Adventures at the Mall – now with coupons!

A very dangerous event occured when Obachan handed me a Janeville coupon.

This all started when we went shopping at the mall together a couple of weeks ago. When she bought some clothes for the kids at Gymboree, she earned Gymbucks to go with it. So, when she went back to pick out some more things, she then received a “25% off your entire purchase” at Janeville coupon, which had an additional coupon to share with a friend. She gave me the whole thing.

I called Friend with glee, and announced that I would be happy to share with her. This phone call resulted in 1) reminding her that she had Gymbucks to spend as well, and 2) arranging an outing to the mall. Meeting place: Ground zero, the play area.

We left our long-suffering husbands with the hyped-up children, and off we went. I was very good at Gymboree and managed to get out of there without spending anything (Friend had little difficulty spending her Gymbucks). And then we headed off to Janeville.

I wasn’t really sure what I would find there, since when I’ve shopped there before, everything that I’d liked wasn’t on sale and the prices made me gasp in horror. However, I’ve started getting hooked on “What Not To Wear”, which has made me appreciate that a few things that may be more expensive, but higher quality (still need to be machine washable) would not be a bad thing for my wardrobe. So, with an open mind and a coupon, I walked in.

The sales racks were pretty promising, but I’m still getting used to the “showing a hint of cleavage” look. Friend found me a black shirt that she promised would make the Webmaster’s jaw drop. Oh yeah, it did, and it was under $20. I also found a lovely pair of khaki capris that were on sale. I spent less than $35 in there, thanks to my coupon, and was very happy. Friend decided that what she liked was out of her price range and decided to wait on getting anything new.

We parted ways at Panera (the husbands and kids having caught up to us by this point), and the Webmaster and I peeked at the shoe sale at Sears, which yielded two pairs of casual loafers for me (black and brown) and black heeled sandals. He also made me buy new socks, and I promised to throw away all my socks with holes in them. I also have to say good-bye to my black loafers, which have been well-loved and well-worn for the last six years.

So, my wardrobe is getting quite the face lift! Don’t ask me why this is all happening while the Webmaster is unemployed. It just seems like there are good sales and he is anxious to get rid of some of my stuff that is on its last legs. He cares about this far more than I do.

Our fun was not quite yet over. The Munchkin treated us to a “precision display of bad temper” (extra points for whoever can tell me where that quote comes from) while we were in Sears. First it was the hiding. Then it was the running across the aisles, unaware of innocent pedestrians. Then it was the trying to remove socks from their hangers. All this accumulated in the loss of an escalator ride.

The Munchkin LOVES escalators. Ever since she first read Corduroy, she has been fascinated by them (he rides an escalator in the story). So being told “no, you’re in trouble and there will be no going on the escalator” was worse than a spanking, time-out, and Chinese water torture rolled into one. The Webmaster literally carried her out of the store, through the parking lot, and to the car while she was crying hysterically and screaming at the top of her lungs, “I WANNA RIDE ESCALATOR! I WANNA RIDE ESCALATOR!” over and over again like a broken record.

The Webmaster was mortified, and told me to stop laughing. I couldn’t help it. I have a two-and-a-half year old who was sobbing her little heart out because her punishment was that she couldn’t go on a escalator. What’s not funny about this??

She finally stopped crying by the time we got home because she’d fallen asleep (it was way past naptime). Baby Boy had slept through her temper tantrum and was now ready to play, so there went our dual nap hopes. But he was in a pretty good mood.

So, to sum up:
– I got some great clothes and shoes (!)
– I am throwing out my old stuff
– Gymboree has some really great fall clothes for girls this year
– The Munchkin’s greatest punishment (so far) is to not ride the escalator

On the plus side, I know what she’ll have fun doing on her birthday. Who needs an amusement park when you have the escalator at the mall?

This entry was posted on Monday, July 31st, 2006 at 12:15 am and is filed under Children, Mommyhood, Shopping Stories.
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