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I have a lot of simple ramblings to update you guys on.... hope you don't find it too boring! :)

Mid-week last week, my mom decided that she wanted to take R. on a bit of a shopping spree, for some new sneakers and jeans. Miss R. has definitely "sprouted" over the past several months (gaining curves in places I really don't care to discuss! :(, and it's been quite the challenge to keep up with her growing frame.

Because she's grown so much, and her body is jutting out in all sorts of funky ways, I can no longer simply go into a store, pick a certain size off of the rack, and bring the clothes home, knowing they'll fit her. She has to try everything on. And, being a nine-year-old girl, I think she'd rather have all of her fingernails pulled out with pliers than try on clothes. So, going shopping with her is a daunting task, to say the least.

We went to Marshall's first, because my mother needed to return a (too small) pair of jeans she'd gotten for R. previously. My mom wanted to check out the sneakers in Marshall's, but after a few minutes of scoping around, I quickly decided that the designer labels (and designer prices) were just a bit much for a girl that's way too hard on her shoes. With that, we headed off to Payless Shoes.

We went into the girls section, and I promptly started hunting for sneakers in a girl's size 4.... all of which had some kind of problem with the fit. So, I moved over to the 4 1/2's... all of which were still too small. I went around the corner to the women's sizes, and pulled a bunch of size 5's and 5 1/2's. STILL too small. I moved on to the 6's. And, you guessed it... she still had some issue with each of the pairs.

By then, I was getting a bit irritated. It was 45 BAZILLION degrees in the store, and in between listening to my oldest daughter whine, trying to wrangle my youngest daughter in (as she proceeded to use the entire store as her own personal playground), and maintain my quickly frazzling nerves, as my mother's temper grew more and more short with each new pair of shoes that were being tried on, I decided that I'd had enough messing around. I looked for a salesperson, and asked if I could have R's. foot properly measured.

The salesgirl asked if I wanted her measured in a children's size, or in women's, and I opted for women's (to assure that her shoes fit properly).

After a few moments of wiggling R's foot back into the contraption correctly, and finding just the right spot where her foot measured up, the salesgirl looked up at me and said, "Well, her foot is really in between sizes, but it's sitting somewhere between a women's 7 and 7 1/2."

EXCUSE ME????

You can't possibly mean MY daughter! My baby girl??!! The same one who was fitting comfortably in a girl's size 4 back in August.... is now a WOMEN'S size SEVEN????!!! Yikes!

Well, no WONDER why she was fretting over the girls shoes!

I made my way over to the proper section, and scoped it out, finding a couple of pairs of cute sneakers. She picked out one plain white pair that she liked a lot, and said they were really comfortable.

Done deal.

We then made our way to Tello's, to look for some jeans. They had a bunch of Junior's sizes on the clearance rack, and we grabbed several in a size 3. Of the four pairs we picked out, two fit and two didn't (see what I mean about having to try EVERYTHING on???). My mom took the two pairs up to the register, and paid for those too. Thank goodness for her!

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Miss S. missed out on the majority of the school week, 'cause she had a dreadful cold, complete with a dry, hacking cough, all last week. And, as a total act of generosity, she decided that her life wouldn't be fulfilled without sharing her sickness with her Mama! I'm sick as a dog today, and feel like I've been plowed over by a Mack truck, but I'll persevere. I'm just glad the rain is gone... all that moisture in the air wreaked havoc with my asthma, and I was having a difficult time breathing, especially yesterday.

And, even though I truly wanted to just sack out in bed yesterday, we had to take my car to Sears to have it looked at. The dreaded engine light came back on again, but this time, it won't go away.

The crew that does the diagnostics wasn't working yesterday, so we decided to take a quick walk around the mall. I thought maybe Santa might be there, so the girls could stop and say "hi". I also wanted to go into Sears, to see if I could find a good deal on a portable CD player for R. for her birthday.

As expected, Santa was all set up, and ready for pictures, in the middle of the mall. Since my girls were in their play clothes, I didn't really want to have their pictures done, but they could still go up and talk with Santa, and tell him what they wanted most of all for Christmas.

While we were waiting in line, S. turned to me and said, "Mama, I'm going to tell Santa all of my wishes!" She was so excited! Still, I wasn't quite sure how she would react when she got face to face with the Jolly Old Elf.

Quite to my surprise, her excitement remained as she walked up to him. He asked them if they were both good girls, to which they promptly answered with a resounding "Yes!" He asked R. what she would like for Christmas, and she rattled off, "An XBox 360, a PSP, a phone, and some Bakugan toys." He shot her a look as if to say, "Yeah, right" (and frankly, I couldn't agree more! :), and said, "Well, that's quite some list! I'll have to see what I can do."

And then, he turned his attention to S. He said, "What about you? What would you like most of all for Christmas?" She replied, "A pee-pee doll", and he thought she said a baby doll, so he asked, "Which baby doll would you like? Do you like Barbies? Or maybe Dora? Or how about the Princess dolls?" Again, she said, "No... a pee-pee doll!" He looked to me for help, and I said, "She's saying pee-pee doll. She wants the Little Mommy Baby Gotta Go doll" "Oh!" he said, "I see! Well, if you're a very good girl, then I'll do my very best to see what I can do for you, too, okay?"

"Okay, Santa!" she squealed, and she gave him a big hug. He handed both girls a candy cane, and wished us all a Merry Christmas. The girls were on cloud nine.

In Sears, we found a cute little portable CD player, with an AM/FM radio. Just right for Miss R's. room. My husband went back later last night to get it for her. It was Friends and Family night at Sears, and the store was open from 6:00 to 9:00, for Sears employees and their families ONLY. And, everyone who made purchases got an extra 10% off of everything, with special deals on certain items. With all of the discounts, the CD player I'd picked out was only $20.

He also swung by a fellow Freecycler's house, to pick up some children's videos she had up for grabs. When he came home, Miss S. was so excited to see all of her "new" Sesame Street, Dora, Blues Clues and other videos. She picked out the Elmo Saves Christmas one, and watched the entire thing in her room last night, without making a peep! :)

With the purchase of the CD player, I'm officially DONE with both Christmas and R's. birthday! I've also begun wrapping things, so we won't be up until the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve. Goodness knows our little one will have us up before the roosters on Christmas morning!! She's SOOOOO excited this year!

Now, I have to focus on Thanksgiving. We typically have Thanksgiving dinner here, with various family members popping in to eat or to have dessert. I have to go grocery shopping today (but only because we have NOTHING in our house at the current moment!), and I'll start picking up things for Thanksgiving dinner. I typically have a turkey with stuffing and gravy, mashed potatoes, a few vegetables (like broccoli, green beans, corn, glazed carrots), and rolls for dinner. I also make an apple pie and a blueberry pie, and some kind of other simple dessert (like brownies, cookies, or a cake).

What is your typical Thanksgiving dinner like?