Just another day of rest

We were late to church today.  That’s nothing new.  One of my kids absolutely cannot manage to get ready on time.  I try to keep this in perspective.  For instance, he is GOING to church.  That’s something.

After church, we went directly to a hair salon for haircuts for two of my boys.  Is there anything more boring than waiting for someone to get a haircut?  I think not.

We picked up lunch on the way home and then before I could doze off, I left the house again with my daughter to buy shoes.

Here’s the problem with having an 11-year old daughter.  Her feet are still growing and so the shoes I bought last Easter don’t fit this year at Christmas.  And the shoes I buy for Christmas will likely not fit at Easter.  And because we live in southern California, “fancy” shoes aren’t worn very often and I don’t want to spend a fortune on them.

Anyway, her “fancy” shoes don’t fit any more and we have a Christmas brunch to attend next weekend, so she needed shoes.  We went to my favorite shoe store (Famous Footwear).  I brought along two “rewards” cards that were coupons for a total of $20.  Today was also buy-one-get-one-half-off with an additional twenty percent off after that.

We shopped the Clearance racks and found a pair of dress shoes (white or cream, we couldn’t tell–and really, probably off-season but it could be seventy degrees next weekend, so who cares?) and a pair of RocketDog flip-flops (so cute).

The total for both pairs of shoes, including tax was $3.88.

That would be my best shoe buy ever except that once I paid zero dollars for a pair of flats at Famous Footwear.  (They were $5 and I had a $5 coupon.)

Anyway, I love a bargain.

When we got home, I put our Christmas tree together.  Fortunately, last year I’d purchased additional white twinkly lights to supplement the pre-lit branches because last year some of the branches didn’t light up.  Last year it was extremely frustrating to discover that fact but this year, I knew it would happen so when sections stayed dark, I shrugged and fixed the problem without losing my mind. (I hope I get bonus points for that.)

My daughter and youngest son put on all the ornaments while the dog frolicked around barking her fool head off at us.  She’s not had a walk for a few days because we noticed her limping and decided to try to restrict her activity to hopefully clear up that problem.  So she is extra feisty.

I wandered the house with various decorations, looking for good spots to place them.  I almost finished but not quite.  Tomorrow I’ll either put the rest of the things up or I’ll put them away.  I did note that we still have both Baby Jesus and the spare Baby Jesus which made me smile.

Finally, it was time for a nap, a viewing of The Amazing Race and then work.  I just finished making my son’s lunch and now it’s 2:00 AM and time for sleep.

And now, I brace myself for an extra busy week which includes not only a year-end dentist appointment for three of us (yuck) but also a Christmas concert, soccer tournament, and Christmas brunch in addition to all the regular craziness.