Random and Cheeky

A little bit of random on this lovely Friday afternoon . . .

• If you're in or near Pittsburgh, you like beer, and you like wild animals, you should head over here and enter to win two Brew at the Zoo tickets. Go! Go! Go! I'll wait right here for you until you get back.

• Welcome back!

• I'm in Newark for work, and there just so happens to be a little tiny conference happening just up the street in New York City. I'll be wandering over that way late Friday and all day Saturday, so if you're at BlogHer, holla my way so I can stalk you.

• Speaking of social media conferences, PodCamp is going to be here before we know it. I hope you have registered to attend. In case you don't know, PodCamp is a free social media conference for people of all skill levels, experiences, backgrounds, etc. Bloggers, podcasters, tweeps, and Facebookers all stand to learn a little something-something and have fun. It doesn't matter if you maintain a site or enjoy sites maintained by others, I guarantee you will have a good time. I'll be speaking and I REALLY hate talking to empty rooms, so at least a few people need to show up, please and thank you.

• Why, yes, yes I am posting this early just so I can push down photos of myself in a swim suit. So what?

• I am not a clothes whore. At all. If you were to look through my closet, you would find pretty much nothing but jeans and solid-colored shirts. I am a chicken when it comes to fashion. (BAWK! BAWK!) I have a dream that one day I'll convince @spicymeatball to find me one perfect outfit that is completely outside of my comfort zone. As part of my attempts to con her into that little adventure, you should go vote for her to help her win a walk-on role on Mad Men. Please? It's two clicks, and if you're really nice, you'll do those two clicks daily until voting closes on September 17th.

• The new Old Navy commercials about booties smiling "cheek-to-cheek" creep me out so badly that I actually had a nightmare about a bunch of bare booties in a room making faces at each other. Analyze that, dream people. ::shudders::

• I talked to Alexis on the phone last night and our entire conversation was around what I was going to bring back from New York for her. I asked her what she did at school. She asked what the surprise was going to be. I asked her about what she was going to do with daddy all night. She suggested I bring her back a swimsuit. I asked her if her booty was smiling from cheek-to-cheek. She reminded me that I better not return home until I have a gift for her. HOW IS SHE NOT PHASED BY THE SMILING BOOTIES?

She's Allowed to Change Her Mind

Once upon a time, Alexis had opinions about pools and water and such.

VERY strong opinions.

As time went on, she started to find the joy in a little splishy splashy.

But only when it came with a small, inflatable pool. She had ZERO interest in getting into water deeper than her ankles.

Until this year.

This year we have burned through small, inflatable pools. The kid wanted to play in them nearly daily, which put their chances of being exposed to a murderous weapon of inflatable poppage very high. One after another, the vast supply of inflatable pools I had been acquiring on clearance in previous years was stabbed, stretched, gutted, or otherwise ruined.

When Alexis' favorite inflatable pool met a VERY violent end last weekend and we didn't have a replacement, we knew we needed to go out and find a new one. Of course, finding a pool in August when it's 95 degrees outside makes a little bit too much sense--they were completely sold out everywhere. If I remember correctly, pools were on display in February when we had two feet of snow, so of course there were none around now that they're actually useful.

We trekked from store-to-store, trying to find something that would be good enough. Anything. We finally found a half-decent Nemo pool at Target and SCORE! It was on clearance. FOR $20.

$20! Inflatable pools have been surviving an average of a week lately for us, so that seemed like a wee bit more than was reasonable. However, there were no alternatives.

Except that there was.

Mr. Husband some how, some way, happened upon a 10' pool at Target. It was only 30" deep, which pretty much made it the most perfect size ever for Alexis and all of her friends in the neighborhood. As we stood in the aisle at Target, I realized I had a problem on my hands. Mr. Husband had shown the pool to Alexis, and she had made up her mind that she wanted it.

Mr. Husband pointed out that it was like buying 3-4 inflatable pools, but that it might actually last a full year.

Alexis pointed out that she Wanted! The! Pool!

Mr. Husband made sure I recognized that it was the perfect size.

Alexis pointed out that she Wanted! The! Pool!

Mr. Husband found himself a giant bulldozer and used it to shove me into a corner.

Alexis pointed out that she Wanted! The! Pool!

She got the pool.

Alexis has very strong opinions about water and pools and such. They just aren't the same opinions she had three years ago.

Like a Giant "No H8" Sign in the Sky