It's amazing how a day can start off so wonderfully and then turn so drastically awful.

I woke up to cool, crisp, fall-like breezes... it was a perfect morning to lounge around in my very worn flannel PJs, sip on my Starbucks coffee and peruse the Internet while in bed as my kids were playing together in the play room, leaving me alone to enjoy my peace and quiet. At some point I realized that the kids would be getting hungry so I plodded downstairs with my empty coffee cup and scanned the cupboards for something to make. My eyes landed on a can of pumpkin puree. How perfect for the fall. So I whipped up some pumpkin muffins with raisins and cranberries in no time and headed back upstairs while they baked in the oven. In no time my house was smelling like Pumpkin Divinity! I adore anything pumpkin and am terribly afraid that I will succumb to my old ways... my bad habits... my long on again off again affair with Mister Pumpkin Spice Latte! So bad for me and so devilishly good! I will have to try as hard as I can to be a good girl this fall. My muffins will temporarily satisfy my Pumpkin Spice Latte need. And my muffins are loaded with vitamin A... so take that PSL!

So after a nice lazy morning I need to get the kids out and about. They still need shoes. The older two do. Rebecca needs school shoes. Uniform colors are black, navy or brown. She doesn't want Merells this year and she is no longer in kid shoe sizes. I will not spend more than $50 (which, in my humble opinion is pretty generous for a damned pair of school shoes that will get trashed at the end of the week.) And there's not much of an option for a 10 year old that wears a size 7 (adult) shoe. They're all either lovely and too expensive or whorish and hookerish. She is 10. And the shoe designers need to get that. And I need her in a classic shoe. But that's just me. So I am cheap, fussy and very hard to please.

I hit Marshall's and TJ Maxx in hopes of coming across the darling little bumble bee Lilly flats my friend Jess told me about. No such luck. Then I go looking for the darling Lilly sunglasses I believe Melissa told me about. No such luck. Boo for me. But, we found a great pair of navy Liz Claiborne driving mocs for Becca. One size 7 left. If the shoes fit wear them. And by gosh they did! They were so adorable had they had a pair in my size I likely would have snatched a pair for moi aussi! Success! Better yet, and more pleasing to my cheap-skate eyes, was the $29.99 (from $75) price tag. Bingo! Booyah!

But the boys were misbehaving. Terribly. Running. Screaming. Shouting. Hiding. Behaving as they do when they have to do something they don't want to do. Ok, Christopher was not all that bad. It was mostly Alexander. And the little one is so darned cute that despite his terrible behavior all the blue haired ladies were smiling at him... or were they just laughing at me? And then Rebecca was whining because she was all embarrassed by her brothers. Calling them stupid, dumb, idiot, blah blah blah. I need a flask. Badly. Anyone care to send me one? I'll give you my address. Email me through my profile. Some prefer Calgon. I'll take nice Cakebread thanks. Ok, that's a bit extreme. I'll take anything... So we are getting ready to get on line and Alexander decides to pants his big sister. Rebecca is humiliated and embarrassed and I try really hard to try and stifle a chuckle. She screams. Loudly. I don't blame her. I find myself at the Returns register and look at my three and say calmly "I have three items I would like to return."




The cashier and I get a good chuckle. Gosh, I wish Rebecca would lighten up and get a sense of humor already!