Hormones are stupid (mine, anyway)

There is a lot going on right now.

The surveyor who is helping us repeat our lots for the house we're building found some discrepancy in the property line between us and our next door neighbor. The neighbor believe that the boundary is our fence when he bought his house, but he's wanting to figure out how much land he might be standing to "give away" if he signs off on our agreement that the fence IS the boundary. We have no idea how much it is going to cost or how long it is going to take to fix this.

D went off on me today, which hasn't happened in a while but is also not an irregular occurrence. Many hurtful things were said (which I have no doubt were sincere on their part; I mostly stayed quiet).

We've had a number of sort of surprise expenses lately, just as we were already having to pull money out of savings to meet our mostly-normal expenses. I'm shocked at how it can still be challenging to squirrel any money away when your household income is above the national median income. And we do not have a lavish lifestyle. We are comfortable; we're fortunate. But it is really close every payday, and has been for almost a year.

If you ask me how I feel, though, the truth is that I feel upbeat and pretty positive. That's kind of my default.

Four weeks ago, though? After I put everything on the cabinet into the sink so I could use it to stage the clean dishes from the dishwasher and James said, "I was using that fork and spoon," I burst into hysterical tears. For the second time in two days. And the first time was an equally stupid trigger."

I think I'm in pre-menopause. As we speak, my current cycle is 39 days (which I only know thanks to Apple Health), and I've had a 60-day cycle in the past year. I'm kind of scared, though, because when that 60-day one ended, the next cycle hit with a vengeance of pain, sensitivity, nausea, and chills. 

And the hormones.

There are maybe 3 days per cycle where I'm emotionally out of control. I spent one weekend listening to the Encanto soundtrack and weeping uncontrollably. I get overwhelmed by my responsibilities, and I resent the people around me for not making my life easier. Then I'm back to "normal" again.

I really hate how unpredictable it is. I feel badly for my family, even though I try to warn James, at least, when I can feel the cloud coming on.

I'm hesitant to take "drugs" for it, because most mood-altering meds have to build up in your system... and I'm only off-balance a few days per month, if that. 

So, I get it. You need hormones to metabolize food and have babies and sleep and stuff. But I'm wondering if they're worth it right now.

Not that I'm complaining about being in a sort of serene place right now. Just good grief. The lack of control. Yeesh.

This lady is closing in on 50, baby!

Well, eBay, it's been a nice 23 years, but I'm done...

In early 1999, I signed up for an eBay account. It was fun to have access to almost anything I could think of (kind of before Amazon was doing that), and soon I realized that I had things other people wanted, too. 

During the lean years of my second marriage, I made enough money on eBay to get us through some tight times. I sold things that were dear to me, but desperate times...

I'd found an expensive (to me: $25) copy of the long-out-of-print book "Jellybeans for Breakfast" that I ended up selling a couple of years later because I realized that it would sell for over $200.

I sold a Grover stuffed doll I'd had since childhood... It had been my first experience with savings. I wanted Grover really badly; he was about the size of the actual Muppet, but a doll and not a puppet. He was $5. I had $1. My parents told me that if I saved my allowance, I could get him for myself. I got $.25 a week. So for months, no bike rides down to Wilke's Grocery to see how much candy I could snag for $1. That was a neighborhood staple, so it was rough! I was only 5 years old, as well. Delayed gratification comes HARD at that age. Anyway, sixteen weeks later, I walked out of Walmart with my buddy Grover! But in my early 30s, someone was willing to pay $85 for him, so it was a no-brainer.

I also sold four Little People sets: Sesame Street, schoolhouse, hospital, and house. As my sister and I have had a "second round" of kids, and my niece has a young 'un now, I think maybe my mom regrets giving me those. But it was more than $350 that we desperately needed. 

