I'm Still Here!!

Good morning, dear bloggy friends! I have not, as you are all probably thinking, fallen off of the face of the earth...

Saturday and Sunday I worked (as always). And then early Monday morning I headed out to visit my sister, who is on spring break. We've been so busy shopping and eating (what my family does best, at least the girls in it) that I haven't had a chance to even look at Blogger until late last night, and then it took me about an hour to get caught up on all the blogs I follow!

I leave today to go back to my (sick) hubby (who I left, sick, on Monday to come here. I'm so mean.) He has a little bit of a cold, pretty much cured by Dayquill and sleep, but as soon as the Dayquill wears off, he feels bad again.
(Confession: when he first was sick on Sunday, and called me to tell me, I did not believe him. His complaints? "My nose is stuffy, and I'm tiiiired...." said in a pitiful voice. Sunday was a bad day at work, and I was going and going nonstop, and I was thinking in my head - did NOT say - "MY nose is stuffy year-round from allergies, and what the heck do you think I feel like today? Pampered? I'M TIRED TOO." But I didn't say that. I said, "I'm sorry." And told him to go get some medicine.)

So, a few high points of our little mini-week:
-I went shopping with my mom and sister on Monday. My mom is on a mission to find some spring clothes, and she's done really well - I'm so proud! I also got this sweet little cardigan to wear this spring!

-Yesterday was my Kelly day while Mommy and Ninny were at the dentist. It started out a little crazy - I had dropped my car off the day before at our family's tried and true service station to get my oil changed and a burned-out headlight replaced. Mommy dropped us off on Tuesday morning to pick it up, but when I went to start the car, all the lights on the dash made this horrible clicky noise and blinked a lot, and the car wouldn't even begin to turn over. Lucky I was already at the station... The guy said that the battery was the original, and since the car was 4 years old, that's about as long as a battery can last. He showed me a lot of icky corosion-y looking stuff, and said something about the battery boiling to stay charged, or something. So they tested everything, and sure enough, it was dead dead. At least the alternator is fine... And I'm glad that it stopped there rather than at a gas station on I-59 in the middle of nowhere today.

-After that, I took Kelly out to lunch at Rain, which is this little Thai place sort-of near the mall, where we got to sit in the Rain room and eat yummy yummy Thai curry :) Then we went to Target. Kelly had a gift card, and got a cute little crocheted hat. I was looking for a floppy beach hat to wear on our cruise, and Mark requested pictures. So here we go...

This was the first one I tried. Maybe a bit large...


This one was ADORABLE. I nearly bought it. But my swimsuits are black and turquoise (and hopefully navy, if I can find a navy top...) and it just wouldn't go...


Umm .... less than stellar...



But this one was perfect! It lays properly, it's easy to wad up (for packing) and still holds its shape, it's a good color... I found my floppy hat :) I cannot WAIT for our cruise!



-After Target, we made a short WalMart run to get Kelly a phone charger (cause she left hers at school), then went to Francesca's collections where I got nothing but tried on rather a lot, went to Fresh Market to get bread for dinner and a snack, and then came home. Busy day!

-Kelly's BFF Cassie came for dinner, and after dinner we played with the "adult" Mad Libs book we found at Francesca's (actually, I did buy something there. I lied.)

-And today, I'll be driving back to Birmingham.

Thus far, it is a successful and lovely birthday month. The weather is cooperating (or has until today - it is dark and cloudy. Boo) and I've gotten to see Kelly! Yay!