So, I’m getting ready to go to a friend’s wedding in Philadelphia in May and after a review of all of the dresses in my closet, I realized that I was going to have to buy something new because nothing I currently have fits my ‘still need to lose a few baby pounds’ body.

Yesterday I was out and about and I went past a Dress Barn.  Now, I haven’t shopped there in ages, but I figured they’d have a whole bunch of stuff to chose from.  So I went in.

I really wanted something colorful and springy and fun, but after trying on a whole slew of dresses, I ended up selecting a simple black sheath dress.  Not what I was looking for, but it looks like a million bucks and it only cost me $24.

So now I’m on the hunt for fabulous accessories to make this dress more fun:

First up, shoes.  After a brief online search, these are my favorites:

Seychelles Stella Wedge Pump at DSW
$59.95

Apt. 9 Peep-Toe High Heels at Kohls
Regularly $49.99 on sale for $28.99

Bandolino Pliskin Slingback Peep-Toe Pump at Herberger’s
Regularly $69.99 on sale for $59.99

Opinions anyone?

I love taking pictures.  Sometimes I see things and think, “That would make a really great photo!”  The only problem is, I have a really hard time capturing the feeling of the 3D scene with a 2D image.  Still, it’s fun to try to be artistic.  Here’s a couple of my recent “inspired” moments:

I thought the shadow cast by our oak tree was a really neat graphic image.  Yeah, this picture could have been better if I’d taken the time to go outside instead of shooting it through the kitchen window, but when you have two small children, sometimes you take what you can get.

Here’s a different moment:

The bright sunlight glinting off of my ceramic bird in the dining room made me smile.  It seemed so cheerful.  Also, because of the height of the window, you couldn’t tell that there was a foot of snow on the ground outside, which made it even better, because then I could imagine that just beyond the window there was green grass growing and flowers starting to peek out of the ground.  Ahhhhh….

Peter and I did a financial end-of-the-year review together in December.  After looking at some of our spending patterns in 2010 we both felt there were ways we could use our money more efficiently in 2011.  Peter decided to spend less by bringing his lunch to work rather than eating out and I resolved to take a chunk out of our monthly Target bill by eliminating impulse buys during my weekly shopping trip.

Easier said than done…

Today as I was headed around picking up the stuff off my list, I ran across a set of lamps, two table lamps and a matching floor lamp, to be specific.  They were on clearance for $27.98… that’s for a set of THREE lamps, including shades!  I tried to leave them there, really I did.  I had them in my cart, and then I put them back on the display, but somehow they ended up in my cart again.

I told myself that I’d bring them home and if they didn’t get a good reaction, I could always return them and get a refund.

Peter came in the door from work, saw the box and said, “Hey, what’s this?”

Gulp! “Um, it’s lamps for our bedroom.  They were less than $30 for the three.”

And then the last thing I was expecting…

A smile!  Peter smiled at my impulse buy and said, “Does this mean I actually get a light on my side of the bed now?”

(Yes we’ve been married for over four years now and no, Peter has never had a lamp on his side of the bed.)

So it turns out that it was a good buy and if Peter’s reaction wasn’t enough to assure me of it, Alethea’s certainly was.  She watched me pull one of the lamps out of the box and then said very enthusiastically, “Whoa! Cute light!”

Today I had big plans to run a bunch of errands while Peter’s mom watched Alethea.  Of course, it took me longer than I had anticipated (it always does!) to get Lydia fed and changed and loaded into the car.  And then once I actually got in the car and started it, I realized the gas gauge was showing I had less than an eighth of a tank of gas.

It was at that point that the internal debate started.  I didn’t really want to stop for gas right away.  I was already behind my planned schedule and making a stop at the neighborhood station was slightly out of my intended route.  Plus I wasn’t sure how warm the car would get before I arrived at the station and I was thinking Lydia might end up sitting in a cold car while I pumped gas, so I was on the verge of just heading down the interstate and seeing how long it took for the gas light to come on.

But then I heard it… a voice in my head saying, “It’s 10 degrees outside and you have an infant in the backseat.  Do you really want to risk running out of gas and being stranded on the side of the road?”

Now you might think that it was just my own reasonable side sounding its opinion, but I knew better, I recognized that voice… it was my father talking to me.

Funny thing about that, my father’s voice rarely gives me advice in my head, but it seems like every time it does, it’s somehow related to being prepared in a potentially dangerous situation.  I’m not sure what that says about the psychology of my relationship with my father, but I suppose someday when my car breaks down as I attempt to cross a barren tundra, I’ll be able to turn to my children and say, “You know those emergency freeze-dried rations you are eating, you can thank your grandfather for those.”

Flashback to 2003…

I had a pet blue Beta fish named Smurf.

He looked a bit like this:

He died in March.  It was sad, but he passed on Easter weekend and lived a good long life, well, for a fish anyway.

I thought I should give him a proper burial, but the ground was still frozen, so I put him in a plastic bag in my parents deep freezer to await a spring thaw.

…

My mom called today.

She was cleaning out their freezer.

She found Smurf.

The ground is frozen.  He’s not getting a burial.

I thought the least I could do was give him a blog post.

Goodbye old friend.  You were a good fish.  I’m sorry you spent seven years in my parents freezer.

May you rest in peace.