cat and mouse

My name is Kim and I have a little shopping problem. When CD takes his leave of the family I have a tendency to kick up the on-line shopping. In truth, it starts a few days before he departs. It's not like doesn't know what I am up to. He sees (and pays) the credit card bill. For some reason, it seems better if he doesn't see the boxes at the front door. Sometimes I actually return things but I don't exactly get brownie points for that. So there!

This week I have a couple of great excuses for shopping, in addition to being on my own for 11 days during CD's latest trip to a geek-fest. The kids' birthdays are coming soon and until this week, I had purchased none of their presents. They are also short on spring/summer clothes. Doesn't get much better than that.

So the UPS/Fedex/USPS trifecta have been making regular visits to our house this week. These are a few of my favorite things (this week, anyway):

Hanna Andersson Stockholm Petite slim pants - OMG, what took me so long to order these? They are the greatest pants ever. One pair is definitely not enough. Eleanor got some shirts and shorts on this order.

LeapFrog® Tag Reading System - This one is a birthday present for Oliver. I wasn't a fan initially, but his teacher (who is not at all into electronic gizmos, despite her husband having invented the emoticon!) recommended it to help close the gap has between cognitive and fine motor skills. I entered all the current giveaways, but bought one anyway. Now I'm sure to win. (Amazon has $10 off at checkout on the Tag, and $4 off on books, at checkout through March 31.)

Remo Rhythm Club Floor Tom - Eleanor loves drums. She shouts "drums!" when she hears them, and loves to play with them when we are at Music Together. Oliver got instruments for his first birthday. We're a little behind.

Cupcake Courier - I have been looking for a deal on one of these for over a year. Every time I know I will be transporting cupcakes, I start looking again in earnest. My Michael's used to have them. I would dutifully clip the 40% off coupon and go down there, only to find they didn't have any in stock. Three times I did this. Finally I decided I'm wasting more money driving down there, only to end up annoyed and disappointed. Besides, on-line shopping is better for the environment.

RL Clara shoes - Love these! Wasn't sure I would and hesitated, but PiperLime had them on sale with free returns, and ordering from them gave me free shipping on my Gap order for the kids, so how could I resist? Now I wish I had ordered the black too, but they are back to full price. I'm checking all the other shoe sites for Clara in other colors at a good price. Anybody have a coupon for Zappo's?

The mail has brought a couple of cool giveaway wins my way as well.  The Fabulous Miss S sent the Boca set I won. The yoga mat was just the kick I needed to get back to the shred. I think I have had "day one" four times this month. And Mistress Shredhead herself sent a gift card for Smarty Pig from the first "graduation" giveaway. I totally don't understand how it works yet, but I'll dive in and figure it out later on. 

And somehow, tomorrow morning I'll wake up in the dark while the kids are still asleep and spend a little quality time with Jillian. Hate her, especially before coffee.