I Think I am Doing This Wrong

The Plan:

1.) Go to the Library.
2.) Go to Maggie Moo's Ice Cream to get the kids free ice cream cones.

No cost. Free. Gratis.

The Actuality:

1.) Go to the Library.
2.) Fight with the children about why they can't get their regular treats at Maggie Moo's. (Because that isn't what is FREE!)
3.) Arrive at Maggie Moo's to find that they aren't participating in the free ice cream cones.
4.) Silently fume.
5.) Purchase $10 of ice cream for the children. It would be wrong to take them to the door of the ice cream place and leave.
6.) Not so silently complain to the high-school aged person who took my money. He didn't care.
7.) Decide to take a quick trip into Barnes & Noble - ONLY for a guidebook for things to do in Washington DC on our trip this weekend.
8.) Deflect Tater's request for a CD course in Italian.
9.) Deflect Sprout's request for a map of Prague.
10.) Find guidebook...and map.
11.) Deflect request for snacks. (We JUST had not-free ice cream!!)
12.) Get suckered into buying the "Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself" Book for BOTH children.
13.) RUN to the parking lot escaping any other purchases.

Total Planned Cost: $0
Total Actual Cost: $50

I am TOTALLY doing this wrong.

Poke your what?

My kids have recently gotten "into" Pokemon cards. Apparently they are a hot commodity during the bus ride to and from school.

The five minute bus ride. I can't imagine that they have time to wrestle the enormous tins of cards out of their full-to-bursting backpacks, much less partake in any kind of serious bartering.

I am not clear at all on the valuation method the kids use to determine a "fair" trade. It all seems very arbitrary to me, but I guess as long as they are cool with the outcome and I don't have to develop any significant level of understanding or waste any of my few precious brain cells on this, I should just let it go.

I saw something in a magazine recently about making your own trading cards for kids. Cut their favorite characters out of magazines, or print them from the internet. Glue them on index cards, and voila, happiness will ensue.

I have to say that I think whoever wrote that is delusional. Or has extremely clueless children.

That would NEVER fly with my kids - or the neighbors' kids - or really, any actual cognizant child I have ever seen. They know the real deal and can be amazingly detailed in their requirements for specifics. Anyone who has tried (as I have, I never learn) to pass off cut-rate toys as the real deal knows I speak the truth here.

Do you see up there how very many Pokemon characters there are? And therefore how very many cards my children feel that they need to have? And don't even get me started on the Level X and whatever else there is that makes the HUGENORMOUS pile of cards they each have DRAMATICALLY deficient.

I have been tasked today with taking Tater's allowance (because I am not spending *my* money on these things...although I suppose the allowance came from *my* money...but I digress...) and finding him a Level X Torterra card. Because the Torterra card he already has isn't sparkle-y enough or something.

We were at Target on Tuesday afternoon to pick up some medicine and on the way to the pharmacy, we passed the trading card display. Both children began to dance and plead for cards, but Sprout gave it up pretty quickly when I told her she was welcome to bring her birthday or allowance money back and waste *ahem* I mean spend it to her hearts content on all the Pokemon cards she wanted.

However, Tater collapsed in a small boy shaped ball of misery on the floor and proceeded to whine, and beg, and cry and repeatedly chant "But I NEED them". I was strong, I did not cave. I did not float him a loan, although it would have been significantly less painful.

So yesterday afternoon, he wanted to go back with his money. But homework took forever. And today they have karate after school. And if I have to listen to the begging again, I may have to curl into my own mommy shaped ball of misery.

So here I am, off to Target in search of Torterra.

Unless I can find an index card and some glitter.

Virtually Friends

Here are some new blogs of people I would like to think would be my friends if I ever met them in real life.

I'd like to think that I am funny and cool enough to hang with them, although I am probably not.

I'd like to think they wouldn't think I was some crazy blog-reading stalker, but they probably would.

I aspire to be friends with people I don't believe would actually like me...how sad is that?
Must work on self-confidence...add that to the to do list...

Suburban Jungle

Jennsylvania (just finished her book: Such a Pretty Fat, and went right out and got Bitter is the New Black )...she accepted my friend request on Facebook - so maybe I am not TOO scary.