Some Mild Whining, Accompanied by Insignificant Fears and Disappointments

I am a little disappointed, because as soon as Miss Grace wrote this:


I realized what I had on my hands here was a perfect excuse for a giveaway. So this morning I went rushing back to Target—and there were no more owl quilts. Nor were there any of the turtle quilts I’d dithered over and decided not to get and then changed my mind about when Stimey mentioned them.

So then on the way home (it was not really on the way) I went to a SECOND Target, and that Target had a few owl quilts and one turtle quilt, but still at full price. I even carried them all over to the price checker just to be sure.

So. Perfect chance for a giveway, thwarted. Plus, there was no other good clearance. I came home with a box of laundry detergent.

I also bought Elizabeth a pair of leggings because she has to wear pants twice a week for gym class and she haaaaaaaaaaates pants and her jeans don’t fit her comfortably, so we’ll try these. They’re the kind that are kind of like sweatpants except a banded waist and bootcut ankles instead of elastic-cinched. But I’m pre-agitated because according to the school dress code, which I had to sign a paper saying I’d read and agreed to follow, “lounge pants and pajamas” are against school policy. And I ASSUME this policy is in place to prevent 8th grade girls from wearing low-slung pajama pants to school and NOT to prevent 1st grade girls from wearing non-jeans pants to gym class, and I further assume that NO ONE is going to (1) care or (2) call me out on this—but I don’t really KNOW these things, do I, not ANY of them, so I’m mildly fretterpated and imagining conversations with the principal.

Also, Henry was sick over the weekend: his fever got up to 103.1, which is where even I start raising my eyebrows a little and wondering what the heck. And then…nothing really happened. His fever went down, and he didn’t develop any other symptoms. But then today Rob has a fever, and just now William said he was so sleepy and did I think he should have a nap before dinner. So. Sick house time. I shouldn’t be surprised: we have children in FOUR different school buildings now. We are going to get EVERYTHING.

And I chaperoned a field trip last week, and now I want to send a bunch of photos to the preschool because someone did that one year when I DIDN’T chaperon [this spelling bugs me too, I assure you, but spell-check and the dictionary both tell me it’s the primary spelling even though “chaperone” looks better AND makes more sense] and I LOVED getting a couple of pictures of my kid on a field trip. But Snapfish is having an upload problem, and I emailed them about it and they say it’s a known problem and they’re working on it—but it’s been several weeks and I am getting impatient and fretful.

And also I recently watched a movie and read a book, and both were sub-par. So as you can see, I have a hard life.

34 thoughts on “Some Mild Whining, Accompanied by Insignificant Fears and Disappointments

  1. Carmen

    I think you’re very sweet to race back to Target just for us. Thwarted maybe, but sweet definitely.

    I am just recovering from a similar illness. Kieran had a fever for a day, otherwise was FINE. 3 days later, I am hit with the second most brutal illness I’ve ever had IN MY LIFE. What the hell? Shouldn’t my more mature immune system have laughed at that? It’s been 8 days and I still can’t eat due to a brutal sore throat and I’m still not 100% energy-wise. My kids are now in separate schools and I dread this winter. We’ll be in it together, you and I.

    Reply
  2. Sarah

    You can use Picasa or Photobucket or Flickr to post your photos! Or even CVS/Walgreens, which as the added bonus of being able to order the photos and pick them up and hour later at the local pharmacy.

    Reply
  3. Yo-yo Mama

    I made it to Target today and looked. Only the owl pillows remained and at full price. Who the heck is going to buy JUST an owl pillow??

    And I don’t do blogging contests, but I would have for that quilt.

    Reply
  4. StephLove

    I have a 5.5 year old girl who hates pants, too. She can wear skirts or dresses on gym days but I make her wear leggings or shorts to soccer and she’s agreeable.

    Reply
  5. Shalini

    What about the shorts that have shorts sewn into them… That is pretty much all my first grade girl wears, it is still triple digit temps here in TX.

    Reply
  6. Alice

    i was just having a reminisce with a friend last night about how much we loved our super sweet coordinating sweat suits that we used to wear to school back in our 1st grade-ish days. i would have been an unhappy girl indeed if i had to wear jeans (or.. what, khakis?) every time pants were required at school.

    Reply
  7. Chris

    We use Shutterfly instead of Snapfish and are SO HAPPY with them. It’s likely Snapfish does the same thing, but Shutterfly is always sending out awesome email coupons- everything from percentages off to straight up huge batches of free prints and even free photo books. We have three photo books and all of them were free… and I think only one we had to pay shipping on. If you were to sign up with Shutterfly, I bet you’d find a coupon in your inbox for a bunch of free prints the next day.

    …and uh, I don’t work for them or anything, I just love them. Like to pieces. Because I love cheap/free things.

    Reply
  8. HereWeGoAJen

    I went to Target today and looked at the owl quilts (because as soon as you mentioned it, I knew exactly what section you were talking about because I drool over it all the time) and they were not on sale at all at my Target. I was deeply insulted. And Target is usually so awesome.

    Reply
  9. Beth

    Could she wear the long, fitted leggings with a skirt over them? I thought that was rather stylish right now. Just tell her to tell her gym teacher the skirt is an elaborate belt, or a shirt extension.

    Reply
  10. Christina

    Maybe try Shutterfly? Very, very similar to Snapfish. In fact, in the past I thought I WAS ordering from Snapfish, but lo and behold I totally ordered from Shutterfly.

