Saturday Sillyness

urr..uhh...maybe craziness.
I'll start with the boy. He's cute, yes? Yes he is. Too cute for his own good. And starting to act a little too big for his britches. Remember a few months ago when I was basically having a panic attack because someone had asked Jake to come out and play? And I stood in my living room pacing the floor and stalking the window every time I heard a car drive by? Well, I'm over that. Sort of. Ok not really..BUT I quickly began to realize...hey, it's quiet in here...and he's running off a lot of energy..and he's off just being a boy, doing what all boys should do. Of course I still kept a watchful eye/ear, and I set some pretty tough ground rules about playing outside. But I decided to go ahead and let go a bit on my tight lead around him. Today, I've decided he needs a little reeling back in.
This morning..it's maybe about 9:30. I'm not dressed yet and he wants to go out front to play. I say ok and I lay down the rules:
1. You must stay on the sidewalk
2. You can go from one end of the street to the other; this stop sign to this stop sign. (it's not a very long street at all...and hardly any traffic)
3. Don't go in any one's house.
4. Don't talk to strangers
I figure that covers most of the bases...and I planned on going out there anyways just as soon as I got myself and Megan dressed---10 minutes tops. So, I'm not dressed just yet but I'm just about to go upstairs and I look out the window to check on him. Don't see him. hmmm. Open the door. Don't hear him. hmmm...walk out on the side walk (in my jammies)...Look up one end of the street down to the other end. No where in sight. My heart starts racing and I'm just about to panic...Thinking I've got to be the worst mother in the world. How on earth could I just let him go out there alone? He'd only been out there MAYBE 3 minutes. Where on Earth could he have gone? I start running with Megan up the street when I hear him. He'd gone around to the back of the house...where our driveway is...Where our neighbors and their 2 boys were out playing. *Whew* My breathing settled but I was still hot. I was so mad that he didn't listen to what I had said. Yes, he was still technically at our house...he really didn't go anywhere he wasn't supposed to. But, he should have come back in the house and just said, "mommy, I'm going to go play in the back". I would have been totally cool with that. SO anyways, I've decided...No more going outside alone without mommy or daddy...or he's got to play with the other kids, as long as their parents are outside. That's it. And yeah, it's really for my own piece of mind. He's GOT to tell me what he's doing. Period.
2nd bit of craziness....My local scrapbook store. The LSS is closing down so I decided to go up there and stock up on some card stock. Everything is 50% off right now. So at 4 o'clock I pack the kids up and we head out. The store closes at 5 so I figure...it won't be that busy. Wrong! What the heck was I thinking? I walk in there and there's a huge line...like 20 or more people. Well...that can't be that bad, can it? I grab the card stock I wanted and walked around to see if there was anything else I had to have...not really, so I get in line. It's maybe 4:20 at this point. I finally leave the store at 5:30. Over an hour in line. What was I thinking? Was it worth it? eh. I guess. They didn't have any black or white card stock though...so that sucked. I have to say though, my kids were really good. I didn't pick Megan up out of the stroller until about 45 minutes into the waiting. She did real good. Jake buddied up with some other kids waiting for their moms. He was good too...until this real (ahem)nice lady comes up to me in the line.
Her: Ok who is the mother of that little boy in the orange shirt?
Me: (turning red I'm sure) Me. Oh no, what is he doing?
Her: (she holds up a piece of torn paper with one hand and has her b*tchy little other hand on her hip) HE is ripping up paper!
Oh well. My-jeez lady, it's ONE piece of paper. I'll pay for it for goodness sake. It's not YOUR paper or YOUR store, so why do you care? Ok wait...I'll back up. I just didn't like the attitude of this woman. But yeah, Jake should not have been ripping up paper. But you've got to give the kid a break...he'd been in there for over an hour. I'm surprised one piece of paper was the only casualty. Oh, and I did pay for the ripped paper-just for the record.
So then, after we leave there...I decide I haven't endured quite enough torture for one day...nor have my children, SO I head over to the grocery store. It's already 5:30 and it's dark and cold...people should be home eating dinner right? Wrong again. The place was packed. I do not like crowds...but one of my biggest pet peeves is when people stand in the middle of the isle and act like they don't even see you. Or when they bring their entire family including aunt Agnes and then they all stand shoulder to shoulder across the isle and are completely oblivious to the fact that you, your two kids and your basket full of food are trying to get by. Bugs the heck out of me because my mother always taught me to be conscious of others and to be courteous. If I ever even stepped in front of someone who was browsing the isle looking for something...I was to say "excuse me". And I still do to this day. Anyways, luckily we got out of there without too many scratches and hopefully I won't have to go back for another week.
So that's my Saturday ramblings for ya....I haven't eaten anything all day so I'm off to make me some dinner. Happy weekend!