Santa's got a new ride

Allow me to bore you with the details of my Wednesday.

Jesus, Himself, woke me up at 7:05. It must have been him because I had turned off my alarm in my sleep-deprived sleep. In order to get Sissy to school on time and not have to WALK HER INSIDE MYSELF AND ACT REPENTANT AND ALL AND CHECK HER IN LATE, I must leave the house no later than 7:25. 7:20 or earlier is my goal, in order to not get stuck in the traffic jams that occasionally occur here in metro NE Alabama.

Sissy rushed to get ready, as did I. At the last minute, I quick-changed Lucky's diaper and returned his yummy toes to his pjs before dashing to the garage and off to school.

We were out of the garage by 7:21. sweet

I had planned to take her to school and immediately drive to the mall in Chattanooga, TN, to do some serious Christmas shopping. But since I merely pulled on clothes and ran to the garage, I had to back-track some. So, we returned home to eat breakfast, scold my hair into parting somewhere besides dead-center on my forehead and rubbing makeup onto my prematurely-aging face, we loaded up and made the 45-minute trek to the north and to make a big ol' dent in my list.

I recruited my mom to fetch Sissy from school, so I wouldn't have to return so darned early and allowing me to not be such a panicky rush.

Toys 'R Us and too much money later, I had most of the toys from my list bagged and loaded up.

note to Toys for Tots and USMC: When you choose a Marine to stand at the toy stores to accept donations, keep in mind that they need to be at least as handsome as the one that was in Chattanooga's Toys 'R Us yesterday. (rawrrrrr)

The mall and food court filled our bellies. GameStop disappointed us. JC Penney supplied new shoes for Sissy and Lucky, jeans and khaki pants for Sissy and a clean bathroom to change Lucky out of the diaper that leaked entirely too early, soaking his pants.

Never fear! I was prepared! I had stashed a pair of pants in my diaper bag - not that this happens often or anything.

Club Libby Lu is going out of business, which breaks the hearts of all 5-9 year-old girls nationwide, but thrills the bank accounts of moms and dads like me. I scored some great surprises there.

A dress coat for my dad from Belk's.

A sweater, a knit hat with cool tassels and a great sweatshirt from The Children's Place.

Something from somewhere else.

Linens 'N Things is going out of business, and I scored a Simmons BeautyRest 1" gussetted king size mattress pad for $99. Merry Christmas to my back!

Best Buy had a game and Wii accessory to help Santa out a little.

Target provided the rest of the toy needs plus 2 iPod broadcast-to-your-fm-radio-adapter thingies for gifts, as well as some "cop corn" and "djoooooooooce" for Lucky.

Meanwhile, my mom had taken Sissy to our local McD's for an afterschool snack and to play - for 3 HOURS!!!

So, we made it home to do homework and bathe and collapse in bed and wonder if we will be able to go to WDW in March again.