Stupid Gas Stations

Yesterday was one of those days I should have stayed in the house.  I do grocery shopping on Thursday, and I also needed gas yesterday.  So, I head out for stop one, the gas station at the grocery store.  I go there all the time, have for years.  But, for some reason, starting about 2 weeks ago, on the day that Mr Vanilla's paycheck is deposited, the debit card won't work at the gas pump.  It will work in the store, at an ATM, at other gas stations, but not this one.  And, since I wasn't sure how much gas I needed, I didn't want to give the cashier an amount to put on the debit card, and then have to go back and add more or have her put money back on the card.  So, I had to leave with no gas.

No problem, I'll go down the street to the Shell by the house, and head to Wal Mart from there.  I see the gas price advertised is $3.69, fine, same as grocery store gas.  But, when I pull up to the pump and get out, I see a piece of paper taped (yes, taped) to the pump, showing the advertised price is only for cash, and if you are paying by debit, it is $3.79.  REALLY!!!  Stupid idiotic false advertising!  Back in the car I go, on to do the grocery shopping.

I eventually got gas for $3.71 at QT before I picked Little Vanilla up from school.  It just shouldn't be this hard!

Then, at the grocery store, I kept dropping stuff, knocking stuff over, had the produce bags ripping open...bad karma day!  Ad matching amazingly went fine, and I had a super nice lady behind me who didn't glare, huff, or make comments, which was nice.  Do I like ad matching?  No, not at all.  Have I cut my grocery bill by $400 a month using it and coupons?  Yes.  So, I make myself do it.  But it can be challenging to unload the cart, especially with my OCD.  I put all the ad match stuff out first, so we can get it out of the way, and then everything else behind it.  But I usually have to stop unloading, ad match, finish unloading, and grab all the bags that have taken over the bagging area.  I shop in the late morning, and never use an express lane.  Also, you can see I have a full cart.  So if you have 10 items, and you choose to get behind me, don't mutter and glare at me - it is a Thursday morning, and there are 5 fast lanes open, use one of those!

I think my favorite memory is of the guy who got behind me with more that 10 but less than 25 items.  He got behind me while I was still unloading the cart, so he could see what he was in for.  When I started ad matching he got upset, glared, huffed, reloaded his cart and went to a different line.  Fine by me.  When I was done checking out, I started to walk out and saw this same guy JUST FINISHING CHECKING OUT!  Serves him right for glaring and huffing at me.  I have to save money where I can, as do most of us, and I am going to ad match, take my time, and use my coupons. 

Tomorrow Teenage Vanilla is having what sounds like all 17 members of her freshman class over to swim and hang out in the evening.  Little Vanilla has a friend coming over to keep her company.  I have my good friend Bree coming over with her little son to both help keep an eye on the teenagers, and to keep me laughing - and Mr Vanilla laughing.  We've had most of the kids over several times, and they are all pretty good kids.  They did play spin the bottle truth or dare, but the most I saw was garbage can licking (ick!), and later heard that was the worst, so I'm not going to get my panties in a bind worrying about what they might do.

I know a lot of parents might think my attitude is too casual, but really, if kids are going to do things, they are going to do it regardless of the policing us parents provide.  Next year at the Charter school both girls attend the new campus will be grades 6-10 (currently one campus is PK-6, the other is 7-9), with plans for it to be grades 6-12 by the time Teenage Vanilla is a high school senior.  She loves that she will always be top dog!  I have heard several 5th grade parents are concerned about the 6th graders being at the same campus with high school kids, even though 6th grade will be in a separate area.  I decided not to take offense to parents making the high school kids sound deviant even when they know one of them is mine.  One thing I keep hearing is kids are making out under the stairwells!  Really?!  Hmmm

I don't know that I'll blog over the weekend, but after the party, I might want to!  Have a Very Vanilla Day, and Weekend Too!

Lullaby

When Teenage Vanilla was around three, the bedtime routine evolved into a series of songs to put her to bed.  Because she kept adding songs, I came up with a lullaby that contained all the songs, but only the first few lines.  It also included a mantra to keep monsters, bad things, bad people and scary people away.  Little Vanilla was also put to bed with this lullaby, as the girls shared a room until Teenage Vanilla was 9, and Little Vanilla was 5.  That was when we moved into the house we now live in, which had a bedroom for each girl.  Eventually they each grew up enough to not want the lullaby, and while Little Vanilla still likes to be tucked in, and hugged and kissed, Teenage Vanilla goes to bed after Mr. Vanilla and I, so I give her a hug and kiss (which, if she is cranky with me, may not be welcome, but too bad, I am hugging and kissing anyway!).  I am a firm believer to always tell your loved ones you do love them, and that kisses and hugs are good to give at bedtime, no matter what age one is.

