I had to return something and pick up a few things I forgot. And then this happened.
“Mom! I need something to lay on!”
And I actually just happened to be reaching for some non-boxed tissues. 🙂
Category Archives: Shopping
Katie loves trying on shoes.Â
I wanted to try on some shoes at Nordstrom Rack and Katie was trying them on right along with me. Of course most of the ones she picked I was afraid she as going to break her neck…
…so I finally convinced her to at least try on flatter shoes. 🙂
Target Cutie
Turns out I’m not quite done.
I picked up a few more pieces at Target today. But…in my defense… A) I did need another casual long skirt (I LOVE THEM) and new tank tops since all of the ones I have are XXL (I ended up getting Mediums!) and B) Target is even less expensive than the stores I shopped at this past weekend. 🙂
And then I had a clothes bender…
So, as a byproduct of the weight loss, pretty much everything in my closet is new. But I’ve been holding off on buying summer clothes until I got closer to my final weight so I wouldn’t have to buy even more summer clothes (I went through multiple sets of winter clothes as sizes kept changing). The weather is getting nicer now…so it was finally time to get some summer stuff. As luck would have it, friends were staying with us for the weekend and Sheryl—who has worked in the fashion industry for probably 35 years—went with me to pick out some new stuff.
AND OMG IT WAS SOOOOO MUCH FUN!!! :p
AND OMG I SPENT ENTIRELY TOO MUCH MONEY!!!! 😯
But I now have a whole new wardrobe of SUPER cute and stylish (!) summer clothes thanks to Sheryl’s assistance. It was so much fun…
- looking for and trying clothes on with a friend.
- fitting into pretty much every single thing I tried.
- being able to decide what pieces I really LOVED and not just what FIT.
- liking how I looked in most of it (though Sheryl had to convince me of some pieces).
- buying most things in size large, but also a medium and even a small! A SMALL!!
I got six dresses (from a formal ball gown to casual sundresses), 11 tops, 2 pair of jeans, a pair of patterned slacks, a short skirt, two long pencil skirts, and a spring/fall all-weather parka (because the same type coat I just got in October is WAY too big—GRRR).
I don’t think I’ve done a clothes shopping trip like this EVER in my life—the closest might be a back-to-school shopping trip where I’d get like two pair of jeans, a few tops, a sweater, a pair of shoes, and some socks. It was expensive, but everything was from Nordstrom Rack and Marshalls so overall it wasn’t bad. And I am now set for summer clothes for the next few years, if not more (since NS should keep me at about this same size forevermore—I mean, realistically, I could wear these clothes for the next 8-10 years).
BRING ON SUMMER!!
Costco Running
The empty aisles were just waaaaaay too enticing to both kids.
You never know what you’ll find at the dollar store!Â
Of course we had to get it. 🙂
Waiting patiently at Ikea.Â
Katie gets to play for a bit at Ikea while I shop. I really only needed 10 minutes to grab one thing but she LOVES the play area and doesn’t always get to go (they’re often full with a wait list) so I let her today.
My temporary wedding ring!
It’s totally not my style, but it fits. And it was free from Amazon Vine. I have to say it’s very strange to see a new ring after 15+ years… Yay for costume jewelry!
Kids in a boat at the mallÂ
Their treat while I did a return at TJ Maxx.
Treat time!
Katie did pretty good while we were shopping at the mall so we stopped for a treat.
And then this happened on the way home.
I finally let her ride in the cool cart.
I hate these carts so rarely let her ride in one. They’re just heavy and super awkward to maneuver. But this small one magically appeared at Marshall’s today (it’s never once been there so I think it somehow migrated from another spot in the mall) and she begged me with sugar on top so I relented. You gotta love that smile. 🙂
She was just too cute for errands.Â
I’m so glad she loves wearing hats. Mittens are sometimes a harder sell but she apparently likes her new fuzzy mittens.
And a closeup in case I forgot to take the official monthly shot later.
Thrift store scores!
We scored big at the thrift store today. We found Qwirkle, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, and Chutes & Ladders Sesame Street for $1.50 each!
Here, Owen is currently “battling” with the Qwirkle pieces (his own creation—nothing to do with the actual game):
Owen made a difference.Â
We were grocery shopping today and Owen asked what the bags were for at the end of the register. We explained they were bags of food for people who didn’t have any. He seemed interested so we asked if he wanted to get one as part of his birthday present (or using his birthday money). He eagerly said yes. 🙂
We’re REALLY ready to have our minivan back.
The dealership has been a comedy of errors trying to get our van fixed. So, we still have the rental Highlander.
And we didn’t even think when grabbing a 5′ plastic storage bin at Walmart…yeah…no room in the car! Well, no easy room. This is how we had to get it home.
Alcohol run!
Costcos in Virginia (and North Carolina) can’t sell liquor (which you may or may not remember) so we’ve stopped at Costcos in other states (Florida, South Carolina, and Michigan) to replenish our stock. But, we learned that the DC Costco (in Maryland) does have liquor, and today was the first chance we’ve really had to stop (it’s really out of the way and quite inconvenient to get to).
This is a normal replenishment trip, which happens maybe every two years (which is good, because that’s about how long all this lasts…though honestly it’s longer unless we have a few parties).
We split a Lego set.Â
It was on sale at the Lego store so I told Owen we’d split the cost. He hasn’t built something big in awhile so he was excited!
This gets me excited for two reasons.
Three if you count that it means a kidless night out at a holiday party.
If you can’t guess the two reasons, it’s 1) size 14 and 2) a good deal!
