It's the Economy

Recently I saw an article (I think on abcnews.com) about how retailers were trying to boost sales by selling up at the cash register with special offers on small items. Hudson News employees, for example, always ask customers if they'd like a bottle of water with their purchase now. So while I was running errands yesterday, I realized on my way home that every place I stopped tried to do that to me. Shoe polish, chocolate, stamps were all offered. I didn't bite on one of them. I'm not doing my bit to boost the economy.

We have had beautiful weather this weekend. Yesterday, Skip realized his dream of seeing live cricket as we all headed to see a local team play. We stayed a little over two hours and I have to say that it is a nice way to pass an afternoon. After that we wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and decided to finally seek out the Princess Diana Memorial Playground we had heard so much about. Unfortunately we got off the Tube at Hyde Park instead of Kennsington Park and had a very long walk to reach our destination. It was good that we stopped at just a regular old play ground along the way, because by the time we got to the Diana one, it was 4:30 and there was a line to get in. Maddie was disappointed, but we promised we would head back there another day at an earlier time and prepared to wait our turn.

We had to get home so that we could eat and Maddie could get a bath in before she got to stay up late so that we could have our special family time watching Britain's Got Talent. We've never been big reality TV people, but we all really like this show. Simon Cowell is not nearly as nasty as he is on American Idol and there's always a couple of people who are really something special and get their big break. The woman from last week who sang "I Dreamed a Dream" has made international headlines. This week the "stars" were a saxophone player and a twelve-year-old boy with a great voice.

This morning we went to church and caught up with folks there and then we came home to do a little spring cleaning. They've already got the "For Let" sign out in front of our house, so anytime now, people could be coming to see the place. And since you all know what a fabulous housekeeper I am, you can see how that is cause for a little stress. Maddie was a bit put out that I asked her to pick up anything downstairs that belonged to her and take it up to her room and put it up. I have got to stop being such a demanding mom.

Skip is actually at home this week and I've got two friends from the States coming to visit on Thursday. It's Poetry Week at Maddie's school and she's got a slew of after-school activities going on this week, so she's excited--and so am I. Two weeks of Spring Break is long enough!