In retrospect, this is only interesting to me...

But I'm going to post it anyways. MOST of my life is only interesting to me these days, and I'm okay with that.

It's actually a little intimidating to wake up and have a blank slate before you. Here's what TC & I ended up doing on our first day as ladies of leisure:

- Just for kicks The Cupcake decided to wake up early, around 6am. But she did sleep through the night (even if I didn't) so I can't complain too much. We played around the house for a few hours, mostly with her new "BAA!" (big pink ball - $2.99 at Target).

- Breakfast was a bit of a battle, she ate one container of food but rejected the 2nd AND rejected her "nana" (banana) which she usually loves, so I knew we needed to switch things up a bit. I packed a bag, tossed Norm a chicken patty, and we fled.

- I wasn't actually sure where we were going until we were on the road, but we headed towards Toys R Us and I remembered they had Plum Organics squishy food packets on sale for $1 this week, which is a great deal and they are really convenient for travel, so we made that our first stop. TC was very happy to walk across the parking lot holding my hand, and then pleased to sit in a cart, but once we wandered down the aisle with playhouses and chairs and outside toys she started pleading "down! down! down!" and it was so cute that I gave in.

Strategic error.

She had fun running around for about 10 minutes, at which point I was too tired to continue chasing her and buckled her back into the cart. There were many tears. More sad pleading of "down! down!" It was pathetic and I almost buckled. Luckily the tearsdried up when we headed to the food aisle to get what we came in for, and she clutched one of the food packets for THE NEXT TWO HOURS.

- She kept that packet (mango/sweet potato/millet) clutched in her hand in the car ride, and throughout our next trip to Target. I was in search of a 2nd pair of some awesome capri pants that are NOT available online, and were gone (in my size) at the other 4 stores I had looked at. Interesting discovery: Target stores are A MESS on Monday mornings as they haul out new merchandise. But it was pretty quiet, so I finally got someone to look up what stores DID have my capris, and after a quick phone call, we headed to Target #6.

- I still had a few more bucks on my gift card, so I picked up a water table for The Cupcake. I'd been coveting one for a while, the kid LOVES to splash, and we've had some beautiful hot days lately, and there was one on sale this week for $29, so I decided to blow the balance on that. During our loop around the store TC started to "woof" in the dog accessory aisle, point and yell "nana!" at the bananas, point to the fly of my pants and say "bu!" (button), and sweetly whispered "hi!" to at least 6 people. It was a strange word explosion, but she was in a good mood. And she was still clutching the food packet.

- bank pit stop. I love drive-through ATMs. Moms of the world salute you.

- she FINALLY released it when we stopped in to see Grammy and she had to run and open all the drawers in the kitchen (washcloths! dish rags! Tupperware! AMAZING!). We enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches and then headed home for TC's nap.

- She slept well, 2 1/2 hours, during which time I caught up on MadMen and ate a fancy Magnum ice cream bar (it was the closest I had to bon bons!). Decadent.

- Hubby mowed the lawn while I thew together dinner, and we ate on the patio (GORGEOUS NIGHT!). TC destroyed herself with pasta sauce and pureed peas, got dunked in a bath, and it was time for bed.

Things accomplished: good deal on baby food, 2nd pair of my favorite capris FINALLY secured, awesome summer toy acquired, free lunch scammed from Grammy, mama time enjoyed, and Cupcake entertained.

We could get used to this :)

Tuesday is winning, but I put up a good fight...

I'm staring Tuesday dead in the eye, and so far we're at a draw but I think I'm dangerously close to crying uncle and telling Tuesday it kicked my butt (and it's not even 1pm!). Today we ran errands. I think that is the most drastic difference in my post-baby life (other than sleep, of course) is how much more difficult it is to run "simple" errands and keep up on the tiniest of tasks. Today, for example, I had 3 things on my list, 3 separate stops but within a couple blocks of each other in the same area of town. I fed The Cupcake and packed up our supplies, bribed the dog not to destroy the house (yes, we do that. And it usually works) - and all of that took over an hour just to get out of the door.

Once we were on our way, the first stop was the post office to mail 2 documents that were all pre-addressed and ready. I grabbed my two separate methods of payment before we went in, and decided not to bother with the stroller for the quick stop. Luckily we were the only customers and were able to walk right up, but I had to wrestle TC the whole time. Now that she can walk, all she wants to do is RUN and GRAB and DESTROY anything she can. At first I thought that the empty post office might be okay for a few moments since she couldn't open the heavy doors and the counters were high and out of reach, but they had a huge display of greeting cards right inside the door that she exclaimed over immediately, so I had to carry her the whole time. We still got through the task rather quickly, and spent more time getting in and out of the carseat than anything else.

Stop 2 was National Camera Exchange for a return. When I got my new lens I was talked into buying a protective  cover which I really didn't need, and which I found out was too small anyways (despite the lady taking at my camera and picking out "the right one"), so I just returned it and felt much happier. Before I left I had put the item and the receipt in a plastic bag in my purse, so I was organized when I got there and minimized the awkward digging, but again I had to juggle TC who was more than ready to remodel the store. They had a big train table with little Thomas toys, but she had no interest in that when there were racks of "stuff" so nearby. Somehow we made it out without destroying anything!

Stop 3 took a little longer, so I loaded the little miss into her stroller and somehow managed to balance 2 big plastic tubs full of clothes as I steered it all towards Turnstyle Consignment Store. As I mentioned I'm planning on a yard sale, but clothes are always an area I feel never make much dough - you have to price things pretty low, and then hope someone your size & with your (former) taste wanders by too - not great odds. So I decided to take a stab at consigning and see how it goes. It was busy and we had to wait in line, but they let me drop my stuff and wheel TC around so I could sort of keep her occupied (kid loves mirrors, which they thankfully have in most stores!). I avoided looking at much because right off the bat I found a cool pair of Born shoes I wanted, but that weren't all that practical and would have eaten up all my potential profits anyways. It took almost an hour but they took 17 of my 25 items, and I'll get 45% of the selling price if it goes in the next 90 days, so fingers crossed.

After all that I was pretty zonked, but the idea of piling TC back into the car again seemed like too much work so we walked down the block to Wendy's first. TC wasn't in the mood to eat, not even the FROSTY, so I ended up polishing off way more than I should have and feeling remorseful and sluggish. Oops. So we headed back to the car and cruised home where I'm HOPING lady cupcake will acquiesce to a nap, but so far she's kind of squawky...I, on the other hand, could fall asleep standing up and just might if she doesn't let me rest a little!