    Elizabeth’s pants sound like the yoga pants I have on RIGHT NOW. I would HOPE they wouldn’t call you out on lounge type pants for gym class. They sound perfect for gym class. In fact, jeans sound horrendous for gym.

    Reply
  11. Mama Bub

    From a former teacher on dress code issues: I would HIGHLY doubt that they would say anything about leggings, particularly know when leggings are legitimately considered pants by most people. I think they use the lounge-wear terminology because they don’t want to argue over what is actual a pair of pajama pants, and what isn’t. Honestly, if they say something about leggings, email me and I’ll CALL THEM MYSELF.

    Reply
  12. elckd

    You could try to get a raincheck! Yesterday I went to Target A and bought a black leather storage ottoman on sale for $59, regularly $79. Today I decided I wanted another, but the sale ended yesterday, and I knew I got the last black one at Target A. I went to Target B which reportedly still had 6, showed my receipt to guest services and told them that someone at Target A said it would be no problem to still get it today, and they reduced it for me. They did ask me next time to get a raincheck slip, so you might want to try to get one from your Target A, but on clearance items “blaming inept employees from another location” is more likely to work!

    Reply
  13. Alicia

    Two of my children have had weird fever viruses in the last week. 101ish fevers, slight headache, one with inconsistent stomachache. About 24 hours of this, and then it’s gone. Children’s viruses are so weird. I always assume I’m immune to these ones that don’t turn in to anything, but who knows. Maybe it’s like the movie CONTAGION.

    Reply
  14. Nik-Nak

    What the hay are they doing in gym that requires pants? Is it because they can’t wear shorts? And if so D-U-M-B!

    I am dying!! for that owl emsemble for my girl’s room but I can’t find the whole set that is affordable by my standards so I guess I shall continue to die.

    Reply
  15. Elisabeth

    I also hated pants as a child and wore nothing to school but leggings, skirts with bike shorts under them, and shorts until I hit middle school and my mother insisted I buy jeans. I’m glad she did, because that’s also probably the time when leggings would have started looking really bad on me.

    Reply
  16. Swistle

    Tess and Shelly- I’m always so nervous the people involved will search and find themselves and get hurt feelings! But I can say it in Super Secret Code!

    The book was oooStillooo oooMissingooo by oooChevyooo oooStevensooo. I thought the narrator was unlikable and kind of dumb (which would be fine, except I believe we were supposed to find her appealing and intelligent), the characters shallow and unbelievable, and the resolution ridiculous.

    The movie was oooMostlyooo oooMarthaooo, and I DID like it, and also thought it was very beautiful to look at and had a lot of excellent “acting through facial expressions alone,” which I like. But the plots were so extremely well-worn (it was a combination of “Career woman unexpectedly forced to care for child” and “Fighty serious woman dislikes man immediately but then warms to him completely”), with nothing fresh about them, so I never wondered what would happen next or how it would play out (“Both turn out to be the best things that ever happened to her”). I found I kept checking the time to see how much of the movie was left—even though I was ALSO kind of in love with all the characters by the end.

    Reply
  17. misguided mommy

    Cracking me up how much of a big deal this quilt has become. I’ve seen so many Twitters and Facebooks about it. Ever notice how you never see people freak out about boy quilts? Why is that?

    Reply
  18. vanessa steck

    haha I love the book you hated :) I found it super compelling and did not see the twist coming. And also heartbreaking. I wouldn’t say it was truly astounding literature, but I enjoyed it. However, YMMV!
    And poor Elizabeth. What the hell is with her school? Why, back when I was in HS (a whole decade ago!) we were PJs to school regularly and we all turned out just fine!

    Reply
  19. Shelly

    Ooh! I’ve read that book and found it sub-par, too. I thought the main character was dumb and unlikeable, too. (I did kind of like the detective that she hooked up with at the end, though.) The twist didn’t really shock me, though I agree that it was supposed to be shocking and jarring.

    Reply
  20. Lawyerish

    The part about Elizabeth’s gym class dress code is giving me vicarious hives. Because (a) it’s a dumb rule and (b) the fact that they made her SIT OUT of class when she wore something that sounds perfectly acceptable is such a perfect example of the mindless and counterproductive bureaucracy of school.

    Also, I was a kid who loathed pants and jeans (I was partial to smocked Polly Flinders dresses, which you can imagine did not exactly make me blend in elementary school), so I feel total sympathy for E. in that regard.

    Reply
  21. Kate

    Fifths disease is going around and it sounds similar to what your kids have. High fevers with no other symptoms, and then a few days later developing a lacy rash. It’s much harder on adults than kids.

    Reply
  22. cakeburnette

    Well dang. I didn’t read the comments before my original comment, so I didn’t know you had already tried the leggings/shorts under the dress thing. Your school’s rules are DUMB.

    Reply
  23. Nikki

    5th’s disease has been going around here, so that might be an explanation for the random fever and nothing else. (Ah, I see someone else beat me to this comment. Ooops.)

    Great, now I am going to have to go to Target to find this elusive Owl Guilt……

    Reply
  24. Stimey

    Dude. Life is hard.

    I feel a little bit like I contributed to your angst this week and for that I apologize. But now you have an EXCLUSIVE quilt. And that’s cool, right.

    As for the leggings, which sound like pants to me, insist that they are pants and don’t waver. I can’t imagine that anyone will question you (although I wouldn’t have thought they would make a kid sit out from gym class either), so if they do, play dumb and be insistent. That combination works more often than you would think.

    Reply

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