Enjoying: trips to the Walmart grocery store. Normally when I grocery shop I try to get in and out as efficiently as possible. I don’t hate doing it but it doesn’t have a history of being something I look forward to. Well. Let me tell you about my new grocery shopping experience. I have never in my life shopped anywhere with so many friendly employees. Everyone smiles and comments on the weather or my blue rain boots. They help me find things. They ask about my day. Between my three years in Tennessee and my three weeks in Georgia I haven’t experienced the stereotypical southern friendliness. I guess I’ve been looking of the friendliness in all the wrong places. It’s in aisle 7 near the chips.

It’s sad that I get so much enjoyment out of Walmart. How my life has changed. Nineteen year old Sarah would be horrified.

Supervising: play dates between AB and  our neighbor Olivia. She just turned 12 so to Annabelle she’s a big girl and can do no wrong. I was going to talk to Olivia’s mother about paying for her to entertain AB while I get things done around the house. Before I had the chance, Olivia came knocking on the door and asking to play. Annabelle is entertained and I don’t have to pay. It’s worked out well for all of us.

Olivia and Annabelle have a little bit of an accent barrier. Olivia has a very Georgia accent and AB has a northern mother, southern father, lived in New York (don’t even try to tell me all northern accents are the same) and she watches British cartoons. She has a very odd jumble of accents. Their conversations have a lot of “what? What did you say?” Annabelle had a deep conversation with Christopher about how she was confused that Olivia called her shopping cart a “buggy.” I’m pleased to report I have finally ingrained into her head that the candy on a stick is called a lollipop so she was confused when Olivia offered to bring her a sucker. 

Not understanding: most of the people around here. The nice man stocking the milk shelf at Walmart had a very animated conversation with me about the weather. The only word I understood was “sun” but I smiled and nodded. 

Being rescued from: large bugs. We have several lady bugs in the house and I can handle those. What I can’t handle is a HUGE cockroach crawling up my kitchen wall. It honestly was the same size as Annabelle’s hand. I could have dealt with the cockroach myself but Olivia said she doesn’t mind bug and would squash it for me. A while later she left to go home then running back in yelling, “Miss Sarah! Miss Sarah! There’s a bird on the wood pile and I’m scared of it!” I knew it was my moment to shine. I marched out to the woodpile ready to defend our new friend (Olivia, not the bird). It was an odd shaped piece of wood, not a bird. 

Not visiting: neighbor Mike Peedro’s home tattoo parlor. The day we met he said he sometimes does tattoos at home because he doesn’t want to rent a spot at a real shop. My personal belief is he has a ban restricting him from travel thanks to parole and/or house arrest. At any rate, I heard from Olivia that Patty was over getting a tattoo. I was kind of hoping she’d invite us over to see the spectacle but she did not.

Holding back: tears of joy when Sesame finally peed on the potty. I think it was more a coincidence of timing (being told for the 48th time that day to sit on the potty) than her feeling the urge to go BUT A VICTORY IS A VICTORY. 

Holding back: tears of sorrow that she probably won’t do it again for the next 12 days.