Friday
Rob didn't have to work on Friday, because they had a Change of Command the day before. He got the kids up for school while I slept, and then he joined me back in the bed for more snuggles. It was nice.
My friend Christine, from Bunco, came over around noon to hang out and go do my lunch shops with me. She came upstairs to our room to chat with Rob and me while I got dressed, which is weird since we don't normally allow anyone upstairs. It's worse than downstairs! Here it is, the 18th of January, and I still haven't really gotten started on that whole "keep the house clean" resolution. Oh, well. I showed her my surgery scars and stuff, and we talked all about that. I'm so glad I had the surgery, even if I have all kinds of saggy skin and weird scars and marks all over!
Finally, after an hour, we went out and did the two fast-food lunch shops. After eating the second one, we stopped at the mall on the Boulevard. I had another coupon for another free-with-purchase item at Bath & Body Works, and since their super-huge clearance sale was almost over, I wanted to use it before that ended to get a really great deal. Which I did - and since I had two coupons, Chris did, too!
We stopped at Zales to get my rings cleaned and examined. I was supposed to do it in December, but once again, I can't find my paperwork. They had it faxed over from Panama City, FL, where Rob bought my engagement ring, but never once in the nine years since has someone updated the records to show that I've had it examined every six months! Kind of annoying. They still did it though, and they gave me something to add to my records whenever I do find it. Hope it turns up!
We stopped at the pet store to admire all the poochies on the way back out of the mall. We fell in love with with this little guy and played with him in a small room for at least an hour!! We just couldn't give him back; he was such a love. The saleslady thought we were going to buy him and gave us his paperwork; she kept coming back in to try and talk us into it. When we told her we had named him "Poopoo Fluffy Face," she just rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever! I hear it all!" Hee.
Isn't he so cute?! What a silly doggy. Chris and her husband went back to visit him today, but someone had bought him! Aw.
Christine came over and spent the rest of the day wth us. We watched movies with the kids and played Wii Fit for HOURS. We ordered a pizza for dinner, and then she left to go feed her animals while we put the kids to bed. Then she came back to hang out some more! After her husband, David, got off work, he came over to hang out, too. We had never met him before, but he was cool. The four of us laughed and laughed, having a great time, until past the wee hours of the morning. We all played on the Wii Fit again for hours. I fell asleep sometime before they left; Rob says they left at 0500!
Saturday
On Saturday, we slept in as late as we could after Chris and David left, and then the boys got up to go to Golden Corral for Jack's Cub Scout Popcorn Party. They almost didn't go, because Rob didn't want the expense of his meal (Jack's was paid for by the pack), but I insisted because of all the hard work Jack did at the popcorn booth sales.
I heard Jack was being pretty silly at the party! He has good friends there and really enjoys hanging out with them.
For his efforts, Jack earned two patches, including a special Council patch, a real Louisville Slugger baseball bat, and a $15 certificate to the Boy Scout store. He was thrilled and absolutely loves his bat!
On their way home from the party, Rob got a phone call from work, saying he was going to be sent to Haiti on Tuesday for 1-3 months to help with relief efforts after the earthquake there. We discussed it with the children when he came home. They all cried and asked a billion questions, especially the littler two. I actually wasn't too upset. A few years ago, I would have freaked out at the idea of him leaving, but I'm in a much better - saner - place now. I could totally handle it. I'd miss him like crazy, though!
I had coupons for supposedly good deals at Boston Market, so we went there for dinner. It turned out to be a completely horrible deal, and I wished we hadn't gone there at all. But we had plenty of food, and the kids ate well, so it wasn't a total loss. I cringe when I think about how much we spent on that dinner that was supposed to be "so cheap," though!
Stephanie babysat that night for the kids, I think for the first time since shortly after she became pregnant with Luke. They were so excited to have her back! They had already had their dinner, so we told her they could have sherbet for dessert, plus popcorn if they watched a movie, so they wouldn't try to scam her for anything else that they're not supposed to have. They like to do that, like all kids. While we were out, we first stopped at the P.O. to mail a huge ton of stamps to my grandfather, and then we headed out to do a bar shop on the oceanfront.
When we got out there, though, we found out that the restaurant was closing in half an hour! Gah. So we aborted that mission and headed back all the way on the other side of town - not a short drive in this huge city of ours - to do a fast-food shop. At least Rob got some good munchies; he's always hungry! Then we were going to do the bowling shop I had to do sometime this weekend. It was 9:15 by then, and I was supposed to have it done by 11 PM, so when we called and found it was an hour and 45 min wait for a lane, well, we had to just give up and go home. Kinda sucks that I had to pay for a babysitter just to go to the post office and a fast food restaurant, which the kids could have come along for anyway! Oh, well. At least I got some quality alone time with my husband.
