anatomy of a shopping trip

Much like my buddy Rachel I have been in a serious funk lately.  I can't even get into all of it, but basically I feel like I'm the little ant and God's the big guy with the magnifying glass trying to scorch me.  Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme.  Anyhow, what makes me feel better when I'm down?  Shopping!  I rarely get to do this but last night Jeremy approved a meager budget of $50 to spend at Marshalls.  And since he never understands how I can spend an hour at one store, I shall now explain it.  

 

4:05pm - Jump in the car and head to Marshalls.  

4:11pm - Run into Marshalls knowing full well the clock is ticking. 

- Slowly walk through the kids Halloween costumes, remind myself to focus, and move on to shoes. 

4:15 pm - Hit up the bargain shoe section.  Why are there no size 9's?  Do I have the most popular size in the world?  Try on a few tall stilletos that I know I can never wear since my husband is only 2 inches taller than me and flips when I buy tall shoes.  Settle on a pair of 8 1/2's with a shorter heal and toss them in the cart.   

4:25pm - Browse through the regular shoes, nah, nothing here, don't need winter boots. 

4:29pm - Ahh, Clearance clothes section.  I start with the pants.  Sizes I browse the full range from size 6-10.  Find of jeans, and brown pants.  Throw them in to try on later

4:40pm - Clearance tops.  Again, browse everything from small to large.  Find a few tops.  Not satisfied - go through the all the racks again more thouroughly, pull out 3 tops to try on. 

4:51 pm - Coats?  Might as well look at winter coats.  Oh, and clearance dresses.  Coats are not on sale, and dresses look ancient. 

4:55pm - Purses.  Man, I could use a new purse.  Something that can fit all my things but isn't too bulky.  Try to find cute name brand stuff that isn't so trendy that it will feel outdated in two months.  ARGH!  Nothing within my little budget even though I go through the isles about 5 times wondering if I missed that perfect purse that was accidently marked down to $15. 

5:08 pm - Time is short!  I have to get to the dressing room!  Sort through my stuff and pick out 8 things to try on.  Call Jer in the dressing room to let him know I am wrapping up my trip. 

Jeans fit great, as do a few shirts.  Discard the rest and head out of the dressing room. 

5:16pm - Think twice and retry on the brown pants.  Nope, way to big.

5:18pm - Run to the check out while mentally adding up my purchases.  Ditch the shoes because they throw me way over. 

5:19pm - End up going over by $10.  Final purchase: 1 pair of Jeans, and 3 shirts.  One of which I think I will end up returning. 

5:22pm - In the car and headed home. 

 

Not feeling any better having gone shopping I convince Jer to go out to dinner which ended up being a good way to get out and talk. 

 

So, that was my shopping trip.  Maybe next time I will just buy a bar of chocolate. 

 

gender confusion

Today after church we headed to lunch as usual with the kiddies. We go to basically the same place every Sunday for several reasons:

1. We found the best waitresses there (Maggie and Danielle)...
2. ...who bring us plates of crackers and lemons to keep the kids entertained unti the food comes.
3. They have a great kids menu and know what we order every time.
4. They always seat us far enough away from other patrons so when Anthony throws his fries over his shoulders it doesn't hit someone.
5. Bottomless Pomegranate Ice Tea
6. Comfy booths
7. Close to home :)

Maybe Jeremy will come up with his own list. I'm sure there are things I left out.

So anyhow, we are having lunch today, chatting about the church service and the end of the world -not related - when this older gentleman walks towards us on his way to the bathroom. So he stops at our table and as Michael and Anthony shove fries in their faces he exclaims, "It looks like you girls are really enjoying your fries! How cute."

I wish I could describe the look of horror on Jeremy's face when this stranger mistook the boys for girls. Somehow, despite the fact that they were both wearing black athletic pants, brown sneakers, and red polo shirts this man mistook them for little ladies. I just laughed. "I think it was the braids," I told Jeremy - after realizing that an older white gentleman might not be used to seeing little boys with straight back braids. In any case, we had a good laugh (atleast I did). Meanwhile Jada was sitting there, dressed all in pink and white wondering, what the heck do I have to do to get noticed around here?

Good times.

C