Let's go ride bikes!

Ari is doing well (I feel like it's been a while since I've written about her). She is turning into such a little goofball--I know I've said that before, but she just gets goofier as the days go by. Her latest thing is making weird faces. I can't even describe how odd these faces are--maybe I'll have to try to catch them on video. The other day, she was half-squinting, half-winking at me, and looking at me out of the very corners of her eyes. She also likes to roll her head around, and roll her eyes around at the same time. And she's totally doing it for an audience too, because she'll stop every so often to look at you normally with a big grin, as though she's thinking, "Hey, did you see me? Did you?" She is a constant source of entertainment now.

We did some shopping the other night, which included a stop at a furniture store (we were thinking about getting new bedroom furniture, but have decided against it). Anyway, when we went into the store, we decided to let Ari walk on her own, instead of riding in the stroller. And honestly, that was the first time we've ever taken her shopping without her being strapped into a stroller or shopping cart. And she did great. She stayed with us (for the most part), and had a grand old time opening drawers and doors and squawking loudly about her great discoveries. She got a little antsy toward the end, but that's because it was her bedtime, so who can blame her? I was just so impressed with how good she was. And I don't know why I feel surprised. Maybe it's because I know how active and go-go-go she is at home, and was worried that she would wreak havoc on the store and/or disappear on us. But like I said, she was really good, and only had to be "spoken to" a few times. Maybe we'll have to try stroller-free shopping more often.

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No progress on the cruise-planning front yet. I've been doing some research online, but there are just so many choices. I really think our next order of business is to get a travel agent--we have AAA, so that's a good place to start. I think I would feel more secure about the whole trip if I had an expert helping us out with good deals, insider tips, coordinating our flights (and possibly hotel stays on either end of the trip), etc.

Of course, we also need to figure out where we want to go. Apparently, it's not enough to just say "the Caribbean" because there's Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, and even Southern Caribbean (which sounds really appealing, but usually requires flying into Puerto Rico, which I'm sure will be pricier than flying somewhere in the States). Plus, we have to figure out what port we want to depart from. Ah, decisions, decisions. But they are fun ones! And we still have plenty of time to work out all the little details.

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I went shopping for some new bedsheets last night, dreading the prospect. King-size sheets always cost more than any other size, and as I perused the aisles, price tags of $59.99, $69.99 and $79.99 made me gulp. Then I spied a clearance section and found several sets of sheets that were the same brand name, same color, same style, etc. In other words--identical. Two sets were marked $44.99, and then one was marked $22.48. I did a double-take, and then told myself it was a probably a case of someone putting the wrong sticker on the set. So I took it to the price-checker-scanner-thingy and lo and behold, it scanned at $22.48. I have no idea why the price was so different--you could tell the sheets had never been opened, so it wasn't like it was a set that had been returned. So we are now the proud owners of a set of black (ha ha--yes, black) king-size 400-thread-count (read: extra soft) sheets. I also snagged two 300-thread-count pillowcases for only $7.48 (olive green, not black, but hey--everything goes with black). Hooray for bargains! And hooray for luxurious new sheets!

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A couple jokes I ran across recently...

This one is really fun to tell someone out loud...

Q: How many kids with ADD does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: OMG, let's go ride bikes!

And this one's a groaner, but still funny...

Q: How many Chinese people does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Thousands, because Confucious say many hands make light work.

Nothing like a completely cheesy joke to cheer me up.

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Yeh, I know this was random. What's your point?