as a child, never the stick, tee hee, but seriously, it said for ages 5-9 and the price was great, however, I started to think about it, and she could get hurt on it, despite what the ages say, so I let it go, even though she did ask for it, the mommy senses finally took over. It’s a bigger kid toy, so back it went. I’m a big kid, does that count for anything?  I just wanted to try it!!)  Maybe, I’ll get 1 on my birthday. 

 

I also had  this tinkerbell  styling head , a 3d paint set, a Reebok beaded jump rope. She likes jump rope, so it seemed like that might be better for her,  a jewelry box,  a new game for the leapster,  a fur real friends, kitty cat, and then the killer…..A Hannah Montana video karaoke machine.  I THOUGHT it was $69.99 and had to call hubby for clearance on that 1, but turned out it was really $99.99.  Should have noticed this at checkout, but I was too busy gabbing away (will explain later).  I just thought she would really love it, based on the video clip you can watch below.   If she had that much fun with a 10 cent, fake microphone, how much fun could she have, with a system like this right?  She didn’t ask for it, but i knew she’d adore it, and I’d enjoy doing it along with her, so I called hubby up, and he’s like ‘$70?…come on Shell, you got to keep it low, spend $100 altogether’, and I said I was trying, but the formula alone was $35, so…

 

 

He said, ‘Whatever, just put SOMETHING back’.  Ok, I said as I hung up the phone, and put the machine in my cart  (thinking  it was $70 still,  mind you).  As I headed towards the register, I picked up a card for her (what a rip at $4.49 a card, but she really does love the princesses, and who felt like taking the baby in the carrier, into a 1/2 off  card store? Oh no no, now was not the time to save money there, plus they don’t have any cards like that, so for birthday’s I guess,  I can eat that much on a card, I save them anyway.

 

As I glanced at the loot in my cart, it was hard to pick something to put back, but I did, I put back the jump rope, and headed on my way.  HE HE.  This lady said I could come to customer service to pay, and I had to be there a good 30 minutes, making these 3 girls laugh their tails off.   That’s one thing I’ve always given myself credit for, was my sense of humor.  They were rolling, when I said, ‘Whelp you know,  I called & asked the hubby, and  he said this was ok,  my purchase, but to just put somethin back, so I did..I put back the jump rope, that was ‘something’.  Maybe only $5.99, but hey, I did NOT lie, now did I?’  They agreed.  Hubby when I got home, not so much, especially when he glossed over the receipt and saw the Karaoke machine was in fact $99.99.

 

Anyway it came out to $248.27. Far far from the hundred dollars huh?  Yeah, I was a bad girl, but it’s my little girl’s birthday:(   My honey doesn’t get this, because he was given only one gift on his birthday, and like only 3 on Christmas.  I may not have had much emotionally, in my home, like I would have loved even more then gifts, but physical possessions, we did have, and birthday’s and holidays were never skimped on.

 

It took us hours to open up presents on Christmas Morning.   This is how me and hubby differ, we cannot relate to one another at all.  To me, what a disappointment, the way he had to live, one gift for his birthday?  3 on Christmas?  But then I remember he had a great family, and a great upbringing, so I would have surely, much rather have had that, and  1 gift, now that I’m older, but as a kid holidays were big, so I guess you just grow up doing what you know, and believing in what you are used to.

  

The ladies at customer service, then tell me they want me to stay, I’m totally perking up their dreary day, and  the one lady turns to me and goes ‘Are you always like this?’,  and I said ‘What do you mean?’.  She used her hands, like she was pushing the air on the sides of her, up towards the ceiling.  ‘So happy, smiley, jovial, upbeat, hillarious’.  Now hilarious I can account for, but I have never had anyone accuse me of being such a lively optimist before. I actually frowned for most of my life, not because I wanted to, but because in my life there had been little to smile about.  My children were my only & greatest sources of joy, but I had A LOT of stuggles, so smiling wasn’t a very usual, facial expression for me, though I so wanted that badly.

 

All I could say to her was, ‘NO,  when you have had a really hard life, sometimes you have to fight to find a way to get to the opposite place you have come from.’  She found it hard to believe I had such a hard life based on appearances at that moment, but boy if we went head to head on that 1, she would fold, about 2 tragedies in.  I have never met anyone whose had a tougher life, so I was glad I was smiling and upbeat, and was shining like that towards others. It only took several decades to accomplish.

