Strangest...Blockbuster Experience...EVER

In keeping with the theme of this strange month...

Middle Child wanted to go to a party tonight. She cleaned her room and did her homework, she looked fantastic, we got to the party and... no parents. I have a pretty strict "no parties without parents" rule, so obviously, I wasn't leaving her there. She was bummed, but surprisingly agreeable. She was unhappy to be missing the party, but understood my point.

Because she was so good natured about it, I offered to let her have a friend stay over. We picked up some snacks and stopped at the Blockbuster to let her pick out a movie. 30 minutes later, she'd made a decision, and we went to check out.

Do you realize Blockbuster charges $5 for a movie? I did not know this, as I rarely stop there, preferring online movies, Redbox, and Netflix. Guess what else I didn't know? Blockbuster does not accept checks. Yeah, I'm a check writing kind of girl, ever since Small One made off with my debit card. So, I had to leave the store and go home to borrow the man's debit card. Sort of a pain, but you know, not the worst thing in the world.

Checked Redbox online to see if they had the movie MC was going for, but no, they didn't. Back we went to Blockbuster, got the movie, and then drove to the other end of town to pick up her friend. I was getting tired, and a little bit cranky. I hadn't had dinner.

We got home, MC and friend went off to her room, semi-functional-laptop-that-serves-as-dvd-player in tow, and... no movie in the Blockbuster case. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

Called the store, and spoke to the extremely apologetic clerk. He checked to see if they had another copy of the film. They did not. He recommended a similar film as a second choice. I asked the girls, they said that sounded great, I got back on the phone with the guy, and he told me they don't have that one. Really?!? BUT he had another recommendation at the ready. This time I didn't even run it by the girls, I just sent the Man off to fetch it. While he was gone, I went back to MC's room to break the news that we were going with a third option. As I was telling them this, the Man called from the video store.

You guessed it. They didn't have that one either. Seriously.

I think my biggest question of the evening (and you can probably guess there are many questions I'd like to ask) is WHY did the man keep making helpful suggestions and offering to hold movies for us without CHECKING to see if the movies were in his actual STORE?

Punchline of the night? Dvd player's not working either. Thank you, and goodnight.

Thurday 13, the Strange and Stranger Edition

Challenge for today: find 13 things in my day that are strange or involve strangers. Mission possible, for sure.

1. Strange, indeed, to be posting the Thursday 13 on a Friday, but that's how things go around this place.
2. Strange technology- my phone will no longer accept calls from my dear friend. Only her. She's the only one it's discriminating against, but I swear, I can be holding it in my hand, and it won't ring when she calls- just goes straight to voicemail.
   
3. My Small came home with a hat today, when she did not wear one to school. When I asked her whose hat it was she said "Mine!". Obviously, I pressed further, reminding her that she does not own a hat like that. "It must belong to one of my friends, then!" Ahh, now we're getting somewhere! I checked the label, which read "Bartlett". I don't know any children named Bartlett, or even with the last name of Bartlett, but since so many of us shop consignment and share hand-me-downs, I didn't find it odd. I did say "Bartlett" out loud, though, to which Small One replied "Oh, yeah, it's Bartlett's hat!" Really? Bartlett's hat? Who is Bartlett, exactly? "My friend, Mommy! My friend named Bartlett, you silly guy!" Ahh...
4. From the "strangers are friends we haven't met" department: There's a new lady working at the bank- or, at least, new to the floor. She typically works in the offices downstairs. Small One is the belle of the bank, in case you're wondering, but she had never met the lady before yesterday. As we were leaving the bank yesterday, she gave her a hug and kiss goodbye, and today spent much of our visit deep in conversation with her.
   
5. More bank strangeness... when I went to make my deposit, one of Small's well-loved bank friends pulled her across the counter and let her work the drive-through for awhile. Anyone banking at our local bank today who was greeted by a 3 year old voice introducing herself... yeah, that was mine.
6. Pharmacy strange- called in a prescription ahead of time, and when I went to pick it up, it wasn't ready. It was an easy prescription, they filled it in 2 minutes, but the pharmacist told me, as she was filling it, that if I want it filled quickly, I should not call it in in advance, but just bring it to her. Come again?
   
