Catch Up on my World

I hung out with two family members Saturday.

First was with my Mom (with Dink in tow). We shopped at Strawbridges in the Willow Grove Mall. It was actually a rather sad shopping venture and it wasn't because we couldn't find anything to buy (that rarely happens). It was because it was the last day anyone could buy something at that Strawbridges location and be allowed to return it for whatever reason. As of Sunday, 29 January 2006, all sales are FINAL. And in two more months, the doors will be shut for good. As the final part of the May Company's grand plan comes to a close, Strawbridges will cease to exist. No more Strawbridges shopping ventures in Philly. Mom and I will have to find a new haunt for our Saturday shopping excursions.

The second member of my family, who I pranced around the city with, was my cousin, Rose. I'm such a shit. We live in the same city, not fifteen minutes from each other, and I see her once every eighteen months. Feeling like a heel, I contacted her last week to see if she wanted to hang out on Saturday. She said no prob. We met up at three o'clock and headed into Center City Philly. Let me state right now that I don't mind driving one bit, but I hate sitting in Center City traffic. I was starving so we decided on heading towards Rittenhouse Square. It's a relatively snooty area with a lot of high priced shops and rather pricey eating joints. We ate at some grub at a restaurant that charged an arm and a leg. Example: a burger with fries was $15. That was my meal. My cousin was gracious enough to pay for the food which made me feel even more like a heel. She kept telling me the atmosphere of the restaurant coupled with the view of Rittenhouse Square (we ate outside) was very Parisian. I have never been outside of the continuous US so I was clueless on the analogy. My cousin is a bit more travelled than I so I took her word as gospel. We hit a Barnes and Noble and then went back to Northeast Philly. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Nothing a good ole round of choclate from the local Wawa couldn't handle. All in all, it was a nice escape for both of us.

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Sunday was "kiddie birthday party" day. We only had one to hit. It was my best friend's son's party. He turned five years old. My oh my does time fly. I've known Donna, that's the best friend, for over 20 years. Yikes!!! And she's another person who lives twenty-five minutes from my home and I see her twice a year. I have to connect with friends more often. Anyhow, the party was at a place called Jungle Jim's in Warrington PA. My best description of this place would be to take Chuck E Cheese, remove the animals, remove the crappy food and replace with snack counter, remove half the games and what's left is in perfect working order, add more things to do for the toddler types, throw in a nice bright area for kids to run around, and there you have it. Dink's went NUTS! She had so much fun, but towards the end she was hacking pretty good. Damn asthma. Donna invited us over to her house for cake, but, as usual, we had errands out the butt and couldn't. I promised we'd get together again before we had to change out calendars. This time, I'll stick to that promise.

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I love my child, I really do. But when she doesn't go to sleep until 11 on Monday night and then insist on waking up at 3, love has found it's naptime limit. She wanted to watch TV. Did you know there is this channel on DirecTV called Sprout? It's wall-to-wall PBS. Watching PBS children's shows in the wee hours of the morning is not good. I was a zombie all day yesterday in work. All I had running through my head was the theme songs for "James the Cat" and "Kipper". It was pretty bad.

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My daughter's newest favorite cartoon is Pingu. She laughs her ass off watching this show. I can't understand a damn word of what's spoken and it's mind numbing! And it's on Sprout.

Okay, I'll admit I laugh, too.

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I suggest if you ever get the opportunity to watch Sprout, check out their night host. I swear this girl is on major doses of caffeine - we're talking at least ten pots of coffee a day. Her eyes are HUGE and she never, I mean NEVER, stops smiling. I'm not bustin on her, mind you. I think she's a great host for the little ones. It's just an observation.

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Caillou is the whiniest fucker on Earth. Period.