Woo hoo!

Okay, so a few weeks ago I wrote about how I went to get my daughter's picture taken with Santa while I was out shopping and in the process of trying on different dresses the pictures got lost. I was so bummed and so was my daughter--which was probably the worst part, that look of disappointment on her face.

So its been a couple of weeks and I just gave up since no one called to say they were found and I left my number both at the store I lost them in, plus at the little place in the mall where the pictures were taken. Well two days ago I get a phone call from the manager of the Santa photo place asking if I had gotten my pictures back and if not to give her a call if I need to have them retaken. I thought that was so incredible sweet of her to check on us to see if we had found them or if they had been returned. So today I decided "what the hey, I'll call the store to see if someone turned them in." And you know what, someone did!!

I was so excited that I called my mom right away to tell her the good news. Later on after my daughter I woke up from her nap and I told her and she was just as excited, but on a whole different level. I called the manager of the Santa photo place in the mall to let her know how much I appreciated the call and that yes, someone had found the pictures.

So today I went to the mall to pick up my pictures and they were there in perfect condition! Everything was in the envelope--the pictures, the photo key rings, the coupon book, even the gift card for shutterfly!! This was just the thing I needed...after all, who doesn't love some good news?

Dogs are nature's happy pills

I thought for sure that today was going to be a bad day right from the beginning. I have an alarm set up on my phone to go off every Tuesday & Thursday morning at 7 a.m. so I can wake up my daughter to get her ready for school. I woke up at 7:33 a.m. this morning...crap I'm running later. I looked at my phone to see if something messed up or if the battery died, but no, the alarm had gone off--I just didn't hear it. I hurried up and got out of bed and got her milk ready all the while feeling a migraine coming on. Oh the morning migraine, my favorite. That usually means I'm going to have a headache all day--yay me. So after her milk is ready I go and wake her up. Luckily for me she is nice and happy when she wakes up in the morning, something she gets from her dad :-)

So she turns on the TV and I give her her milk and go to sit next to her like she asked me to. But as soon as I sit down and see what time it is, I realize I don't have any time to relax because I have to get ready so I can get her ready once she's done with her milk. If I were Jewish this is where I would say 'oy vey'. So I get myself dressed and ready, then I get her ready. Ironically enough us waking up late and rushing causes us to leave the house a little earlier than normal. Go figure!

So we get to school and I'm starting to feel a little relieved that the morning went smoother than I expected for waking up late, minus the headache I have that is progressively getting worse. Then I see it--carts outside the classrooms for us to put food on. Food that we volunteered to make for the preschool Thanksgiving get-together on Thursday. Carts for the banana bread I volunteered to make and didn't because I thought we didn't have to bring it in until Thursday, since that is when the get-together is. This is what is going on in my mind: "What the...? Are you serious? Crap..."

Talking to one of the other mothers I realize that I'm not the only that thought that the food didn't need to be brought until Thursday, but there on the bottom of the signup sheet in bold letters is "Bring food in on Tuesday, November 17th!" So after dropping Lilly off at school I realize that instead of going home and getting to work out with my sister-in-law, I have to hurry up and make 2 loaves of banana bread....again, oy vey.

I stop for breakfast on the way home, hurry up and eat, take migraine medication, and realize I have to go to the grocery store because I don't have enough eggs. Call the sister to tell her working out will have to wait, then go to the store and get eggs, extra flour (just in case) and 2 disposable loaf pans. Get home and start making banana bread. Open up the pantry to get some of the ingredients I need and leave the door open knowing I'll have to put this stuff back in a minute.

Then here comes my 8 year old black lab Allie. Even though she's technically a "senior" dog, she doesn't act like it...still hyper but not as hyper as she was as a puppy. She goes and gets her squeaky tennis ball from the bottom of the pantry and starts running around the house squeaking that ball. She comes back in and drops it on the floor next to me and then her ears perk up and she starts pawing at it trying to get it out of the corner. That did it. I instantly just felt so much better. She looked so cute playing with her ball and so freaking happy running around making it make noise that I just felt like "ahh..."

All the pressure and frustration and the worry just instantly lifted off my shoulders and went away. When she came back into the kitchen with the ball in her mouth trying to dig a second ball out of the pantry I just started dying laughing. I looked at her and said, "Allie, I love you!" That crazy dog just made my day.

How great days get ruined...

Yesterday my main goal for the day was to get a new dress for my cousin's wedding next month. Last week I had seen one at the mall that I thought would be perfect for a Christmas wedding--a cute red dress that was flowy and was tea length. I wasn't sure if I really wanted it at the time but then I got a coupon in the mail the next day so I decided yes.

So my mother, my daughter and I get to the mall and I try on the dress. Turns out it wasn't as flattering on me as it was on the hanger! But I tried on a couple of other dresses I liked then walked around the mall to make sure there wasn't anything else I liked better...or that was a better price!

On our travels we noticed that Santa was visiting the mall that day and so Lilly got to get her picture taken with Santa. They had a really good deal with several different packages to chose from, most of them including a $10 gift card to use at shutterfly, which is perfect for me since I make calendars from them every year to give away at Christmas.

So after getting pictures taken with Santa and making a few other stops along the way, we made our way back to the store where I was trying to decide between two different dresses. I grab the two dresses that I had asked the sales lady to hold for me and try them on again. Still not sure I gather up my daughter and our stuff and go back into the store to grab two more dresses just to make sure. When I get back into the dressing room and put my daughter on the chair I ask, "Where are Lilly's pictures?" My mom, my daughter and I all start frantically looking around the changing room to see if they fell on the floor. Then we look out in the hall to see if we dropped them. My mom goes to the service counter to see if someone turned them in and my daughter and I go to one of the sales ladies and ask her to open up another dressing room that had been locked just to make sure we didn't leave them in another room--no luck.

We went to every checkout counter in the store and I even booked it down to the picture place to see if perhaps someone had seen they were Santa pictures and turned them in. Again no such luck. So after being so happy all day about trying to decide between two cute dresses and having fun with my mom and my daughter, we all got bummed over these lost pictures. I don't understand why someone would take them or find them and not turn them in. So not only am I out the money I spent on the pictures, but I have to look at the disappointed look on my daughter's face. The ride home was pretty quiet and my poor daughter saying "mommy my heart is broken"...how sad is that?

I feel bad that I didn't pay better attention to make sure we had all of our things with us at all times and that I didn't bring a bigger bag to carry all of our stuff. I just hate seeing that look on her face due to me not paying more attention and the fact that whoever found our freshly made memories didn't do the right thing and turn them in.