i don't think i'll be requiring a clown, thanks

I had errands to run today, but instead of doing them after I dropped ChaCha off at preschool, I came home and took a nice long nap. It was only interrupted by the knocking of the furnace as it prepared to kick on, followed by the whoosh as the heated air was forced out to warm the house. And we needed that heat. Apparently, Alaska thought the Bay Area was a little too spoiled with mild, wet winters and decided to export some cold, cold weather. Thanks, Alaska. You shouldn't have.

I picked up Cha and we did a little Christmas shopping -- a few items for Archie. At one point, Charlotte exclaimed, "We're hopelessly lost!" Which was very amusing since I knew exactly what I was getting and we completed the mission in about 30 minutes.

Then we stopped at the dollar store. The big girls talked it up to their little sister, who insisted that she had to get presents for the twins. I also figured we could pick up some tape. When we approached the cash register, a woman was going on and on to the store owner about how the off-brand Sharpie markers she purchased there were not good. They weren't dark enough and didn't last very long and she went on and on about it. (Yes, I was mentally rolling my eyes, thinking, "They're markers from the dollar store. What did you expect?") She then spent several minutes digging around in her purse, produced a balloon, and made the weirdest looking thing I've ever seen made from a balloon which she declared was a reindeer and then she drew on eyes -- one with the crap marker and one with a superior marker. She offered the freaky balloon reindeer to Cha. Then she gave me a card, saying, "I'm a clown. If you ever need one, call me."

Cha started to sing "Rudolph" and this woman snips, "That's not Rudolph -- he doesn't have a red nose!" Now I'm thinking that marker-obsessed clown-woman is a wee bit unstable. I'm imagining a party where she complains about her substandard markers to the kids and then corrects them as she hands them misshapen balloon creatures. What fun!

Finally, we were out of the store and into the car. That was when the not-Rudolph balloon exploded. I would venture to guess that she doesn't get a whole lot of work. Well, she won't be getting any work from me, at any rate.