Random Thoughts

What a day. I loaded the kids and a sack lunch into the car at 10:30 and headed off to pick Mike up at work. We all drove WAY across town to check out a great deal on a minivan. Mike had a cashiers check made out in the exact amount he'd negotiated over the phone and we were convinced we'd own the vehicle this afternoon.

But whoa. I'm a big believer in first impressions. Before listing my own car on Craigs List, I have every intention of getting the thing completely detailed. There will be no crushed Cheerios crammed into the seats or smeared sippy cup remnants to be seen. No one will be able to trace children back to my car.

So please...if you're going to sell a car, would you consider taking it through a full service car wash and at least getting the thing vacuumed out? This vehicle was dirty. Not "just returned home from a cross country drive to Disney World" kind of dirty, but still, it was gross. When we opened the door, I looked at the carpets and asked Mike, "We'd rip out these carpets, right?" How many Diet Cokes had been spilled in that car, I'll never know. But it had crumbs and grime everywhere. And when we propped up the cupholders, there was a giant black hair dangling from the thing. (I'm still shuddering at the thought) Now, I understand that 99% of the owners of minivans have kids. I get that. But sellers, please: get...the car...cleaned.

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can complain about getting home at 2:00. Three and a half hours of my life that I'll never get back. The poor kids were in the car almost the entire time, except when we had to take potty breaks. We could have driven over halfway to the beach in that time! I was so disappointed that I self medicated treated myself to a Chick-Fil-A Cookies and Cream milkshake. And it just occurred to me that it was laced with chocolate, which I gave up for Lent. OOPS.

I haven't bought a REALLY used car since I was 16. And all of the cars I've purchased since then have been from dealerships, so they were emaculate. I guess my standards are too high. And I'm realizing that, for our price point, the van we get will likely be stained, scratched and might actually look and feel...really used.

Part of the problem may be my hound-dog-like sense of smell these days. My nose is so incredibly sensitive. Even the scent of my own deoderant bothers me. Who knows what kinds of spills are set into the carpet and seats of pre-owned mini-vans.

Moving on. Last week, Ryan was into pushing Kaylin around. Literally. She climbed into a plastic bin and he "bowled" with her. She was the ball and he pushed her across the kitchen floor toward the pins.

Then he pushed her into the front hall to have their morning snack at the table near the front door. It was all very sweet. It was one of the days I was laid up on the couch all day...they were trying to be creative to entertain themselves. At one point, under a pile of stuffed animals and dolls that Kaylin had loaded on top of me "for the baby," I must have dosed off and noticed that it was 1:00. "Naptime, everybody upstairs," I announced. Ryan got tears in his eyes and said, "But Mommy, what about lunch??" Oh, were those 10am pretzels NOT lunch? I forget that just because I don't want to eat, I still have to feed the munchkins!

Next topic: who stands like this? I saw this ad on Facebook. Do you know any teens who walk around their school, angry and all contorted with their hair blowing around, like this poor chick?

Last thing: without getting specific, a male family member mentioned that my pillow talk post this weekend was too candid. Apparently, it was inappropriate and in bad taste. So if anyone else was offended that I used the word "boob" in a post or that I shared this child's first intimate Daddy moment with the world, I'm offering a blanket apology. My intention is never to offend, but I'm not deleting the post. That's me being real. Now I'm going to go walk around the house like chickdowntown and see if anyone notices...