9 Ladies Dancing

I can't believe there are only 9 days left! I really have quite a lot of shopping still to do, and nothing is wrapped yet. Last night I had intended to go shop more, but my lovely-anonymous roommate wanted to go grocery shopping, so we would be "stocked". Actually, I think he was afraid I would spend our food money on Christmas presents. I should be offended at that, but I can't be, since I have done it before. Twice. So, to comfort him and protect both of us and our kids from starvation, we bought $120 worth of groceries. All food. He refused to buy the cleaning fluid I wanted because he said it was a luxury and a waste of money. That has to be about the strangest thing I have ever heard: generic brand floor cleaner as a luxury. Hmmm. I guess he must be feeling really poor just about now.

I think he is also feeling conflicting emotions about my new job. He likes and respects that I have a full-time office job, and get paid very nearly as much as he does. I think he is not so happy that as a result of my new job I can't be at home an hour early to cook for us, and I can't drop by the house three times a day to rotate laundry. I'm underfoot and interrupt his daily morning ritual, because I now have to be ready to leave at the same time he does. I think he also feels a little loss of control of things, since I will suddenly be able to decide to buy a frivolous item or two, whether he likes it or not, because it will no longer be impacting his wallet when I do.

Of course he would never say any of these things, and would deplore someone who said them. I just heard it in his voice yesterday, when he said "You'll be making almost as much money as I am," in a tone of voice I didn't recognize. It was an odd, strangled-sounding hushed voice, as though he was ashamed to say it. I hope that he can overcome his poor masculine genetic hard-wiring and *not* have his pride injured by my paycheck.

I got him a Christmas present that is really cool and I think he will really like. Unfortunately, it was the last one they had in the store, and I think it is too big. I'm going to have to sneak out to another store from the same chain and see if I can exchange it for another one. Otherwise he will look like a little kid wearing his dad's clothes!

I also got a really cool toy and book for my munchkin, and a few clothes, which is what she really needs (and wants). I purposefully bought the clothes to be a little on the big side, in hopes that she will be able to wear some of them for more than one winter. To date I have *never* successfully done this. She always outgrows things anyway, with one exception: last year when she broke her arm she had a big bulky cast, so I got her a bunch of size 10-12 sweatshirts that she wore like a tunic. Those still fit her. It's a miracle!

My munchkin is a tall, slender kid. It's hard to find clothes that will fit her, because she has really long legs (like me) and skinny hips (like I *used* to have), so big sizes fall off of her, and small sizes show her ankles and shins. Most clothing lines label their clothes in group sizes: 6, 6x, 7/8 and 9/10. My kid falls in the 7/8 range, but you can never tell whether the outfit labelled 7/8 is going to be smallish or biggish. Think about it: if you try you can remember being 7, and thinking how huge the 8-year-olds were. You were right. It's an enormous size difference. I was thrilled to find that Old Navy labels it's 7- and 8- sized clothes seperately, and they are actually two different sizes. On top of that, they have regular, slim, tall, and petite sizes! For $15. Maybe I will have to go back and get another pair or two.

Please don't take this as an endorsement for Old Navy. I actually shop in a lot of stores, and found the service there horribly slow, and the jeans that I wanted were on a high shelf and difficult to reach. Further, the music was deafeningly loud, and it was freezing cold in there. I'm just saying the prices were good, and for once I could find Kirstin's size!

I'm off to rush through another jam-packed day.