Last night was quite eventful.

First Annalyn and I went to Walmart. As we pulled into the parking lot, a few sprinkles hit the windshield. I thought that was odd, considering the blue skies all around and the (dismayed) promises of our local meteorologists that it Would. Not. Rain. for several days.

We headed inside and began our shopping – yet another short list of last-minute vacation items. If only I’d thought to make one long list, perhaps I could have spent the last two weeks not visiting one Walmart or another every couple of days.

The first thing we did was drop off a prescription, where I was told to come back in 25 minutes. From there, we headed to toys. Because what makes more sense than taking a slightly tired toddler into the toy section, where you refuse to spend six dollars for Dora doll with many small parts?

As we finally headed over to the food section (this was after making another large loop around the supercenter, because I forgot that the cat food is kept in the front of this particular store), the lights began flickering.

Now, I’d heard the thunder and as we passed by the doors [again], I caught a peek of what can only be described as a torrential downpour. (“Only” because clichés are clichés for a reason, and my creative brain is not on yet today.) But considering the blue skies that I swore were surrounding the Walmart just minutes before, I was sure this storm would pass quickly.

And then, as I was debating the wisdom of buying beach towels on clearance and returning the ones I bought last week on Vacation Shopping Trip #17, the lights went completely out.

Annalyn’s face was so funny! She said, “Ohhhh!” and her eyes went wide. She wasn’t scared, but she knew something was off.

Because if there’s one thing that girl knows, it’s what a Walmart is supposed to look like. And this wasn’t it.

Fortunately, the lights came back on after a few seconds, we finished our shopping, paid and got back into the car.

I asked the kiddo if she wanted chicken nuggets for dinner, and of course she replied, “Nuggies!” with glee. However, as I navigated the mess that is Retail Land and saw the looong line at McDonald’s, I decided to head home and just feed her nuggets out of the freezer. (Well, you know, out of the freezer and then the microwave.)

Unfortunately, I realized halfway home that I’d forgotten to pick up my prescription.

So we turned around, went back to Walmart, got caught in traffic again and headed home. By that point, Annalyn was so distraught over not getting her nuggies and needing some milk that when we were caught at a stoplight (because the cars going the opposite direction didn’t bother to stop when their light turned red, so we all got to experience the joy of a late-afternoon traffic jam), I actually grabbed the gallon of milk we’d just bought at Walmart and poured some into her sippy cup.

That, thankfully, kept her happy until we got home and she caught sight of the bag of chicken nuggets. Kid is so funny – she saw me get the bag out of the freezer, but apparently missed me putting several chunks of frozen meat on the plate and into the microwave. Because when she saw me putting the bag back into the freezer? Well, as Mark says, you’d have thought I killed her favorite teddy bear. Or, you know, was refusing to feed her dinner.

I decided to take that moment to explain to her the wonders of the microwave, and disaster was prevented. She ate her “nuggies” and finally went to bed.

Just in time for me to make a sandwich and realize that my internet was still not working and there was nothing on TV.

Not to worry, Bravo chose last night as a debut for another uplifting reality series called NYC Prep. I’d like to say I didn’t watch, since I honestly don’t watch much reality TV (if you don’t count So You Think You Can Dance, What Not to Wear and Wife Swap). But I did.

I told you – event-full.