Nut-Shell

Today was an "errand" day. We did some school, then got ready and piled into the van around 1:00. First we hit the bank. Next we headed to Zaxby's for some lunch. Those Zalads are Heaven on Earth for a hungry girl who's Daniel Fasting! It was sooo good. And it was cheap for the kids and I to eat there. Chris and I discovered a trick during last year's Daniel Fast....We order a salad (or in this case, a Zalad!) with the chicken on the side. We give the chicken to the children and also order them some fries. Water to drink. And there you go. Everybody's happy and full! I did this today. Gave Shaun my chicken but I did order Jordan a kids meal. We still ate for around 11 dollars. Pretty good. The absolute cheapest place we three can it is at Papa's Pizza. Since Jordan's still three, he's free. And somehow even with Shaun and I getting buffets its still only around eight bucks at lunchtime. But we rarely go there anymore, since we shy away from wheat.

I'm not really sure how I got off on Papa's Pizza. Anyway.

The Zaxby's in Cleveland has a "game room", so that was helpful while we waited for our food. And after we had eaten and I needed a little rest :)

Next up was Wal-Mart. The most dreaded portion of the trip. My youngest son is notorious for his bad behavior in Wal-Mart. I'm not sure what he has agaisnt the place, but I can count on one hand the times he's been well-behaved inside a Wal-Mart. But we had to go. We were out of food, and this "new" Wal-Mart has a Gluten Free aisle that's actually pretty good. So we went, and made it out without any dramatic episodes. One reason for this was because I allowed Jordan to hang onto the back of the buggy instead of actually sitting inside the buggy. Which is against the rules, I know, but it allowed me to have a peaceful shopping trip, so I decided it was alright.

We hit the library next. The kids stocked up on books to read next week. Shaun actually picked out 17 books. I thought about making him put some back, but who am I to discourage him from reading? Jordan picked a few, then I found one for me and then we made our way to the check out desk. This is where I realized that...I only have 2 hands! Ha! I had forgotten to bring along our "library bag" and didn't think I could make it outside to the van with Jordan and all those books....so the sweet librarian offered to put most of them into a plastic grocery bag for me. I'm not really sure why she didn't offer us two bags....since all of the books wouldn't fit into just the one. Maybe each patron is allowed only one bag? Who knows. Anyway, Shaun insisted on carrying the bag, and I had an armful of books in one arm and Jordan in the other. As soon as we made it out onto the porch, Jordan squirms out of my arms and promptly runs right into a puddle. Of course he was wearing his "Kidpak" shoes (Converse All Stars) which are completely NON-waterproof. His feet were soaked, as well as the bottoms of his pants. I snatched him up and strapped him into his car seat.

I debated on whether to just skip our next stop or not, but decided to go for it. Our trip into Ace Hardware went smooth as silk. Probably because we only had to get one thing. On the way home, the boys decided they wanted to see thier Granny and Pawpaw. We had a nice visit with them. They fed us a snack of collard greens and peas and we watched some monster trucks on television. At five, Chris called to say that he was home, so we headed that way to.

When we got home I realized that I had forgotten to start the dishwasher before we left. Every single pot I use for cooking was inside. Rather than wash them by hand, we decided to go out for dinner. Back to Cleveland we went for some "country cookin". Of course we only had the veggies, but it was still good. And of course I stopped at the RedBox on the way home.

So there you have it. Our day, in a nut-shell.