I hate shopping...in person

when I can't find what I'm looking for in the first place I go to look for it.
and when I'm stupid and forget the one item I've been talking to myself and reminding myself all morning not to forget. That- one- lousy- item. Well guess what?? (read along and find out)

Saturday I dragged (drug?) my kids all over creation (well, Nashua anyway) looking for another bookcase for my apartment, since mine are overflowing with books and other stuff. I was looking for the cheap, wood-looking, pressboard, three shelf, weigh-a-freakin'-ton, assemble it yourself kind. Wal-Mart had two, but both boxes were opened and had tape all over the place on them. Past experience tells me one thing here: missing pieces. Sams Club was a disappointment too. Wrong style and not enough shelves. I didn't even venture into the K-Mart I passed by because now it's a Sears Express and who knows what they sell now. And Sears is always more expensive. Next stop - Target. Absolutely nothing in boxes or on display.

I wanted to get something on Saturday, so I could put it together on Sunday during the snow storm. Maybe it was better that I didn't buy anything because I found something better!!!

Actually, I had gone here before, and liked what I saw but had not the cash to buy something. Hello tax-return!! So here's what I ended up with:

Deluxe Multimedia Storage Rack
Holds any combination of:
1500 CDs; 612 DVDs; 900 8mm video/cassettes or 360 VHS tapes.

adjustable shelves,

a beautifully designed cabinet

superior hand crafted quality out of a deluxe wood grain finish;

heavy duty construction;

assembles quickly and easily

available in oak, cherry and black.

Dimensions: 63 3/4"H x 65 5/6"W x 9 1/2"D


And it only cost $XXX.xx with free shipping by UPS !

The only bummer is that I ordered it in oak, which style is backordered until the beginning of March. Knowing my luck I won't be home when UPS comes to deliver it.

But here's the best part, in my opinion: I'll be able to free up the bookshelves where my dvd's are now. So I get a new rack for my DVD's, left over VHS tapes and CD's without buying a brand new bookshelf. I'll be able to get rid of the awkward thing I'm partially using now that takes up too much space and is poorly designed for my intended purpose. That would be my 96 year old grandfather's old tv/stereo cabinet, which when the television finally went bye-bye he had a middle shelf installed in it and used it for dust collecting knick-knacks & such.

Don't get me wrong, this tv cabinet is a nice piece of furniture, that now will get donated to the Salvation Army.

But anyway - my other shopping story: On Saturday after all of the bookshelf stops we went grocery shopping. Upon our arrival home I discovered that I forgot to buy white milk for M and I. Oh, well we'll get it tomorrow I thought, not wanting to go back outside.

Sunday morning I almost decided to not go to church becasue of the inclement weather. Then I realized that we had to go out and get the milk anyway. How would that look if I went shopping to get milk but was too lazy to go to church?

Not very good.

So I drove us to church in nearly white-out conditions. Fortunately the highway was near to deserted of any other crazy people driving in that weather. But that didn't stop me from thinking that I had made a serious mistake because the snow plow crews hadn't time to make any sort of dent in the rapidly falling flakes. It was near 10 AM when we arrived at the church building. When we got out at 11:30 the snow had stopped and the roads were markedly better.

We easily and painlessly made the required grocery store stop after church and made it home by 12:30 easily.