It's 2009!

We had a nice New Year's Eve, simple but fun. The boys were in bed early and we got a chance to hang out with some friends and family. Unfortunately, I forgot my alchohol tolerance is not what it once was, and I suffered a bit today. I can promise I won't make that mistake again. 2008 was better than 2007, that's for sure. But I am still holding hope that 2009 will be even better. We have a new president and that's an exciting prospect but I've learned years ago not to bank on Washington to make things better for any of us. I guess it's all up to us to change our lives if need be.

We went to the mall today. Ray and RJ have become mall rats on their Monday mornings together, so they showed Jackson and I around as we haven't been in months, and hadn't even seen the new wing of stores they added. I don't usually go to the mall because I get into trouble. I like spending money. We'll leave it at that.

Some things I don't get:

-an 80's fashion comeback...really, do we want to go there again?

-8 year olds with cell phones

-mothers who let their child scream in the stroller while they peruse the sale rack at Victoria's Secret

-the amount of cell phone kiosks and the annoying people that work in them who jump out at you like a Jack-in-the-box when you're walking by

Fortunately, I did catch some sales. Sometimes I have a shopping day when I feel like I've outsmarted the retail gods and have totally scored. Today was one of them. I spent little, got lots. Ray laughs at me when I try to explain my victory because he thinks my "savings shpeel" is a crock. He says,"If you're spending money, you're not saving anything." But let me tell you, he can spend some money too.

We wanted to grill tonight but we ran out of propane. When we went to Ace to fill up, they were closed. Bummer. We're counting down the days until we can get back into Disney. Our passes are blacked out right now because of the holidays. Bummer as well.