Return of the Twisty One

Made the trip down to the local op shop this morning to:
(a) drop off the results of my latest decluttering (a big bag of clothes and a few toys), and
(b) try and find a few more maternity items to keep me clad for the next couple months.

I am running out of pants because my recently-acquired maternity wardrobe is mostly light-weight linen pants best suited to Summer and the office-wear pants remaining from my first pregnancy are too small. I have been getting very sick of wearing the same one pair of pants to work and the same one pair of 'mushroom' colour corduroy pants when I am not working. I also have a stretchy elasticised belt to connect up the fly of normal, non-maternity pants. The kit is a set of three belts but unfortunately I have lost the smallest one, which is the size that I need to be able to wear my regular jeans. DeepSpice's leather belt is a reasonable, but not terribly comfortable, replacement. So I was pleased to find a couple of pairs of pants that will hopefully see me through to the end of the pregnancy. I also looked for coat or cloak that would fit over my bump, but no luck... only really ugly and massively-too big ones available.

BallFiend of couse was my faithful companion on this shopping trip, and he had been very patient while I tried on 6 pairs of pants in the fitting rooms, so afterwards we went to look at the toys. In a dusty, dark corner at the back of the store, he was delighted to find a Twisty One and since it was only $4.99, how could I not indulge him? We also found a pack of 10 used golf balls for $3.99 which I got for him to take to creche. (His carer said if I could bring in some golf balls she would set up an activity for the kids to do golf-ball paintings, just like Justine does on one of BallFiend's favourite episodes of Play School.)

I also picked up a replacement beanie for BallFiend (his other one has disappeared at crèche) and a cot mattress protector. Then when we got to the check-out, there was a big shelf of little toys and an invitation to 'pack your own bag' for $3.99. Of course, amongst the toys were plenty of small balls, some just the right size to fit the Twisty One, and given that my chances of wresting any of these back from a now hungry and tired BallFiend were zero, zip and zilch, I let him fill up a bag.

Then we rushed home, so that we could eat, squeeze in a nap for BallFiend and get ready for a busy afternoon and evening. DeepSpice and I are going to a free parenting seminar at BallFiend's crèche, then in the evening we are all going out for dinner to celebrate DesignerSis's quarter-century.
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