Thank-you for Shopping at Walmart

What a great weekend! On Friday, we celebrated my boy’s birthday. He is officially twelve now, and I can already hear adolescence gently tapping at the door. Spencer never went through the terrible two stage… really! But oh my… I have a feeling I better be on my toes and ready for the curve balls of adolescence… he’s as strong willed as his mother! **gasp!!** (God help me). ;) The boys had a blast hanging out on Friday, and kept me awake till the wee hours of the morning. I must admit… I got a little cranky near the end. My eyes were dangling from their sockets on my fourth trip into his room to remind them that WE HAVE NEIGHBOURS!!! *sigh* Boys. The next morning, they woke me up and announced they were hungry. After wiping the sleep from eyes and shooting a stingy glare in their direction, I announced that the breakfast fairy was on her day off and directed them to the cereal and toast, with a sluggish and weary finger.  I had to get up though. *sigh* Not just to make sure the little darlings didn’t demolish my kitchen, but my folks were also coming into town and would be arriving in just a few short hours. So, I swung my weary legs out of bed with a heavy groan and headed for the coffee pot. Ah… sweet coffee pot. :)

    It was only an hour after my folks arrived that my mom explained that she had some photos she wanted to scan at Walmart (oh rapture… Walmart). We get to the Walmart parking lot and promptly start driving in circles. I ask you… just how many freak’en handicapped parking stalls do they need?! No offense… but have you ever seen all 20 parking stalls occupied at the same time… ever? *sigh* Anyhoo, we get into Walmart and discover the photo lab has only one scanner… and one very long, honk’en flipp’en line-up. *sigh* I hate shopping at Walmart. With every fiber of my being. Hate. It. Normally, wild horses couldn’t drag me in there on a Saturday. But… what are ya gonna do? Your mom wants to go to Walmart… you go to Walmart… even on a Saturday. *sigh* I have to say though, my mom is so damn cute that she makes me giggle and titter right from my toes! If you’re going to be stuck in a line up, she’s the gal you want to be stuck with!

    We found the back of the line and I quickly checked my phone for messages (purely for something to do while I’m waiting)… and then I’m reminded… no reception in Walmart. It’s like the twilight zone, I swear! (I hate Walmart!!). Anyway, there was a lady standing alone in front of us (with a bag full of pictures… yipee) and so naturally, my mother freely strikes up a hospitable conversation with this lady. Immediately, she’s made a new friend, just like that, and a spellbinding conversation ensues. Every now and then she looks up and tries pulling me into the conversation, and I desperately muster a vague interest on scanning & borders, nodding and smiling blankly. She may as well have been talking in Chinese, but I nod and smile anyway. I could see she was in her absolute glory because she’d met someone who is just as crazy over this scanning thingie as she is! Then, midway through her chit-chat she notices photo albums are on sale for 50 cents, so she points her finger and directs me to go find her some. I merrily toddle off… all too happy to free myself from the riveting conversation of photo borders and various other trinkets of fascinating photo tid-bits. *Yawwwwn* I take my time… meander about, glance over… they hadn’t moved an inch. I can see my mom’s hands flouncing about with giddy animation… she was in her glory explaining the many magical facets of the Walmart photo scanner thingie! (I don’t even know the name of that dang machine, but she could probably have it making scrambled eggs with a little effort). I quietly chucked as I picked out a handful of photo albums. When I returned, she and the nice lady were well into a deep and technical conversation and she barely knew I had even returned. lol I stood beside her, shifting my feet from left to right, played with my cell phone, straightened my buttons, glanced around at things and people, and wondered if we might possibly spend our entire family visit in the line up at Walmart. Yipeee. I continued smiling and nodding, feigning a giggle and titter here and there… but it’s when they started talking about various photo sizes and finishes that my left eye started to twitch and I thought my head might snap clean off my shoulders! *Accck!!!* By the time our photos were scanned, my mom had already helped the nice lady arrange pretty little borders on all of her scanned photos, and they were practically best friends. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if she’s on my mom’s Christmas card list now. lol

    My mom is amazing. She makes me giggle all the time. The little things that she does are so flipp’en cute… she’s like a little kid in so many ways, especially when she’s with me… which naturally makes my heart smile from tip to toe. Gosh, I miss her already. *sigh* As much as I don’t like to admit this… I am such a mama’s girl. lol  ;)