Spending Money Wisely

Spending money for a nice lunch out is always a wise choice!  UNLESS you spend it on Mexican food in New York.  Then it's always a surefire waste of money.  And yet I keep doing it, stupidly thinking that SOMEDAY it will get better.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice .....or 10 billion times, well what can I say?  I'm an idiot, but still a hopeful idiot.  Ay yi yi.

Anyway, here we are at lunch at bland & mediocre Cantina Laredo, sans Noah and Connor, who were stuck at school.  Yesssss!  We like to sneak away for lunch without 'em because it's a) cheaper (especially since Connor now thinks he's too manly to order from kids menus), b) MUCH quieter and MORE peaceful and c) we can sit in a booth.

To maintain this peace & quiet, I bribed Shelby with the promise of a Snickers bar to sit next to Daddy and play Tic Tac Toe with him.

They had a good time, and so did I, NOT having to play Tic Tac Toe with Shelby who CHEATS shamelessly.

After lunch, we decided to walk around a little, and then Shelby spotted Santa Claus.  ERG!  Now, we have never ever had our kids photographed with Santa.  I just think it's weird and creepy and we don't really even focus on Santa at Christmas.  I mean, my parents never took ME to get photographed sitting on Santa's lap, and look how I turned out?  I'm a glorious, productive member of society, right?!?  Though, you would think with my penchant for terrorizing my kids, I would LIKE this sitting-on-Santa practice......hmmmm....

And besides!, Connor never bought into the whole Santa thing and he's continually told Noah since Noah's birth that Santa was a fake.  As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago I found Noah crying in his bed, and I soon found out that EVIL BIG BROTHER Connor informed his sweet trusting little brother by way of a lovely, charming little bedtime story (NOT!) that there wasn't going to BE a Christmas this year because of the Mayan end of the world prediction for December 21.  Uggh!  CONNOR!

Anyway, Santa sorta slipped off our radar over the years, but Shelby still recognized him and immediately began shrieking, never having before seen Santa IN REAL LIFE.    So, we ventured over and I was thinking "Awwww, maybe we should finally do it, this whole creepy Santa's lap thing" and then I saw that they wanted $30 FOR THE STARTER PHOTO PACKAGE!  That's even more than they charge at theme parks for those photos of you at your horrible screaming best, and at least those document a (presumably) GOOD memory!

$30!!!!  For a creepy photo!  AY YI FREAKIN' YI.  That would NOT be money spent wisely.

Here's Mark dragging Shelby away from Santa.  She didn't take the turn of events well.

Mark then got the bright idea to go up to the second level where Shelby could look down and get a better look at Santa but without having to be assaulted by Santa's super-pushy sales squad.  And I cheerfully told her, "Shelby!  We can still take your photo with Santa!  Stand still!"

I doctored up that lovely, high-quality cell phone photo with a corny holiday frame and viola!  Pretty much the same thing for free!  *pats thrifty self on back*

Shelby refused to lose sight of Santa, constantly yelling down to him despite the fact that he only had attention for the PAYING customers.  She refused to leave and kept hiding behind this enormous plant-tree-thing.

We finally got her out of the mall and the waterworks stopped when I reminded her of the Snickers bar waiting in the car for her.  Now THAT was $2 wisely spent!

And since I didn't waste $30 on a disturbing Santa picture, I decided to make what I'm sure will turn out to be a VERY wise investment with that $30- an Elf on the Shelf!  I am NOT above using scare tactics (like a creepy plastic elf) to get my kids to start behaving better and parents SWEAR that this thing really works!  After some internet research, I found zillions of clever ideas to introduce Elf on the Shelf to your family, including elaborate family parties and red carpet events.  Pffffft.  I decided to go for the simpler, more direct route, you know, to let my kids know that this was SERIOUS. 

Here's a closeup of my investment.  This little scene will be their introduction to Elf on the Shelf tomorrow morning.  Merry Christmas, gang.  *heh heh heh*  Let the games begin...