Seven Quick Takes Friday (11)

Thanks Jen for hosting quick takes every week.  Go here for her quick take list - there are others there too!

-1-
This week's outrage is with two stores that I don't visit very regularly and now have very good reason not to.  So I was checking out the website for store #1 - Walgreens - when to my shock and horror I saw that they had a tab called Sexual Wellness.  So then I think, "Ok, what exactly falls under this category?"  I mouse over the tab and lo and behold - Vibrators and Adult toys.  REALLY?  On a website that I'm sure has no parental controls or any real way to stop young children from looking at these pages.  Nice!  Then I investigate further - over 100 items.  WOW!  I was disappointed and really quite shocked, I mean there's a pretty good industry devoted just to these items on their own.  A drug store needs to get into this business?  Then I thought, perhaps I should check out other stores.  I was wondering if this was a trend.  I head on over to the CVS store.  Sure enough, there's a tab that reads Sexual Health.  I take a look and there is nothing coming right out and saying Vibrators and Adult toys, however I do notice an "Enhancers" section. Well, that seems as though it could head to no where good fast, so I decide to take a look and sure enough there is a massagers and Adult toys section on their site linked for anyone to see.  Over 30 products.  Quite a bit less than Walgreens, but I was still disappointed.  CVS and Walgreens will not see my business any time soon.

-2-
This leads me to quick take #2.  So I think, ok what about Rite Aid, I bet they have gone this route too.  To my pleasant surprise, Rite Aid is NOT going the same route as CVS and Walgreens.  No tabs for "Sexual" anything, but under Health info there is a link to Reproductive Health.  So of course, I was curious to see if they put these types of items under this category. I took a look.  There are no links to any of these types of products and I definitely commend Rite Aid for not having gotten into the Adult Toy and Vibrator industry.  

-3-
Which leads me to quick take #3.  Rite Aid had some links and information on infertility on their site.  Knowing quite a few people who struggle with this issue, I was pleased to see something of this nature.  They linked to an agency called Resolve, which is fine if you want to go with the "traditional" infertility treatment course, but I was disappointed to see there was no NFP link.  But then again, they are a company that deals with the pharmaceutical companies on a regular basis.  NFP and a "natural" route may lessen Rite Aid's consumers' interest in birth control, or potentially turn them away from the drugs used for IVF.  Maybe I will send a letter to Rite Aid requesting NFP links on their site under the infertility section.  Couldn't hurt, right?  CVS and Walgreens do have some info on infertility as well, to be fair.  It just isn't right there when you first look at "reproductive health."  Probably because the heading on their respective websites is pregnancy.

-4-
Dear little Hannah is going to be one next week.  I haven't even figured out what I will be getting her for her first birthday, nor have I figured out what I will be doing for her party.  So behind on this.  I'm guessing I'm so unprepared because I am still not quite yet settled at my parents' house and also that with each successive  child, it is difficult to figure out how to make it special and different.  My only thought right now is that she loves to play with her Nemo ball.  She points and says "ba!" any time you put her on the floor in the play room.  I'll have to figure it out soon.  Her party is next weekend!

-5-
Had a really bad day Wednesday.  The kind where you cry at the drop of a hat, little things set you off, you snap at your kid because you can't take them not listening to you by the fourth time you ask them something, feeling like a horrible parent kind of day.  I was almost in tears by 10am.  I had my moments where I couldn't take it and EVERYTHING set me off.  How many times do I have to ask the kids NOT to feed the dog?  Am I not letting the girls be independent enough to do some things on their own? Ok so that last question is really for the three year old.  The girls were exhausted by the end of the day and I was just so glad to put them to bed.
-6-
On a whim, my hubby and I decided to take a trip up to York's Wild Animal Kingdom on Thursday.  He decided he needed a day off and so after I got out of work we had a picnic lunch in the back of the car followed by a ride up to York, Maine.  I am not someone who does things spontaneously very often, probably something that hubby would like me to be a bit more open to.  It was really a big splurge for us, sad to say, but I was tired of feeling like I couldn't remember when we last took a day trip as a family.  I had a really great time.  There was an elephant who played the harmonica and painted,  Alicia got a close up view...

There were lemurs, kangaroos, geese, parrots, Bengal tigers and more.  We had a good time feeding the deer, but MAN are they aggressive.  Here I am trying to fend off one that was trying to get the feed right out of the machine after I put the money in.  This deer was actually there before I even turned the knob to get the feed!!!

 Here's me with the ladies feeding some more deer...

Ever since watching Charlotte's Web, Alicia has wanted us to get her a pig.  Thankfully there were not a lot of pigs at this zoo, but there were a two that were far away and we could not feed.  Phew!  However, she did really enjoy feeding the goats.  She's sure to ask for a goat next...

What a great time we had. 

-7-
Cannot believe it is September!!!  WHAT HAPPENED to the summer!?!  I definitely need to be sure that no matter how busy things get that I don't forget to take time to enjoy time spent with my girls and hubby - even just taking the ladies to a simple place like a water park would be great.  Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend everyone!  If you are in Northern Massachusetts, don't forget to check out the Feast of the Three Saints in Lawrence, MA.  We will be there!  I'm hoping for two things... 1.  that this year Alicia doesn't get very freaked out by all the booms.  2.  that they don't drop the wiggle worm Hannah when we hand her up to go on the float for her first time at the feast!!!