And the corollary to that -- one also should not go shopping with said friend at the mall and/or Costco in the same day as the aforementioned Walmart trip.
Yes, folks, today I have spent loads of money. It's a good thing it was payday yesterday, hmmm??
(Technically the military is paid on the 15th and the end of the month, but when the end of the month is on a weekend, we get paid the Friday before. How convenient!)
I didn't buy too many frivolous things, thankfully. Granted, Grace needed the fleece one-piece jumper like she needs a whole in the head, but it was on sale at Macy's and she lives in the darn things come wintertime. I'm too cheap to turn my heat up above 68�.
Walmart was my biggest ticket today. I went in there intending to get more blue jeans... The ones I got at Target last year never did fit very well. Someone is playing a cruel joke on us short people, I fear. All the jeans I tried on in a "short" or "petite" length have to be at least a 30" inseam. How is that short?? 31" is average... These suckers drag on the floor when I wear my Birkenstocks. I guess I'll have to get out the good ol' sewing machine and shorten them myself.
I finally got myself a decent roaster pan from Costco, which was our first stop as HC was looking for winter coats for her kids. I have to giggle, though. HC kept saying, "These coats are cute, but they're just not warm enough!!" But we have very mild winters; it's not like we're in Wisconsin or anything. We don't really have a winter. It's more like an extremely extended and soggy fall that sort of melds into spring come April and May.
The next stop was the mall. She and I both love JC Penney's, which is coincidentally the only two-storey retail space in the entire mall. She found an awesome deal -- two 4-in-1 coats (I guess they have removable liners and such) on a pretty good sale to begin with, and then she found a $20 off $100 purchase coupon. So she got over $140 worth of coats for $80. Not bad!!
Then it was off to wander, since she'd gotten everything she came for, and I'd gotten everything I needed at Walmart. We ate at the food court, where I got Japanese food. Again. I only ever get Japanese food at our food court. I made HC giggle by saying, Shatner-like, "I think I'm turning Japanese. I think I am turning Japanese. Oh, yes. I think so." Grace had been going through this spell where she wasn't eating much, but let me reassure you that she is completely over it. I got one bowl of beef and rice as well as an order of gyoza. This was one huge bowl of beef and rice. She ate well over half my rice bowl, half my gyoza, a quarter of HC's chili (she'd gone to Taco Time), and most of HC's Mexi-tots.
What the hell are Mexican tater tots anyhow??? They don't seem very Mexican to me!
On the way back to our cars, we stopped at Macy's. Kurt is thinking about going to the Navy Ball on the 13th of October. I really have no opinion whether we go or not. I know I will have a good time if we go, but if we don't go, I won't be sad. I doubt my friend AA won't be able to go, which is probably good for me since I drank too much at the Khaki Ball. Her husband has duty on the day of the Navy Ball. But I went into Macy's to check their formal dresses anyhow. They had squat for selection... unless you were a size 3/4.
Yeah, I can get one of my legs into a size 3/4. Maybe I should have bought two size 3/4 dresses and sewn them together.
Hmph.
After the futile searching at Macy's, I was grumpy as all hell because I was under the impression that that was the only store in the area with formal dresses. However, HC informed me that Penney's has some too, and since we had to walk through there anyhow to get to our cars, I checked them out. We asked as soon as we walked in the door where the formal dresses were, and were pointed to one corner of the store.
Again we were confronted with the size 3/4 dilemma. Even their size large dresses looked tiny, and all the signs read "Juniors' Formal Dresses." (For the guys who read me, juniors sizes are for teens, while misses sizes are for women who have gone through puberty and actually have a few curves to them.) However, I managed to find a black sparkly halter-type dress in a size large that fits me (and will look better once I have control-top pantyhose on undernearth it), very similar to the one AA wore to the Khaki Ball, only hers wasn't sparkly.
I need sparkles. Life isn't fun without sparkles.
The good thing was this dress was a measly $40. But I asked the cashier if I could put in a suggestion, and mentioned that possibly Penney's might want to stock more dresses in larger sizes for those of us not built like Kate Moss. She looked at me and replied, "We have an entire section of misses' size formal dresses in another section of the store."
The funny thing is, when we asked for directions as to the location of the formal dresses, we were in the misses' department.
*sigh*
Oh well. It's a cute dress, nonetheless, and didn't break the bank, so if we don't end up going to the Navy Ball this year, I can still save it and wear it to the Christmas party next year (since Kurt's ship will be underway for Christmas this year).
One more thing -- remember my day that was an exercise in futility?? I nearly failed absolutely in my mission to obtain Chief stickers for our cars to allow my husband to park in other lots. I made it up to the base on Friday afternoon just before 3pm and arrived at the Pass & ID Office at exactly 3:01pm by my watch, which runs a bit fast anyhow. They were shut down, doors locked and all, because they close at 3pm. I banged on the door, the woman behind the counter told me rather snottily that they close at 3pm, and I frantically waved my registration papers at her, saying that all I need are Chief stickers!!! They took pity on me and cracked the door wide enough to pass through my two Chief stickers.
So much for military customer service!