You might think it's silly, but....

I'm all sorts of proud of myself right now. It's not like I did anything spectacular or anything, but still....

I bought new bras tonight.

I know, I know. Big deal, right? Well, to me it kind of is a big deal.

I'm not the type of person to go out and spend money on myself. We've been so broke for so long that there has always been something more important that needed funding rather than my pathetic wardrobe. The kids needed shoes, or we needed groceries, or that pesky electric bill had to be paid, or whatever. So I've worn the same old ratty nasty ugly bras for probably 10 years now - literally. In fact, right now, I am currently wearing a maternity bra that I bought after I had Emily - and she will be 11 next month.

A few weeks ago I told myself that I was going to go out and buy some new ones - you know, before we go on vacation. But then, I kept putting it off again. One...because I hate to spend money on myself, and two...because I hate to shop. I mean, I really hate to shop.

But today was one of those days where I was just so restless. I did my usual cleaning and laundry (and washed and dried and folded those same ugly bras one more time) but I really just wanted to get out of the house. So, as kind of a spur of the moment thing, I grabbed the boys and took off and went shopping. It was an experience - since I refuse to shop at WalHell, I had to drive 30 miles to get to a Target (not that Target is that much better, but at least it isn't WalHell) and in the process had to dodge about 87 construction zones and 423 idiot drivers.

The shopping part wasn't too horrible, other than the boys making smart comments about being in the "booby holder" section of the store (where do they pick this stuff up???) and occasionally smacking each other upside the head. Of course, being the eternal cheapskate I had to scope out the clearance racks first (fail) before I went to the regular ones. But, I still found some inexpensive ones that were decent - and then it dawned on me: I'd have to try them on to make sure that they fit.

Ugh. Really?

I thought about just chancing it and not testing them first, but I knew if I did that I would end up with ones that didn't fit, and I'd have to continue wearing the same old ratty nasty ugly ones again. And since I've lost weight, I wasn't exactly sure what size to get. So I gritted my teeth and braved the fitting room with two slightly-obnoxious little boys.

Long story short, I walked out of the store with 6 brand new bras - for a whopping $36. (Told you, I'm a cheapskate.) But before we left we wandered around the store for a while and I picked up a couple of other odds and ends that we needed, including a new pair of flip-flops for Daniel to wear on vacation.

It's kind of funny that something this trivial seems like a semi-big deal to me, but seriously, I don't buy things for myself. And I think that's a trap that a lot of parents (and especially single parents) fall into - we get so caught up in making sure that the kids have everything that they need (and/or want), and we forget about ourselves. We forget that we have needs too - and sometimes those needs are just as important as the kids' needs. We forget that we have to take care of ourselves - and realistically, if we don't do it, who is?

I did make a promise to myself tonight - no matter how tight money is in the future, I will not wait another 10 years to buy new bras.

Wedding preparations, continued.

No, not my wedding. Sheesh. Get a grip. I've already discussed how I'm never doing that again.

First off, let me say that after yesterday's post, I can't believe how much conversation can be spawned by pantyhose. Wow. But, after reading the dozens of comments on my facebook page, I have determined that I am going to wear them. Fashion police be damned, I'm going for what I feel comfortable wearing. So there.

Now I just have to decide on the color - I bought a pair of nude ones, but now I'm considering black. But that's a minor detail at this point.

I decided to go digging for jewelry tonight, because according to my brain I still had some real fancy-schmancy costume jewelry floating around - you know, from high school prom days. As I dug around through my childhood jewelry box, I did find some other treasures. (Yes, that is my high school class ring.)

Then I remembered that I don't have that costume jewelry anymore, because last year or the year before I donated all of my prom gowns and old bridesmaids gowns to the local high school, and I tossed the jewelry in with them. Oh well.

I did find some other random jewelry that might work (including Gramma's black beads) but I'm not even going to decide what I'm going to wear jewelry-wise until I have the dress on and see how everything looks with it. I'm not limited to these for jewelry either - I have more, but this is just what I uncovered tonight - stuff that I honestly haven't seen in years.

The kid situation is slowly being arranged. I was finally able to get a hold of Alex's father tonight *gritting teeth* and he assured me that he would pick him up Friday afternoon and keep him for the weekend. Another friend is taking Daniel for the weekend, so we'll hook up with her sometime Friday evening to hand him off to her - he is so stoked about spending the weekend with her son! Saturday morning, Emily has a basketball game, so we'll go to that and then hand the older three kids off to Ex1 and hit the road running!

The rest of the week is going to be crazy - go figure! Tomorrow night we have the whole church/basketball chaos, plus I have to make treats for Alex's class for his birthday on Thursday, plus the usual running kids back and forth to school, and probably a run to Wichita to pick up some other stuff, and I know that I'm forgetting something.....crap.

I'm so ready to just hit the road and get out of town, even though it's just a quick trip. I might even let The Dude drive for part of it - anyone who knows me knows how huge that is for me - but regardless, I am going to have fun and relax this weekend. So there.

I don't know how to be a girl

One of my dearest friends is getting married on Saturday, and The Dude and I are going to the wedding.

I'm looking forward to it for several reasons. I'm really excited about seeing my friend and his (soon to be) wife again, because it's been entirely too long since I've seen them. I have the kids covered for the weekend, so even though some people might bash me for saying it, I'm looking forward to having about 36 hours of kid-free time. I'm excited to take a little road trip with The Dude (the wedding is in Oklahoma City, so it's about a 3 hour drive each way). And if you remember our road trip to Texas last spring, you might remember my friend Kelly - The Dude and I are going to meet her for lunch on Sunday before we head back to Kansas. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous and unseasonably warm, so we shouldn't have to worry about traveling.

But, along with a venture like this comes problems for me. I'm not a girly girl. I don't own a lot of girl clothes. In fact, as soon as I got the invitation, I had to dig around through my clothes to figure out if I even had something suitable to wear. Of course, no big surprise - I didn't.

The only dresses that I have are only dresses in the loosest sense of the word - they're basically sundresses that I can pull on over a bathing suit to go to the lake. I do have some nicer dresses, but they're summery. Nothing for an evening wedding in January. Ugh.

So I went to my local moms group on facebook with a plea for a dress - I got several suggestions of places to shop and offers from other moms to come and check out their closets. I ended up getting a really cute dress from one of them for next to nothing. Dress dilemma solved.

I have a pair of shoes. I don't particularly like them, but they'll work. I'm not spending money for a pair of shoes that I'll most likely never wear again. And besides, they'll be kicked off and under the table as soon as we get to the reception anyway, if not before.

I can handle the hair and makeup and nails. And jewelry. I'm pretty sure that I have all of that covered.

But I'm learning things in this process. I found out tonight from another group of girlfriends that pantyhose are no longer in style. When did that happen? Has it really been that long since I've worn a dress?

And then there comes the issue of finding an appropriate bra (sorry guys) to wear under it. I don't own one that won't show - so now I'm on a new quest, and I have exactly 5 days to find one. But again, a friend is coming to the rescue, seeing if she can locate one that I can borrow.

Even with all of the stress of finding something to wear, I'm still looking forward to going to the wedding. I'm ecstatic that The Dude is going with me (voluntarily, I might add) and that we're getting the chance to have a little getaway. It'll be fun to get all dressed up (ok, maybe I'm trying to convince myself of that) and go out together.

And yes, we will take pictures. I promise.

But for now, here's a sneak preview. And that's all you get until The Dude and I are both dressed up.