Thursday, March 29, 2007

Taking Shoes From A Stranger

I had an exciting shopping experience yesterday, and SgtDub suggested that I blog about it. I was running errands during my lunch hour, when I decided to stop by a thrift store. It's a small store hidden at the back of a big warehouse. My friend Joyce and I had found it a month or so ago and I purchased a great pair of dress shoes for $6.00. The shoes are all marked $12.00, but they were having a sale. Anyway, I went into the store yesterday, and I was the only shopper in there. There was a young guy working the cash register (not the brightest bulb in the fixture). I found 2 shoes that I liked and wanted to find the mates. I asked his recommendation on finding the mate, and he said "there's only 1 shoe" - well, that would explain the 50% off! In the meantime, the young boy took a break, and an older gentlemen came in. By this time, I was still digging through shoe boxes and trying to find matches. I had found a pair of OSU orange (Oklahoma State University) Ralph Lauren pumps (brand new!!). Not that I was looking for, or need a pair of orange pumps, but I can always wear them on Bedlam Day. The guy asked me if I liked shoes and what size did I wear. He then said he had a bunch of shoes in the back room if I would like to take a look. Okay, this is where I lost all sense of brain function and said "yes I would". I proceeded to follow him into the back room with the promise of finding a great deal. He said "we don't normally let anyone back here, but I'll let you". Looking back now, that probably wasn't the smartest move. For a brief moment, I thought to myself "this guy could be a total pervert and he's luring me into a closet", and I'm following him! Just like a kid would follow a total stranger for a piece of candy. Well, I'm happy to report that he was not a pervert, and he did in fact have a store room full of shoes! Good shoes -- Ralph Lauren, Talbots, Unisa, and many, many more. Most of the shoes are sample pairs and the sizes vary. I just had to dig through the shelves. I was basically in shoe heaven. Knowing all the shoes would be $6.00, I grabbed as many as I could before I gave up. I bought 7 pairs of shoes for $43.00!!! I was so excited and rushed back to work to share my bargains with my co-workers. I was a little afraid they would be the same size as me and want to steal my secret. Luckily, they're all different sizes, so there's no need to worry. We plan to return today and hopefully the guy will let us shop in the "secret" room!!!!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Spring is in the Air!

I must admit that this time of year gets me in the mood for spring cleaning. I'm also starting to panic because it's almost time for Dub to come home. My panic is that I had all these grand ideas of things I was going to do while he was away. I've never been the kind of person to scrapbook. Although I love to journal and save every card I've ever received, I don't do anything with them. My routine is to pile stuff in a dresser drawer and when it gets full, I transfer it to a Rubbermaid bucket (I should buy stock in Rubbermaid). I now have at least 8 buckets sitting in our spare bedroom waiting to be organized. I said I was going to take care of this during Dub's first deployment (2003), but I didn't get around to it (Okie talk - roundtwoit). I have friends who are avid "scrapbookers". They "crop til they drop", but I just can't get into the whole idea of cutting out little pieces of paper to make pretty decorations and writing funny little captions - heck, I can't even remember who's in the picture, much less something funny about when it was taken. Okay, back to my point . . . I went to a few of these scrapbook parties and was horrified to learn that I could be arrested by the scrapbook police! My pictures should never be stored in the attic (oops, better get them down), they should never be stored in photo albums that don't contain acid-free paper (oops again - aren't those the expensive ones?), and I should have all of my pictures sorted by subject, date, category, color, etc., etc. After enduring public humiliation, I took the first step and pulled all of my tubs from the sweltering attic. I stacked them nicely in the garage and eventually moved them into the closet (where they have remained for the past 2 years). I pulled them all out again when Dub left in March and I'm happy to report that they're still there. I did make a little progress when I bought the cute little photo boxes and sorted through my photos (holidays, trips, family, friends, etc.) Oops, I failed to mention that I've kept every single piece of paper that MissDub doodled on. There is just something about throwing away a piece of paper that your baby has drawn on. I know I must let go and lighten my load, but where do I start? How do you decide what stays and what goes? I say we just buy a bigger house, and I get one room dedicated to my Rubbermaid boxes. When the time comes for MissDub to leave home, I will simply hand her a bucket containing all of her stuff and say "good luck - I hope you're better at this than I was". By the way, my mom never scrapbooked either, and I think I turned out okay. I guess I would prefer to "preserve" my memories in my heart, than in an acid-free scrapbooks with cute captions.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

HELP! . . . SgtDub Needs New Boots!

SgtDub just informed me that he spent $111.00 today to purchase a new pair of boots. I asked why the Army wouldn't provide him with another pair if he needed it, and he said they only issue them one (1) pair for every six (6) months they are deployed and/or one (1) pair for every two (2) years of service. So, in other words, if he wears his boots out before his six (6) months are up, then he is S.O.L. and has to buy them himself. Is it just me, or does anyone else think this is wrong? I would think that if the boots are worn and need to be replaced, that he should be able to go to the supply and say "hey my boots are worn out and I need to get another pair" and they would say "okay, no problem, you're serving your country and fighting in a war zone, I think we can get you another pair of boots" - they could even offer to give him a new brown bath towel and wash cloth. Just another example of our tax dollars at work (not!). I think our soldiers deserve the very best, and they should NOT have to purchase their own equipment or clothing!!!!!!!