Drum Roll Please.......

We have had a weekend of CELEBRATION!!! Saturday night, a certain little girl tiptoed her way into the bathroom while I was getting her brother to sleep for the night and her daddy was watching tv. Seconds later, out she came and there was a new inhabitant of the local sewer system! HaHa!!! Even though Barrett had just gotten to sleep, I didn't care that I woke him when I began praising Charlee and hugging, kissing, and shouting YAY!! It was a house party, for sure! She immediately ran to the hall closet where I've been keeping her "prize" for her feat of #2 in the potty, a Disney princess ball. "Mommy, please I need my Tinkerbell ball." But of course, my dear princess, and take some M&M's and Sweetarts, too!! The next day, she did have an accident (if you can call it that ~ I'm pretty sure she knows she's about to poop in her panties, so that's probably not really an "accident"). She went to the potty immediately after, though, and went in there some too! I'll take it! Progress! Last night, she again went in the potty. YAAAAAAYYYYY!!! She's such a BIG GIRL!! Ahhhh ~ the light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to shine.

Charlee and her prize



Riding with Daddy



Where did that Puff go?


Now I can move on to my rant.....
Since moving back to Mississippi from the 4th largest city in the country, I've noticed that the cost of living here is greatly higher than Houston. Crazy, I know, but it's true. We now pay state income taxes, grocery taxes, way too high car registration fees.....the list goes on. When we started the house search last year, we also became painstakingly aware that the people of Meridian think pretty highly of their homes. A little TOO highly, if you ask me. All of this, and they don't even have a Target to balance things out. :) My latest realization of the cost to live here came along today in the form of a dry cleaning bill. In Houston, I began taking clothes to the dry cleaners that weren't "dry clean only" simply because they did a far better job at getting wrinkles out and making my clothes look new again than I ever can with a simple iron. I would take 15 - 20 pieces to the dry cleaner almost monthly, and never paid over 20 or 25 dollars. I never asked them how much each piece was. I know that most places advertised laundering shirts at 70 or 80 cents (from what I remember), but I never really paid attention to how much dry cleaning was. After 3 years of taking clothes to Houston dry cleaners, I wasn't quite prepared for what I would encounter here in the large metropolis of Meridian. Small town, surely smaller prices, right? NO! EVERYTHING in Mississippi is more expensive. I think the only exception is daycare costs. I took clothes to the cleaners last week for the first time since being here. First off, I am used to dry cleaning being ready the next day. They told me it would take 4 days. Ok. Fine. I don't really need the clothes in a hurry. They've been sitting in the basket in my closet for, oh, a year or so. I picked them up this morning. You don't know how close I came to saying, "Just keep the clothes ~ SHEESH!" I don't know who to be more mad at, the cleaners or myself. I really should have asked for a price list. Here's my sign, right? I deserve the price I had to pay for not checking beforehand, but honestly, who would think that dry cleaning could cost so much? I was sure to let the lady know how ridiculous I felt the price was. I'm too embarrassed to even tell you how much I paid. Let's just say that $6 for a skirt when you probably only paid $20 for it in the first place is a bit much. Oh Houston....I could probably ship my clothes to any number of cleaners in Houston and have them sent back for cheaper. Needless to say, my blood boiled this morning. Not a good start to the week, I tell you! Things will get better, though. I'm getting my fix of Houston this weekend, along with some much needed time with some of the best friends in the world celebrating the impending arrival of what is sure to be the cutest little boy in the world (aside from Barrett, of course) with what is sure to be the longest legs on record! HaHa! YAY! I can't wait!! Guess I should've just taken my clothes with me this weekend.....