Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Cultural Self-Definition

Yesterday I talked Delia into going clothes shopping with me. Her last remaining pair of jeans was getting ready to give up (in the knee) and I didn't want Keith sending her to school in pajamas. She hates shopping with me, and I understand that, because I am Picky and Cheap. I usually make her try things on and if I don't like how they fit I refuse to buy them for her. She whines "That's the style, Mom!" when I ask her if she expects me to let her out of the house in a shirt that rides up over her belly and pants that reveal her buttcrack as soon as she sits down. Yesterday she protested, but I convinced her with promises of "a snack" after we found some new jeans.

She tried on no less than 17 pairs of jeans at K-Mart. It wasn't as harrowing as I thought it would be. Eventually we found three pairs that fit, and I talked her out of the pair that wasn't on sale. I just can't pay $28 for something she's going to wear for 3 months (if she doesn't destroy it before then). I talked her into going to Sears after that by promising to let her eat Mall Food. She angled for a pretzel, and I probably would have caved, but she ate spaghetti for dinner and I just can't get behind doubling up on the refined white carbs. So it was Chic-Fil-A nuggets, which are at least protein, right?

Sears had a pretty good sale, as I had hoped, but no jeans that fit. We were in the dressing room for maybe half an hour, and there was nobody else in the whole store except this surly woman and her kid. They were pacing around the kids department, and the mom was giving me dirty looks every time I put our rejects back on the rack and took new stuff back for Delia to try on.

Eventually I brought back some velour track suit type things with this Cheeky Monkey embroidered on them. "Bobby Jack!" Delia was delighted! I don't really like kids clothes with cheeky stuff written on them, but we settled on the largely inoffensive slogan "Dance Like No One's Watching" which is a sentiment I can support. We emerged from Sears with an entire Bobby Jack outfit (pants, hoodie, and t-shirt). The woman who checked us out was particularly incompetent, or possibly she had the DTs or was terrified of me, because her hands shook and her voice trembled the whole 15 minutes it took for her to ring us up. She was nice enough, and didn't argue when I pointed out that the t-shirt didn't ring up at the right price (I want my two dollars!). I could get a valuable coupon if I called the 800 number printed on the receipt, but I kinda don't want to go over the uncomfortable exchange again.

Delia was excited to wear her Bobby Jack outfit to school. I was mildly horrified when she came home because she was covered in stains. She explained that someone had made her laugh while she was drinking her juice pouch, and that was why there were purple splotches all over her light blue pants. I asked if she got any on the t-shirt, and she told me calmly that the hoodie must have soaked the rest of it up. I made her take everything off and find the hoodie (which she misplaced somewhere between the front door and the living room) so I could put stain remover on the juice. Upon closer inspection, I found not only juice, but also dirt ground into the cuffs, tiny orange splatters, random smears of black stuff, and several smudges of bright red that looked like oil pastel? lipstick? I couldn't tell. Studiously I scrubbed over the bathroom sink, and then into the wash. Yay! They emerged (pretty much) clean! Good thing I didn't pay full retail price ($74) for the ensemble. I saved $50. Yay for the cheap bone.

In other Cheap Shopper news I bought a new quilt and shams today. It is MAUVE, or possibly Pink, not quite Lavender maybe. It was funny, the one I got was the only color on clearance, there were several others but they were still only half price. So I snagged a Queen size quilt, 2 shams and a throw pillow for $50, and when my Belk Receipt told me I saved $125, I almost peed my pants I was so happy. Keith was happy too, because he got a jar of Oak Smoked Cashews and Almonds, and they are quite tasty. I asked him if he minded that I bought a pink quilt, and he said he didn't care one way or the other, whatever makes me happy. And I thought that was a good answer.

1 comment:

Simonetta Clan said...

I am the queen of the cheap shopping too. I am going to a big consignment sale in two weeks. I get tons of the kids clothes there really cheap. Email me D's sizes and I will be happy to look. I am a total prude when it comes to girls clothes so no butt crack from me.