Ugh!

Madeline is the kind of kid who will try to drop subtle hints or comments to test the waters.  About a month or two ago she came home and made some comments about Uggs.  You know the ugly overpriced boots.  They look like something I would not want to be caught in dead or alive.  She started out by telling me she didn't like them and thought they were uncomfortable after trying on a friend's pair.  At that time I told her it was good because she wasn't getting a pair.  She seemed content with that ruling.

Fast forward to this week.  While helping me with VBS prep, she mentioned that she wanted a pair of boots.  Black leather boots to be precise.  I'm not a fan of boots to be perfectly honest.  I think of Napoleon Dynamite and his styling astronaut snow boots when I think of people wearing boots in non-snowy conditions.  I put it in the same category as people who wear socks and sandals at the same time (a HUGE faux pas in my book).  I decided I could give in and say that we could look into buying boots for school this fall.  Then she started in on her "I want Uggs" campaign.

Madeline apparently is unaware that I wrote the book on being a cheapskate.  She appears to have also missed the fact that I'm totally unimpressed by fads and buying things just because other people are.  Personally, I think buying a pair of $110 dollar shoes for a kid who will outgrow them within a year is beyond absurd.  Are these magical shoes?  Will they make her responsible?  Will they make her remember to bring her homework home?  Will they make her uber popular like she thinks they will?  The answer to each of these questions is NO.  They're a pair of overpriced, ugly shoes.  They're not magical and they won't last for more than a few months.  They do however have the ability to irritate me as I listen to Madeline pester me to purchase them.  That is not a good quality if you ask me.

Clearly sensing that I wasn't going to say yes, Madeline also decided to lobby my parents to buy them for her birthday.  I suppose she doesn't realize that I have no problem telling them not to buy something so impractical for her.  She probably also doesn't realize that my mom and dad are highly unlikely to buy something so pricey that will only get used for a short time.  She did try to reason with my mom that buying the shoes too big would work because then she'd grow into them.  She and I both pointed out that she'd wind up with blisters and would be tripping over her feet.

I honestly didn't expect to have to deal with this insanity until she was a little older.  The kid hasn't even set foot in the middle school and already she's acting like a shallow consumer driven tween.  Guess she's going to have to come to terms with wearing practical shoes that don't cost an absurd amount of money.

Mrs. Roper Fashion Trend

I don't think I talk about my children's clothing addiction hobby of dressing my girls on here too much.  Of course, I could be wrong and you're all tired of hearing about their clothes.  I've noticed that over the past two years or so that I've purchased less and less for the girls.  During the fall and winter I'm buying less because I refuse to buy the clothing that I wore back in the 80s for my children. I prefer to buy clothes that look like they're from this century.  The spring and summer clothing presents a different problem.  Apparently there are loads of children's fashion designers out there who think mothers want to dress their little girls like Mrs. Roper from Threes Company.  Maybe some of the moms dig the Mrs. Roper look, but I don't.  I've gone from the mantra of I've never met a sundress I didn't like [and subsequently buy in most cases much to Bryan's dismay] to Mrs. Roper would love that!

Gap, Old Navy, Children's Place and Target are where I do most of my shopping for the girls.  I used to be a hard core Gymboree addict fan, but a series of bad customer service experiences and their uncanny way of recycling the same designs, themes and color schemes turned me away.  Gap has been my go to brand for the Madeline for the past few years, but lately I'm finding that every dress they make fits Madeline like it's the latest and greatest Mrs. Roper special.  I'm frustrated that I'm faced with bad 80's styles and Mrs. Roper's closet every time I go to shop for the girls.  I'm beginning to think that I need to go into designing children's clothing.  And for the record, I'm not going to buy my girls clothes that look like stuff Chrissy and Janet would have worn on Threes Company either.  I've spotted the get-up Chrissy is wearing in the picture above in more than a few stores.

Small Successes

Celebrating the little things that add up.

1. After nearly two and a half weeks of trying to decide what I should plant in my retainer wall garden, I stumbled upon the strawberry plant clearance rack at my local Lowes.  What strawberry lover can resist .30 strawberry plants that have flowers and in some cases strawberries already growing on them?  I planted 18 lovely looking strawberry plants in the retainer wall two days ago.  I also picked up some blueberry bushes and rosemary plants for the garden, but they still have to be planted.  There's nothing like having plants that produce yummy food!

2. I made two home cooked meals for my family this week....and they're still alive!  Best of all, Ellie actually agreed to eat her vegetables both nights and she even ate baked potato. Success! The second night she went so far as to request the baked potato!  That's pretty huge since she has refused to eat potatoes (unless they're in french fry form) since she was a baby.

3. Today, I remembered to dress Ellie for Topsy Turvy day at school.  Given my frequent Mommy Brain moments as of late, I'm pretty pleased with myself for remembering this.  I am happy to say that I sent my child to school with two hair styles and hair clips, two different shoes and socks, inside out and backwards pants and jacket, and a backwards shirt.  If this were a normal day I'd start twitching at the thought of letting her leave the house like this.