Cantaloupe

This afternoon we dropped Jorja off at school and the rest of us went to Walmart. We needed a few groceries and it was a toss up between that and Superstore. Walmart has Dairyland yogurt, so we went there. We picked up some fruit too, including a cantaloupe. The clerk got to the cantaloupe and then proceeded to look up the code for that. They have this sort of roller at eye level with all their codes on it. I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent here...They need to look up the code for a cantaloupe? When my sister was going to university, she worked as a cashier at Superstore. After she was hired, she came home with a big binder of produce codes that she had to memorize. She could recognize and tell me the code for vegetables that I didn't even know existed at that time - bok choy, leeks, okra - you name it, she knew the code. And she was fast. At Superstore, you were expected to ring through so many groceries per minute. I don't think Walmart has ever heard of this concept. Not only are there never enough tills open at Walmart, they are all slow. At least at Superstore, there are almost always enough tills open and the cashiers are fast. Anyway, enough of my rant. Back to today. I'm watching the cashier look up the code for cantaloupe, and she's not even looking under the C. What does she think this is? Then she rings it through as a honeydew melon. So I corrected her - cantaloupes were 50 cents cheaper (I'm still Mennonite). But this brings me to another question. Who in their 40's doesn't know what a cantaloupe is? It's not like this woman was a teenager. Oh well, we got the cantaloupe at the cantaloupe price, and all was well. Later.

Last night...

This is what I was writing last night, but there was a problem with Blogger, so I couldn't publish it...

I’m sitting here sipping a large diet coke from McDonald’s. They now have any size of pop on for $1.00. There’s just something about fountain pop that hits the spot. I went through the drive-thru this evening and ordered two. When I got to the pick-up window, he only gave me medium. I said no, I want the big ones. It’s good to be Mennonite.

Jorja had some wicked gas this evening. She was letting them rip left, right and center. She has been going to bed once Ginny is asleep lately (it seems to work better than at the same time), and I usually carry her up. For such a little person, she is a very noisy stepper. Anyway, I not sooner get her picked up and put my arm under her bum than she lets this big, loud, long ripper go. Right on my arm. And stinky. Boy, did she think she was pretty funny.

We had a bit of a scare today. CeCe was laying on the floor playing with her little ‘gym’ thing (there’s toys over her head she can bat at and chew on). Ginny was walking and tripped and fell on her arm/shoulder area. I’ve never heard CeCe cry like that before – she was definitely in pain. Then Ginny started wailing because CeCe was crying. Eventually everyone calmed down, and CeCe seems to be all right. It’s a good thing they’re made of rubber when they’re young.

Jorja has been on this kick the last couple of days. Maybe it started yesterday. She said, “Dad, I’m going to live here forever when I’m big. I just love it so much.” Say what? I try to explain how things work, but she’s not going for it. She even told Julie that she would have to share her clothes when she grew up. I wish I could have taped that for when she is a teenager. Then we’ll see how long she wants to live here. Later.

Mother's Day Weekend

I call this post Mother's Day weekend, because we've kind of been celebrating all weekend (Julie deserves it). It all started when I called around last weekend and realized that I was too late to make a reservation somewhere nice for mother's day. Who knew? I guess people are organized. So we thought in lieu of mother's day brunch, we'd go out for supper on Friday night. We went to Tony Roma's and it was nice. The girls were reasonably well behaved. They get an 'appetizer' with the kids' meal there - Kraft crackers and cheez whiz. I think that was the highlight for Ginny. She used that little red stick and got every last bit of cheese product out of that container. It's weird, because they never eat cheez whiz at home.

Friday morning, Jorja decided to make Julie a Mother's day card. She also decided to give Julie one of her pens. She had finished the card, and came down to the family room, where Julie and I were sitting. "Mom, close your eyes." She then proceeds to 'whisper' how she made Mom a card, Ginny made one, and she had made one for CeCe to give to Julie. And she had found the perfect gift - a pen with a heart and feathers on the top that lights up when you press on it. This pen was Jorja's but she had decided to give it to Julie, 'because Dad, I have like four pens, and I don't need that many, so Mom can have this one.' It's hard to argue with logic like that. It's good to see I'm raising a Mennonite. She then tells me that she is going to go hide all the loot in her closet, and runs off to do so. She then returns to tell Julie not to look in her closet, because that's where the surprise was. She's got a lot to learn yet.

Saturday I took Jorja to piano lessons. She goes every Saturday at noon. It's a crappy time for the lesson, but she seems to be enjoying herself for the most part, and does pretty good. She can play with both hands now. It's amazing how much they learn in a year. Her only problem is that she doesn't like not being good. So any time they learn something new, it's a struggle to get her to do it. She gets all goofy and doesn't want to play. "Do you want to go to piano lessons?" I ask. "Then you better try this. It doesn't have to be perfect the first time. That's why we practice." Eventually, she will try it with me there, and then over the next couple of days, she goes to the piano and tries it herself, and soon she has it. It's just that getting started part. And sometimes she plays my bluff. "Do you want to go to piano lessons?" "No" "Well too bad, we're going anyway." Ah, the mind games. Anyway, back to this weekend in particular. After piano lessons, Jorja and I went to get some stuff for Mother's Day. Our first stop was to get a gift certificate for a pedicure. What's the perfect gift for a mother of three small children? A nice evening relaxing away from the children I figure. Then it was off to M&M to pick up some steak to BBQ and then to the flower shop. Jorja carried in the flowers all proud as punch, and gave them to Julie. She was most proud of the little swirly card holder that she had picked out.

That brings us to today. Jorja awoke this morning pretty much beside herself ready to bestow her treasures upon Julie. She presented her with all three cards, and the precious pen, that 'if Daddy wants to use it, he has to ask you Mom.' I am dying to use a pen with a flashing heart and feathery wisps on the top of it, so it's good to know I just have to ask.

After church, we thought we'd take a chance on Jerry's. Apparently it wasn't the hot spot for Mother's day. I thought everyone loved Jerry's. We were done eating and the girls were playing in the play area. CeCe slept through the entire meal - it was great. Julie and I were just enjoying some quiet time after lunch when Ginny came up to the table and uttered those two words you just don't want to hear when you're enjoying a cup of coffee after lunch. "I'm stinky." Great. Since CeCe had eaten in church, we had left the diaper bag in the car, so I told Ginny I would change her outside when we were done. Our SUV has a fold down tailgate, which has come in handy as a change table before. So there I was, in the Jerry's parking lot, changing Ginny's diaper. Julie was standing beside me jiggling the car seat, because CeCe had woke up by this time. Then this car drives by, the window rolls down, and this woman yells out, "It's nice to see the Dad doing that." Happy Mother's day!

This evening I BBQed steak and potatoes. I just get everything in off the barbecue, and Ginny comes up and asks what's for supper. After I tell her, she says, "I want tomato soup." Grrr. Then Jorja says to me, "I don't like steak." Grrr "Yes you do." "No I don't, I tried it when I was two, and I don't like it." Ginny had decided that she needed help eating hers, so Julie was helping her and I asked Jorja if she needed help too. She said yes, so I stabbed a piece of steak, smothered it in ketchup (because that's our dip for all our meat) and fed it to her. She makes this awful face and chokes it down. A few nights ago, each one of them scarfed down three barbecued wieners each (they don't eat them in buns), and now it was the end of the world to eat some steak. I think Jorja did like it, because after the initial bite, there was no hesitation, or carrying on . She just wouldn't admit that she liked it. If it wasn't mother's day, I might say 'typical woman'. Bazinga.

And that pretty much brings us to now. I hope you all had a good mother's day. Later.