(More than) Fourinarow.net

Well, I’ve skipped a challenge or two.  But, that’s because the one for Friday was “Sunset.”  Really?  ‘Cause around the time of sunset, I’m a little busy… Washing dishes, washing babies, screaming at some children and putting others to bed.  It is NOT a good time for me to grab my camera and run outside.  Or, maybe it is.  Problem is, I doubt I’d come back in.

So, I’ve made up my own challenge for the weekend:  Hair.

Isn’t it beautiful?!?  Maria spent the night with a friend on Friday and her friend’s mom braided her hair the next morning.  I LOVE it.  Too bad she’ll never have it like this again, seeing as a) I can’t braid; and b) Maria screams when I even pretend to touch her hair.

While on the subject of Maria, I spent a gorgeous afternoon with her and Andrew today.  Not enjoying the weather, bike riding, skating, or doing some other outdoor activity.  No… my little reader wanted the newest Wimpy Kid book.  She’d been asking for a while and since her Dad said “yes,” I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity for a trip to Target.

Problem was, our Target is apparently doing something new with their book section and there were very few books out.  No Wimpy Kid ones.  We asked, but the salesperson didn’t have a clue.  So, off to Barnes & Noble we went.  Very, very slowly.  The highway to B&N was under construction and down to one lane.  Ugh!  It took us FOREVER to get just a few miles.

Then, when we reached the store, the parking lot was packed full.  Fine.  I didn’t mind walking, and Maria was determined to have her book.  I parked a few miles away, opened the back of my van to retrieve the stroller and found… No stroller.  Shit.  That meant I had to carry Andrew across the parking lot and through the gigantic bookstore AND figure out how I was going to use the bathroom while there (Diet Dr. Pepper habit, you know.)  I couldn’t just set him down, as he was barefoot.

We trekked across the lot, into the store, up the escalator and wandered until we found the restrooms.  Once inside, I gave Andrew to Maria to hold and peed as fast as I could.  (Andrew is getting awfully big for her to handle for very long.)  We survived the experience in tact and headed to the “Young Readers” section of the store.

“But I’m not young,” Maria says.

“Yes, you are,” I say.

“No, I’m not!” She tells me.

“Yes, you are,” I tell her.  “You are certainly not old.  You are still a child.  A ‘Young Reader’.  See, (I pointed to the books she was familiar with) we are in the right section.”

She proceeded to tell me the author’s last name and we found two Wimpy Kid books, but not the right one.  We wondered around the entire kids’ section, thinking there might be a Wimpy Kid display with some more books.  And, we found some, but not the right one.

So, I headed over to the computer to do a search.  (Andrew was squirming violently at this point, but there was NO WAY I was letting him down.)  Maria told me that the name of the new book is “Cabin Fever” and I pecked it into the keyboard. After correcting several mistakes (it’s not easy to type one-handed with a squirming child on your hip) I hit “search”.

And the results appeared:  “Coming in November 2011.  Reserve your copy today!”

“MARIA!!!” I said somewhat exasperatedly.  “It’s not even OUT yet!  We have been on a total wild goose chase!!!”

“Oops,” she said.  “I didn’t know.  Let’s just get a different book, then!”