People, today we bought a Wii!

Oh, I can hear you snortling through your fingers and thinking “What? They didn’t buy a Wii until now?” Well, no. And that is a story for another day. 

So, today we bought a Wii! And for the MRSP!!  (Ha! How many of you have done that???) 

It all started when, last week, the children and I stumbled across a demonstration of Wii Fit at the local mall. The T-Bot tried it out and suddenly gave new meaning to the word animated, and even I had to admit it was mighty cool. 

This afternoon was spent dragging the children around the stores in search of the elusive console. And two hours and several tantrums later, the sweaty mess that our family had become finally found a Wii. Actually they had three at Target. So much for lack of availability.

They didn’t have the Fit part (I still have getting fit to look forward to then), but after several hours spent bowling, boxing and playing softball with the kids this afternoon I already feel a few years younger. Plus we have surfed the internet, created Miis, and checked out the weather and news around the globe.  

I resisted buying one for so long, thinking it was just another games console, and heaven knows, we have had plenty of those. But the Wii is a revelation. The setup was almost automatic, the layout is simple and elegant and even the children can mostly navigate the menus without tears. Apparently it is also backwards compatible with Gamecube games, which are readily available at our local Blockbuster.

The best thing of all? It is a family games machine, in the truest sense of the word. We spent two hours this afternoon, playing together, as a family. The games and the navigation are at everybody’s level.

And if the Miis in Wii Sport don’t have arms, none of us seem to care. 

This morning I decided to do something about my wardrobe crisis. So I scooped up The Wictor and the two of us set out for a morning of sensory play.

I am not kidding, The Wictor adores clothes shopping! He loves to caress the fabrics, wrap himself up in the long dresses and hide under the racks. He points to and names the different colors, and gets a lot of exercise running up and down the aisles. If there is a rack of underwear, sorry, lingerie, he will point to the bras and call out “Milkies!” in his best Embarrass-Mommy-In-The-Department-Store voice. Of course, we only shop at places which tolerate children, and specifically ones where the staff don’t get all snooty when you lose one. A child that is…

Well, there are a lot of aisles in those places.

I had originally planned to take a trip to New York and Company, for some budget shopping a la Tootsie Farklepants. But the nearest NY&Co is “In Town” and I ran out of time. So I decided to start at Saks 5th Avenue. Oh, alright, I decided to start at (Saks) Off 5th (Avenue). Is it my fault that the only local mall is an Outlet Mall?

It was there that I tried on a dress that actually made me look good in a dress.

I wanted that dress!

I should have bought that dress, especially at $99.99, down from $400. I stood there for a while and imagined myself wearing it. I imagined myself walking down to the swimming pool or the post box wearing it, hanging out in the yard with the kids while still wearing it, sitting in the sand at the beach while totally looking amazing in it, and for the finale,  getting various unidentifiable splodges of kiddy food all over it. On the white silk dress. Which made me look very good.

So we set off in search of pastures new. Inexplicably, The Wictor refused to even set foot in Banana Republic (Outlet) or J Crew(Outlet). I had to trust his judgement on that one. So you know where we ended up? TJ Maxx, where I bought two shirts. 

So wardrobe crisis temporarily averted, and for a total cost of $35. I am soooo cheap.