my mother's luck

We had some shopping to do today for a birthday party tomorrow.  I tried to find the CD we like to give yesterday, but Best Buy didn't have any.  So, today, we hoped to find it at Barnes & Noble and then head over to another bookstore to pick up a Webkinz to go with it.  Well, B&N had the CD and we even found a stuffed animal that Gretchen loved to give to her friend tomorrow.  Cool.  We were done with the real shopping.  Now, just check the shoe store for black boots for her Halloween costume and go to lunch.

We had to pass the fancy toy store on our way to the shoe store.  We were shopping at an outdoor shopping center with lots of streets and shops with apartments above them.  It's a fun place to go and walk around.  So, we were heading to the shoe store while the Boys were going to check out World Market for cool stuff.  Well, the fancy toy store was having a birthday party and we got sidetracked.

They had a table with games to play.  We tried to win Spot It (well, he was going to give us the other version since we own Spot It) but we weren't fast enough.  They had fancy schmancy cupcakes.  They had goodie bags with some cool little toys in them.  Gretchen & I were having a good ol' time.  Then Lew texted us, "Where are you?  We're sitting outside B&N waiting."  I told them to head over thinking Carl would like a goodie bag at least. 

It was about 10 minutes to 1 at that point.  I filled out a raffle ticket and dropped it in the bowl.  They had a table with some cool prizes on it and said they would draw a name every hour.  We didn't hear who won the 1:00 drawing because we stepped outside for like 34 seconds and they must have drawn the name.  If they drew your ticket, you got to pick from the table so you had to be there.  Now, it's 1:01 and we decided we were done and we'd go to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  Baby Cow had actually been at the birthday party along with a big Elmo walking around.  Gretchen cried when we left because she didn't win the doll on the table.  I explained that you aren't going to win every time and that they only pick 1 ticket out of that whole bucket of names.  I told her that we needed Grammie here to fill out a raffle ticket.  "Does she win a lot?" she asked.  Both Lew & I both answered quickly, "YES!"   For some reason, my mother is a raffle winning fool.  Now, maybe she enters more raffles than you do.  But still, she has a pretty high success rate.

We ended up finishing lunch at about 1:40.  So, we decided to try to zip back over to the toy store for the 2:00 drawing.  The lady said they were going to draw a few names for that one because there were so many prizes to be given out.  I just wanted to take one more try.  Something told me to go back.  Plus, we were still in the shopping center area, so I knew Lew would be willing to take us back.  So, the kids played for about 5 minutes on the play yard thing, but the other group of kids in there - the ones with no parents in sight - were pushing and screaming loudly.  It was easy to get my kids to leave. 

I jumped out of the car at the toy store door and Lew went to find a parking spot.  About 5 minutes later, they pulled 2 names and disappeared with the tickets.  All I heard the one lady say was, "I think I know that person."  So, I stood there waiting to hear who they drew and still nothing.  A few minutes later, I heard the guitar playing entertainment in the very back of the store stop and they announced a name.  I started to move back there and that's when I heard, "And we also have Jill B----."  I yelled "I'm here!" as I moved to the back of the store.  So, now I got to pick anything I wanted off the table.  Well, I was 99% sure I wanted the baby doll Gretchen saw before, but there was also a Melissa & Doug wooden dollhouse with furnishings.  And a wooden train set from the TV show Chuggington.  (That had a $60 price tag on it.  I didn't see one on the doll house.)  I told the woman my husband was parking the car and asked if I could wait and let my daughter decide?  She said no problem.  I texted Lew "I won. Bring G."  So, yes... she loved that doll and wanted her!!!  (I noticed after she picked the doll for certain, it had a price tag on it too.  $89.99.  These were some serious prizes.)  The store lady took Gretchen's picture beaming and holding up her new doll.  We thanked everyone and headed home.

I am feeling a little sad about Carl not getting a brand new toy today, too.  He was OK with it until we got home and opened the doll. When he heard her cry, he wanted her!  Then, he looked at me sadly and said, "Can you win something for me?"  Breaking my heart.  But, you know, not everything in life is equal.  Being fair doesn't mean being equal.  There are times he gets treats that she doesn't.  Still, usually it doesn't involve big toys that could be holiday gift worthy, you know?  But, don't worry... there is a stuffed animal that talks that he has been asking me for for weeks. I'll be ordering that today.  So, in a week or two, there will be a day when Carl gets the cool new toy and Gretchen can be happy for him.

Besides, I told them, my name was on the winning ticket.  So, I think sharing the new crying (she stops when you feed her a bottle - and then makes smacky lip noises), cooing, laughing baby is going to be fine.  They agreed.  Sort of.

So, that is how we did our own impression of Grammie today.  Apparently, just talking about her lucky streak was enough to get us a little one of our own today! 

and, by the way... the doll had a name on the box which Gretchen kept for her:  Lila!