How I spent $300 on 2 skeins of yarn, or shopping at the mall with my husband and teenage daughter

There are some activities in life that should always be done as a solo act.
Monologues immediately come to mind.
Maybe time in the toilet?
Certainly that's an activity that you hope remains something you do by yourself until you're too old to function without assistance.
What else.
Oh, I don't know, maybe.....shopping?
Specifically shopping on a budget?
Any woman (or man, to be non discriminating) worth their salt knows that you don't take your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other to the grocery store with you unless you intend to make a lot of impulse buys.
I'm not saying that it's wrong to have impulse buys - they certainly make shopping enjoyable and less of a chore.
That sponge candy conveniently placed by the checkout at Wegmans? Total impulse buy. And totally justifiable! (Don't know what sponge candy is? I've included a link so you can get a good idea what it is.
If you're British (or Canadian) and reading this, think of Crunchie bars.)
Yum....chocolate.....Oh wait, where was I?
Oh yeah, impulse buys.
So the other night I went to the mall with the long-standing hubby (and I don't mean he's been on his feet a long time, but that he's been hanging around me for close to three decades), and the angst-ridden, angry teenager.
All so I could get two skeins of yarn to make gifts for a swap.
Two
Skeins
At Michael's.
How much would that normally cost?
Yarn is usually not overly expensive (depending upon your taste), but this yarn cost me $300.
What happened to the budget, you ask?
Yeah, I asked the same question.
It got lost somewhere in the clearance sales at Bon Ton, a department store that is closing next month. I am not even going to include a link because in a short time that Website will no longer be viable.
Sure, sure, I bought a couple of things for myself (at 70% off!), and the hubby got something, and so did the teenager, but dang, all I needed was yarn!
My head's still reeling.
But I sure am loving my new coat.

Sometimes what you're looking for....

This will be a stressful month.
I can tell that already.
I entered this month knowing that.
It doesn't make it any easier.
So much is going on that I'm having trouble focusing on getting anything accomplished because I need to get it all done.
Some of the stress is coming from knitting.
(A new category for everyone to blog about -- stressful knitting)
I began a Christmas stocking to give to the family we've adopted for work, and I'm on the foot, but haven't been able to knit on it for a while because I misplaced a needle.
Utilizing my Scarlet O'Hara philosophy for solving problems, I waited to think about it tomorrow.
After a doctor's appointment yesterday I ran out to Toys 'R Us to pick up a play toaster for the child in the same family. I had found one on the internet but never got around to ordering it, so I was in a panic to find one.
Honestly - a toy toaster?
A phone call to Toys 'R Us confirmed they had one in stock, and I wanted to make sure since our closest store is 15 miles away.
We got into the store, I asked where it would be, and we headed to that aisle.
The three of us looked in that aisle, looked in the one before it, the one after it, the one on the side, and just could not find a toaster.
SN2 told me to go ask a clerk again, and I said, "no, let me look just one more time."
Back into the aisle, and...there it was! - right in front of my face - at eye level!
We had passed it at least three times!
On the way home I passed JoAnn's and thought about pulling in to get another set of size 8 DPs to finish my stocking, but thought that I should just see what I had at home.
Last night while watching NCIS, I finally pulled out my Christmas stocking to see which needles were missing.
I sat there with my tub of DPs, ready to plumb its depth to find a substitute needle.
The stocking came out - three needles on the stitches.
Check.
Wait, what was this?
The extra needle was right there at the bottom of the bag!
Seriously?
The needle was never missing?
I wasted WEEKS not knitting this stocking - that needs to come into work with me on Friday - and the needle was right there all the time?!?!
If I've learned nothing else yesterday, besides an important lesson about not procrastinating, I need to remember that sometimes what you're looking for is right there in front of your face.

