A Few Fails Won’t Stop Me!

I had DS at the mall the other day because he was in serious need of new pants.  Poor kid had to try on 4 pairs from his drawer the other day before he found a pair that fit the length of his leg.  He grew a lot over the summer!  Anyways, while we were there I was on the hunt for a cute pair of black flats for work.  I put him to work helping me search the store to keep him amused and didn’t he find the cutest pair…in deep red!  And half price to boot!  I abandoned my search for black and bought his choice which made his day!  Check’em out:
They’re Jessica brand from Sears and SO comfortable!  I wore them all day, even on our walks at break with no issues.  No chafing, blisters or discomfort.  I felt like I was wearing my slippers all day.  Just awesome!  I also scored on a great, warm sweater at Old Navy; $50 for $20!! 
This photo doesn’t do it justice.  I felt like I was wrapped in a blanket all day.  That makes me happy!
I took a few hours off work Tuesday afternoon to go watch my kids run in the city wide cross country meet.  DD has been doing this for 4 years and this was the first for DS (they can’t start until they’re in grade 3).  Although I made it and the kids did awesome, getting there and back was STRESSFUL!  First I realized on my way out that my cell phone was dead.  Fail #1.  Then I got in the Jeep and was halfway there when the gas light dinged that it was empty and I had zero time to stop.  Fail #2.  I managed to find a half decent parking spot, get out, find the kids, turn the camera on to take a gazillion  pictures and the battery is flashing that it’s almost dead.  Fail #4.  Fortunately I managed to get some great photos of both of them!

DS placed 11th out of about 75 kids and was the first to cross the finish line for the school.  DD place 44th out of 100 girls and was fourth to cross the finish line for the school.  She was bummed because she wanted to place top 20, but I reminded her that every year she improves and finishing the 2km run strong means so much more than just winning.  I’m not so sure that she bought it, but she did cheer up a wee bit.  Here they are crossing the finish line:   
So, I don’t think that I mentioned that it poured buckets for part of the time we were there.  UGH!  DS finished first so we ate lunch in the (dry) Jeep then went back to watch DD (who had found shelter with some friends while it rained).  I offered to bring her back to the school (I pass it on my way back to work) but she opted to stay and bus it back with her friends.  DS however, was all too happy to leave with me.   He must’ve been freezing if school sounded more appealing than hanging out with the team!  LOL  My first train of thought was “gotta get gas…FAST!”.  Too bad I was blocked in by 4 school buses waiting to load kids. Fail #5. Oh, yes!  And it gets better because when I finally manoeuvred around said buses and got to the closest gas stations wouldn’t you know that the pumps were in the process of being ripped out?  Fail #6.  I prayed as DS watched with a very concerned look on his face as we managed to make it 10 more minutes down the road to the next station.  Holy Moly!  Seeing as my nerves were frazzled and DS was cold and Starbucks was right there, there was no choice but to make a pit stop.  I had my heart set on a grande NF pumpkin spice misto, but guess what?  They RAN OUT OF PUMPKIN SPICE.  WTF???  Fail #7.  I settled for a grande NF vanilla rooibos latte.
DS warmed up with a hot chocolate, whip, please.  And I finally got him back to school and myself back to work.  What a fiasco!
I have spent a few pleasurable, stress free evenings this week making a few recipes that I’ve read about on blogs.  Namely Erica’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chocolate Chip bars:
And Averie’s Caramelized Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Chickpea “Peanuts”;
Holy yum to both recipes and kudos to the girls for creating such delights!  A word of warning if you try the chickpea one; be prepared to eat the whole batch!!!  :) I even busted out one of my own fall recipes; Banana Cranberry Pumpkin Cake!  
I baked it in a 9x13 pan for 45 minutes as opposed to 60 minutes in a Bundt pan.  I then cut it into 16 bars.  Delish!  Here’s some other tasty eats that I’ve been noshing on: Dinners have by far been the best meals of the past 2 days.  First was a pork roast dinner with carrots, parsnips, onions and brown rice: Next was a stir fry with coconut curry tempeh, tomatoes, raisins, a bit of tomato sauce and quinoa; Then there was the pita pizza with salsa, mushrooms, ham and cassata cheese… And finally tonight was chicken, quinoa and steamed veggies: Just a few more random shots! I’ll leave you tonight with 2 pictures of the sunset that I took Monday night as I was leaving the store… Just gorgeous.  Looking at these makes all the “fails” at the beginning of this post A-OK!  ;)
Bye for now!!