Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Lofty Dreams, Little Wallet

We're on vacation next week. Woo hoo! We're not going away for the week or anything, but if I had my druthers we would do all of the following and more:

Go to the Portsmouth Children's Museum

Go to the MFA

Go to The Butterfly Place

Go mini golfing

Go see Over the Hedge

Go visit friends in Keene

Go out to breakfast at least once

Go out to dinner at least once

Oh yeah, and give a good, solid effort to potty training.

Alas, my druthers are nowhere to be found and, what's more, they've taken all my money with them. No, that's not true. I actually don't have any money for my druthers to pilfer. That's probably the real reason they high-tailed it the heck away from me - no cash=no fun.

Oh, but what's this I have here in my wallet? Ah, two free movie passes. Cool! Oh, no - Over the Hedge is a brand new movie. They don't take passes on new movies. Anyone for Ice Age 2? Naw - don't think so. We missed the original, so I'm sure we wouldn't be able to follow the complex story line in the new one.

But maybe there's hope for the MFA. After all, our library offers free day passes. Not sure if Sweetie's entrance fee would be included, but at the most all we'd have to pay for is her. And travel (Gas for the car. Parking? Or take the T? Probably). Plus, it is a ton of walking - both getting to the museum from the T station and then touring around inside. Don't know if I'm up for that so much. But I do want to expose Sweetie as early as possible to the wonders of the visual arts. Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions.

Ahhh. Just looked more closely at the Children's Museum. Only $6 a pop. Now that's certainly manageable! And Sweetie will love it! I've been wanting to take her to a children's museum. Yah - this one might just work out okay. Cool.

Hey, look! The Butterfly Place is only $8.50 each for Hubby and I and $6.00 for Sweetie. That's pretty good too. But will Sweetie be freaked out by all the butterflies fluttering about or will she love 'em? Not real sure. And not real willing to pay $23 for a freakout session. Plus gas.

Mini golf - that could work. I don't know the exact cost for this outing, but it can't be that much. But of course we'd have to get ice cream afterward. And is a 3- year old really ready to play mini golf? I'm sure she'd love it - but I'm also sure she nowhere near has the coordination and patience to play with any skill. Not that that's what it's all about really. Could be fun. Or dangerous (Anyone for a good whack upside the shins with a golf club? Anyone?)

Add in the trip to Keene and the desired meals out and the select reasonably priced activities add up to one big expense. Plus gas.

Potty training might just win out after all. Boy, doesn't that sound fun.

On a side, but related note - I just bought myself 3 of the cutest pairs of shoes ever! And do I feel guilty about spending the money? Well, yeah. A little. But I'm trying like crazy not to. After all, as I touched upon in an entry not too far back, buying shoes for myself is quite the chore. I can only wear flats and they ideally should have some sort of strap/upper portion to secure my foot in my brace. Oh, and they have to not be ugly. Downright cute and trendy is much preferred, actually, but I know that's asking a lot. But such is the way I've bought shoes my whole life. Go to Payless and choose one of the only two pairs of shoes that could possibly work for me. Fun.

Well, not this time, baby! I finally decided to take my search on-line. Only on-line, I figured, would my shoe-world become a pearl-laden oyster. And boy, was I right! I found adorable shoes in my size and preferred color (see above links), if not my preferred price range. Oh well, two out of three ain't bad. I cannot wait until they arrive. Yay!

I never buy myself anything. Honest. I hate spending money on myself. Really. Everyone else deserves the world. I'll buy it for them! But me? No, my reward is seeing their happy reactions to and satisfaction with said world. That'll do.

Until now. A girl's gotta have shoes, right? It's a necessity. My current shoes are all at least 1 1/2 years old or more. It's time.

Plus - if my druthers ever find their way back to me, I'm going to need a good pair of walking shoes to get me comfortably through all my lofty vacation plans.

I hafta walk - can't afford the gas.

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