Whew! What a long day today has been. As I mentioned yesterday, we drove to South Carolina to visit our older two youngins. We woke up early-ish and headed out around 6:30 am and got home around 11 pm. I made it back in time to write a post before midnight! Trust me when I say, making it home before midnight is a feat.

So the day started out pretty good. We got into town around 10 am like we usually do. We fed the little one breakfast as soon as we got there, and then we hung out with my parents until close to noon. Then, we took the kids on a small adventure.

My son, Wyatt, was in need of some new tennis shoes. His everyday shoes were falling apart; the soles torn up with holes in them and pretty close to holes in the front toe area as well. Collectively, we decided it was time for a new pair of shoes. So, we went on our first adventure to Target to find him some.

As we're pulling into the parking lot, the two older kids are in the backseat asking over and over again if they can get one toy while we're there. Of course, we told them "no." They weren't too happy about that either. We walked through the store and found the shoe area for kids and of course they are out of everything in the size we needed for Wyatt. We opted to go somewhere else for shoes. 

At some point, we ended up over with the toys. The two older ones couldn't keep their hands off of things, picking up toys after being told numerous times they could look but not touch. So, we definitively said they were not getting any toys while we were at Target. Of course, they got mad, and we ignored their negative behavior while it lasted.

Both of the older two love the game Minecraft, and they're pretty good at it too. We were browsing the books section at target and came across a world creation Minecraft guide. It ended up going home with them to share (as they both need to be better sharers). When it was time to leave, I took the older two kids with me to Starbucks so I could get my Double Chocolate Chip Frappe that I order anytime I can. Torrey got a hot chocolate, and Wyatt wanted apple juice. After Starbucks, we began our next adventure.

We headed towards Haywood Mall in Greenville, SC. On the way there, the hubby started to get hungry, and the kids were telling us they were starving. So, we took everyone to the Golden Corral. I always like eating there when the kids are with us because there are so many things for them to eat and both of the girls are super picky eaters. 

After lunch, we went to the mall in search of some shoe stores for kids so we could get Wyatt a pair of shoes. We ended up in Rack Room Shoes, which is where we bought his new Batman shoes. While we were there, our nine-year-old found a pair of sketcher light-up shoes that she just really wanted to have. But, because she's got a ton of shoes and that the shoes she wanted were about $60, we told her we couldn't get them today, and she'd have to wait a few weeks. 

Well, all hell broke loose after that. She was so upset about not getting what she wanted that she had a meltdown in the middle of the mall. Chloe (the baby) saw how upset Torrey was and she started to cry and throw a fit too. At this point, it was after 4:30 pm and time to head back to drop them off at home. So we proceeded to do just that.

The older two kids rode with Torrey's dad, Jeff, and Chloe stayed with us. We met back up at my parent's place. 

I have never seen my oldest child have a meltdown like that in a public place. I almost didn't know what to do about it. But, we got it under control and moved on.

Skipping ahead a couple of hours now, my husband, the baby and I stopped at the Iron Skillet just after we crossed the border into Georgia on our way home. This restaurant has been a ritual stop now for over a year, and usually, the food is excellent. Tonight was just one of those nights where they managed to screw up my food. 

I ordered a petite sirloin (medium - well) with a baked potato. When the food came out, I cut into the meat, and it was super hard to cut. When I was finally able to cut through it, it was light pink in the middle just how I like it. I tried to take a bite of the steak and literally couldn't bite or tear the meat with my teeth at all. It was tough. So, I asked our waitress if she could take the steak off the ticket and she obliged. I mean the teeth marks in the meat where I tried to bite and tear it was an apparent sign of unedible grub.

Anyway, I went off to the restroom after I was done eating and while I was gone, there was an altercation between our waitress's boyfriend and her mom. According to my husband, the waitress asked her mom "please don't do this here, just go." The mom ignored her, walked over to the boyfriend and started laying into him about something. I'm not sure what that "something" is, but it got heated pretty quickly, and the boyfriend called the mom a name and some other things happened. 

So our Saturday night dinner turned into dinner and a show. Our three-year-old was subjected to language that we try not to use around her. Overall, it was the first semi-bad experience we've had in the whole year we've frequented the restaurant. 

At any rate, we picked up some lottery tickets from the gas station before we left (PowerBall). The drawing has already happened tonight, and we did not win (sorry April). It would have been nice because there's so much we need right now like a house for us all to live in, cars of our own, debts paid off, and college paid for too. We could use that money. /sigh - Maybe next time. 

Well, that's the gist of my day. Nothing too "exciting" happened today. But, I do think I need to have a chat with both of my older children about the value of being grateful for what they have instead of consistently asking for more. We aren't made of money and just because they had a good Christmas this year doesn't mean we can afford to buy them a ton of new toys and other things they want every time we visit them. 

I need to get to bed, so this is an excellent place to end. See you all tomorrow.

As the title suggests, I had a pretty productive day today. I woke up around 9 am. After the kid ate breakfast, we migrated upstairs so she could watch Frozen and I could get some things done on the computer after we played some games and read a book.

I've been working on this ProBoards theme for a Harry Potter forum. I got most of the new profile layout completed in PhotoShop. The next thing I have to do is code it and put it on to the live forum. That should be easy enough (not) ... 

After I finished the designing stuff, it was lunchtime, so I gave the kiddo some mac and cheese with some green beans and proceeded to clean up around the house. I cleaned the kitchen, dining room, and living room. And, I even got in two loads of laundry. After lunch, Chloe took a nap, and I played around in PhotoShop for a while longer.

At some point, I took the time to write out a guide for an area of my Harry Potter forum, get my classes registered for next semester (starting January 10th), have a FaceTime conversation with my sister, and post around on some forums. I even set up a discord server with a ton of text and voice channels as a bonus for members of my Harry Potter site. 

Yes, yes, Harry Potter. I'm a total nerd. You'll either learn to love my obsession with Potter or hate it. Either way, when the site is ready for the public, you'll be hearing about it, and I'll share the link with you all. No worries.

Anyways, we (the kiddo and I) also made it to the grocery store and picked up some stuff for meals the rest of the week which brings me to the photo in this post. I made bacon wrapped, parmesan breaded chicken tenders for dinner. Of course, no meal is complete without mashed potatoes and some other vegetable, so I threw in some of both.

The meals I've planned out this week include Chicken Alfredo, Pot Roast, and Teriyaki Chicken and Rice. We're a family that loves chicken. Too bad my kiddo isn't eating solids very well yet. She has to stick to all the super soft stuff. I think she'd love my cooking if she could eat it.

After getting to sleep in for a little while this morning, all the running around and cleaning, as well as laundry and cooking dinner, I am super tired. Hence the title, Productive Days Are Tiring. 

Nothing fascinating happened today. Maybe tomorrow I'll have better luck, and you won't just get stuck with a horrid rundown of my entire day. 

On that note, I will write again tomorrow.