 

I thought about this in the car and realized. WOW I think for the the very 1st time in life, I am truly, 150% genuinely happy, with no strings holding me up. I’m in complete control, nothing binding me to sadness.  I had felt like a string marionette being held for a show, for so many long years, waiting for the next act to unfold, where something bad would surely happen, and it always would, so I became a passimist, based on this.

 

 I felt out of control. I couldn’t have control of any part of myself, and now…now I was taking back, and it had to be pointed out to me, by this wonderful woman, for me to see,  but I had beat the past, I had made it through, and now, I was happy, and it wasn’t fake, it was real and noticed. That is BIG  to me.  These twins have truly and completely, enhanced my life, and have contributed to my daily smiles  (must be why I started getting those smile lines, that i never had in my life before now. I’m smiling much more now).

 

 Anyhow though they begged me to stay until closing to liven them up, I had to get going. Little Annie was screaming at this point, and the nook wasn’t working, so that is my curtain call.  On my way out I saw a cashier, that I met when I was pregnant with the  twins, and she was newly pregnant with twins herself, and we had chatted.  BOY she had gotten so big.  Time had really flown.  She remembered me, and waved me over. I was surprised she had over 2 months left, by her size, however we do all forget how truly huge, we are at around that time with twin babies, once the bellies retract back in, the memories of that can fade, until you take out a picture and go ‘OHHH YEAH’  now, I remember.  *EEK*

 

Anyhow, she was asking me questions, how I got myself ‘The way I am’ in her words, and I told her to bind that postpartum belly. That is tops above anything you could ever do for yourself, and your post twin tummy.  Then she wanted to know all about life with new twins, as I could tell she was petrified as I was, and I just  encouraged her not to freak out, and stress, to enjoy her final weeks of  her pregnancy, everything will work itself out, and she will soon be more in love then she could ever imagine, and God won’t let her down, she’ll survive twins happily and enjoy every moment. (her first children), so she will really get to fully enjoy them.  She doesn’t have that sibling jealousy aspect and that by far is the hardest part about having twins, so she was already one up there. I told her schedules, and then as Annie took her screaming up a notch in decibel levels, I gave her my site name and told her to come and contact me, we’ll talk more, and she can read my uplifting articles and see some of my pictures.

 

As I left and packed up the car and 1 baby.  My how easy that was with just 1, though I did miss the other half.  The drive home seemed endless as my baby, who remains crowned by Miss Mikayla, as Miss Crank 2010, I don’t think anyone else can possibly steal the title at this point, he he,  continued carrying on, so I couldn’t wait to walk through the door, but then when I did, I forgot….I spent $250, and now that had to hit the fan!

 

Not as much as 5 seconds passed me by, that I spotted hubster at the dining room table, saying ‘How much did you spend Shell’. 

 

When I told him, his face turned beat red. I did of course add that I put back something,  as he had requested. That was NO lie.  Then I said,  I didn’t know how that added up right, my brain must have been off,  because of all the screaming in my ear, but it wasn’t my imagination, it was off. I pulled out the receipt and the karaoke machine that I had thought was a cool $69.99, was a much less cool $99.99.  WHAT? i thought to myself. I swore to hubby up and down, I talked to him right at the aisle in front of the item, on the phone, and I KNEW for fact that they were $69.99. They had Jonas Brothers and Hannah.  I wasn’t an idiot.  He thought I screwed up.  No way I said, and so he was about to grab the receipt and go back to  straighten out the problem, but then in came the mail.

 

YEAH the outfit I ordered for Mikayla was finally here. I had been so worried it would not arrive in time, and had been chomping at the bit every day, but alas, here it was, and I couldn’t wait to rip it open, and take a peeksy, but when I did, i screamed ‘NO WAY!!!!  I cannot believe this’.  Hubby didn’t get out the door before this new conundrum broke loose.  The woman I ordered the outfit from, sent me a white top instead of the hot pink one I ordered.   WHITE?  The last color my daughter should wear, (myself to, I like it, but am so bad with it).   It’s not what I wanted, and it’s Thursday here I thought to myself,  the party is on Sunday!