When we got back, Rob put the kids to bed and fell asleep upstairs himself, so Steph and I hung out with Luke for a while. He is such a happy baby. Besides some pictures, I got an adorable video of him cooing and laughing at his mama. I'd post it, but it's sideways and I can't figure out how to rotate it on this computer!
Sunday
Rob had to go in to work all day, for about 10 hours, to pack up his shop for the detachment to Haiti on Tuesday. It was then that he found out that he is on now on a second detachment, which is on standby. Basically, it means he's not going to Haiti until further notice. I'm glad he'll be home, but I was really kind of looking forward to saving all that money on food and gas while he's not driving his tank to work every day. Is that awful of me?
The kids and I stopped at Walgreens to start doing my deal-shopping for the day. We did the first 2-3 transactions there and then shopped for over an hour getting the stuff for that last big transaction. Only, there was a question on one of my coupons (the backbone of deal-shopping, fo course), and the manager came over and started going through everything with a fine-toothed comb. She refused to take some of my coupons, which are perfectly good and useable ones, and nothing I could say would make her see that she was wrong. I had a fit. I was pissed! Walgreens is such a huge pain in the ass to shop at anyway, so I said, "I'm done with this store!" before grabbing all my coupons back and dumping out my canvas bags full of stuff back on the counter. We huffed out. Ugh, I was mad. So mad, I forgot I still had to pick up Jack and Sophie's developed pictures from our trips to Great Wolf Lodge. Guess I'll be sending Rob in to do that!
I called Christine to see if she and David wanted to meet us at the bowling alley to do that mystery shop I hadn't done the day before. They agreed, so we went. I had ranted and raved about Walgreens on the phone to her already, so I was over it by the time we arrived. Unfortunately, the shop really didn't go well at ALL, and we left, again, in a huff. I can't give details on that, though.
After bowling, we said goodbye to Christine and David (Chrisvid? I think I'm gonna need a nickname for them now, too!) and then headed out to get some more deals. We stopped at the Rite-Aid near the bowling alley and then another Walgreens that was close by. The employee I dealt with there was super nice, the nicest I've ever encountered at a Wags, and I told him so. From now on, I'm going to that store!
Then we headed way up the road to do my CVS deals. They're always nice; I never have problems with customer service at CVS. Shoulda started shopping there a long time ago! Plus they reward you for using "green" bags, which I always appreciate.
There's another Walgreens between CVS and home, so I stopped there to get the last few deals I couldn't get at the other two stores, before we headed home. The kids were so worn out from all the shopping by that point, but they were doing great. Especially after I split up one of those huge Hershey's with Almonds bars and let them have it. Chocolate makes up for everything, doesn't it??
Christine and David were going to come hang out with me and the kids again, but just when they were on there way, Rob called to say he was on his way home. So they came over to babysit while we went out to do a mystery shop at a new-to-us restaurant, a popular upscale Chinese place we'd been wanting to try for a long time.
We'd heard a lot of great things about this place, so it was a huge let-down for us when the service we received was horrible at best, and while some of the food was pretty good, none of it was anything to write home about, and some of it was even bad. A major disappointment. So much so that Rob said not only would he not go there on his own, he didn't even want me to take another mystery shop there! I poo-pooed that idea, because it wasn't that horrible, and if it's going to be paid for by someone else, I'll gladly go. But with my own money? No way!
The kids had just had baths when we got home, and then I found out later today that they had completely trashed their bathroom, so I'm so embarrassed Chris saw it in that state! Sorry, Chris! It's since been cleaned up, I swear... although I can't promise it'll stay that way for long.
Christine and David hung out with us for another, oh, five-six hours, again until about 1-2 AM, with lots of laughter. They're really a fun couple.
At some point during their visit, Jack had come down, clutching his chest and saying it hurt. We thought it was reflux, because he'd scammed Christine out of a second cup of pudding from the batch I'd made before we left. We gave him some Tums, held him for a while and then sent him to bed.
So when we went off to bed hours later and heard him crying about the same thing, we were quite alarmed. Rob rushed him to the ER while I waited at home. I was anxious... but then I fell asleep, so I missed his multiple updating texts. In the end, everything was fine. Basically, the doctor said it was growing pains in his ribcage area. Poor kid! He's fine today, though he slept in really late.
Monday
Rob was supposed to go to work early, but he'd called in and said he was going to be late, since he'd been out at the ER with Jack. Later, they called back and said he didn't have to come in at all, so that was nice. A bonus free day for him!
We were all so exhausted from the running around and staying up late of the last few days, that we pretty much napped our way through MLK Day. I had a lot I wanted to do, but I was just sooo tired. The kids watched multiple movies snuggled up to us on the couches. It was a nice, lazy day.
Back to the grind tomorrow!
Fin.
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