Nobody's Perfect

Today, I took the kids to the mall and told Zoe she could spend some of her birthday money there.  I told her about this REALLY FUN store I remember going to when I was younger called Spencer Gifts.  I don't know if you remember that store too, but if you do and some part of you wanted to take your two very young children in there to get something "fun" I'm going to strongly advise you to go to Claire's instead (which is what we ended up doing and will do from now on).  I don't know when Spencer Gifts went from being a cool store with black lights, posters and fun gadgets to an almost full on um...adult only shop but....the worst part about it is that I didn't realize the WHOLE STORE was full of this crap until we had made our way all the way to the back and Zoe started throwing a fit because I wouldn't even discuss why she couldn't have anything from the section made up of everything pink in the store (rubber penises, smutty t-shirts...."Mommy, EVERYTHING IN HERE is for BOYS and I find the ONLY part that I LIKE that's PINK and for GIRLS and you won't even LET me GET ANY OF IT!!").  When I finally realized we had to just hightail it out of there and make a beeline for the Disney store or Claire's or...ANYWHERE ELSE I shuffled them towards the door and more than once had to whisk Owen's hand away from a rubber boob.  Oy.

Also, I have been trying really hard for the past month or so to make this really cute pettiskirt for Zoe.  I carefully ordered the material online and planned to give it to her as a birthday present...then I didn't finish it in time so decided to pace myself and finish it in time for Christmas....and then I found myself dreading the evenings when I'd have to go downstairs and fumble through putting it together, only to find that I SUCK AT SEWING....well, I suck at sewing pettiskirts at least....and a) wasn't having any fun and b) doing a terrible job.....so, last night in a moment of complete self pity, I reminded myself that I'd seen pettiskirts almost identical to that one at Target for under $20.  I felt about 50 pounds lift off my shoulders as I gave myself permission to eat the cash I shelled out for the materials and shell out another $20 at Target sometime between now and Christmas and call it a day.

My finished product