Formals & Fed-Ex

All right, as the realities of the hell otherwise known as 8th Grade Formal set in, my gigantic grin has somewhat faded!!! ;-)

There should be gold medals awarded for moms who survive teen formal-wear shopping!!!! After pounding the mall ALL day Saturday for Daughter's dress, she found a pretty black and white polka-dot summery cotton frock for a great price. I was thrilled. That night, we went to the cheer party where she discussed dresses with her friends. Turns out a girl who was not at the party reportedly had the same dress. The horror!!!!! Daughter whined and moaned and Sunday, decided the dress must be returned. She had a new one already in mind. Oh? I asked. Which one? The one that cost double the price of the original, of course!!!

Okay, so we get the pretty pouffy white confection home, she parades around the house in the dress and my shoes--which I politely suggested she wear to help defray some expense--Hubby approves that the new dress isn't too low cut. Whew, crisis averted, right? WRONG!!!

Now, Son chimes in that it's not fair that his sister gets a fancy new dress and he doesn't get anything. I'm sorry, but at this point, seeing how the girl he'd asked had turned him down and he was going stag, I failed to see why he couldn't wear the nice slacks and shirt we bought for his China trip. Especially in light of the fact that the previous weekend, he'd left his cell phone in his jeans pockets and Hubby then washed it!!! And the cost of his new phone will be soon appearing on my cell bill!!!!

I was all set to stick to my guns on this issue, then, the girl who'd turned him down instant messaged him that she did want him to take her. ARGH!!!! That changed everything. Now, we have family pride involved in that I can't send the boy out in rags to do the whole corsage thing, etc. Yesterday afternoon, I took Son to the mall for a new outfit and--are you sitting down for this??? His cost more than Daughter's!!!!! He did chip in, though, with a chunk of his chore money, seeing how I'm still miffed over his phone getting washed.

Speaking of which, even though I was home all day, recovering from the walk I'd taken that morning, I zig-zagged through the road crew and sprinkler crew and dirt delivery crew to the mail box, then, on the return trip found a Fed Ex tag on the front door. I never even heard the doorbell ring!!! Assuming it's Son's phone, at 8:00 PM (the time the tag said to go), we head to Fed-Ex to pick it up. You wouldn't want him to be without a phone any longer than necessary, right??? LOL!!! Can you believe it? Fed-Ex is packed!!!! I'm talking, the little lobby was so full one lady had to stand outside!!!

We waited a good twenty minutes--maybe more, the stuffy heat and blaring prison-based talk radio show had me a tad woozy. Yes, from what I could gather, the show was being broadcast from prison!!! The topic was some guy named Sweetheart, and if it was emotionally healthy for him to visit with men from other cell blocks!!!!!!!!! :-O

But I digress . . . After waiting and waiting and waiting, we were told the driver hadn't yet returned, and so therefore, it will be delivered to our house again today. I tried explaining that we'd gone that route with no success, but judging by the thunderous expression of the guy behind me who was no doubt Sweetheart's recently released cousin, I flashed the guy a faint smile and left.

Next stop, Lowe's, where I picked up a gallon of Laura Ashley Apple 6. My beige office walls are closing in on me, and seeing how when I read my swamp book at critique Thursday night, it was politely suggested I restart, I figure I'd much rather paint!!!! LOL!!!

Oh--and as the cherry on top of the whole formal saga . . . Turns out the girl didn't have the same dress as Daughter, after all. Grrrrr!!!! :-)