Humble Yourself

        Did you know I was once banned from returning anything to Wal-mart for an entire year? Apparently you are only allowed 3 returns without receipts per year. I tried to justify that one incident was an exchange and not a return, but they had no sympathy. I'm good about returning things; bad about keeping receipts. This week I returned a pair of curtain rods that I kept in my laundry closet for an entire year waiting for a project I never started. It was extremely embarrassing when I realized, while walking in to the store, that the package was covered with old sticky laundry detergent. I was thankful for the sani-wipes Wal-Mart keeps at the entry doors, but disappointed in my stupidity for not realizing I was also wiping off the bar-code before it was too late. As soon as I realized the problem I was creating, I stopped, but it meant I had to leave residue behind. . . . . . and it was still wet from the sani-wipes. When I handed the greeting lady the product for labeling and she didn't want to touch it, the mortification really started to set in. I understand that any normal person could have assumed the sticky mess was monster slime or alien juice, and after putting myself in her shoes, felt guilty that lady had to touch it. The positive note is that along with my subdued pride, I was able to obtain credit towards the curtain rods I really needed!  

My hunny and I being inappropriate with our food. It's a secret to staying young. 

     As we hope there's always a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, we hope there's also an upside to every down. And when I say "we", I really mean "I", because I am an optimistic. Our upside to the recent series of unfortunate events is: there are way more things functioning properly in the house now, we have everything moved, sorted, decorated, and got rid of the rest; it's liberating to rid your life of junk. I have my own bathroom and closet. We have so much more living space than before. We have a garage and now get to use our extra refrigerator and deep freeze again! Wowzers! Also, I'm thankful the whole mess occurred under my watch, so I could verify it was all done according to the safety protocol, instead of the landlord repairing it under his standards without my knowledge.

I love laughing with family!

     It was an exasperating 2 hour trip to Waco and back last weekend, just to unload a storage unit, but I have an awesome family who was there for a helping hand.  I jammed out to Pandora the whole way home with the windows and sunroof open, just to enjoy life and the weather. My mother and Cousin Blake kept us entertained for Saturday's remaining hours. We popped my Mom's Ikea cherry, and then I took them both to World Market for the first time. We decided after a day like that, a beef fajita feast with table side guacamole was earned, so we all headed to La Hacienda to celebrate my birthday with margaritas! Before their trip back home at the butt crack of dawn the next morning, my mother brought me Dunkin Donuts, because she is cool like that and knows the way to my heart.

If you ever come to La Hacienda with us, it is a requirement to pose with the bear!

     To put icing on the cake, my in-laws came Sunday to take us out to lunch. . . . . . for guess what. . . . . I bet you'll never get it. . . . . . . .MY BIRTHDAY. Man, I felt so important. We ate at a place down the road called Mama's Daughters Diner (which was featured in Paula Deen's Magazine). Then I spent the rest of the day decorating. Throughout all the celebrating I never had any birthday cake. . . . but I did discover these amazing Ice-cream sandwiches by Blue Bunny that taste exactly like birthday cake!!! Patrick and I decided to get two different kinds of ice-cream sandwiches and share, but I stopped sharing because mine was so good!

     In other notes, Sumo LOVES the backyard. He wants to be outside all day long. He also loves to dig. He has tracked mud into the house countless times already, which is not complimentary to the beige carpet. So far, he only digs when it's wet outside. I'm open to ideas on how to fix this problem. Callie is finally getting comfortable now that the ciaos is subsiding. She likes organization and peace. Lucifer has already broken the glass to one of my bridal picture frames, which scratched the extremely expensive picture. She is currently looking for a new home.


Do you have any embarrassing "return" stories? Do you consider yourself an optimist or pessimist? How do I deal with a digging doggy?!?!?!