Hair cuts, the mall, dead battery and whew, tired!

Today was the only day that we had two nurses for the whole vacation, so we planned to take advantage of that and get out of the house.  Gene could stay home and work in peace (although that wasn't totally the case because he had to deal with Jaxon and Jaxon hates it when me and the boys are away from the house--he tends to be very clingy and a pain in the butt).

Made appointments for the boys at the JC Penney salon in the University Mall for 11:00.  We had never been there before but thought we'd give it a try instead of the place in the blue mall--hey it saved us getting the boys in and out of the van another time. 

Julie and Casey did their thing while Karyna, Colin and I took off for Kohl's.  I returned some things and then we hunted the racks for some good sale items.  Found a couple of long sleeved shirts for Colin and some comfy lined wind pants.  I TRIED to look for some thing for myself but Colin was not very cooperative and I couldn't concentrate so I ended up with one pair of jeans for myself.

Of course Colin was perfectly happy in Game Stop while we looked for a wii u game for him.  Casey and Julie met us there.  Colin picked Duck Tales remastered one that sounds pretty fun and adventurous.  I also picked up a new Skylanders Swap Force character.  Casey asked me to buy a Madden football game to play with Dad but I had to say no because Daddy is not a wii player nor does he have the time, and the sports ones seem like they are so complicated that I don't think Julie nor I could figure it out.   I hate saying no, but I guess it's good for him to hear sometimes. 

Headed over to Pennys.  I had mentioned before hand that both the boys had special needs and were in wheelchairs but I still think they were a little freaked by the extent of our special needs but everyone ended up handling it well.  There was actually a lot of  room for us which is a good thing with 4 people including one large power chair and one large laying down wheel chair.  Turns out the young girl doing Casey had just graduated and was brand new at the salon.  I asked Julie about it because when I went over a couple of times to check on them I could see her hands shaking :)  Julie is a pro at holding his head for hair cuts so I spent most of the time helping Karyna and Colin.  I put his chair up quite a bit so it didn't break the person's back.  But then the handle is in the way so it takes quite a bit of moving and holding and flipping to get everything right.  Colin kind of actually enjoys getting his hair cut so he didn't mind all the fuss and flip-flopping.  Our woman was very talkative and took it all in stride.  Tomorrow we will have to dedicate part of the day cleaning chairs and wiping them down and getting mall germs and hair off. 

Oh, also, tomorrow someone is coming to look at our front door area.  We applied for a grant last year to have a ramp built.  We've never had a proper ramp out our front door.  We have a little cement pad outside the door and then a piece of plywood from the cement pad to the driveway.  Not very safe, or attractive but it's worked for years.  It's a very small angle so it doesn't have a lot of play in the plywood, if that makes sense.  So, we'll see what they say.  We'd LOVE to make the whole door way wider.  Casey's chair fits through, but it's just a standard 36" door so it takes some careful maneuvering. 

After hair cuts we cruised around looking for bargains in the boys department.  Casey is in the half boys/half men department.  It was hard to find jeans for him.  I've been trying to find him black jeans.  He's an 18 or maybe a 28/28 but those sizes are so hard to find.  He insisted he needed some jeans so I found a blue pair for him and he was happy.  Found both boys some long sleeved shirts and a tee shirt or two.  I think I got 7 things for $22.00, thanks to the sales and Karyna's coupon for $10 off $25 or more.  Good deals.  Wish we had time for more perusing but we were TIRED and Julie, Karyna and I were hungry, hungry. 

Headed out to the van.  VAN WAS DEAD.  Ugh.  We knew there was a need for a new battery but Gene didn't get a chance to get one yet and it had started up fine this morning.  I think I might have helped killed it because I only had it on auxiliary when I activated the lift.  It worked for the loading up but when Julie went to start it--nothing but clicks.  She's good at this stuff so she immediately got out and talked to security.  (I was stuck in the way back).  They came and did their thing.  While they were doing that Karyna took advantage of the time and ran in and got some McDonald's for us.  I had sworn off fast food but was starving and that's what was available, so I said get me a cheese burger and a diet Coke.  She came back with a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal.  I've never seen such a large fry before!  I ate some fries and had a couple of bites of the burger and it was gross.  I don't think I'll be missing fast food burgers after this.  Of course, Gene finished the burger for me :) 

Unloaded everyone.  Casey headed into the shower.  I don't know how Julie had the energy to do it but she did it.  After Colin was settled I headed up to take a rest as I was starting with a migrainey type headache.  600 mg of Ibuprofen and a quick nap with snuggly Nuggie and I was feeling better.

Poor Colin was yearning for wii but we didn't get to because I had the whole house to straighen up and formula to make, etc. 

No pictures today, sorry!

Full day #1 and hair cut

Well, I had a good day; can't say the same for the boys. Casey had a very loud day at school. Mel said that she couldn't really blame him since everything was brand new and very disjointed.

Colin had some good parts, and not so good parts, of his day. He closed his eyes quite a bit and did lots of 'owing'.

I met AC at her house and we went to The Hair Studio. She had her eyebrows done by Kathy and I had my hair cut by Margie. Ahhhh! She cut it in layers and shortened it up a bit and was excited about my 'natural wave'. I never thought of myself as having wavy hair but in my old age it seems to have become somewhat wavy. We'll see how it looks after I wash it and brush it out tomorrow!

Then we went to Chef's Corners. Delicious chicken salad sandwich on homemade wheat bread, side salad and iced tea. We got dessert to go. I picked a triple nut bar---so sweet and nutty and very scrumptious!

I was feeling badly for not buying any new clothes for Casey's start of 9th grade so AC and I went over to Old Navy. I found a pair of black jeans but that's about it. They had way more girls and womens' clothing than boys. I had a $10 gift card so the jeans were $5.

Still had some time left so we hit Kohls. Hit the jackpot there. Found Casey some tan jean-like pants and some gray parachute kind of pants. I also found 2 long sleeved shirts and a maroon short sleeved one. I used my gift card and 15% coupon and got a great deal.

Headed home after that. Oh, wait, I got to see AC's new paint job in her living room. She had 3 walls painted a pretty blue. I helped her put back some of the switch plates and move the china cabinet back into place.