Trying to Understand

This started out as a brand new, perfectly good folder. Nate was required to have one in his binder for a particular class, so Tim bought a few for Nate to choose from. But apparently character folders in middle school will ruin your life for the next 6 years, so Nate opted for Plan B...cover the hideous looking Spiderman folder with duct tape. I was humoring him, asking him how in the world he thought of duct tape, interjecting that I'm sure duct tape must be way cooler in middle school than Spiderman, and just playing around. About then Beth sent a text that required a phone call back. Not to be deterred from having fun with Nate, I asked Nate if I could tell Beth what he was doing to his folder. Nate likes Beth, and just smiled...my nod to go ahead. I said to Beth, "You'll never guess what Nate is using to cover his folder for school." Instantly she said, "Duct tape!" Of course I was in shock, and and couldn't stop laughing. I finally managed to ask how she knew, and she said, "Because Braden is sitting here doing the same thing!" We all got a good laugh out of that one, and the best part is, apparently duct tape is cover of choice for middle schoolers across America, or at least across Utah and Idaho. School supply manufacturers are missing a great marketing opportunity here. If they teamed with the makers of duct tape, watch out!

And now for Megan's shoes...In August, this was a brand new pair of Rocket Dogs. She didn't like them as much as her DC's. I had to talk her into trying something different at the shoe store. She wore them and realized 1) a lot of other kids thought she had some awesome shoes, and 2) a lot of other kids had the same pair of awesome shoes. After that, she's worn them religiously. I think in the past 4 months she may have worn her DC's 2 or 3 times. As you can tell, these shoes haven't left her feet. Most 10 year old girls love to go shoe shopping, and normally Megan is no different. She LOVES shoes, and loves to even just try on shoes. Once I took her and a friend shoe shopping (friend's mom hates shoe shopping with girls) and they picked out their shoes in less than 5 minutes and spent the next 20 minutes in the womens' section trying on shoes. Over the past few weeks we've been trying to break it gently that we may have to say good-bye to the Rocket Dogs. (Yes, those are holes in the bottom.) Megan won't even remotely consider it, and today when Tim picked up the beloved Rocket Dogs and said they needed to be in the trash, she dissolved to tears. Finally, after 15 minutes of tears and talking, we hit rationalization, although right now I'm not sure what it was because Megan wore this very pair of shoes again today to the movies...for the last time we hope. Famous Footwear is having their Buy one-get one sale again, so we may have to hit the stores tomorrow. I can see a combination of winter boots and Rocket Dogs (most likely identical, minus the holes) in Megan's future.