My ex-mother- and sister-in-law both had/have excellent taste in... everything. And they would often send me clothes for D. These were gorgeous smocked white dresses for Easter, and gingham jumpsuits with ruffles and bows. From the very beginning, these were not D's taste on any level. So what I would do is save one outfit for portraits, and sell the rest on eBay when they were new with tags. Ca-ching!

Yesterday, I happened to look through my selling history, and I'm amazed at how many things I sold for $1-$5. That represents the majority of what I sold! I did some volume, and made sure to pad shipping a bit, so it was apparently worth it for me.

Then, maybe ten years ago, eBay changed their fee structure. You didn't have to pay to list something, but they charged a lot more as a seller's fee. I hadn't sold anything in a few years, then had some things to get rid of, and between increased shipping charges and their increased take of the sale, it just wasn't worth it.

In January, however, I decided to get a compact camera with good zoom (less than my giant Nikon, but more than my tiny Sony) and then sell both of the cameras I had. Especially with the dog, carrying around a camera the size of a DSLR is just not practical. I sold the Nikon for a nice price (I threw in all of the accessories I'd bought for it, so the buyer got a good deal, too). Then I ordered my new camera, and after I got it, I sold my Sony, as well. 

A week after I'd sold the second camera, I got a message asking about why they hadn't received the camera yet. I assumed it was about the Sony, until I looked at the tracking and realized that, although I'd dropped the Nikon off on Saturday, January 14 at a local shipping company, because it was the weekend and Monday was a holiday, it hadn't been picked up by the post office until Tuesday, January 17. And it had not moved since then. It was January 28. So this guy was super patient to wait two weeks after purchase on an item we'd shipped Priority. The other camera, which I'd mailed a week later by dropping off at an actual post office in Cedar Park, had gotten there two days later.

I immediately filed a service request with the Post Office. I hadn't heard anything in 24 hours, but had gotten two automated emails: one from the Post Office at large, and one from the Lago Vista branch. I called Lago Vista and talked to a guy who said the item was sitting in Austin and we were just at their mercy of when to send it out because of staffing issues. I was skeptical, "But for TWO WEEKS? I sent something out of Cedar Park and it got where it was going just fine." He said yes. I asked him for a number I could call to file an insurance claim, because this dude had paid $900 for the camera and I wanted to get him his money back. The employee said that I had to wait 30 days before filing an insurance claim.

I was in constant contact with the buyer, explaining all of this to him. A week passed. I got a notice that he'd filed a complaint with eBay. I told him that I understood why he'd done it, and I answered eBay's questions about the situation. In the meantime, I found out that you don't have to wait 30 days to file an insurance claim for Priority mail; just 15 days. Dang. I filed an insurance claim immediately.

eBay messaged me after a couple of days and said that they'd decided in the buyer's favor and were going to take $900 out of my checking account (even though I'd only received $736... they have to get their mon-ay!) because I hadn't provided proof of delivery. They said:

"To avoid this in the future; I’d like to share with you some detailed information about proof of delivery, so you don't have to worry about a lost item in the future. Please ensure a tracking number with in your handling time. When a buyer doesn't receive an item, sellers are protected if they can provide proof of delivery. Proof of delivery is tracking information from a shipping company that clearly displays:

"1.The delivery status of the item as 'delivered' or 'attempted delivery'

"2. The date of delivery (which shows the seller posted within stated handling time)

"3. The recipient's address, displaying at least the city and state or ZIP code (or the equivalent) of the address listed in the sale

"4. For transactions $750 USD (or local currency equivalent) or more, confirmation of the recipient's signature is required."

I answered: "I sent you the tracking number. I bought postage through eBay. I can't help that it wasn't delivered; I tendered it to the postal service. I'm trying to recoup from them. And if they somehow find it now and it gets to him, I have no way to get my money back. I don't understand how you can say you don't have the tracking info since it's literally in my account, AND I sent you the number along with screen shots. What else am I supposed to do?"