Little Vanilla has been fighting the allergy cough (which, knock on wood table, is about gone).  A few days ago she was having trouble sleeping, and asked me to sing the lullaby.  Half way through I realized Teenage Vanilla was in the room listening.  I can't remember the last time I sang it, but both of the girls seemed to enjoy hearing it again.  It doesn't matter how old we get, there will always be comfort in the rituals of childhood.  One of the songs in the lullaby, and the only one sang in its entirety, is the one Bobi used to sing to me.  It was nice to hold Little Vanilla and sing to her again, and to see Teenage Vanilla coming in to be a part of it.

One of my friends I have known for 23 years had a baby girl in December.  She is really a cutie!  Mr. Vanilla and I had planned on having more kids, but we are happy to have the two girls, and probably couldn't run extra children around to activities - 7 trips a week to the cheer gym is enough, and then add in Hebrew and Sunday school.  But it did get me thinking.  I loved the different stages of infant, toddler, and preschool, but the older the girls get the more fun they are.  They get really great to be around as they are finding their independence and getting ready to leave.  I actually prefer the older stages, and not just because they can get their own breakfast so I can sleep in on the weekend.  I like the in depth conversations we have, and with them being older we can do more things.  I enjoy seeing how they are evolving, and how they think and rationalize, and how they see the world as their understanding of it grows.  Do I miss holding them as babies, and being able to dress them in whatever outfit I like?  Of course!  But I don't think I would choose to go back, because going forward has been so much fun!  Plus, we are out of bedrooms - Bobi has the downstairs bedroom, and it is great for her to be able to spend the night whenever she wants..  And Mr. Vanilla got snipped about four years ago, which we both still think is a good route to have gone.

I love watching the girls get older, even knowing it brings them closer to flying off.  But my flying off was a really good experience (I went to college two hours away from home), and I want my girls to have their own great flying off experiences, whatever they may be.  I know I will still be a big part of their lives, I mean, look at Bobi in ours.  But for now I don't want the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years to go too fast.  I want to enjoy it all, enjoy the girls, and watch in wonder as it all unfolds.

Have a Very Vanilla Day!

Scanning for Jeans

So, here I am, eating breakfast and reading articles on the Internet, and I see an article about going through a scanner like those used at an airport to find your jean size at various stores.  Really?!  Maybe I am out of touch, and granted I am not really into shopping, but everyone knows their approximate size, and what is so hard about taking 2 different sizes into a dressing room to see which fits better?

I did buy some jeans about 3 weeks ago.  I went into Wal Mart, went to the Levi's, and grabbed two pairs that were a size bigger than what I currently had.  They were baggy, but they were the fit I was looking for, and it took me a hot 30 seconds to grab and go.  Granted, I am about as far from a size 4 or 0 as you can get, and the article seemed targeted at that size group, but still, why is figuring out your clothes size rocket science?  Mr Vanilla likes to tease me that I am the smallest size at the store for larger girls, which is true, but I still don't have much confusion over which size to try on.  According to Teenage Vanilla, I always go too big, but I would rather be a bit baggy and not have fat folds revealed in all their glory for everyone to see.  And, being bigger, clothes shopping can be a bit distressing.  Even with the help of Spanx. 

Even when I was thinner I still didn't enjoy clothes shopping much.  I enjoy buying the girls clothes (although a day at the mall can be tiring!), and seeing how great they look in the outfits they put together, and I like wearing clothes that look nice, but I wish I could just twitch my nose and have the clothes appear on my body - having to go look and try on is the part I don't like.  Since I am home right now I have it easier, since I can just put on capri pants and nice shirts, and I am good to go.  I realize most people have some sort of body image issue, and it extends into going shopping for outfits, but still, being scanned to let me know my size is too much.  My size is big and bigger, and I can try on a couple of sizes and figure it out.  Oh, the machine gives you the 2 best sizes to try on, from what I read.  Again, Really?!  We can't do that for ourselves?

