Barnaclebutt

Yesterday I cleaned my room. And tried to catch up on house type chores like washing clothes, folding clothes, and putting clothes away. Ah, dear laundry, so much goes into being dressed.

I also had time with Ellie. Last week was so busy that even when I was home I wasn't plugged into my  kids the way I usually try to be. So she had a LOT of talking to do-making up for lost time and whatnot. On a side note, once she asked me, "Mommy, if you die and go to heaven will you still be able to hear every single thing I say to you?" and Marc whispered, "It depends on if she's in heaven or not." Such is Ellie's need to keep me apprised of all things she is thinking.

So here are some of the gems I got to enjoy today.

When we were in the car on our way to Trader Joe's she said, "Mommy, did you know some people think that the sun is alive?"
"No," I said, "Some pretend people on Doctor Who thought that the sun was alive."
"Right," she answered, "But the people who made up Doctor Who thought it."

Later we were at the mall and when we walked past Abercrombie and Fitch she asked, "Mommy? What is that place?" "It's a clothing store," I said. "Then why does it look so much like a club?" she wondered. "I don't know," I answered, "Maybe it's so people feel like they are part of a special club when they shop there."
"That's dumb," she decided, "Anyone can go in. It's not that special."

Right on I thought.

We were at the mall because Ellie got her ears pierced for her birthday and now she has had the earrings in long enough that she can take out the original cubic zirconium studs and get fun ones from Claire's. She has been living for this day, I tell you what. 

So we were at Claire's. Looking at earrings. Lots and lots of earrings. For a really long time. And I was oohing and ahhing over all of the cute little animals, and peace signs, and butterflies when she exclaimed from the front of the store, "I FOUND THE ONES!" 
"You did?" I said, "What are they?"
"They are DONUTS and they have GOOGLY EYES and they are so CUTE and I LOVE THEM!" she told me excitedly.

So we bought them and put them in her ears right there in the store.

It's a donut. With google eyes.

I have two vaguely related things on my mind today.

Last night the girls and I scooted over to Macy's to try to find Easter dresses. Between the two of them they tried on nearly 50 dresses. We already know that none of the dresses will have sleeves, and the girls are resigned to wearing one of these little beauties with whatever they buy.

Totally shrugalicious, no? So we were just hoping for something close to their knees that didn't show off their lovely lady bumps. Nearly impossible I tell you! They tried on so many adorable dresses that just didn't meet our standards. And frankly, I don't think our standards are all that outrageous. These girls are 14 and 15; they don't need to show off cleavage or miles of leg!

Sigh. Step off box.

The second thought I had was also prompted by our shopping excursion. The dressing rooms in juniors had a line, so we took the dresses the girls wanted to try on and glided up to the lingerie dressing rooms which were empty.

Like I said, they tried on a pile of dresses, but we did hang each one back up and then put them on the clothing rack in the dressing room entry. While I was looking for another size, a sales lady came in the dressing room and told my girls they needed to take all of the dresses back down to Juniors.

When they told me it kind of made me mad. I don't like sales people treating my girls like sub-customers, and it happens pretty often. I said to leave the dresses and I went to pay for the two they had finally chosen (too expensive, attractive, not as long as I'd like but close) and the saleslady asked me if I was planning to take the dresses back downstairs.

I said "no, I wasn't."

Then she sighed and said she hoped I would because there was no one else up there to tend the register. The first thing that went through my mind was a big ole, "not my problem," The second was, "so call someone from juniors to come get them," and the final though, I'm sorry to say it took me so long, was, "why not just help this tired lady out?"

So the girls and I took the dresses downstairs. And although the attendant at the juniors dressing room had been rude earlier, and I didn't like the lingerie lady much either, I still think (putting aside all theories of customer service) it was the right thing to do.