Today's trivia at the coffee shop: What famous painter won one million francs in the French lottery in 1861? (Answer is at the end of this post.)
My back hurt this morning, so I turned on the heated seats in the car to the highest setting and it felt gooooooooood. Does this mean I am old? Wait, don't answer that. When I first got my car I thought that heated seats were a nice feature but really quite frivolous. Now I do not think them frivolous at all, what with its amazing back-soothing powers. Next thing you know I will have a heating pad adapted to plug into the cigarette lighter and will have one on my belly one week per month. I swear, I wanted to recline the seat and roll over, the heat felt that fabulous.
Yesterday I had a headache that gradually worked itself up to a migraine. My personal policy is to stay at work until I notice that the headache is headed toward the nausea stage, then it's time to leave.
The migraine did not occur until right at the end of the day, and so I left at the usual time. I felt weird. I couldn't turn my head too quickly or I would get dizzy. My thinking was really stilted and strange. I managed to hold it together and I picked up OC and we got on the road. Then, we became part of the snarled mess of traffic, whereupon it took 30 minutes to go five blocks. I had no idea that part of the road would be that bad, and once I was there, there was no way out.
OC needed a new pair of shoes and so I planned to go shoe shopping with her that night as well. It couldn't wait, as she'd been complaining about her shoes being tight for awhile, and now she said they hurt. We stopped at a store in our town. The shoes that I liked were velcro, and were $40. But, I am money-conscious (sort of), and I couldn't see paying that much for shoes that she would grow out of in short order. There was an in-store coupon for $10 off, and so the shoes were a more reasonable $30.
I felt okay about this until I started to really think about it. OC is five years old. The old shoes, the pair that were so tight they began to hurt? She's had those since last April. That was only nine months ago. So, hoping she doesn't have a huge growth spurt, ha, this pair should last the same amount of time. $30 is a lot to spend on shoes that will only last nine months. There were other styles and brands that featured velcro closures, and were less expensive; The main problem was selection. One style that was plentifully available in her size came in a red/white/black color combination a la Air Jordans of 20 years ago. That won't fly with my pink-&-purple-loving daughter. Another two styles that we liked, and were less expensive, didn't have her size available.
And there was another thing: when we went up to pay, the cashier was going to charge me $40 but I was all, isn't there a coupon? She really didn't want to look for a coupon. She had to go to another register where she found the coupon. (The ordeal, the struggle, the complete hassle to satisfy unreasonable, pushy customers for a measly $10 off!)
Today OC is in her new shoes, which are velcro and she can get on and off very easily. They are very cute, Skechers bike shoes. Now for some unsolicited advice: velcro is the only way to go, people. I know some people think you should get laces so kids can learn how to tie them. I agree with that idea but only after kids are of a certain age, e.g. old enough to actually learn to tie them and strong enough to do so on their own. I have been buying laces on and off since she was very little and am sick of them, because for some reason manufacturers think it's cute to put laces on 2-, 3-, and 4- year-old's shoes and not offer a velcro version.
She will have a pair with laces next. You know, in nine months, when she grows out of this pair.
Answer to above trivia question: Claude Monet. Congratulations if you got that right! Your prize is nothing, but good for you.
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