The Goods

June 4, 2011 at 10:10 AM (Bargain Hunting, Bargains of the Month, Confessions, Friends, Trips)

No Memorial Day Extravaganza would be complete without shopping. We did not shop as much as we have been known to shop, but we certainly did not come home empty handed. Because that would be sad. Even Mr. C noted that we came home earlier that he could ever recollect in previous years.

Schmenky hit the jackpot finding a new, attractive kitchen garbage can that her cats could not shred in one productive weekend. It had been on her list for a couple of years now. She also had a hankering for some red, comfy, cute sandals, which I am happy to say she found at good old Kohl’s.

I did not have big goals, because I find that is the surest way for me to come home disappointed. I was sort of looking for some true brown capris, not the faux brown that I have only been able to find lately, a solution to our sugar bowl dilemma, some new tops to camouflage my traitorous mid section, and some new underwear, because I am all about keeping it real here. I am happy to say I was successful on all counts. Successful on other counts as well.

Some of my tops, modeled by fat cat Mama Mia. After listening to my stomach related complaining in Florida, Mousey suggested I look for a top with this strange gathering on the sides. I must confess that I have seen this style before and could not imagine who in their right mind would wear such a hideous top. Because in my mind, I was wearing it the wrong way. I was mentally pulling it down over the hip-al area. You are supposed to wear it at the waist, where the previously mentioned gathering works a MIRACLE on the middle aged middle!!! I scoured the stores for this style and found exactly two.

The next three are casual types and the one modeled by Mia is a little dressier. Therefore it fits into the church/BSF/event catagory nicely.

More all purpose tops. My children will give me grief about the animal print one. They call ALL animal print “cheetah clothes” in disdain. I should not have any summer top related dressing dilemmas. Where ever I may go.

I did find the real brown capris, two pair actually! One casual, and one dressier for all of the dressier functions that I must attend. I also found THREE pair of jeans, which is almost miraculous for me, as I have severe jean related issues. Finding a pair long enough, that are comfortable, and don’t have a big gap in the back at the waist? Evidently too much to wish for in this life.

Mrs. Schmenkman found this aptly named candle. We ARE the Capri’s!!!

This was a special bonus item. I was not looking for a new pocketbook, but how could I pass this up? It fulfills so many of my purse rules. It has the built in wallet feature, nice bricky red color that blends with the majority of my wardrobe choices, extra long strap so I can wear it across my body, a zippered top for safety AND privacy, and 2 BIG side pockets to store all of the little papers that I seem to find necessary to have with me at all times. You know, restaurant and cat food coo-pins, summer library reading list, paper with the size of some of our windows, a pen, and easy access for the cell phone. Plus, inside pockets for all of my essentials. Burt’s Bees, dental floss, gum, and Splenda. And a barrette and pony tail thingy, don’t forget those!

It is a Dana Buchman brand, which I am sorry to say I have never heard of before, but appears to be all the rage at Kohl’s at the moment. Or maybe not, as I purchased it for 80% off, $13.80, regularly priced at $69.00!!!!!! Maybe it has horrible flaws, but for $13.80, I am willing to take that risk. It is my bargain of the month for May.

I believe I have solved the sugar bowl dilemma. For several years I have used a very cute glass container with a cork top as our sugar bowl. Very darling. Except for Caregroup, the only one who used the sugar bowl was The Boy. After a while, he mentioned that our coffee at home tasted flowery. I didn’t know what to say about that. After much investigation, he one day smelled the cork of the sugar bowl. I don’t know what possessed him to do that, but it was then that he discovered that the cork smelled flowery. He asked me what used to be in the sugar bowl? Was the sugar bowl previously the occupant of a candle? Since I have no recollection of where I even got the sugar bowl, I could not answer that question. But I am thinking that I may have bought it at a thrift store, and it very well could have been a candle’s former home. So we threw out the cork. We now have a topless sugar bowl on the counter, and that is offensive to me, not to mention what might be floating into the uncovered sugar bowl

I looked at traditional sugar bowls, but since The Boy is the primary user, they looked too fragile. Plus, he might not choose to put the lid back on and that would cause us to have words. I looked for another alternatives, but they were either too large, or too small, or had complicated tops that required clasping or screwing. Pretty much ensuring that he would not put the lid back on and then necessitating that we would have words.

So we are going to try this. It looks a little diner-ish, but if it works, with no words, it could be a dream come true!

That was a lot of words about a sugar bowl.

I did find new underwear, and those are the only words I am going to use about that.