They responded: "I’ve reviewed the case further and found that at the time we stepped in and made a decision on February 11, 2022, their [sic] is no new update from the tracking, last update was January 18, 2022. Checking further today it shows new movement. Since it’s already way past the estimated delivery date and the buyer didn’t have their purchased item yet, we closed the case in their favor and gave them a refund. We highly advise you to keep track of the item and be in continuous communication with your buyer. Once the tracking shows delivered, you have 2options: 1. Send your buyer an invoice through PP for them to repay for the item; or 2. Send your buyer a return label for them to send your item back Most buyers easily agree to these options because they already got their money back."

Excuse me for being cynical. But new movement? What?

I just responded to eBay: "I did everything you suggested. We were in communications the whole time."

I looked and, sure enough, my service request didn't do squat, but once I filed an insurance claim, that seemed to have lit a match under them and they miraculously located the camera. 

My final (I thought) email from eBay said: "At this point, it would be best if you will continue contacting USPS to get an update about your claim and possibly get your item or money back. To avoid the same situation when sending items to your buyers: • Purchase shipping insurance. Shipping insurance is the only way to protect you in the event that an item does not get delivered to a buyer and may be lost in transit. • Use a trusted carrier. Make sure to use a carrier that has great history when it comes to shipping service."

By this point, I knew they weren't going to listen to me. And the $900 had come out of my checking account. But I just said, "Again, I literally did everything you're suggesting."

The buyer got the camera and immediately sent me $900 via PayPal. He managed to avoid sales tax, so good for him. I messaged eBay and asked them to close down my appeal, and I wanted to close my eBay account.

But THEN, I got THIS email from eBay: "Upon checking on ebay's end, we do see that the USPS item number shows item got delivered last February 15, 2022 and the buyer also confirmed that item was received.  In line with this, we are able to reverse the refund made for the buyer. Laura, you were not held at fault. You do not have to do anything else. I will be sending you a confirmation email in the next few minutes. Funds for $900.00 should be released back to your Bank account in the next 24 - 48 hours. I am glad I've fully resolved your concern for today. We value your business." 

NO YOU DO NOT.

I had already closed down my PayPal account, and that's the only way the buyer has to get his money back! This is the worst. So now I DID request my eBay account be deleted, and I'm waiting for the money to hit my account so I can sign up for PayPal for 20 minutes, send this dude his money back, and we can be DONE WITH THE WHOLE THING.

Ridiculous.

I do like my new camera, though!

Is Mal Becoming a Mini-Me?

 If it's 9:00 AM, Malcolm is dressed for the day.

For most of Mal's life, he's pretty much been happy doing his thing in a diaper or his underpants. Especially having been home so much the past year, he was getting used to not being dressed.

For whatever reason, during the past couple of months, he's decided that he gets dressed at 9:00. If he wakes up at 8:15, he'll watch videos or chat for a while, then hop out of bed at 9 and put on his clothes. If he wakes up after 9:00, the first thing he does is get dressed.

I've never made him get dressed unless we were going somewhere. I liked it better when he was clothed, but since that's just my own preference, I never pressed it. Now it's his idea, and it's cool that it just happened organically.

Also, he's taken up one of my favorite pastimes: religiously studying lyrics and "practicing" singing songs until he has them memorized. In this case, it's the "Encanto" soundtrack. He is super proud of himself when he can sing a few of the songs all the way through.

The other day, we got into the car, and he asked, "Who needs a radio when you have me?!"

What a great kid!

Another thing Mal is doing lately is getting his feelings VERY hurt when I don't agree with him, then bargaining with me to say that I DO agree with him. One example, going back to the lyrics thing: A couple of the printed lyrics from "Encanto" are wrong. There's one part where Maribel sings, "Well, I gotta go; the life of a Madrigal!" But the lyrics say something like, "Well, I've got a good life of a Madrigal" or something that doesn't really make sense in the context of the song. (Another one, where the townspeople sing, "We're only up the road," they have, "We're rolling up the road." What? No, they aren't. Good grief.)

