What not to do…

Yesterday I stopped at the mall to see if I could score a new pair shoes. There is a certain brand that I wear which I love because they keep my feet from aching and help me avoid walking like a 80-year-old at the end of the day, seeing I am on my feet a lot throughout the day. I scored not just one pair but two. So I was pretty happy.

So as I was walking through the mall, I decided to stop at Bath and Body Works, seeing I needed to stock up also on my favorite body mist. And that was a mistake. See I tend to spray about 10 different scents on me, and by the time I leave the store I clear about a mile radius of people around me because I am so fragrant. I know they have these little scent sticks, but that doesn’t cut it for me. I have to spray the perfume on me to see how it interacts with my skin.  When I got into my car I actually had to roll down the window so I wouldn’t pass out from the intoxicating smell that surrounded me.

And as I’m doing this I had to laugh because I thought about a memory about my mom and me. On her first visit with us, she flew into Chicago and I had to pick her up and drop her off there. And on her departure day we had some time to kill before she had to board her flight back. So she took advantage of the Duty free store. And a Duty free store has a lot of perfumes, and here we were spraying like it was going out of style. I believe if we had such scrutiny getting through airport security as we do today, she would have been arrested and never allowed on the flight because of excessive odors.

It was so bad, that I had to stop at a rest area and wash my hands, neck and arms to eliminate most of the scents because to be frank I just plain stunk. And there was no way I could have survived a 3 hour trip back. My mom told me after she arrived home and checked in with me, that she had to do the same once she got on the airplane, because she was afraid that people were going to complain so much about her, they probably would have turned the plane around and made her get off,  because and this is how she described it ” I smelled like a french bordello”.  And the funny thing is, that I have passed on this misuse of fragrance to my daughter and we have left several stores together smelling like pepe le pew. What a memory to have.

I marked the day red on the Calendar

So here I am with 2 driving Teenagers, well my daughter is almost legal to drive, she just has to take her Drivers test and then she is fully licensed. And you always hear the horror stories from other Parents, of how their kids take the car and bring it back home with an empty tank.

So yesterday I let my Son keep the Car, so he could run some errands and take care of a few things that he needs to get done before he returns to Campus in a couple of weeks.
He went shopping for a few new clothes, got his Instrument fixed at the High school, went to a bike store to turn his bike in to get repaired and so on and on.

At 4 pm sharp I walked out of work and there he was waiting for me. Nice! Did not have to call him and ask him if he forgot to pick up his mom at work. And then get this!! ” I put 10 bucks of gas in the Car”. If I wasn’t sitting in the seat when he said that, I think I would have fainted. $10 he put in, of his own money. WOW. I was amazed. So that is when I marked the day red on the Calendar to remind me of it.

But needless to say I spend more on him after, because we went back to T.J Max for a couple more things he wanted and I paid for it. It wasn’t too bad, it was stuff on sale, so he didn’t break me.
But I can say, when a Parent tells me that their kids never put Gas in the car, that my Son did!

Shopping?? On Friday?? Oh no…

Every year I’m being asked if I go shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving and my answer is everytime a loud plain solid “NO”.

Now you wonder why am I so against it, while you are searching through the Thanksgiving Sale ads, clipping the 30%-50%-75% off coupons. Making strategies with friends and family members of wich Store to ransom first or spend your dollars at. Mapping out alternate routes because of possible traffic/parking lot congestions. Setting meeting points, making sure watches are in synch and everyone has the Walkie-Talkie option in their Cell for Alerts. Looking where you get the best early bird deals and free gifts. You are thinking, she is nuts, she is a female and she doesn’t shop on this day of the “Almighty Sales”.

Well let me tell you, I went one year and just that once was enough for me to never do it again. I went with my back then In-laws. And I was still fairly new to this country and to this tradition of ” Black Friday”. I basically didn’t know any better. But did I learn fast.

Oh my, the things I saw, tents in front of stores, people with blue lips trying to drink a cup of hot coffee with shaking hands because they were in line at midnight. At midnight I like to be in my own bed, under warm covers dreaming about something nice. Donuts being handed out. And though everyone was banding together waiting, and joking and laughing, they all turned against each other once the store opened.

The store opens and the frantic begins. People run to the perspective deals and grab and shove and start hitting themselves with stuffed animals over the heads. Yes that is true, 2 moms fighting over stuffed animals hitting themselves with some poor stuffed animals that never saw it coming. I had to stop and laugh at that picture but was quickly pulled by my ex-sister in law into another aisle. Can’t stop and look got to keep moving, I was told.

Then the lines at the check-out. The system of one person standing in line, while 4 others come running with their finds from different directions and add it to the cart. So what used too be a cart with 5 items is now a cart with 40.

After managing to get through 5 stores, you need to replenish, so a quick McDonalds stop. Well it is supposed to be quick but it is not. Horns honking, people pulling away from the order window. So plan for next year, bring sandwiches to eat on the go. Oh heck no. Not me!

Another few stores, with the same scenerio. Angry, mumbling under their breath people that did not get that last DVD player and the Store is out. But the herd is starting to thin out, Store clerks look all shaken up, with hair sticking up in the air, some of them just standing there with that gazed look on their face asking for help.

And by the time we got home, I was tired and confused and wondered if I was going to become one of those people in years to come while I watched the 2 woman that I thought were mad tell the guys their stories. And all the guys did is just say yes and asked how much money they spent. But I did not, and I am proud of it. See I like to go shopping without all of the hoopla above. I like to take my time and not be shoved and pushed and growled at. Nor get beaten with some innocent stuffed animal.

So to all of you Shoppers that have the countdown timer set for liftoff, you go on with your bad self. Go out there and make us proud, you know the ones that are afraid of you all, like me. Happy shopping !!