I blame it entirely on the car wash place

Today I went with John’s preschool class bowling. Oh, what fun it is to take 18 4 and 5 year olds to the bowling alley! Really! I only had three kids to look after on our lane, and they are all kids I know. So we had a good time! With bumpers and those rolling things, those kids can do pretty well. I think John scored an 89 and his little friend Hunter scored a 90. Hunter was very pleased that he had WON and talked about it all the way back to school.
“That was so much fun, wasn’t it boys?” I said.
“Yeah, and I won!” said Hunter.
But even if they didn’t win, I think all the kids had a good time.

After I took them back to school, there was exactly 55 minutes until it was time to pick them up. I could
a) Drive home (a 15 minute drive) just to get busy doing something and then have to drive back to pick them up,
b)stay at the school and either help or just be in the way,
c)find something to do closer to the school.

I chose option c, and decided to go and get my van washed. It’s soooooooo dirty, you can’t even tell what color it is. Especially since I was driving right behind a snowplow the other night while it was dumping out salt. Ick. So, I drove the short drive to my favorite car wash, and there was a HUGE line. I guess I wasn’t the only person fed up with their disgustingly dirty car. No WAY was I going to waste my kid free time waiting in line for the carwash.

And look, there’s Target right over there. But I’m not shopping. Oh, I’m torn!

I needed a new exercise ball for our ball class on Tuesdays, and a friend had tipped me off that they were on sale at Target. So, I walked directly to the exercise stuff, found a ball for $9, and started back to the checkout. I was sidetracked by the HUGE sale on paper towels and toilet paper and did fall into the temptation of the sale (30 rolls of Charmin for $9–who could pass that by?!). But even with the exercise ball, the toilet paper and the paper towels (also on a major sale–$4.90 for 12 rolls), my purchases were under $30. -Whew!- I made it through Target without overspending! Hooray for me!

But I still had about 25 minutes, and I knew I couldn’t get my car washed in that time, and there’s an Old Navy just three stores down, and everyone at Book Club last night was raving on and on about the sale at Old Navy…….and…… I’ll admit it. I caved. I’m weak. The song of the shopping was just too strong for me.

I did a quick whirlwind shop at Old Navy, and my, oh my, would you look at these prices! What? 75% off?! You have got to be kidding! I tried to keep it under control (and I didn’t have much time), so I just got a shirt for Cole, a shirt for John, a shirt for Ryan (think valentine’s presents, right?) and I picked up (gasp) three pairs of pants for me. Pants that were $8 something each! If you think I was being excessive with my purchases, you’ll be relieved to know that at least 2 and possibly 3 of those pairs of pants will be returned to the store. I didn’t have time to try anything on in the store, so I just brought them home to try one. Mid-rise, my behind. Which is what you would all be seeing if I wore those pants. I won’t elaborate, but let’s just say they don’t fit well.

So, there you have it. I shopped. I couldn’t even make it a whole month without shopping. I am weak.

But this was just a moment of weakness (well, more like an hour) brought on by the fact that the line at the car wash was JUST TOO DANG LONG. I’m not going to let this tiny setback throw me back into the arms of the lovely siren called shopping. I set out to avoid the shopping for this month, and I will still do it. This was just one little slip-up. I blame it entirely on the car wash place.