Shopping And Hopping For Joy

I recently realized that my reading glasses were not working as well of late, and I was getting headaches due to the eye strain involved in trying to work with them. When I went out to find another couple of pairs that were strong enough, I found one pair that was pink... not a glaring pink, just a nice soft pink. Anyone who knows me well, knows that pink is my favorite color. Anything is better in pink. However, there is an added bonus to having pink glasses. Men do not normally prefer to wear anything that is the color pink. Therefore, the men that normally come into my office and need to borrow my glasses because their glasses have been left elsewhere, are not very likely to forget that they are mine and walk out with them. I am very happy with my pink glasses.

We have had great sweater weather around here lately. I feel energized! I understand that it is supposed to warm up a bit, but it is great to have the windows open or be outside. How could anyone not love this weather? Well actually, I can think of one person...

Himself is a bit under the weather with an upper-respiratory virus. It seems that he picked it up during his trip to Arizona while Wilma was aiming at Florida. Like a lot of men, he is a miserable sick person. With golf and football on the TV today, he has some entertainment that is helping keep him in a better mood. I just hope that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win today!

My shopping buddy, Jeannie and I went to the mall yesterday to get her some slacks for her strip up north. We were unaware that there was a huge sale going on in Macy's until we walked into the store. I got an adrenaline rush and immediately went into marathon shopping mode! The main focus of the trip was to get Jeannie ready for her trip so I searched the racks while she tried things on for fit. I found out that Jeannie is also a pink freak so I was really having a grand time... especially once I convinced her that it is acceptable to wear pink in the winter! The highlight of her purchases was a hot pink sweater/jacket that she absolutely loved. It is sooo soft!

It was a lot of fun helping Jeannie shop, but I also had a grand time picking up some Christmas and birthday gifts along with a few things for myself. It was quite a sale! A lot of the merchandise was on sale. If I opened a charge account, I would get an additional 15% of any purchases made during the weekend. There was also a special charity drive that if you made a donation, you got additional 10% back on purchases made that day. So, if a shopper purchased a blouse originally priced at $70.00 which was on sale at 45% off, there was an additional 15% off on the card and then another 10% back for the charity drive. Hence a 70% reduction in price. That means $49.00 off that $70 blouse making it a $21 blouse. Everything we bought was less than $70 to start with and we really made quite a haul. We put everything on that one card (which I will pay off and cancel at the end of the holiday season) so we ended up with just about everything at half price. I do not have much left to shop for for Christmas and birthdays... just a couple of things. I am quite proud of myself, and even Jeannie managed the energy required for the marathon spree.

Since tomorrow night is Halloween, I am getting the house ready for tomorrows trick-or-treaters. The decorations are not extravagant...

but I did make sure to get in some good candy for the kids to get sick on for the next couple of nights! I always figured it was better to let the kids get it out of their system quickly instead of ruining meals for a couple of weeks. It worked for my kids... they actually learned to ration the candy themselves... that and how to cleverly steal their favorites from one another without being caught... most of the time.

So I hope you enjoy the costumes and kids tomorrow. The little ones are always so cute and the older ones are usually so excited about getting the goodies! It can be a fun time!