They Got Me Again!!

Staying in the house two days in a row is detrimental to my mental health.  Even if I just go down the street for a mile, then change my mind and return home, it's better than sitting in front of the TV all day.  I probably should have checked the weather before I left, but it looked good here.  There were lots of those puffy white and black clouds, but since tornados aren't a problem here (yeah right), I headed North to pick up some extra makeup.

The stores always suck you in with their advertisements of 50-75% off, or maybe some special where you get two crock pots for the price of one.  That's a really good deal, assuming you have someone to give the second pot to.  I was heading for the two-for-one mascara, among other things.

About halfway, I looked ahead to see dust streaming across the road, making visibility bad.  Then it hit me ... literally!!  PLOP PLOP!!  I thought maybe a plane overhead had dumped it's tanks.  Instead of dust, it was water ... HUGE three inch drops landed on my windshield with a bang!!  I've never seen anything like it in my life.  I couldn't even get the windshield wipers on fast enough as visibility dropped to zero.  It lasted for maybe five minutes as we all slowed to a crawl.  Then it was gone as fast as it started.

Whew!!  THAT was exciting!!  Just as exhilarating was the mass of tangled vehicles trying to get in and out of the parking lot at the outdoor mall.  I KNEW this was going to be a bad day to go shopping, the last Saturday before Christmas!!  I really should have taken the Jeep instead of the truck.  Parking that beast is tough when there is no one around, let alone in THIS disaster!!  

It took twenty minutes to get down one row before I found a spot ... a BIG spot!!  YAY for me!!!  I braved the 20 people in line at Ulta, then thought I might take a look at Pier One.  It was a nice day for a walk because I wasn't moving my truck!!

That's when they got me!!  That store has so much really neat stuff that I try to stay away, but NOT today.   I saw on television where you can make this very pretty decoration with a bell jar, or something similar like this one, which was half price.  

You purchase these little lights that have a timer, then fill the jar with all kinds of stuff ... like Christmas ornaments or pine cones in my case.  Insert the light battery box first, then lay the lights around as you drop more things in the jar.  One important step they left out .... turn the lights on first and set it up at the same time you want the timer to turn the lights on every day.  Reason being, you can't turn the lights on after everything is piled on top of the switch.  You have to remove it ALL, turn the lights on and replace everything.  Trust me on this one!!  From then on, the lights turn themselves on and off automatically.

My second mistake was getting red lights instead of white.  White lights would look SO much better, no matter what time of year it was, or what you filled the far with.  

As I walked around the store, EVERYTHING was on sale.  I'm sure they marked these things up 100% above the regular cost, then gave me a 50% discount, but I couldn't help myself.  They had the cutest tree decorations, including these green candy canes.  I would have come home with a three foot tall wooden reindeer, but the lady who was standing next to me said "where would I store THAT?".  Hmmmm I hadn't thought of that.  Okay, no reindeer!!

I paid for the decorations, including the jar, lights, candy canes, pillows, ornaments and candles, ending up with a bag I could hardly lift, let alone carry all the way to the truck.  I struggled a little, trying to get across the driveway between the 35 cars and not get run over.  Another 40 minutes and I was finally out of the parking lot and on my way home.  I had two other stops to make, but gave up.  I got out of Dodge while the getting was good!!

Today is the Kids Christmas Party at the Elks where I'll be dishing out ice cream and cookies.  That's got to be a good job, right??  Hopefully I won't be too busy to get some pictures!!