7. Fun strange- listening to my 10 year old students (boys) relate their theories on science fiction. Sometimes I love teaching. Today, too, I taught them the word "speculate", and we discussed its various conjugations... by the end of class, they were trying to work the word into casual conversation. "So if we're speculating on what you want from the homework assignment..."
8. Texty strange- Trying to choose a deodorant for Middle Child, I texted her the following message: "Sure pain, or sure clean demenscou?" Yeah, these are the perils of not checking your t9 before you hit the send button.
9. Tiresome strange- my Small, who is an excellent sleeper, woke up at 11:00 tonight FREAKING out, and insisted she needed to come and lie on top of me until she fell asleep. Getting her back into her bed was a bizarre ordeal.
10. In the process of the above ordeal, we said "Did you have a nightmare?" and when she answered in the affirmative, we asked her what it was about, to which she sobbed "NOTHING!" Alrighty, then.
    
11. Good strange: when I finally got her down again, after much weeping and wailing (on her part) and gnashing of teeth (on my part), she said "I'm sorry! Goodnight!" I've never been apologized to before by a child who is upset about sleeping, so that was a peculiarly nice shift.
12. Sad strange: a ghost from my past keeps trying to friend me on facebook. Everyone we mutually know is EMPHATIC that I shall not allow this to come to pass, and the notes from the wannabe friender are growing increasingly sad. It's so strange for me, not caving.
13. Strange creature- this child, who gave up on getting her own clothes on at this stage of the game, with an air of resigning herself to her fate:

Most peculiar, Mama

So this month's theme, according to NaBloPoMo, is "strange(r)". In other words, if I were planning to blog every day of the month (clearly I'm not, as I've already blown it), and I were struggling for a topic, I could write on strange things or strangers. ("There you go,"says NaBloPoMo, "talk amongst yourselves.")

I thought about strange things and strangers last night. I thought about my little brother, as a preschooler, when my mother told him not to talk to strangers, going down the entire line at the bank, yelling "Is THIS guy a stranger, Mom?"

I thought about my Oldest, when he was about the age of my Small One, being offended that I didn't introduce him to someone in the store, and scoffing at the idea that I didn't know the man. "Yes, you do, Mom! You know EVERYONE!" I guess, in his limited experience, I did.

But then, tonight, I came across something I would consider truly strange. It's a Snoopy Pendant, from the Danbury Mint. For only $117, you too can own a 1 inch pendant of Snoopy, all bright and sparkly with Swarovski crystals! The Man tells me he can think of no better use for $117. (I think he's being sarcastic.)

The best part of the ad, in my humble opinion, is that it touts Snoopy as "America's favorite cartoon beagle". Really? Not America's favorite beagle, certainly, or even America's favorite cartoon dog, but America's favorite cartoon beagle. This begs the question, exactly how hard do you have to work to be America's favorite cartoon beagle? How many of them are there, out there vying for the title of "favorite"?

I'm going to start calling myself "America's favorite mom who lives in this house". Yeah, me!

What's in a Name?

Because I enjoy being at home with my Small One, I make every attempt to find work that I can do out of the home, rather than having to leave her and go to an office. Lately, I'm doing a lot of work for kgb, the "knowledge generation bureau".

You may have heard of kgb, they've been marketing like mad, even during the Super Bowl. It's a question and answer service. Basically, people pay them 99 cents so we can do their homework for them, answer their sex questions, and tell them the best sort of weed and where it's legal. I mean, that's mostly what I end up answering, with a few fun history or celebrity questions in just to make it tolerable, and so many angsty teen dating questions I feel like a cross between Dear Abbey and a magic 8 ball. "Will Joe ever like me?" "What's the best way to ask a girl out?"

Some of the questions are dull, some of the questions introduce me to worlds I never wanted to know existed, but some are fun to research. Tonight, I got a question from someone about baby names. This person wanted to know a good name for a baby whose parents are named Brandon and Brittany.

Ok! This I know how to answer. I pulled up a baby name generator, put in the information, and voila! A list of names... including this lovely name for a little girl:

Beortbtraed

Don't try to steal that one, now. I don't want to find out that my readers have gone and snatched that one out from under me! I'm definitely naming my next child that.

As soon as I learn to pronounce it!