Having memorized everything so carefully (as well as taking incredibly seriously ANYTHING that's in writing), Mal is pretty invested in the incorrect lyrics. I told him he can sing them however he wants, but he wants me to agree that the wrong lyrics are right. And I can't, because they're not, and I don't lie to my kids. Anyway, he cried and stayed in his closed room for an hour, after threatening to do so if I didn't agree. When I still didn't agree, he was pretty disappointed. 

All of this to say that life with Mal continues to be an adventure. I never imagined I'd have such a young kiddo when I was closing in on 50, but it's such a blessing. Love this child.

"I think I'm going to start taking pictures of my clean folded laundry"

"It might seem crazy, wearing stripes and plaid. I Instagram every meal I've had." - Al Yankovic, "Tacky"

A friend of mine moved recently, and we've been keeping up via email and the occasional text. She'd offered me a one-off job, and when I responded that I really didn't have the time or energy to do it, I was kind of in a funk. Those have been happening on and off for the past year or more, and I'm thinking it might have to do with peri-menopause and hormones. Anyway, I sent her a link to our December pictures because we really did have some good times that month (we have good times every month, actually, of course).

When she responded, she said that she really enjoyed the pictures. "I especially loved seeing your food photos. They are proof that you are accomplishing things every day! I should do the same. Maybe I’ll also take photos of piles of folded laundry!"

My friend is literally the most encouraging person I know. After I'm around her, I always feel so lifted up and affirmed. So her sentiment was sweet, but I also don't think she (or maybe anyone else) understands why I take pictures of food. Maybe it IS because I'm "Tacky," although I don't IG my meals (probably only because Luke is the account-holder-of-record).

But long before social media was a thing, I've taken pictures of food. It started with when I'd eat at really nice restaurants, which wasn't often. Food is plated with care, and it's like a work of art. It's also ephemeral. So I like to capture the beauty of it before it's gone.

James spent hours working on his first bookshelf. He took pictures of each step to record the progress, he learned a lot, and the finished shelf is beautiful. We still have it. We will have it for years. Every time I make a meal, I spend time on it. I learn things when I cook. I produce something that is for my benefit, and often for the benefit of the entire family (except that ingrate, Mal, who only eats my desserts and never my actual meals). 

For me, I don't really take pictures of the food to remind myself that I accomplished a meal, though I suppose it will be a good reminder if I ever need one. It's because I delight in the aesthetics of a pretty, delicious plate (or bowl; or tumbler). I enjoy a tasty, fulfilling meal. Taking a picture of it means that once it's gone, I can still see the picture and remember that great serving of food.

I also take pictures of doughnuts, cakes, ice cream, pretty drinks, cool and weird candy I've never seen before. I mean, I take pictures of everything, actually. My family, nature, public art, weird stuff... This is primarily how I remember things. Every day, Google reminds me of thing that happened on this day last year, the year before, the year before that... And it's fun to see "Oh, yeah, we've been doing the vegetarian eMeals for almost a whole decade!" and "I'd forgotten that I made that cake for Valentine's last year!" and "Thank god Mal isn't a baby anymore!" 

I don't have as much visceral pleasure eating food as I used to, back when I was restricting. Back then, I would practically moan through a good meal or dessert. Now, I still appreciate it, but when you eat what you want, it all kind of stabilizes. Kind of like when you're generally happy, your highs aren't quite as high as they used to be, because you don't have super lows to bounce back from.

Anyway, here are some pictures of meals we've had in the past few weeks. Call me wacky, but I don't think I'd feel as happy about pictures of my balled-up socks.

Obviously, I didn't make these. Aren't they cute, though? Super tasty.

A veggie pancake I saw on TikTok.

Arepas I prepared after we watched "Encanto" a time or two.

Happy weekend and happy eating!

Adventures in Homeschooling Socialization, I guess?

