I think the universe is trying to tell me to just shut my trap already. It certainly keeps grabbing my feet and shoving them in my mouth. They taste . . . salty.

Remember the great Jesus-approved bicycle debacle of Easter '09? Yeah, that. That lovely incident of me putting my foot down and winning? Has taken an interesting twist. We innocently strolled into Target yesterday to grab a few necessities. We walked out with a freakin' Disney Princess bike.

DAMN YOU TARGET AND YOUR MAGICAL CLEARANCE WAYS!

It's really hard for me to put up a fight when something is a good deal. The bike that Alexis badly wanted, the one that was never even being considered because it was $15 more than the not-princessified version, was on clearance. For a LOT less than any other little 12 inch bike. I can't say no when the universe (and Target) clearly want me to say yes.

So, Alexis got a bike. Not for Easter, mind you, she got a bike for no reason at all (other than the fact that it was on clearance). Aggle flaggle klabbable.

Oh, but there is more.

For months now, Alexis has been nagging me to let her go swim. Every single day she tries to convince me that it is warm enough to put an inflatable pool out in the yard, and every single day I tell her she is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. She follows up by asking to go to The Beach, and I retort that The Beach doesn't have water in it yet.

I actually did know that for a fact--I have driven near enough to The Beach recently to have seen with my own eyes that it was still closed up for the winter. So, when Alexis was insistent that we ride bikes along the trail that borders The Beach, we were cool with it. We didn't even grab an extra set of clothes for the kid, because there was no way she was going to be going swimming.

Oops.

I'll just shut up now.