The backstory? I needed something to wear for a holiday party. I had NOTHING holiday-ish in my closet at all. No dress slacks, no khakis, no skirts, no dressy sweaters even. I had one dress that would have been okay, but I kind of wanted something new that was a bit more holiday-party-appropriate. So I went shopping at Ross and was looking at 16s. 16s!!! (I now wear size 16 jeans so thought a dress would be the same.) I haven’t bought a size 16 dress in…since maybe high school? So I picked four and tried them all on—and they all fit. Wait. What? I’m used to maybe one thing fitting and hoping it doesn’t look awful, LOL. So I was able to pick the one Iiked the best. And it was on clearance! So imagine my surprise when I got home and realized it was a 14! Holy crap! I never would have looked at the size 14 section! 🙂
I promised her we’d go see the train.
We have seen the train at Wegman’s twice—the last time being months and months ago. Yet she remembers. We were out running errands today and she was being really good so I told her we’d stop and see the train. She literally started running through the aisles as soon as she saw it!
Cookies with Santa
The local high school hosted a huge craft fair that I wanted to check out (we missed it last year) and they also had a “Cookies with Santa” portion that we wanted to take the kids to. We got to the North Pole shortly after it opened so we didn’t have to wait too long. While daddy held our place in line, the kids worked on bead candy canes:
Can you guess which was Owen’s and which was Katie’s? 🙂
Santa! (They had someone taking pictures, but it wasn’t anything really posed or official—she was just off to the side snapping so we had NO idea what we would get. I was taking pics the whole time.) Katie wasn’t eager to sit with Santa, but she didn’t turn away…and she talked to him but didn’t get excited about the hug.
Owen’s turn! He’s too big for Santa’s lap!
At the end we had Katie go back up. I snapped about six quick pics and this one actually turned out great!
This was one of the ones the student elf took—I was impressed that it turned out as well:
On the way out, Katie decided she wanted to make antlers:
This is how she rolled at Costco today.Â
Katie gives daddy a purse hat.Â
Kids in a car at the mall
Katie desperately wanted to ride in one of the cars at the mall. Since she was a good girl while we were shopping, we let her (them).
Of course, as soon as it started, she couldn’t have cared less. 🙂
Women’s clothes sizing drives me insane.
I’m trying to figure out what I’m wearing to the birthday ball this year. I figured since we haven’t gone in a few years and I’ll have lost almost 75#, I deserve a new dress.
So, let me recap today:
- I tried on a beautiful size 16 fancy dress at Nordstrom Rack. It almost fit. I couldn’t get it zipped but it was damn close. (I was kind of glad because it was $140…but I loved it and would probably have bought it if it had fit.)
- I tried on a size 18 bridesmaid dress at David’s Bridal. It was a hair loose (and not really my style).
- I tried a size 16 bridesmaid dress at David’s Bridal. It was too tight; I couldn’t even begin to get it zipped.
- I came home, tried on an old bridesmaid dress, size 22, which I wore in a wedding 12 years ago when I weighed 10# more than I do now (!) and can’t get it zipped across my back!
- I tried an old size 18 nice (fancy, but not ball fancy) dress and it’s loose.
- I tried two size 22 ball gowns (new with tags in my closet!) and they are both passable without alteration (though they’d be better with alterations).
GAH!!!! What the hell? The one that amazes me the most is the dress that I wore for the wedding 12 years ago. It was for my best friend Angi’s wedding and I had just lost 60#. The dress fit perfectly. So when I was thinking about ball gowns, it was in the back of my head that worst case, I’d just wear that one because it would obviously fit. Ha. WTF body? What’s going on?
My shoe fiend.Â
I was in the shoe aisle just checking if there might be any clearance shoes for her when I turned around to see this. She had already taken her shoes off, grabbed some shoes, and was trying them on!
It was so cute—and the shoes she picked were really cute!—but they were too expensive.
Showing off my new belt.Â
Remember I needed a new belt? A friend recommended one and actually gifted it to me as a reward for my weight loss! We selected the XL (the biggest size) even though I didn’t think it would fit (my waist inches were the upper limit of the belt so I thought it’d be too tight). Turns out it’s perfect—and I could actually wear it 80s style. 🙂 I had Tom take a quick pic and I was surprised that I liked the first pic. I seem to like most pictures of me these days. 🙂
SCORE!
I finally found my favorite Biscuits & Gravy chips!
I feel like I’ve surely been somewhere thy had them but I wasn’t interested then. And then I tried them, loved them, wanted them…and didn’t see them anywhere. I’m set for awhile, though I’ll likely end up with more bags before they disappear. (These are the current flavors to vote for a new flavor. Obviously my selection is biscuits and gravy though the Truffle aren’t bad.)
And this is why I typically try to bag my own stuff.
Or have enough bags that I can tell them to just shove it all in (I only had one bag today—not pictured).
The bag with the milk and cider was even double-bagged so everything could have easily fit in there. And the Mio drops? Those obviously could have fit anywhere else. I like the commissary but this is a huge waste.
Our first homemade ice cream!
I’ve had a simple/inexpensive Cuisinart ice cream maker on my Amazon watchlist for awhile now, and it hit it’s lowest price ever the other day, so I finally bought it. I figure we don’t eat that much ice cream anymore, so why not be able to make whatever flavors we want in much smaller quantities when we want it?
So we made peanut butter Oreo tonight. The kids helped me get the mix ready (no pics of that because I was too busy helping hold the mixer) and they were EXCITED.
She would have spent the entire 15 minutes like this if we let her. 🙂
I didn’t get any pics of the end product or of us eating it because we snarfed it down pretty quickly. (Also, we all had very small portions—maybe 3-4 spoonsful—with the rest going in the freezer.) It was quite tasty—and a soft-serve consistency which I really really like (similar to a DQ Blizzard!). So it was a success!