Little Girls

I am so exasperated with myself for being exasperated with Princess today. Granted, I have a whole litany of excuses at the ready, some of them very valid. Like...

I have a headache.
Hubs was grumpy.
The house is trashed.
I'd already been out with each of the boys.
For HOURS.
And they weren't cooperative.

Better said, Princess needed a special date. But she is so naggy about getting her special dates and the boys are really in need of stuff, like shoes, and she isn't. So they keep getting the dates and she keeps getting the "we'll try next weekend, I promise"'s So today, instead of taking Frodo to Target--about 20 yards away--with me after his shoe expedition (its own story), I drove home to drop off Frodo and pick up Princess.

But

At Target I had an agenda. I had stuff I needed to get. It needed my concentration. And I had Charming by this time because he can only stand to be away from me while he is sleeping and even then he usually figures it out and wakes. And Princess had money she wanted to blow.

I know I've mentioned our stuff-itis at this house. We don't need one single thing that her money can buy. I can't let her bring home one single thing that won't get a complaint from Hubs. I'd already learned that by bringing Eldest home with a new watch. What can I say? The kid likes watches. He had birthday money to spend. He wanted a gigontomous stuffed T Rex and I thought myself very wise for talking him into the watch he's always wanting and out of the flash in the pan dinosaur. But Hubs harhumps "I don't know why we have to have so many watches."

Anyway.

So as I'm shopping for a card, I let Princess sift through the $1 rack at Target, thinking she'll blow a buck and be done. But no. She has $6 and she'll be darned if she will spend only $1. She brings 6 trinkets. "This is what I'm going to buy."

Deep sigh.

All I can think about is that I'M going to hear it from Hubs. First I lecture her on spending her money just to spend it. Then I lecture her on taxes. Then I lecture her on the quality of junk she's wasting her money on. Then I lecture her on the need for said junk.

She says, "Charming can have the puppet."

"Charming doesn't need a puppet! Besides, we already have a cheetah puppet!"

She talks herself out of three items. Better said, she, trying to please me, puts three items back. I am tired of the battle and just let her buy the remaining three. We come home.

Next thing I know, her brothers are coming upstairs to show me the gifts their sister just bought for them.

I feel wretched.