That went well

When I take a day to go shopping (other than grocery shopping) by myself, I spend more time debating and deciding than I do actually putting items in my cart. The conversation in my head goes something like this:

Me: WOW, 40% off on these cute little [tags/ribbons/beads/fill-in-the-craft-item-of-your-choice]! Wonder if I can live without them?

Me: Yeah, I probably can.

Me: But 40% off? That makes them practically FREE!

Me: I'll figure out something to do with them.

Me: But do I have room in the craft closet to store more [tags/ribbons/beads/fill-in-the-craft-item-of-your-choice]?

Me: Well, I could consolidate the paper stash and I think there's an empty bin taking up a lot of space on that shelving unit and, and, and …

And then I toss it in the cart, pay for it, bring it home, put it away and forget about it. Or I don't. Depending on how the debate with myself went.

When my husband and I take a day together to shop, we're a little more, um, streamlined.

It didn't help at all (or maybe it did, depending upon which of our perspectives you're looking from) that I lost my shopping list somewhere in the bookstore. OUR FIRST STOP.

As God is my witness, I will never take a paper list shopping with me again! That's what the Listonic app is for, and it works quite well, thankyouverymuch.

Three stores and lunch, and four hours later we were heading home. Seriously! The man is NOT a shopper. You go in the front door, ask someone where the remote-control cars for four-year-olds are, pick the one (or, in our case, the three) you want and head for a check-out line.

We'll definitely do it again. (Next year. Heh.) We had a good day together, and he was able to keep his sense of humor about crowded stores, traffic and my anguish at losing the list. He actually did better than I did. City traffic makes me crazy after all these years.

And since I did find some craft supplies I can actually USE to make GIFTS for THIS CHRISTMAS, well … it's time for me to get to work play.

If you're going to make glass magnets, be sure to use fabric,
magazine images or scrapbooking paper for the designs.
Ink-jet printed images don't work. Ask me how I know.

It's a date!

My husband and I are having a date today. If we didn't have a dog (for the record, I can't imagine not having a dog), we'd probably leave really early and stay really late and throw in a movie, along with the shopping and the dinner.

On the other hand, adding a movie to a day of shopping just sounds like way. too. much.

Especially when I haven't been sleeping. I guess it would depend on the movie, but going to one might be a good way to get a nap in. Hmmm. Argo, from what I've heard, would not be a good sleep-through movie. And I think I would be too interested in Lincoln to find it boring.

Besides, I'm too cheap frugal practical to spend money to sleep through a movie. And then there's this:

WE HAVE A DOG.

She's good for about eight hours, probably longer, but after that length of time I start worrying about her. However – I'm pretty sure her daylong nap in the corner of the couch isn't punctuated with anxious thoughts wondering where her people are.

My husband and I will be finishing up our Christmas shopping, which doesn't mean we're I'm finished with the Christmas gifts. But it'll be nice to have a day away from home, where the incomplete and not-yet-started handmade presents lure me away from Facebook and figuring out what to fix for dinner. Heh.

My husband wants to complete his F. Scott Fitzgerald collection, so we'll probably start at Barnes & Noble for those volumes and maybe a couple biographies of the old sport as well. After that it's kids' stuff. My younger and older granddaughters are taken care of, but there are five more grandchildren to spoil.

And so, hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to civilization we go. Leaving the Middle of Nowhere for the big city is a rare occurrence for either of us and more unusual for the two of us. I'm kind of surprised at how much I'm looking forward to it. We'll see how it all works out. My husband is even less of a shopper than I am, and the list is, um, long. But if we start at the bookstore, he can sit in a coffee shop and read while I go spend all the money.

Hmmm, sounds like a plan.

P.S. Thanks very, very much for your kind comments on yesterday's post. The women there inspire me way more than I do them, which is not to negate your sweet thoughts. But if I don't keep things in perspective I'll have to start knitting myself bigger hats! Heh.