Sunday, December 28, 2008

Le'go My Wallet!

Does my font keep getting smaller? Or is my eyesight getting worse? Seems to me everything looks tinier on this page...

I sure wish that would happen to my thighs and stomach - you know, every time I look in the mirror, they'd look smaller...wouldn't that be cool? I should have asked for that for Christmas.

You know how sometimes you get what seems to be a good idea, but it isn't? Yes? Well, today was all about that. The boys wanted to visit the Lego store at a nearby, very upscale mall. Upscale, as in, we couldn't even afford to go to the food court. So Larry and I thought, "What the heck! That sounds like fun!"

I don't know why we thought that. I can't even begin to explain it. We don't like visiting shopping malls even at the best of times, let alone during the week between Christmas and New Year's. Perhaps a surfeit of sugar and other carbs has addled our brains. So we went. It was crowded. There were more people there than I thought existed in the entire world. Since the beginning of time. Really. Remember those pictures of Grant Park on Election Night? That was nothing compared to what we encountered this afternoon.

Many of these people were in the tiny Lego shop. I assume they were all much wealthier than we are, because they were buying things there - expensive things. Brian started weeping because he couldn't buy anything. Perhaps you think it was cruel of us to take him there and then not buy him anything, and you would be right. In our defense, I'll say that we never buy anything there; in the past, he just wanted to go look at all the models and get ideas for building his own stuff at home.

Anyway, Brian was crying, Rachel was complaining that her bottom was itchy (you needed that info, didn't you?), and Susie was trying to take a nap on the floor of the store. So we left.

That was fun, wasn't it? I hope Larry smacks me upside the head if I ever suggest doing that again.

26 comments:

  1. I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes to stores for entertainment, with no intention of buying anything.

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  2. I hate the Lego store. You can't touch any of the fun displays anyways. Ugh. Meanwhile, why do they cost eleventy billion dollars? WHY?

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  3. I buy my sons their Legos at Target when they do their 50% off toy clearance twice a year. I can't wait for the one that is coming up!!! :)

    I'm sure the boys would love to go to a real Lego store, but only if they had some incredible sales, and it doesn't sound like they do! Bummer!!

    Still I think it was really nice of you to go! Too bad it turned out the way it did. Sometimes crowds ruin the best of times.

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  4. That's hilarious! I totally GET the Lego thing. K, wait. No I don't. What I get is that my son LOVES Legos. I HATE them! Have you ever stepped on one? Oh my GOSH! You can hear me weave a tapestry of obsenity that to this day can be seen lingering somewhere over Lake Michigan.(Thank you "A Christmas Story")

    And I can relate to going to the store just for entertainment purposes. When I was a single mom (3 yrs) I live behind a Wal-Mart and I'd take my kids there once or twice a week to just walk around and look at stuff. They'd play a little and I'd get out of the house. Ghetto, I know.

    And as far as your daughter taking a nap on the floor? Ya, my daughter fell asleep in the check-out line two lanes over ON THE FLOOR! When I went to get her from customer service (because someone found her and took her up there) they made me feel like such a schmuck! Seriously, she'd only been out of my sight for like 30 seconds. And I (thought) knew where she was.

    Good times.

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  5. Nicholas tries to lie down on strange floors too, which sends my OCD tendencies roiling. I don't think we have a Lego store nearby either. It pays to live in the sticks. My kids can't whine about stuff they don't know about, and I'm not tempted by the Container Store.

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  6. good to know there is another child out there who anounces their 'itchy bummy' for all to hear

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  7. Hey - if you really want to torture yourself, they do birthday parties there, too!

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  8. I know exactly what you mean--those great ideas that turn out to be such bummers. Sorry.

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  9. I'm sure you told her just as loudly that if her hiney itched, she should take better care to keep it clean in the future and it won't itch. Of course, if it were my child that one comment would prompt a potty training reversion from hades and I'd live to pay for saying such a thing to my child.

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  10. Um, I'm gonna say that that doesn't really sound like fun to me. But that might just be me.

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  11. If my son hears about that store, I'll never have a quiet moment again.

    And if you ever decide to go there again, just let us know. We'll smack you upside the head. :-)

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  12. No matter how many times I state that we are ONLY GOING TO LOOK, someone has to start whining about buying. Which is why we never go shopping. I prefer to drool on catalogs instead.

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  13. I am so grateful that my boys have outgrown Lego's. Now I just need to get my girls to outgrow Build-A-Bear.

    Yes your blog is getting smaller. My face is a 1/2 foot from the screen in my lame attempts to read the fine print.

    I finally got my first set of reading glasses but I can't afford the prescription lenses until next year. Oh good that's in two days.

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  14. I am so out of it. They have LEGO STORES? WTF? When my kids were little you went to Toys R Bust or to Squal-mart and you bought the sets. I hate malls. Have I said how much I hate malls? Last year Kahuna and I decided it would be fun to go to South Coast Plaza and look around. I tried on a pair of jeans I fell in love with. I looked at the price tag and they were $1500! Yes ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS for a pair of jeans. I HATE shopping.

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  15. When Toys R Us was still in business and my kids were of the right age, we would have "looking days." They were reminded that there were no birthdays coming up and Christmas was a long way away, and if they saw something they wanted, they would have to remember it for their Christmas lists, because I would not. The first request to buy meant it was time to leave the store. Didn't take too long to figure out that if they kept their whining down, they got to stay longer. It made for cheap rainy day excursions!

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  16. Hahaha. Okay, we did that to our girls with Build-a-Bear a little while back. You never know when the kids switch that switch from fine with looking to not fine with looking. We left the store with three girls in tears. I think they are at the point of "not fine with looking" Oops.

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  17. I changed the way my computer screen looks (pixels or something??) and now everything is teeny tiny. I can't get over it. I may have to change it back. Something about the boys in my house needing more screen for some computer games??

    I loathe the mall. Aside from our ornament quest, we never go. Ever. For reals.

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  18. I can well imagine the crowd--and the agony of suffering children. I hope Larry bought you a drink afterwards...

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  19. I hate the mall. I hate kids at the mall. I hate kids.

    Oh, FINE, I don't hate kids. Generally.

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  20. Since my son is only two, I didn't know Legos could be expensive. Isn't that naive of me?

    I have a lot to learn. Thanks for letting me know what not to do!

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  21. You are about to be removed from my blog roll!!! It’s nothing personal…I’m restarting for 2009 this Thursday. Were you at the top of the list in 2008? If not, here’s your chance to be. A single comment gets you on my blog roll. Keep commenting and you’ll stay at the top. Hope to see you in 2009!

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  22. You know I say I miss the mall, and can't wait until our visit this summer. Then I read your post! So, keep them coming!!

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  23. May I suggest that the next time you tke them to a museum?
    Very expensive stuff ... not for sale. You're off the hook.
    No really ... I mean it!
    You're off the hook!
    Happy New Year!

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  24. I'm with Larry on this one.

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  25. Doesn't sound like my idea of a good time! We occasionally have a Lego display at the local mall where you have tons of crafters with the lego structures and they rope off the area so no one can touch. The only blocks you can touch are at tables where there are at least 14 runny-nosed children fighting for the right-size, right-color, etc. Too gross - Bring on the Lysol.

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  26. whining, screaming, crying ~ that would have been us exiting the store.

    Catalogs are good. Until they learn to read and figure out you can ORDER the stuff online.....then they go online.....etc. etc. etc.

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