Christmas Shopping Caveats

Apparently you need to be careful about where you shop this holiday season.
Better to do your homework before buying gift cards or giving a gift that might be exchanged.
I've looked on Snopes and found out that some blog entries I've read are relatively true, while some are reporting this list that is circulating as false. There are lots of stores closing, including one of my favorites, Wilson Leather.
Now I would print the lists that I've seen, but I don't want to raise alarm, so I would say check out Snopes and see the real deal.
And then continue to do your homework.
Last year a co-worker received a gift card for The Sharper Image, and then found out that she couldn't use it because the store was not redeeming gift cards while they were in the middle of Chapter 11 filing. She might have been able to use it eventually, but it took a while to redeem it.
You know what I think we should do?
Give to charity, or to a family in need.
Or knit something for a family that is struggling.
Helping others never goes out of style and is always redeemable.

Fulfilling a Promise to Myself

Look what I bought for myself:Couldn't beat the price -- $14.00.
This is the first pair of skates I've owned since I was 14 or so.
I'm so excited.
Now let's see how long it takes before I get down to the skate rink.
DN2 didn't want a pair so I'll have to go off by myself.
We'll see if she lets me.

Evenings at the Mall

We went out to the mall this evening to make some exchanges.
The mall is always an interesting place on Saturday nights.
While you have plenty of families out shopping you also have the teenagers who treat the area as their hangout/boxing ring/drug dealing location. And they do have fights at the mall. Just recently there was a knife fight and my friend Joani was there and saw it, with the blood all over the floor and everything.
Remember in this climate where the evening temps hover below 20 degrees you have to perform most of your illegal activity indoors.
Nice place to go on a Saturday night, right?
Well this evening we saw a girl getting arrested for shoplifting at Claire's. I know stealing is wrong, but it was hard not to feel sorry for this poor girl there at the front of the store crying as mall security came into the store to take her away.
Then we went to Arby's and one of the girls behind the counter was so drunk she could barely stand up. She wasn't working but she obviously works there and she was loud too. All I could hope was that she didn't fall into the hot grease or something equally horrific.
An interesting evening, I have to say.
Before we went to the mall we had an outing with Girl Scouts.
Here we are ice skating:
Yes, SN2 actually came along with us. He must have some strong feet because those rental boots kill mine. I swear that this year I am definitely going to buy some ice skates so I never have to suffer with rental boots again.
Of course this is what I said last year when we went ice skating.
Guess I'll have to head back to the mall, but I'll go during the daylight hours when the crowd is not so wild and dangerous.

Goodwill for Men and Women

This past weekend we discovered the Goodwill store in our town.Granted we always knew where it was, we just never ventured out and entered it to see what treasures it contained.
And let me tell you, it has some treasures for sure.
Well and some nasty stuff too.
And that smell - you just can't get away from the smell in a shop like that no matter how new and clean it is.
SN2 found some $50 pants for $6 each - so of course we bought both pair - and some sweater vests and a cardigan. He was a happy camper.
DN2 couldn't find anything, but then she was feeling fussy anyway.
I found a Burberry's tweed coat for DN1 - Saks Fifth Avenue label and everything and the Burberry's lining - not a counterfeit (trust me, I've had enough stuff purchased in Korea to know what is fake and what is not) - for $12.00.
I only hope it fits, but they have a policy where you can return the items within 14 days.
Wait, look, my errant daughter has returned from a weekend of debauchery in Toronto in time for me to take her picture.
We wonder if it might be a man's coat, but you know what I say?With that Saks label and a $12 price tag, who cares?
(Especially when it's like 10 degrees outside.)
She could totally rock this coat with a red scarf.
Speaking of yarn...no good yarn there. I know because I checked. Yucky stuff in yucky colors - all acrylic - which has it's time and place but not when it's just funky, ugly yarn.
Oh well, no good craft stuff but you should see the books.
Oh the books!
Oh my - I got a crick in my neck just from keeping my head turned sideways for 15 minutes trying to read the titles. A lot of crap (Danielle Steel and romance novels), but some small finds (plenty of Maeve Binchy and spy thrillers if that's your thing). I did purchase Black Like Me for $1.99 - kind of a high price - I would have appreciated 25 cents - but the Goodwill does have to make up for the loss of money for selling a Burberry's coat for $12.00 I guess.
I think we've found our new Wal-Mart.
And Goodwill doesn't serve the devil.
Just blind and visually impaired people.
Like my mother.