It's Like 3 Posts in One

Brian is 30. We had a big party for him on Saturday and it was fun. Which reminds me. I need to send his sis-in-law a huge thank you for helping me make the food. It all turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. I think everyone had a good time. I have a lot of alcohol in my fridge right now. Oh and he bought himself a little birthday present. This isn't a photo we took. I found it online, but it's pretty much what it looks like.

As for the other birthday boy, Riley, he received something he has been asking for since he was probably 8. And he's never received one. Not at our house anyway. He has one at his dad's and he has one at his grandma's, but he doesn't have one at mom and Brian's. Because he has the other two. And this year he said if he wasn't going to get the thing he asked for year after year after year for his birthday and Christmas he wanted shoes. The cool shoes. Where you have to go to a little specialty store in the mall to get just the right ones. So I bought him shoes and we went to lunch and a movie for his birthday. And when we came home Brian had bought him that one thing he has been asking for over and over again. And he was so happy and excited even though he already had two. And now we have an Xbox.

So the boys have been playing the Xbox all weekend long and I let them. Partly because Saturday I was getting ready for Brian's party and partly because I just thought what the hell. They are so busy most weekends and definitely during the week. Why not let them be video game freaks for a little while. And I am a little happy. Riley use to go to his dad's every day after school instead of coming straight home. I always thought it was because he just wanted to hang out with his dad and that made me a little jealous. Turns out he was only going there because of the video games. He's been home every day since his birthday. I know it's not a very nice thing to be happy about but I can't help myself.

A few things I heard this weekend that made me almost re-think letting them play video games:

Jordan: Just let me die Riley. Go on with out me. You need to pass this level.

Riley: If you were on Xbox Live they would tell you that you're new and you suck.

Darby has shoe issues. Seriously. I have never met a girl so particular about the shoes she wears. Ever. Most girls like all shoes. Not Darby. She has the most impractical shoes any girl could ever have. And she hates to wear socks. So she has shoes with heels or ballet flats or these little canvas shoes, none of which require socks and it's freezing cold and wet most days. She does have some boots she will wear, but they aren't exactly the ones that keep your feet dry. They are more for a cuteness effect than anything. Did I mention she doesn't wear socks? It grosses us all out.

Anyway, I had had enough of her wearing such impractical shoes and I took her shopping yesterday to pick up something "cute but practical". Wow, what an ordeal. We go to Fred Meyer because they have a decent selection. What about Converse? She says the converse are okay but she likes the ones that go up the leg really high, not just the ones that cover the ankles. Oh yes, and she refuses to wear pink. So, those are out.

She absolutely refuses to wear Vans, period. End of discussion. Same with Skechers. Puke. Nike, Addidas, New Balance, Fila all out of the question. She won't even try them on.

I took her to several department stores and Famous Footwear and everything I would consider practical she did not consider cute. It was looking as if "cute and practical" didn't exist in an 8 year old girl's world. Until we went to Payless Shoes. That's right Payless. She finally found a pair of Airwalk's that were acceptable. However, these had to be just right. For example, the tongue of the shoe had to be long so that it came up over her pants and luckily I had the perfect solution for the too long shoe laces. And now she has a pair of "cute and practical" shoes that she can wear every day with out her feet freezing off and she might even wear socks with them.

Who knows...

And we finally bought a 9 volt battery for our fire detector that has been beeping at us since Friday. Off and on. It was never consistent though last night it pretty much went off non-stop. Let me tell you that was not the best sleep I've ever had. I told Brian we have to get a battery or I'm going to go crazy! We have one now and all is well.