Shopping Karma

Yesterday the girls and I spent the day running errands, which mostly included shopping malls and big box stores. Going shopping on a Saturday is usually busier than during the week, but now that Christmas is approaching, its starting to get crazy. I first noticed it at our small mall last weekend. The girls and I ran to drop "letter" off to Santa (he wasn't there yet, just his mailbox). The mall was fairly busy for a Saturday evening, especially since there was a home football game going on. Okay, so it was 20 degrees out and most people would prefer to shop in a controlled environment rather than sit outside in 20 degree weather plus windchill, but you get the idea.

The first stop I had to make was to a mall. I knew which entrance I needed--it was a quick in-and-out operation--I just needed to exchange the size of the shirt. Shopping karma was with me as I found a parking spot right outside the door. The next stop was to Kohl's for a couple of returns. Once again, shopping karma with a great parking space. I did my returns, picked up a couple things, and we were out the door.

The next stop was to Old Navy where I had to exchange a winter coat for Leah. The shopping karma was especially good to me there when I walked up to the coats and there was one left hanging on the rack--the size and color that I needed. It was like the hand of the shopping maven reached down and handed it to me herself. How could I be that lucky? When I went to check out, I had to return the coat but in buying it again the gal would give me the price I paid for it. The coat was selling for $27, but I had paid $18. I had an extra 20% off, so the $42 coat cost me $15 and change.

Our final stop was to another mall, where our main purpose was to play on the large, germ-infested, foam animals and objects in the middle of the mall. It was the girls reward for letting me drag them around for half the day. First we had to eat and the food court was a zoo. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon every table was taken and I had to wait in line 15 minutes to order Subway. We did score a booth right as we were ready to sit down. The girls did get to run around (and catch multiple illnesses) for a good 45 minutes after we ate.

I guess all the shopping, the constant Christmas music on the radio, and the inch of snow that fell while we were shopping put me over the edge into a Christmas mood. I put the girls in their Christmas pj's last night and we had our first holiday viewing of "The Polar Express".

I do realize we still have Thanksgiving coming up; I have a whole post I want to do about Thanksgiving. I'm not ready to skip to Christmas just yet, I need a turkey sandwich with some mashed potatoes and gravy first.