I was talking with Teenage Vanilla last night, and she is really against me using our actual names in the blog.  I'll give it to her for now, but I'm thinking if I like to read about people's lives, I like to see pictures and know names and ages.  So, it will happen, just don't know when.  Little Vanilla won't care, she will just want to make sure I mention her a lot.  And Little Vanilla is on my mind, as I was up with her once or twice last night (I really can't remember, as I was really tired) around 2ish, and I am tired this morning.  Not her fault, she has that allergy cough going on, and needed more cough stuff.  Which, luckily, I had brought upstairs so I didn't have to navigate the stairs in the dark (I've fallen down the stairs twice).  Unfortunately, Little Vanilla also requested an allergy pill since she was stuffy, so down I went - without falling!

Have a great Vanilla Day!

Bad Blogger

I will be the first to say I am not a good blogger.  I have good intentions, but my follow through isn't there.  I thought about it, and I think what is hard for me is that I don't want to offend or upset anyone, and so I hesitate to say things.  I really need to get over that.  This doesn't mean I'm going to babble on about what the Teenager is doing, or go off on Bobi, but if I have something to say and it includes those in my life, I'm going to go there, just in the nicest way possible.  So, here is to becoming a true blogger, and going for it.  I think I said that in January, but you know what we say in January should always be taken with a grain of salt!

Thursday night all of the Vanilla's, Bobi, and Teenage Vanilla's good friend Hannah went to Seder at the synagogue. Teenage Vanilla had a Bat Mitzvah a year and a half ago, and it was incredible!  However, once it was over we seemed to have taken a bit of a break from synagogue events.  It was really good to go to the Seder and see people, and to also see how many new people there were!  Teenage Vanilla reconnected with her good friend Synagogue Amber (because we also have Cheer Amber - same name, different association), who is also friends with Hannah through Teenage Vanilla.  Little Vanilla got to spend non Hebrew/Sunday School time with her friends, Mr. Vanilla and I got to spend time with friends, and old friends were found!

The Seder started, and I was looking at other tables, and I saw two men who were so familiar.  I thought they might be a couple we had lost touch with when Mr. Vanilla left a job 4 years ago.  I leaned over and asked him, but he said we didn't know them.  Well, once it was time to get food at the potluck, I look over, Mr. Vanilla is talking with the guys, and yep, they were who I thought they were.  Mr. Vanilla said he could only see the back of their heads, while I could see profile, so from that view didn't look like anyone we knew.  Jim had converted to Judaism, and although he belonged to a different congregation, it was a bit far and so they were looking at our Temple.  They remembered we went to this one, and had actually talked about maybe seeing us there.  The world is definitely small!  It was great to talk to them and to see them, and we will be getting together with them soon.

I also took the opportunity to plan a get together with the Dalton's and the Mill's.  I do see Kathie D when I do the Hebrew School pick up on Thursday, but chatting at the car window just isn't the same as being able to really sit and talk.  Donna M and I haven't had a chance to talk in eons, and we sat next to each other and caught up a bit.  We are having both families over in a couple of weeks, and all of us are looking forward to it.  Teenage Vanilla is really determined to get Will D, who starts high school in August, to come to her high school instead of the one he is planning to go to.  She can be like a dog with a bone, so poor Will D is in for it!

Since Mr. Vanilla is not Jewish (although we are raising the girls Jewish) on Sunday we gave the girls Easter Baskets, which Little Vanilla had been asking me about all week.  No live animals this year - although the desire to give Teenage Vanilla another bunny was hard to ignore! - but we did give them a joint gift of a smoothie/milkshake/icee maker.  It can do more than that, but that is what they will use it for.  Instead of hauling out the blender every day, we now have a set with 5 cups so they can make individual drinks right in the cup they will drink out of, everything goes in the dishwasher to clean, and the base is small enough to keep on the kitchen counter.  They used it right away, and we all loved it.  Less mess and parts to play with!  They also got plenty of chocolate, and the new Crayola colored bubbles.  Belle and Jack really loved the bubbles, and their purple and green colored fur showed!  The girls had fun blowing bubbles, the dogs chasing bubbles, and adults watching it all.  Teenage Vanilla got zebra stripe duct tape because she loves to use duct tape for everything, and Little Vanilla got a bright pink and a bright blue nail polish.  Once again we had a great time with holidays!

I am actually carrying a notebook with me now, so whenever something hits me that might be good for blogging, I write it down.  I hate sitting down to do this and going blank, knowing I have all these good ideas bouncing around in my head somewhere.  I have nobody reading this right now, but I plan to change that.  So, if you stumble upon me in the next week, let me know. 

Have a wonderfully Vanilla Day!