Yesterday (Wednesday, January 26; it's taken me a while to finish this) was beautiful but chilly. First sunny day in a while, but in the low 40s. So the meet-up we usually have at parks on Wednesdays met at a coffee shop. The organizer is a super planner, and did call them and ask if it would be okay. Everyone brought board games. I was on the fence about going, but Mal wanted to take Sum Swamp (a birthday present from Uncle Khrys and Aunt Mei Li a couple of years ago; he still loves it!). I tried to prepare him with the idea that if everyone brought a game, we probably wouldn't have time to play them all,

First, after we'd been there a bit, one of my friends came up and said, "I wanted to come talk to you for a minute before you take off without saying anything." This is what I do. A lot of times, Mal is having fun, and then he's ready to go. So we go. When I got home, I messaged her, "Irish Goodbyes; they're my jam." She texted back, "100%."

I guess I don't understand the point of making sure people know you're leaving. I mean, if I knew we were needing to plan something or someone had told me to check in with them before I left, okay. But there are often 20+ moms and dads at these events. And if I don't tell EVERYONE good-bye, then how do I pick who to tell? If two people are in a conversation, I really don't want to get it off-track by insinuating myself into it just to say, "Miss me, folks!"

Anyway, yesterday, we were there for about an hour. Mal played one game with a friend of his (not the game he'd brought; I was proud of him). Then the other kid wanted to play a different game with a different kid. Mal REALLY wanted to play his game, and his two best friends were in the middle of another game altogether.

There is a sweet maybe 4-year-old boy who is super sweet and friendly. He loves our dog. I think he just doesn't have a lot of language skills yet. He understands things, and responds. He's just a cute little guy who loves playing with everyone, but doesn't talk much. I asked him if he wanted to play Sum Swamp, and he did. Mal got to play, and I helped this kiddo a bit, then his mom realized we were playing and jumped in. Later, she thanked me for showing him the game... and I thanked her for letting him play the whole thing, because Mal was so keyed up to play it. Actually, the boy won. And Mal was a GREAT sport about it! I was pretty proud.

ta

By the way, yes, it was in the high 40s and yes, my son was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Also, since this was indoors and Omicron isn't quite peaked here, AND all of the employees had on masks, we wore ours. I told Mal before the other kids got there, "It's possible that we're the only ones who are wearing masks. That's okay." And we were. It wasn't any big deal.

Later...

Hey, guess what? One of the kids there got sick and tested positive for Covid 2 days later. Fortunately, she's fine; had all of her shots and had a mild case. 

Yesterday (Sunday, January 30), Mal wanted to go to a park we've never been to before (he does this pretty often; it's tricky finding new ones!), so we did. He ended up finding a playmate and hanging out for two hours! I walked the dog around, did some training, was a little bored, honestly. It was a gorgeous day, though.

Okay, well, I was going to write more about planning our upcoming vacation, but Mal is having an existential crisis because he just realized that the house we're going to build isn't going to look like the modern farmhouse $1.4M house we looked at yesterday. So I have to go take care of that.

Austin Christmas Staycation

This Christmas, we didn't put up our tree because puppy. Instead, I wrapped our fake bamboo plant in lights and put the star on top (fortunately, I'd neglected to pack it up last year, so it was easily accessible). Actually, I put the star on top of a telescoping pole intended to help unscrew lightbulbs that are up high. The "bamboo" isn't strong enough to hold up the star that we have.

Anyway.

Christmas morning, I just covered the kids' presents with blankets, and it was just as much fun to discover what was under there, AND there was plenty to clean up because stuff comes in packaging, so we didn't miss out on anything by not having wrapping.

After we'd done that, I got a message that the electronic key to the room we'd reserved downtown was ready! We played a little more, then packed up and drove into Austin.

On the way, we stopped by Pease Park for James to see it for the first time. It was pretty busy, but not any busier than the other weekday Mal and I went. 

