Armed and Dangerous

We're on the rebound from the Mother State and tonight, I find myself halfway home in my familiar, door laden suite.

The day before we left, the big kids and my mom browsed Goodwill while I hurriedly dashed to find the cheapest entertainment for the long drive ahead in the form of .29 picture books.  That's right, I said 29 CENTS, less my mom's senior discount.  Mama Dearheart is the bargain queen.  She's honed this skill for about sixty five years and there ain't no way, no how, you're going to get it cheaper than from her sewing machine, or from, as my kids' have come to call it, "Granny's Goodwill."

While waiting for me, just-three T, all boy in the stereotypical sense of the word, hunted the Halloween table at the store for the perfect item to grip while strapped in the cozy confines of his car seat.  He landed on a novelty plastic dagger adorned with skulls and featuring a retractable blade that makes a low and lingering scream-like sound when pressed against something. 

Dee, all girl in the stereotypical sense of the word, gravitated to a cheap fabric bat affixed to a glittered dowel, identified by Dee as a Halloween wand.  She fancied herself the inspired, "Halloween Fairy," while waving it.  Granny thought the name, "Bat Wanda" was a better fit.  We moved on from Goodwill to picking up real nail polish for Dee, as promised, in a pale princess pink.  The look was complete. 

The afternoon wound down with a viewing of the scarier-than-I-ever-remembered, Pinocchio, including dagger waving by T and spell casting by Dee at that nasty whale, and the men who brought little boys to "Pleasure Island."  Yikes. 

After a little more T.V. and an elaborate sequence of post dinner candy treats, we were fat with the spoils of an old school week with the G'rents.  From there, we packed up our troubles in my (twelve or so) kit bags and armed ourselves for the road ahead. 

I'm feeling pretty confident.  I've got fairy magic and knightly valor recharging on the other side of that door.  Very confident indeed.