Dum Dums are Important

Is it bad that I have a wonderful ability to completly repress/ignore bad things in my life?

Phil was off celebrating one of his cousin's birthdays a few towns away in the middle of a snowstorm. Remi and I drove the Glass Van to the grocery store because all of Phil's Redneck beater trucks have taken a shit at the same time so he had to take my car to norfolk (our only car now) and drove with Remi in the Glass Van.

I imagine most women might have a problem driving an old Commercial Ford Windstar with bald tires and an empty bed two seater van around town, especially in a snowstorm, with a toddler. Not me, I was excited. I LOVE when im "forced" to put Remi in the front seat of a vehicle (to you safety/lawthumpers its perfectly legal if its the only choice). He loves it, he thinks its the coolest thing ever to be up so high and see everything. He spend the entire time giggling and pointing to stuff. When usually in a car I have to talk him down from the ledge as he screams and threatens to hold his breath until he passes out.

I also love it because of the advertising it does, again most women might be somewhat embarrissed to be spotted around town driving a commercial vehicle with ads and jingles all over it. Not I, I just remember to be extra polite and wave at everyone. Cause I know they know me, especially when im in a company vehicle.

Remi and I went to the grocery store and I put him in the basket of the cart, he sits better there than in the assigned seat. He sits with his legs sprawled out and can look at everything. I think hes a little too big to fit in the seat comfy, I suspect the metal between the legs pinches his sack.

The first thing Remi did was point to a chip display. I grabbed a bag of baked cheesy lays and let him dig in, he does much better in the store when munching on something he wants. I dont fight such small battles, so its just in our grocery routine he pickes out just about anything he wants and he will sit there for as long as I need him to happily munching. The one time that didnt work was when he wanted a yogurt, i suggested gogurt but nooo that was about the worst idea he thought I could have. So long as I go down the finger food aisle first we are fine. He usually picks a bag of chips or some crackers.

I wondered what we were gonna do for dinner, I didn't have anything thawed. I was elated to see that Rotiserrie Chicken were out and fresh and delicious. I grabbed one of those, only $5.00, im amazed at how little they charge for a gourmet perfectly rotiserried whole chicken ready to eat. Its as much as a frozen uncooked one! Who in there right mind would buy a $5.00 uncooked frozen chicken over a $5.00 already cooked to perfection better than anyone could make it themselves rotiserrie chicken? Who I ask WHO??? Not me. I grabbed a chicken, and put it under the cart while Remi was looking away, he knows what they look like and he loves them. He would have whined for me to give him some right there in the store if he saw it.

For some reason when my husband is gone I feel like its time for special treats. idk why. I just always do it. I always get something we dont ever get, not cause Phil wouldn't approve, Phil doesnt give a rats ass what I buy at the grocery store so long as he can consume it. I supose its a rare occasion that Phil leaves us so it deserves a rare treat? However way you spin it it makes me seem like im celebrating my husband leaving, but that really isn't the case...more like an excuse to do something different, like "Well, daddies gone so why dont we buy some cookies for us!?". Sort of thing...Thats what we did. We went to the forbidden aisle I dont ever go down. I let Remi out of the cart and it took us about 20 minutes to finally settle on two things of cookies. We went the Keebler way cause they were on sale for $1.99. The vanilla ones with fudge inthe center, like a backward oreo, and some chocolate lovers chocolate chip cookies.

We ended the shopping trip with a few frozen bags of broccoli steamers and a tub of cottage cheese.

Everytime we go through the checkout they pull out a basket of DumDum Lolipops and let the Remi pickone. He is always pretty excited and to him I think it makes grocery shopping worth it. This time though they didnt give him one. He was pleasant up until he realized we were passing through the exit. He freaked! Tears rolling down his face. At first I didn't know what the heck he was upset about. I figured if it was the dum dum he would have made his "i want" gesture to the checkout lady...not waited until we were walking out. I asked him, "Are you upset you didn't get a dum dum?", he sniffled a tear fell off his cheeck and he nodded "yes", "Do you want mommy to ask if she will give you one?", he sniffled again a light glimmer of hope and grinned a little, "yes"...So I did, I went back to her and asked, "Can he get a dumdum?". Remi started smiling so big when he saw the basket of dum dums, and we skipped out of the store : )

You all would be shocked if you knew how much my baby loves broccoli. He loves it as much as me. Chocolate and broccoli are my favorite foods. I make it fresh when I have the time, but for an every day side dish I buy those steamer bags with the broccoli florets and put it in the micro for 6 minutes and it comes out amazing! I've only made it two ways a pad of butter melted over the top with a mix of fresh herbs and squirts of lemon. Or with a little velveeta and milk mixed and heated and drizzled over the top. Either way Remi devours it all. I normally seperate his entres just to get him to eat something else. If I put all of his meal on one plate he just eats the broccoli and asks for more leaving everything else untouched. So first I give him his protein, then his carb, then his broccoli. I think he is catching on though bc he save room for the brocoli. He only takes a bite or so of the other stuff to satisfy me, then digs into the broccoli.

Last night though I gave his whole meal to him at once because it was all of his favorites, so i knew he would taste everything. Rotiserrie chicken, cottage cheese and broccoli with velveeta. Oh I love watching him eat. : ) I ate a little, had a few bites of the chicken and the broccoli, but I didnt eat much of it, I knew there were cookies that I would feel guilty of later and thought id better skip dinner : P ...

After dinner we played and played and played some more. We crawled around on the floor and through the desk and set up obstacle courses and played pretend with his stuffed animals and he giggled so hard. Then we watched 101 Dalmations and snuggled up with a nice warm bottle and I put him to bed for the night. He didnt' wanna go to sleep and was being kinda whiny in his crib wanting me to pick him up and hold him. We have a rule though that Phil enforces much easier than I do. Once his feet hit that mattress he is not allowed out of it. So he stood there in his crib and we hugged and hugged and hugged and he was trying his hardest to get me to pick him up. But I finally gave him a big squeeze and said, "Its time to go to sleep, we are doing this just like daddy does it. Good night, I love you, I will see you in the morning."...and he laid down. I laid in the bed in our room, waiting for him to stop tossing and turning, thinking I might have to go back in. He settled and was sawing logs, but in that time I realized just how tired I was and I fell asleep too!

Last night was the earliest i've fallen asleep under normal circumstances in as long as I can remember.
The craziest part was that I felt no more rested this morning than I do when I go to sleep at 1am. But it sure was nice to just pass out at 9pm....except I left the chicken out, the dogs were happy about that. $5.00 for a chicken and all we ate of it was 2 legs. : / ...Phil came home at about midnight and I asked him "Did you turn the house off?"..."Yea, why didn't you?", "I never went back down after I put Remi to bed."...When we say that we mean everything, TV lights, turn the heat down, makes sure all 5 entry ways are locked up, the pup is inside, the left overs put away or anything perishable that might have been left out...Of course though, I went down and there was the chicken...oh well...A cheap $5.00 Rotiserrie Chicken became a rather expensive $5.00 chicken leg. I tell ya what though, the big dog was so happy we left the chicken out : ) Its worth it, Phil doesn't let me spoil her like that unless we let something go bad.

This morning I was just thinking to myself what a wonderful evening lastnight was, how much I enjoy being Remi's mommy, and how much I love our home, where we live, our local grocery store, our routine, I just love it all, even my wonderful husband, he really is the sweetest, kindest man i've ever met. I really enjoy my life. Despite all of the bad things I should be upset about...im not...