Mal wasn't super interested in playing a long time like we did last time, though, because he knew our hotel room was ready, and that's his jam.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on South Congress. It is a great location, and the price was perfect. I'd wanted us to stay closer to where we used to live, but even the places that seemed pretty well-priced were inordinately expensive once they added on a pet deposit and mandatory valet. I looked into Spot Hero, but many of the lots downtown don't offer in/out privileges, and I didn't think we'd never need to leave, but wasn't sure. Then my sister reminded me that they'd stayed at Embassy Suites several times when they'd visited Austin from Dallas, and it ended up being perfect.

We had a king bed suite, planning for Mal and James to sleep in the bedroom, and me to sleep in the "living room" with the dog. When we first got to the hotel, we just chilled out for a while. And when I say "chilled out," I waited for the dog to calm down. He was sniffing around a lot, because it's a new place. Even though he's never peed inside anywhere we've ever been, I was still pretty nervous until he peed outside. And we were on the 8th floor, so between James and myself making a couple of trips out each until he finally relieved himself, it was a lot of ground covered!

This was our view. Not too shabby!

For dinner, I ordered Teji's for James and me, and McDonald's for Mal. Grown-up food was being delivered, but Mal and I walked down to pick his food up. And McDonald's isn't open on Christmas, Which is cool, I'm glad their employees have the day off; but it'd be nice if the app had gotten the memo. Still, it was a nice hour-long walk for Mal and me.

Mal ended up eating some mac and cheese from the hotel store, and was more than happy with that and an apple and some Airheads as dinner.

That night, I was a little stressed when it was bedtime. The hotel is really pretty, and part of that is that it has an atrium. That also meant that pretty much every noise in the hotel is "hearable" in the rooms. Luke kept jumping up and running to the door and whining when a dog would bark two floors down, or when a kid on the bottom floor was crying. THEN someone had a screaming, out of control kid running up and down our "hall" for a good 45 minutes after 11:00 PM. The man was yelling at the kid, and the kid would holler louder. Then people were calling down to people on the bottom floor. Just before I called the front desk to ask if this was typical, I guess it quieted down. 

Luke slept with me in a full-size sofa pull-out, and everything went pretty well after it finally quieted down.

Sunday morning, Luke woke up at around 6, so I threw my shoes on and we went for our walk, even though it was dark. Unlike our neighborhood at home, Austin proper has PLENTY of lights to illuminate even the darkest hour. (Too many, frankly.)

We got back to the hotel and rested a bit, but Luke was keyed up. A bit before 9, I woke James up because Mal had gotten up and I needed to get the dog back outside. James took Mal down to eat while I walked the dog to a fenced dog park. There is an off-leash area in Auditorium Shores, but it's not fenced, and it's close both to the hike and bike trail and some pretty busy roads.

The walk was nice, and the park was basic but had some pups for Luke to play with.

By the time we got back, we'd already gotten in 10,000 steps, and it wasn't even 11 o'clock!

James had brought me breakfast, which I ate while the dog slept. He actually got into his travel crate and took a nap of his own accord, after our having put him in there a couple of times to manage him when he was acting out.

Mal loved playing in the hotel. He would go out and "buy groceries" and do all sorts of missions, walking around the floor, circling the atrium, and coming back to just outside the room.

In the early afternoon, we got out to visit Toy Joy.

Then it was back to the room for some rest and relaxation.

James ended up walking over to McDonald's to get Mal's promised meal from the day before.

In the late afternoon, we decided to walk down to see the Capitol Christmas tree.

I was so proud of Mal! He'd been flagging on the walk home from Toy Joy, which was only .6 miles from our hotel. The Capitol is 1.2 miles, and we went all the way around so Mal could see the "pit."

When we got back to the room, I drove over to Sandy's to get burgers for James and me, and a shake for Mal.

