A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP

I haven't posted much since we returned from Florida. I've just not felt like it......and then a situation developed that I had to deal with, and I wasn't happy, so I've just kept silent. But today I'm going to write about my love/hate relationship with shopping.

Sometimes I really, really dislike shopping, especially grocery shopping. The high prices are just a part of it (since when is a white plastic laundry basket $17.95? Not me.......I'll go to the Dollar Store and replace it every few month when it breaks!) More often it's the amount and conduct of the other shoppers. (read here about one caffeine deprived shopping trip in Yuma, AZ) Sometimes I get actually ill..........sick to my stomach from the crowds of folks who are also trying to shop. And the older I get, the more I really don't like to shop, especially for groceries. In my ideal world, I'd buy meat in bulk from a farmer, veggies and fruits from a Farm Market, and whatever else I need from the local coop, and never set foot in a huge super market again.

And then sometimes, I love to shop! Especially to get things for the house, and I love shopping the most when I get a bargain. And sometimes shopping is a cleansing and rejuvenating activity. Take this past Wednesday, for instance. Monday and Tuesday I had dealt with the previously mentioned situation, and I was really down in the dumps. Way down. Like laying on the rocks at the bottom of the dump. And then I decided to do a solo shopping trip, aiming to find a few needed things for the new to us RV, which I have named The Wild Thing as it's a Wildwood brand. Anyhow, I set off to the local thrift shops. At the first one, actually my favorite thrift shop, I found two lace valances that I could use in the bedroom windows, $1.00 each. I also found a needlepoint picture, all completed, of an antique shop with a couple of quilts hanging in front of the shop. 50 cents. Then I moved on to the second shop, where I seldom find anything good, but did I ever score here that day! I found a flannel duvet, queen sized, still folded in it's original fashion....it had never been used! Marked $8.50, but 25% off. PERFECT for the RV! It is a cream background, with sage green and kind of a grey plaid. And not the cheap flannel. It's a good one! I looked on the internet and they sell for $60 - 199! A good buy indeed! At the last thrift shop I found a book that looked interesting for 50 cents.

Then it was off to TJ Maxx where I found a shower curtain in the same colors as the duvet, except a stripe instead of a plaid! It was the most expensive thing I bought that day, $12, but out of it I got curtains to go with the lace valances in the bedroom, curtains for the kitchen, and enough left over to make a pillow or two for the bed. So for less than $20 I got everything I needed for the RV.

Except for one thing. The cornices over the windows in the main room of the camper were a hideous red with a narrow gold stripe. The gal who had the RV before us had redone them from the original tan. They looked bad. I remembered I had some sheets that I had found on sale for a dollar a couple of years ago and I dug them out from the storage basket in the sewing room closet (and in the process finding the Food Saver we had been missing since we moved home 14 months ago!). I pressed them, had Ernie take down the cornices, and I recovered them. They look so much better! And they're about the color of the original coverings. Ernie rehung them today, and I have some ribbon or tape that I'm going to glue around the edge to cover up a few staples that are peeking out.

I'll soon post photos of the work we've done in the RV. We can't wait to get out, even just for a weekend, to try it out and enjoy the extra length we gained by trading trailers! And if I could have more shopping trips like this one, maybe I wouldn't dislike shopping quite as much!