 

I majorly freaked out over it, and made the hub call her long distance. It was some Etsy seller, I also contacted her via email, but I couldn’t wait, she needed to overnight this thing to me, like right that second, or It’d never come in time.  So she writes me back saying, if a person doesn’t specify they get white, and I’m like heck no, I did specify numerous times, exactly as shown int he picture, hot pink top, and she wasn’t  getting back to me, so hubby called (I’m not good, I can’t be demanding sounding, even slightly concerned, or assertive, I always sound like I’m fine, and  I just can’t accomplish any task that requires an ounce of UMPH , so hubby helps out in these times, sad to say, but true.

 

Anyhow finally he gets in touch with her, and she looked back on my mail and had seen, I did in fact request pink, she was sorry, her mistake, and is now overnighting me the other, which I pray gets here STAT.  It was such a stressor, I so did not need.  Then, hubby was about to walk out the door again, with the receipt to check on the Hannah machine, and I had gone to let the dogs out, and I screamed ‘come here, something is wrong with Lanie’.  He came running, and saw one of our dogs out back, limping.  First thing out of his mouth ‘Oh no, she had better be ok, I cannot afford a vet bill’.  It was just one thing after another.  I am happy to report she is no longer limping at all.  Maybe our larger dog, (they like to sleep together), rolled on top of her or something, and caused that for a few hours, but all hubby was seeing was $$ signs and saying, ‘Lord just shoot me’. I agreed that today was just not our day. (Now yesterday for those reading this!!)

 

Then, he had said he was stopping at Target. I told him, good thing he kept those receipts I gave him from only two days prior…right?  RIGHT?  WRONG!!  He lost them, didn’t even remember me giving them to him. Well, he did after a bit of reminding, but now he had a $20 doll and $10 mask I  bought my daughter that she didn’t need,  because we got one elsewhere, in the color she wanted & already gave it to her, and so he could have gotten $30 back,  but nope..not w/o the receipt, so I guess he took store credit.  I didn’t hear any update on that one.

 

Turns out, about the whole Hannah foul up, thing, that they had two machines. They looked identical, but one is called a ‘video karaoke machine’, and one is called ‘concert karaoke’.   I got the one I thought was $69.99, off of the right display, however, from elsewhere, someone must have switched the boxes with the more expensive one, and you know, I had the luck of nabbing that 1 misplaced machine.  He said without really looking hard,  you could never have known the difference.  The boxes looked the same. Aside from the $30 extra, that is.  I looked it up online quickly, and the video (more pricey one), had better reviews and did more, including seeing yourself on the TV, which of course, is right up Miss. ham bone’s alley, so I thought, heck, just go for it. Keep the machine.

 

Then he comes home. I look like I’ve been through the war.  Both kids crying, me making bottles to calm them down,  and trying to boil water, at the same time, for dinner.  My older daughter screaming in the background, I NEED YOU… I NEED YOU…it was like a circus. Less ruckus at Toys r us for the dear hubby I am certain. I’m sure he would have rather gone back, and popped out a cot in the storage room for an over-nighter there,

 

After dinner until bedtime, was spent trying to keep Annie contented. I felt so badly for Mikayla, she wanted my attention so bad, and every time I could get myself to her, someone would start belting out a tune, and I’d have to run. I definitely don’tthink, I know, now it’s harder, because they used to sleep a lot more, so she had more 1 on 1 time with me, during those naps, and now that they have gone good bye, bye, and sadly for her, I’m always holding somebody and running off, and it kills me for her, it really does. 

 

 My son is at his dad’s for the rest of the summer (WAH), but when he’s around, he can at least pay her some attention, so she doesn’t feel too lonely when we are busy, but now, with him gone, my heart was just breaking for her, yet Annie kept at it, and time was so scarce before bedtime.  

 

 I just was really happy knowing tomorrow (now today), she gets her mommy all to herself on swimming lesson day.  A good 4 hours of just mommy, and no, the classes are NOT that long, we just tend to stay quite some time, with her little friends there.  It’s relaxing, and nice for everybody.

 

Whelp, just another day in the life of your’s truly.  That isn’t even a good one. I could do even better then that *Smile*!   Oh and I’m gonna put a video below, of my ‘Star bound’ daughter, performing at Chuck E Cheeses.  She’s a blast. Gotto love her!!  She’s such a funny, little card!