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Well I am not really so sure about that but I signed up with google to allow ads on my blog and possibly I can get some pocket change every now and then or maybe I can sustain a 6 figure income with it.

kings of convenience 

Belated Valentine's Day

A few nights ago Bryan and I went out. We didn't go out to get the oil changed or to take Anya to ballet and we didn't go grocery shopping either. We actually went out. That is quite a concept if you know how rarely we actually do "go out". The girls eagerly went with a friend(thank you Sharon!) to be watched. Bryan preplanned the event by buying tickets for a show at Little Brothers. The show was fabulous and I don't think I have ever been to a better performance. If you have not heard of them already you should check these guys out: http://launch.yahoo.com/ar-296662---Kings-Of-Convenience.
I have been listening to their cd like crazy and am afraid that I may be irritating the neighbors by playing track 8 over and over.
Bryan, I had so much fun with you . Thank you.

Mom and Monica many years ago

My Mom is only about 18 years old here. Monica reminds me of Meila in this picture.

Bad news and good news

What do you want to hear first?
Deena called yesterday saying that she spoke to Walmart manager who says they will not drop charges. The good news is that I found the missing library book under the couch.

I have spent most of my morning reading and trying to forget about this predicament I got myself into. I am trying to avoid the whole situation hoping that it will disappear. No such luck.

Home again

Well Hawaii was wonderful as wonderful as can be except for that little incident that happened at Walmart (previous post) . I still feel quite incredulous about the whole situation. I even went to the Walmart manager to explain my story as no one cared to hear it on the day of my arrest. The day of my arrest. How crazy is that? I think I am the only person I know that has been arrested. Hopefully Walmart will drop charges and I can get on with my life without having theft of the 4th degree on my record.
Being home with my hubby is great. Being home in literally freezing cold weather is not so great.

Did you hear I got arrested?

On February 1st , I offered to go grocery shopping for my mother and also to take my grandmother along with me and my 2 daughters, Anya 8 and Meila 20 months. Grandma said she would like to stop at Walmart to pick up some things. Anya had received an outfit from Walmart from her aunt for Christmas that was too large for her and we decided to look for something she could exchange it for. We arrived at the store around 10:30 am. When we first arrived at the store we went to the service center and took care of our return. Then after helping Grandma shop for various items, we ended up in the young s clothing area. At this time my younger child started to get antsy and my grandmother offered to watch her as I helped Anya pick out the right sizes. Meila refused to stay in the cart so I got her out and put her down. Even though Grandma had offered to watch Meila I knew she did not have the ability to do so as Grandma’s knees are bad and she has a hard time walking around. Grandma decided to go off and finish her shopping. She took the shopping cart with her to use as a walker. Because I was trying to be hasty I had Anya try on the clothes right there in that section rather than taking her to a dressing room. She tried on 3 pairs of skirts and 2 tops to figure out the right size. I had her pull the skirt over her clothing and I helped to shield her as she tried on the shirts. At the same time I was helping Anya I was trying to watch Meila. She is the kind of child that will wander off in and instant and I was making sure she stayed close. As soon as we found the right sizes I told Anya to quickly change back into her clothes. She took off the Walmart top and put back on her shirt that she had come into the store in. She saw that it matched the Walmart skirt and asked if it would be okay to wear the skirt out of the store. I told her this would be fine and told her to put her other clothes in the diaper bag. Either she handed me her clothing and I quickly stuffed it into the bag or she put it into the bag. Either way that it happened the Walmart shirt unintentionally got put into my diaper bag along with Anya’s clothing that she had taken off. Before we left the clothing area I remember seeing a random tag on the ground near the rack of clothing. I left the tag where it was and continued our shopping. Next we went into the shoe department and Anya found a pair of sandals that she liked. There was no tag on them and there was no box so an associate helped us find another box for the same type of shoe. We found Grandma and finished up shopping. At this point Meila had gotten really fussy and Grandma tried to console her by offering her cookies which she greedily shoved into her mouth.
At the checkout we were waiting in line for some time and again Meila was fussing. She had woken up really early that morning and was overly tired. She was back in the cart at this point and not happy about it. She kept screaming and crying to get out. I was thinking about getting this child out of the store as soon as possible so she could get a nap. I started sorting and loading Grandma and my things onto the conveyor belt. At that time I thought about getting the tag off of Anya’s skirt. I had her turn around but I could not find the tag. She told me that she thought I taken it already. I thought that I must of had it in the cart. Grandma went through the register first, then it was my turn. During my transaction the cashier was telling my grandmother that she did not give her back the signed credit card slip. My grandmother is very hard of hearing so I was trying to tell her what the cashier needed. The cashier ended up finding the slip and she proceeded to my transaction. During this time Meila continued screaming and demanding more cookies, my grandmother started arguing with me about wanting to buy my things for me, Anya had to go to the bathroom right that instant or she said she would have an accident, someone was trying to explain to me where the bathroom was located, Anya was asking me to go with her and I was trying to explain to her that I couldn’t go until the transaction was done, the cashier was telling me that there was no bar code on the shoes so I had to tell her how much they were, and worst of all I started feeling like I needed to get to the bathroom as soon as possible or else my period was going to overflow. As soon as the transaction was thru I told Grandma and Anya to take the baby to the car and that I would meet them there after I went to the bathroom.
After using the bathroom I walked out of the store towards the car. As I was walking I was wondering what had happened to my family as I did not see them at the car. I heard yelling behind me and turned around to see two women running out of the store. I thought they were trying to call down someone else so I kept walking. I was totally surprised when they stopped me. One of the women said "you need to show me the receipt for the shoes and the skirt your daughter is wearing." As soon as she said that I knew that I had forgotten to pay for the skirt. I apologized and pulled out my receipt and showed her where the shoes were and told her I would immediately pay for the skirt trying to explain that I had blanked out about it. The women ushered me back into an office where I opened up my diaper bag and then found the shirt that Anya had tried on. I know how incriminating this all seems and yes I walked out of the store with unpurchased items but I did so unintentionally. The loss prevention woman accused me of not even attempting to pay for the skirt and that is true but again I had so many distracting situations going on at once that I completely spaced out about it.
I believe that people need to be responsible for their actions and I have tried to instill this value with my children in our everyday lives. I know that there needs to be consequences for mistakes but I feel that my mistake is being punished unjustly. I apologize for my mistake and humbly ask for Walmart to please drop the criminal charges.

Hawaii in January. Lucky us!

Anya, Kiana and Mei surfing at baby beach.