Retail Therapy

I LOVE a good sale!
Especially when it's stumbled upon unexpectedly.

The Story:
Several weeks ago I purchased a pair of new maternity pants for work from Macy*s. I tried them on in the store and they were perfect - just snug enough to stay up, but not so tight as to cut off circulation. I got them home and wore them for a day and quickly realized they were awful. I had been deceived. By the end of the day they were stretched out and falling down around my ankles. I thought drying them hot-ish might help, but this is one stubborn pair of pants. I had to resort to brute force (binder clips) to keep them up. Super ghetto, I know. When Alex saw the binder clips, he told me it was time to go buy some new pants. I'm rarely told to buy anything (let's face it, I don't need much encouragement) and ran out to the store immediately. I knew I didn't have much time before he'd come to his senses.

The Replacement:
I bought the same pants in the next size down and brought them home. Since I was certain these had to fit I purchased them without trying them on first. Bad idea. These pants were WAY smaller. Like spandex. Of course Alex thought it was hilarious and tried to reassure me that I didn't look like a pork sausage, but I knew he was just being nice. So, the pants went back in the bag and I reverted back to the fatty pants with the binder clips.

The spandex pants sat on our desk for weeks. A constant reminder of shopping fail, disappointment, and my growing body. I knew they needed to go back, but I just didn't feel like dealing with them. Until yesterday.


The Super-Awesome Sale:
Yesterday the pants were returned - $32.03 back in my pocket. Sweet! I was happily walking out the door... and then I felt the pull. I've felt this before. Many times. It was the clearance rack beckoning to me. This one happened to be in the baby section. I knew I didn't need to be buying more baby clothes, but figured a little glance couldn't hurt. Well, it did hurt, but not too bad. I found some great deals! The best one being a shirt/pants outfit originally $32, marked down to $4.79. Love that. Overall I spent $27, saved $96 and got some very cute things (mostly Carter's brand) that I had been eyeballing a few months back. The most expensive items were $4.79, the cheapest $2.39. Since we've recently accrued several of the smaller sizes, most of what I bought yesterday was 18 and 24 month size. I wish that was the end. It's not. Later in the evening, Alex and I returned to the scene of the crime and bought a few more things - a gray hoodie for $2.39, 2-pack of t-shirts for $2.39, khaki shorts $3.79... and some very cute overalls for $7. The overalls weren't as cheap as the others, but they were still 75% off and Alex really liked them. Mission accomplished!

We spent the rest of our evening installing garage keypads. Not too exciting, but semi-difficult to do together with our nit-picky personalities. We have one left to install today and hope to get some yard work and packing done as well. We'll see how productive we can be. I woke up at 5 am this morning after tossing and turning all night. Alex just found out another one of the Elders in his group (he actually works directly with this one) has the swine flu. I'm convinced we will both end up with it before it's over. For all I know he could have it already. We just don't know, but continue to pray that we can both stay healthy.