111 - Warm fuzzy

Just returned from Walmart. Oh how I love Walmart.

Oh how I love sarcasm.

Nonetheless, I did make unnecessary purchases, which is the primary basis for my dislike of Walmart, but there are others (bases that is... basis-is... reasons y'all). Item number one - I usually don't leave the house much if Mike isn't around, so I tend to wear "comfy clothes"... lounging clothes... yeah, okay, they're PJ's. I was going to buy another bra, but truth be told, when I'm at home I don't generally wear one of those so... no point. And something about Walmart bras just screams broke stripper... maybe it's the zebra print, I don't know... I just can't bring myself to buy them. Item number two - Who has two thumbs and loves her some Lucy? This girl. And there are movies she is in that I haven't seen - I don't know how it happened. Walmart is working hard to win me over so I was presented with the opportunity to own five more Lucy movies than I currently do, all in one lovely package. Now I own two copies of DuBarry was a Lady, but honestly, that group of guys at the beginning who do instruments with their voices? So worth it. Item number three - My warm fuzzy. My new precious. My fuzzy-on-the-inside-so-you-wanna-keep-slipping-your-bare-arms-into-the-sleeves-cuz-it-feels-so-good hoodie. Does anybody know why are hoodies so awesome?

Mike is "training" Gracie to do tricks. He is of the opinion that she does not have a job, and will not do chores, so she needs to earn her treats. He doesn't scoop her poop so I'm not sure what he's all wound up about. :/ He is devising new and interesting ways to antagonize my baby. I also hear him talking smack in the mornings as he feeds her and it kinda cracks me up. It's cute really, but I'll never say it out loud. Anyway, she'll eat a treat out of his hands, so now he has gotten her to stand on her hind legs and she'll put a paw on his hand as if to make sure he doesn't pull it away, then she'll get her treat. This evening he put the treat on the ottoman and she hopped up and knocked it to the ground instead of trying to eat it off the surface. She's wily that way.

Before I forget... grandma-isms. She's got a sense of humor, my grandma. The night we ate at Country Squire, the evening ended on a sour note after my five'ish year old cousin barfed all over the table (thankfully I was allllllllllllll the way at the other end when it happened, but it sounded like someone knocked a drink over, it was epic). On the way out I told grandma she threw the best parties... almost like a frat party... we were loud and obnoxious, we had a good time, and at the end of the night someone threw up. She laughed and said, "Yeah, because he drank too much." Now you know, and I know, that this fits perfectly with my frat party scenario. But what she meant was... he had three glasses of coke and was working on his fourth. She meant that he literally drank too much. It was so deadpan when she said it though that it took me a second to realize we were on two different wavelengths... that were eerily similar...

A couple of nights later we're at the house trying to find a movie to watch. Grandma's DVD player was broken - a fact that was verified by no fewer than three people... they plugged it in... it didn't work... therefore it was broken. So our choices were now limited to that of the VHS variety. My aunt chose Mr. Magoo with Leslie Neilsen and then proceeded to narrate the entire thing, so I went to the kitchen to do something else. In the meantime, grandma was trying to persuade everyone to watch "The Bad Girls" (which I think is just Bad Girls). She kept telling everyone, "They're bad girls, you see... but they're good girls in the end." Something about her delivery made me smile a little on the inside, as if they were hookers but in the end, their virtue had been somehow restored. My mind is a bit twisted.

Don't get me wrong... it's good to see family, the park is nice (when it's not raining), but we're ready to move on. I'm looking forward to getting settled in for a nice long stay in one spot, and Mike is anxious to return to work... where he is supposed to be now actually. We both assumed the sunroof would be a quick fix. We completely underestimated the Goober Gas Station-like qualities of the local body shop. They actually called us to ask if we had the frame because they were missing two screws... there is a parts desk down the hall... seriously. Then came the weekend, then the guy took a vacation day, then it was New Year's Day. Seriously hoping he's working on it TODAY and will have it finished by the end of the day so we can head out in the morning. Not getting a warm fuzzy about it, but really hoping.

And now... I'm going to play me some Walking Dead. Took me all night to download it so it had better be worth it! I decided to buy some games for my PC so that when I get bored I have another option that will keep my mind active. And when there's nothing on tv, or Mike wants to fire up the X-Box or PS3, I can also kill things. Plus Walking Dead is on hiatus right now and I miss it. It's a sickness. And sometimes things just need to die. So I got The Walking Dead, a game called Amnesia, a CSI game, and Dragon Age: Origins, because I'm not a D&D nerd, but I still wish dragons were real.

Hope everyone is having a great 2013 so far. Thank you to all of you who read this and cheer us on or sympathize with our plight. As I said before, when things get bad, your encouragement can be all that helps us keep it together sometimes.