patience

Today I was at the grocery store with my toddler, and I was in a slight hurry. I went around noon, so it was bustling with customers, many elderly, and many of them not moving very fast. I am usually understanding of this, but couple this with the fact that too many people were momentarily leaving their shopping carts in inconvenient places to retreive something off the shelf, and you've got a bad mood brewing somewhere. At one point, a 70-ish woman and her husband, were blocking an aisle with their cart. From my point of view, I thought that either they couldn't make up their mind where to go, or someone else was blocking them. I was annoyed, and said, within earshot of another customer, "what's going on?" The customer said to me, "it's hard for her to move".

It didn't even occur to me that she may have had a medical condition, or even a mental condition that keeps from proceeding. It made me realize that maybe it's really not about MY convenience, but about being understanding of another person's needs. At the end of the day, I can still walk, without pain, without balance issues, without confusion (most of the time). I should not take that for granted!

I hope I remember this the next time I need to go to the store.

my ID!

I'm convinced that one of the purposes of raising children is for the adult to relinquish power of their adult's inner id. It's now the child's turn to be an id, or self-centered. I think that many times, people get angry at their kids because the parents want to be able to do what they want & when they want. Being a parent means being responsible and striving to go beyond their own animal desires 24/7. It's ok for adults to have "Me Time", but it can't be a preoccupation.

Parenthetically, I honestly don't know how single parents manage without going completely crazy. If I didn't have my tag team member, my husband, to give me that 1/2 hour of respite when he comes home from work, I'm not sure what I'd do. Thank G-d for him!! :)

e-bleh!

I've been perusing the Ebay website for children's clothing bargains lately. My child is going to a preschool program soon and I wanted to get her nice, but durable clothing that I won't care if she gets dirty. After crossing my eyes from viewing endless offerings I've decided there should be a new rating scale on the site, to make the process easier:

1) Now That's Cute!! - Honey, You Should Bid Now!
2) They Wanna Pay HOW Much for Shipping?? To Ship An Elephant Would Cost Less!
3) Even Your Blind Aunt Millie Would Say this looks Hideous.
4) When We Say The Shirt has a Small Unnoticeable Stain, We Mean Only if You Wear It Inside Out and Backwards.
5) Yes, There REALLY are 75 Items for Sale in This Photo. Maybe if You Count the Lint?
6) This is Why People Hate Americans.

Now I don't hate America or Americans, but my pet peeve is the overcommercialization of cartoon images on clothing. I can handle a little bit of Elmo on a shirt here & there, but to put it on everything, like bedding & nightgowns, just rubs me the wrong way. It gets to the point where the manufacturers should be paying the consumer to advertise their icons. Anywho, I digress.

We'll see if I win any bids - and no surprises, please :)