Saturday, November 29, 2008

My kids can see.... liver spots?

The kids got new glasses this week. They both went from nondescript wire frames (2 pair for $99) to dark chunky frames with attitude (2 pair for... um... more than $99). The timing on the expense could have been better, I suppose (like after Christmas), but Younger child could barely see out of her old glasses, and the days off from school presented an excellent opportunity to remedy the situation without disrupting a school day.

The difference in their prescriptions was enough for them to be marveling on the way home about all the things they could now see. Normal children might wonder again at the leaves on the trees, or the birds in the distance. Perhaps note the wording on signs at the next intersection... Not my children. Older child exclaimed, amazement in his voice, "I can clearly see the liver spots on that old lady in the car beside us!" Younger child leaned over to see and cooed, "Oooh! Me too!"

Yesterday, we braved Black Friday traffic to take older child back to the eye doctor, so he could get his new contacts, too. We go to the optometrist connected to Walmart, so I was dreading the Parking Lot of Doom, but we were shocked at how relatively empty it was at noon. I've seen that Walmart busier than that on non-holiday Saturdays. Maybe all the shoppers were huddled at the doors at 5 am, shopped, and went home, leaving a wide choice of parking spots for us. We even went IN Walmart after his appointment! We stood in the main aisleway for a few moments, decided we didn't need anything, then turned around and headed back to the truck.

And I almost got away with not spending a penny on Black Friday (contacts paid for earlier in the week), but we were hungry, and someone in the back seat reminded me that we had very little to eat at home (i.e., no Hot Pockets in the freezer), so we plunked down $8 at Taco Bell.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Reviving the comatose

Okay, perhaps 'comatose' is a little strong. But what else would you call it? That state of being in suspension, languishing in perpetual same-ness. No growing, no changing, just... there.

Alas, thus has been the woeful condition of this blog. Begun more than three years ago, played with every now and again over the course of a year, then veritably forgotten for more than two years! It's just sad. Sad, sad, sad. Sure it's there in the dashboard when I log in to blogger, way down at the bottom of the list, but you know when you see the same thing all the time, you quit seeing it? Like the christmas tree in the front room that stays up for eighteen months? It becomes part of the background noise and you don't even see it anymore.

So I'm rescuing this blog from the bottom of the dashboard list.

Actually, my baby sister has inspired me. She's been posting to her blog daily in honor of NaBloPoMo. It's been nice to be able to keep up with her (since she lives several states away). It got me thinking that I need to keep up with my blog. I do have a separate family blog (that is also in desparate need of updating), but I started this one just for me, and I'd like to keep up with it. At least every other day, if not every day.

We'll see :-)