Wild Day Out

Evelyn and I decided to run some errands this morning, since temperatures weren't supposed to break 80 until after lunchtime. On our way to the mall, we ran over a piece of wooden dowel that must have fallen off of someone's truck (I didn't see where it came from, just saw it come bouncing down the highway toward us) and I had no choice but to hit it because I had a concrete wall on one side and another car on the other. It made a thud and then bounced into the shoulder behind me. I didn't think twice about it until I was packing Evelyn into her stroller and heard a hissing noise. It took me about 2 seconds to find the leak, but I was just across the parking lot from the Sears auto center. So we took it over and Evelyn kindly explained to the mechanic, "Tire broke. Daddy fix it." Luckily, they were able to patch it and we were on our way.
Our next stop was to the jewelry repair shop inside the mall. (It's located in the food court, right next to the kids' play area. The poor man that works in there must have the patience of a saint, to spend his entire day listening to all the screaming children :P) I handed over Tim's watch for a battery change and occupied Evelyn with watching all the moving clocks they have hanging on the wall. The shop isn't very large, and it's packed with cases of watches and clocks. So, once you're in, you're trapped if someone comes in behind you. As luck would have it, a rather irritated lady came in with a necklace the shop owner supposedly fixed a year ago. She said he'd put on a new clasp, but that the links holding the clasp on the necklace had broken, with a tone that implied that it was his fault she'd broken her own necklace. He said he could put on a new clasp, but he didn't have any more gold ones to match the necklace right now. Which is when she started cursing at him. Two feet away from a 2-year-old who happens to be soaking everything up like a sponge. So, since she was blocking our exit from the shop, I very politely asked her to stop cursing in front of my kid, and she snatched up her necklace and huffed out of the store. The jewelry shop man looked very relieved.
There were all kinds of crazy people in the mall today. Including us. Evelyn spent most of her time in the stroller waving her arms around and telling gibberish stories or singing songs I don't recognize. But we got a good walk in and picked up everything we were after. So, all in all, a successful morning out.