Picking Food Up Off The Floor

Overheard at the Gas Station2

The other day the following was overheard at the Esso in Clairview. “Stop taking your brother’s teeth!” “You, you stop crying about it, he’s not really taking them it’s just pretend” “I said stop taking his teeth and give them back, now!” The poor mother had locked her kids in the car while pumping gas and was yelling at them through the window. Thankfully for the most part the kids were keeping themselves entertained except for the occasional bout of teasing (and teeth pulling?!). Normally I might have thought one of two things depending on my mood and how the kids had been that day. Either “That poor mother, she’s really keeping herself together over that and the kids are real troopers too. I hope I will be like if I ever end up in that situation.”, or “What kind of mother locks her kids in the car?”

Turns out…

…it was me!

I left the keys in the ignition so the boys could keep listening to a new CD they got at Kindermusik class. The front door has never locked before when I’ve gotten gas, but then I’ve never left the keys in the ignition either. When I went to get back into the van, all the doors were locked. I called AMA and of course got the, “Oh my goodness you’re kids are in the car!?” but they said someone would be out as soon as possible. About a half an hour later I decided to try my neighbor Jon to see if he happened to be home and had access to his car (usually Connie takes it to work). It just so happened that he was home and Connie was out of town so he had the car! He got the spare key from our house and saved the day!

Lest you are one of those thinking, “What kind of mother locks her kids in the car”, a friend sent me the following link from the automobile association in England, apparently I am not alone.
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/news/children-locked-in-cars.html

Posted: Drew & Bran, Eating Your Words, Edmonton

Becoming One of “Those” People7

You know “those” people… the ones with their kids, riding in their vans, watching their dvd player… What!? Yes, we have become “those” people. Mike and I are now the (I won’t say proud) owners of a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with Stow & Go seats and (note the eyes to the ground) a DVD player. Whew…got that out! Many of you are probably wondering what the big deal is. Others of you who have known us for years are whispering, “sell out”, or, “I knew they’d never be able to hold out.” What is the big deal anyway? Well, for many many years, we have publically proclaimed our distaste for the van lifestyle. Growing up, owning a van had Soccer Mom(TM) written all over it and that is a title I am firmly steering clear of. Besides, vans cost more; they take up more space; they’re annoying to other drivers (how many times have you waited in a parking lot for a van to be able to pull in or out of its space?); and they’re not as environmentally friendly as say, our little Honda. So, “no way”, we said. “That’s not for us”.

So what happened? A torn soft shell carrier, destoyed camping equipment, and a long walk down the highway in the rain… Plus, the fact that living so far from home means we get lots of visitors who don’t arrive in their own car. We looked into station wagons but the make we wanted cost more than our van and didn’t solve the people problem. Now we have the space to get us all in. I have to say the Stow & Go seats are great! And the DVD player has worked amazingly well to keep the kids awake when I don’t want them to fall asleep until we get home. Although we have a rule that it’s not turned on every time we get into the van. I think in this case we were just unrealistic about what we needed as a family. Part of it was that when we were having these conversations we didn’t have twins, or live 2,000 miles from home. But Mike still takes the LRT (subway) and the boys and I walk to the grocery store quite often, so we’re trying to do our part as best we can. Just please don’t confuse me for a Soccer Mom. That may be another post for this category… but not today.

Posted: Eating Your Words

Who can pass up Pirate shoes?3

So there are these shoes, called Robeez. I really like these shoes, however they cost $25CAD. Multiply that times 2 and one pair of shoes for the boys sets me back $50! Target sells the same kind of shoe (Circo brand) for $12.99USD. Well who can pass that up? So the boys have been wearing knockoffs for the past 6 months. And I love them. I decided it was crazy to pay twice as much for the same kind of shoe and that I would always buy those shoes from Target. Well…the boys are due for a new pair, so I went to the Target website to choose the new shoe. Unfortunately my options were very limited. I could get them the same puppy shoe, a striped one, or ones with a dragon with a red ball on his head. Not so exciting, but doable for the price. Then I made a mistake, I decided to check out the Robeez site. They have so many varieties! I was overwhelmed and filled with consumeristic excitment! But I stepped back and decided to get their shoes when I was feeling poorer, maybe that would help me make a better choice. After all wasn’t I rebelling from senseless spending when I could get the shoes cheaper elsewhere?

A few days later I walked into Once Upon a Child looking for some nice, used kahkis for the boys. Wouldn’t you know it, an entire display of Robeez. And then I saw them…Pirates! They actually had shoes with a little pirate face on them. I was gone, over the edge, no coming back…I had to get the pirate shoes. I could justify it a million ways…it’s not like I was spending a fortune, the boys needed shoes, I just bought them cheap pants…In the end Drew got Pirate shoes and Bran got dinasaur ones ( I couldn’t get one the expensive ones and the other the cheap ones…). I proably won’t do it again. It’s not like he always needs Pirate shoes. But it would be really nice if Target got a little more variety. Maybe then I won’t be tempted away by pirates! Perhaps I was a little hasty in my “I’ll never spend that kind of money on baby shoes!”, but I think I was also pleased with the idea that my kids would have fun shoes. Is that bad? I’ll have to check the budget.

Posted: Eating Your Words

Eating Your Words0

How many times have you said “I’d never do that!” or “that’s just not for me”? There are some things that Mike and I tend to think we’re taking a stand on in one season of life only to come to a completely different conclusion at another point in life. Sometimes those seasons are many years apart, other times… months. Over the past two weeks one or both of us has had to “eat our words” in regards to some purchases that have been made. This made me realize that I probably do this more often than I realize and I have decided to try and keep track of it. One of my questions is “do I make too many blanket statements about what I will or won’t do?” The other is “Am I being true to my beliefs or ideals? Or were they unrealistic to begin with?” If you’re interested, you’ll find those posts under this category.

Posted: Eating Your Words