Somehow Mother's Day becomes Mother's Day weekend.

The boys came home from school Friday begging to give me the gifts they had made.  Xavier had 3, and gave me a flower he had planted in a paper cup, but I convinced him to save the rest for the big day.  I still have some wonderful cards and creations they've made for me for Mother's Day throughout the years. 

We had a BIG trip to Wal-Mart today.  Stimulus Package and all that.  I figured it would be busy because it's Saturday, it's the day before Mother's Day, and SS ending numbers #-# have their $$.  We usually go to the WM in another town.  It seems like it's Killeen, but technically it's not.  It's where the "rich" people live.  I like this WM because it's usually less crowded, they carry a larger variety of home items, and it seems to be less ghetto. 

So, we sent a portion of our Stimulus Package to China, haha. 

We picked up a lawnmower (thank you Uncle Sam), a weed eater, and gear for the flower bed.  The kids got a little too.  Of course, technically it was their allowance.

It was a miserable trip.  We had to wait until 4-something because I sold an outgrown car seat and I had to wait for the lady to come pick it up.  I also got rid of a nasty old runner rug I had and waited for that to be picked up.

***Unrelated rant:

People are NUTS for free stuff.  I posted a broken shelf the other day and I had 15 people asking for it.  Later I had 2 video game rocker chairs that were missing a few buttons, and wow, crazy interest.  You can sell something for next to nothing and not hear a peep, but suddenly you knock off $2 and make it FREE, and it's like it's the most necessary item anyone has ever encountered.  They all have reasons why they just can't live without it and you should give it to THEM because they are so deserving. 

With this rug, which is hopelessly stained, I had a lady email me to ask if it came from a smoke and pet free home.  I made it clear in the ad that it was D-I-R-T-Y (exact words), and included pics.  She said, "I know I shouldn't be picky, but..."  Whatever, lady, it's free.  It didn't have cigarette butts in it or dog poo, but seriously.  It's free.  If it weren't in bad shape, I would be keeping it or selling it at a profit.  I gave it away because it's yuck.  Does it matter what kind of yuck it is?  The lady I gave it to didn't care a bit because she was going to use it for her dogs.  Perfect!

***

WM was crowded, as I expected.  I had a list, but Adrian wanted to get the bigger items last, which made for a lot of confusion in aisle planning.  I think we were in WM for like 7 hours.  Ok, more like one and a half, but that's still way too long to be in WM.  Even "rich" WM. 

We had planned to pick up a bit of paint for the living room.  Which necessitates the purchase we've been putting off...a BIG-ASS ladder.  Not only is it expensive, but I've been dreading it ever since Adrian pretended to fall off the railing on the loft.  He assures me that if he falls off this ladder while painting, I will still get his life insurance.

We waited awhile for someone to come around to mix paint. No one in sight.  Isabella hadn't napped ALL DAY, and she was grouchy.  Xavier was sad because he agreed to combine his allowance with Orian's for a bigger purchase, but had the buyer's remorse.  I found a guy whose job was obviously to get shit down from high places and asked him if he could get me someone in paint.  He told me he could but asked how long we had been waiting.  "I don't know.  A long time." 

So we waited some more.  Adrian took Isabella off to look at lawnmowers and I dealt with sad sack and touch-everything-mcgee.  No one came.  No one came.  Wait, I think I see someone.  Nope.  No one came.  I finally called Adrian and told him I'd just put the painting gear in the basket back and we'd get paint another day.  Maybe somewhere else where people like to get you paint.

I picked out flowers for the front flower bed under duress as Adrian held Isabella (while she kicked him in the crotch) and shot exasperated glances at me.  I have no idea how to pick flowers.  I have NEVER had a flower bed before, and honestly I cannot keep things alive.  The longest any plant has ever lived with me is the plant on our landing that likes shade and apparently doesn't have much of a taste for water. 

When we got home, after many other obstacles that I won't bore you with here, Adrian and I got to work on the flower bed.  I tried to give Isabella me-mes so she'd finally freakin' nap, but it was NOT happening. 

Adrian dug up the old stuff.  It was all dead except for the weeds.  I'd post a before pic, but I don't have one except for the pics from when the house was for sale, and it didn't look half as bad then. 

We spaced out the flowers and planted them.  Tamped everything down with a spare brick.  Then spread mulch.  Not exciting, but first time for me, so yeah, I was excited.  Adrian watered it all, and it looks a million times better.  Cheap flowers, probably poorly picked, but it's my first flower bed.  A jumping off point for my future decorative foilage brilliance.

I will post pics of the results after the yard is mowed. 

Which brings me back to Mother's Day.  My MD gifts:  flowers planted, yard mowed, bedroom painted, and all the living room curtains hung.  The flowers are planted and the bedroom painted, so two steps left.  I am pretty excited.

And tomorrow I won't have to do anything I don't want to do, and the house will get as cleaned as I demand it to be.  Our dishwasher is mysteriously leaking, so doing dishes is super fun now (read: by hand, like uncivilized stone age people).  I think I should ask for a weeks worth of dish-washing.  Of course, I do all the cooking, so really, I think I should cook and someone else should clean, but I doubt anyone else in the house will think that's fair.

The rest of Mother's Day Eve has been nice.  I put together a lamp with a green CFL bulb for the boys' game room, and it looks super cool.  I did some more stencils/spray-paint in the boys' bedroom (Xavier does bone lettering, so he did his and his brothers' name for me to cut out and spray paint), and I'll post pics of that when I get the outlines and details done.  Adrian helped the boys with their new toy:  an alien maker.  It boasts 90 combos, but the goo will probably only last 20 aliens.  Still, the boys (and Adrian!) had fun creating different alients, and the alien-machine is also a space ship. 

AND around 9 pm Isabella FINALLY went to sleep!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, and enjoy cooking and cleaning tomorrow to all the dads!