Everyone was pretty wiped. I had walked more than I normally walk in a day, but James walked A LOT MORE than he usually does, and his knee was hurting (he also realized this morning that he hadn't taken his allopurinol so that might have contributed). Mal played on his iPad and I played Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker. Luke pretty much slept from the time we got back until James took him for his nightly elimination a bit after 9.

Last night was MUCH quieter than Christmas night. Once we were in bed, the hotel was reasonably quiet. But then I realized that since the fountain on the bottom floor makes the noise it makes, the hotel lobby music was pretty loud. Not loud enough that I could make out lyrics, but enough that I could hear it. I am really not fun to be around when it's time to go to sleep. I'm extremely picky and sleep lightly.

Anyway, this morning, we took it easy (including Luke's and my walk, which happily occurred at 6:45 instead of 6:00 today!) and packed up after breakfast. The dog had gone to sleep, and when we'd finally gotten totally ready to go, decided to wake him up.

We drove straight home, and have been super busy after our big 48-hour getaway. James and I put everything away, he washed some dishes D had left out because they didn't know we'd be home so early, emptied the litter boxes, and got some work done in the back yard (he's building a smallish test project before we try to start on the house), then came in a bit to finish up Mal's last overly-supervised bath, and is now at the store. I did two loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms, did a dishwasher load, put together about 1/3 of Mal's Boba Fett's starship LEGO set, started Mal's bath, and then took D to the post office.

We're going to hang out and maybe watch a movie tonight. Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and that you can get some rest, too!

A Sneak-Peak into Mal's Day Out with His BFF

Last Saturday, Mal wanted to go to Indigo Play, so we picked up one of his best friends, a girl named Kona (we've talked about her before) and she went with us.

I have to share some of the conversations, because it was a fun, fun afternoon.

First, when we picked Kona up, she gave us a packet of Christmas cookies. As we were driving off...

Kona: We made those cookies from touch.

Me: Oh, are they thumbprint cookies?

Kona: I mean, we... they weren't at the store.

Me: You mean you had the ingredients at home and mixed them together?

Kona: Yeah!

Me: You made them from scratch!

They had cute kid conversations on the way, then played for almost four hours. It was loud and exhausting, but they had a fun time. Mal was not ready to leave when I told him it was time to go (I later found out that Kona had been ready to leave for some time, and he hadn't relayed that information to me), so I tried to sweeten the deal by telling them that when I went to the grocery store, they could each pick out anything they wanted to take home with them.

In the meantime, Indigo Play had free lollipops sitting out, so in the car, Mal had the stick hanging out of his mouth.

Mal: I look like a guy from the 8000s.

Me: The 8000s?

Mal: No... the 18s?

Me: The 1800s?

Mal: Yes!

Me: With like a cigarette hanging out of your mouth?

Mal: No. The... tumbleweed.

Me: Oh! Straw? 

Mal: Right.

Kona: (brightly) Yeah, you do, Mal! You really do!

Mal: Kona, you're such a good friend. It means so much to me for you to say that.

When we got to the grocery store, Mal quickly decided that he wanted some Lucky Charms. I needed to get apples, milk, jalapeño slices (which Kona found for us), and eggs, so we headed back to the dairy section.

While I was looking (unsuccessfully) for lactose-free whole milk, inspiration hit Kona. "I want a small chocolate milk!"

Me: Good choice!

I didn't see her open the milk case, but as she put her choice into the cart, I realized she'd picked a half gallon... which IS smaller than a gallon!

Later, when we were in the car, Mal said, "Mom! Kona is drinking out of the bottle!"

Kona's mom reported that she did share with her sisters when she got home. I guess they don't mind drinking after each other.

Those kids were just a lot of fun to hang out with. 

It's weird: I remember being very stressed when D had a friend over for whom I was responsible. It always felt like I was "on." I don't know whether I've mellowed, or... well, yeah. I've probably mellowed. Anyway, I'm happy to chauffeur and eavesdrop on Mal and Kona any time.