Three Thought Thursday: Episode 30

1. Yesterday was no bueno. Actually, it really wasn't that bad. I'm just too much of a perfectionist. I don't allow myself to make mistakes.
Ever.
Especially when they're mistakes that cost us money....Money that we don't have!
So what did I do that was oh, so awful? Oh, only ordered my husband's seventy-seven dollar white coat about four sizes too small. And honestly, I thought I was being the best wife ever when I ordered it. Back in May he handed me a paper from his teachers in Midland explaining where you could get really nice white coats for their white coat ceremony. He has spent a full year wearing a really crappy short white coat during his clinical year and I wanted him to have a really nice long one for beginning his career as a PA. (short is for students, long is for clinicians) So I placed an order on May 10th from one of the sites recommended on the handout and planned on giving it to him as a surprise for Father's Day. Then I got the email confirmation saying that shipping usually takes about EIGHT weeks for custom orders. So there went the Father's Day idea. And here we are just over ELEVEN weeks later. Just a week before the long coat ceremony. The coat is beautiful. Nice, luxurious white cotton. Just small enough to fit me, not him. Somewhere in my ridiculous mind I ordered him the completely wrong size. Oh, and only coats that are not embroidered can be returned. Too bad I spent the extra money to have his name and credentials embroidered. Erg. And there's absolutely no way to let it out a bit. If only it had been a little too big. So off Mark went to the local scrub shop to pick up one of the cheap, crappy ones similar to his short coat. And once it's embroidered, I think we will have dropped roughly $120 and walked away with a yucky, crappy, cheap-o long white coat. Congrats, honey. I know, I know. I need not be so rough on myself. But 99% of the time, I can correct any little problem, fix any little mishap. It's that measly one perfect where there's absolutely nothing I can do that just kills me! Especially when there's money involved! I can't help but mentally list all the things I could have used that wasted money for. Instead, we have a $77 white coat to add to the Halloween costume box.

2. Want to know what's not cool?
The terrible twos.
Want to know what's really not cool?
Two children in the terrible twos.
That's right. My sweet little dumpling, Rudy has decided to join the ranks of other pre-two-year-olds that decide to give the terrible twos an early go. And don't get me wrong. He's not that bad at all. And neither is Kolb for that matter. But he has definitely decided to develop a little mind of his own all of a sudden. And picked up on a few actions that I certainly didn't teach him! Kolb, on the other hand, is on his way out. Not that he's suddenly become an angel. He still likes to rock his crooked hallow. But the reason he is on his way out, is that he's beginning to understand the choice to be good or bad. He's aware that he can be good. Or he can be bad. Here's a scenario from this week:
...Kolbe is playing with something he knows he's not supposed to touch...
Me: Kolbe, go put that back in the closet, please.
Kolbe: No, me just do dat one more time.
Me: Kolbe, I just asked you to put that away. Please go put it up.
Kolbe: NO!!!
Me: Excuse me? Go to your room please.
(crying, fit-throwing begins, though he does go to his room as told. Two minutes later I retrieve him from his room to rejoin society. We begin looking at books when I notice that Reagan has somehow found a passie that obviously had been overlooked. He's not supposed to have one unless he's in his bed so I snatch it from his mouth.)
Me: Rudy, you're not supposed to have a passie right now, baby.
Rudy: Uhhhhhh....wahhhhhhhh!!!
(He turns and gives me his best tear-stained, lip-pouting face, waits a sec for my response, wails even louder when I shake my head 'no', and then has the audacity to rear back and hit me on the top of the head with his closed fist.)
Me: Rudy Mark! Absolutely not, mister. We do not hit!
Kolbe: Mama, RuRu be bad boy dist like me be bad boy.

mmmmm-hmmmm. See. He knows.

3. It has been a while since I wrote about something around the house that I just love or am thankful for, but I've gotten a few new things recently that I just can't go without mentioning. You may remember a while back when I wrote about how I loathe vinyl table clothes. But some brilliant genius somewhere has created a solution! (enter singing angels) While looking for a birthday present for my brother at Bed Bath and Beyond the other day, my mom and I came across a these tablecloths that profess to be "fabric with the ease of vinyl." Hmm. A tablecloth that doesn't look like vinyl but acts like vinyl? I'm in. And you know what? It totally lives up to all that it professes to be! Looks like a pretty tablecloth, but everything from milk to ketchup to applesauce to spaghetti sauce has wiped right off just as if it were vinyl. And it's not one of those tablecloths where the liquid just beads up on it but the stains set in. It literally acts just like a vinyl tablecloth but doesn't look anything like one. Plus, it matches my kitchen, to boot! And the 20% off coupons that show up in the mailbox all the time help off set the slightly-more-than-vinyl price. Totally worth it.