The four of us had stopped off at the Oceano Nursery before going home this afternoon (I’ll get to the reason why in a moment), and we were just about to leave after having bought one of those useless but beautiful nautical glass floats that hang from a rope. (Our old one finally broke after years of facing the marine elements). Bruce had already put Saige in the car, and I had Darcy with me and headed to the back of the store to put back some shells that the girls had been carrying around. Darcy hung back a bit, as she often does, to look at this wooden statue a few feet away. She made a feeble attempt to feel its texture, at which point the store owner said loudly, “Careful honey, you don’t want to break that, it’s very expensive. Actually I wouldn’t mind if you did and your mama had to buy it. That would be great.” WTF?

On the surface it wasn’t really the worst kind of remark, but it was his tone that annoyed me–the implication that I wasn’t keeping an eye on my kid, coupled with the almost juvenile challenge to break something. Was that really necessary? I muttered something about doing the best I could and left. Nothing got broken, but mama was kind of pissed.

It’s stressful enough going anywhere with two toddlers without getting attitude about it. I think I’ve been pretty smart about going out with them—there’s some stores I simply won’t take them to without another adult with me (nurseries are on that list), and others I have simply set aside in my mind to only visit when they are nearly in grade school (like stained glass shops). Most people aren’t like that guy, thankfully. If I remember correctly, according to the local paper, he’s the same guy that got into a shouting match with some county official or something. Apparently he’s the Type–A variety.

Ok, so we were at the nursery to see if we could secure another egg, because a terrible thing happened when we went to the Bitter Creek Railroad yesterday morning. See, the girls had been treating this iridescent egg we got at some local shop a while back like the Lord of the Rings’ ring. Saige especially–she practically wandered around with it whispering “…my preeeeciousssss…” (Mollie’s theory is that it was some kind of soothing sensory object. It surely is). Anyway, something that preeeeciousssss shouldn’t leave the house, obviously. I didn’t even know Darcy had brought it with us. So in the middle of our train ride when we’re flying over a mini-valley, I see Darcy’s arm shoot out and the egg go flying into the grassy knoll. Then she screams “EGG! EGG!” like her arm’s been torn off, and Bruce frantically tries to keep her calm and on the train. Saige doesn’t know her sister has just thrown her precious egg away, so she is calm in my lap.

But when it did not appear at home, there was trouble.

First thing this morning Bruce took the girls to the store where we got the damned thing from, and got two new ones. We’re so tough-love.

Excluding random egg-tossing, the train ride was lots of fun. I have photos of the adventure here.

Oh yes, and lest any of us forget who’s in the White House, someone left a cute little message in the dust on the back of our car, something Mollie noticed when we were leaving. “I LOVE 911!” it said, right over the Kerry bumper stickers. I love 911? Of course I do. You never know when you might have an emergency, people!

Morons.

The girls had a great 2nd birthday party, and wouldn’t you know it, NO ONE listened to my no present request. I think that part of my email must have gotten cut off, because wouldn’t you know everybody came bearing gifts? That’s what I get for not using Outlook, ha! But seriously, the girls got some really cool stuff…books, puzzles, sand toys (since we live so close to the world’s biggest sandbox and yes Bruce that is why I think it’s incredibly stupid to build one in the backyard), some nice clothes, some delightful playsilks and mama was especially thrilled to see a distinct lack of Barbie anything. And not a single double-chocolate muffin was ground into the carpet. If that doesn’t define a successful toddler party, I don’t know what does.

To think I was considering not having one at all. I not only let my kids run wild in stores, I’m lazy.

Lately I’ve started to slide into one of those moods where I waste a lot of time wishing I had better (read: expensive) equipment. Things like a digital SLR and the new Mac Mini. The Mac lust is easy to figure out: the new Windows update I installed yesterday that completely blew away my entire network is a good example of the kind of daily Winblows shit I’m tired of. I spent most of yesterday rebuilding it from scratch and resetting my router (fun!) instead of doing, oh, a million other IMPORTANT things. And don’t even get me started on all the viruses and stuff. Windows sucks and everybody knows it. But…it is affordable, there’s lots of software for it, and I know how to deal with it when things go wrong (for the most part). I would bet those three reasons are why most people put up with all the MS bullshit. But now that Apple has at least made the hardware a little more affordable, I may give it a try sometime and become one of those switcher people. Whenever I have an extra $600 lying around that is, *ahem.*

The camera thing has taken a life of it’s own, thanks to Flickr. I’ve become a complete comment-whore, checking a million times a day to see if anyone liked my new uploads, not unlike the way I used to check my blog for comments when I first started blogging. (Now you know there real reason I doggedly spent the day repairing my internet connection). Lately my favorite thng to do is check to see who has quietly favoritized a photo, without even leaving a comment (I do this a lot myself). Anyway, so…when I’m out with my camera, it’s “oh, wouldn’t that make an interesting Flickr post” about every three minutes. So naturally I wish I had a better camera, like Sara and Kathleen. Time to start playing the lottery.

Anyway, there’s a new magazine out that made me feel better, called JPG. Naturally it has a strong Flickr following, and I was attracted to their motto:

“It’s about the kind of photography you get when you love the moment more than the camera.”

Indeed, the ones when I’ve actually taken the time to fool with the settings and take them in TIFF or RAW, well, a lot of them are no better than my quick-oh-I-have-to-get-that JPG shots. I’m glad there’s a different kind of photography magazine out there now–something between “Here’s how to press the shutter button” and “Here’s how to create a gel lightbox just under $1000 with standard studio lighting techniques and film that costs more than your college tuition.” I am so SICK of those magazines.

Speaking of reading, here’s my most recent magazine subscription list:
Mamalicious
Brain, Child
Utne Reader
ReadyMade
Twins Magazine
Sweet Action (which reminds me I haven’t gotten an issue in a very long time…hey, where’s my action??)

Oh don’t look at me like that. You should see the postcards he has slapped up in the RV.

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Links! Links!

Holy crap—that’s Michael Moore?
Leading by Misleading
How to prepare your computer for toddler use (yeah, get a stone keyboard)
Cutest kids’ song ever
Design websites? Got an ipod? Check this out.
A review of photo sharing services