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  Try to find cute name brand stuff that isn't so trendy that it will feel outdated in two months.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.