Prepare for Failure

Picture of the Day for 12/31/2013. My great-niece Hayley hijacked her mother Chantal's Facebook account and "suggested" that I take her shopping. I was on to her immediately as I can tell the difference between their speech habits.


I agreed to take her shopping since I have to atone for ruining her Christmas. I adore teasing Hayley- it's kind of a hobby for me. On December 23. I was over at my sister Paula's (Hayley's grandmother) house for her annual Christmas dinner/celebration with her grandchildren. It's fun for me to get to see kids opening up presents so that's why I was invited. Paula had brought out all of the kids' Christmas stockings except for Hayley's. Hayley was started to worry she wasn't getting one so I told her that indeed, she wouldn't be getting one this year as she is 14-years-old and when you are 14 you're at a high risk for developing warts by coming in contact with a Christmas stocking. I told her that Paula was just employing preventive measures by withholding a stocking this year. At this point Hayley's mother joined in the teasing and we started singing Merry Wartmas to her and wishing her a Happy New Wart Year. Hayley HATED us with all her heart. Can't blame her- being 14 is hard enough without being teased about warts. As you can see from the picture below, Hayley did indeed receive a Christmas stocking and I'm happy to report she is wart-free despite my dire predictions.


I agreed to meet Hayley at the mall at 3:00 p.m. today. Chantal and her husband Rob dropped her off and then left to run a few errands to give Hayley some time alone shopping with me. I asked Hayley if there were any stores in particular that she wanted to visit and she said no- that she hadn't expected her "take me shopping" gambit to work and she was unprepared. I told her that she needs to plan for success! She replied that she plans for failure. Poor thing! Despite preparing for failure, I think she had a very nice time. Hayley helped me look for a new wallet and when her mom and dad arrived, we went to the food court and drank sodas/ate fries and chatted for about an hour. She didn't want to go home when the time came for us to go our respective ways. I did ask if this counted as a "valid" outing according to Hayley's by-laws and she agreed that it did.