Category Archives: shopping

It’s a Sale on Bogs, Hooray!

Like deals?  If you’re not subscribing to Want Not, you’re missing out.  Everyone who knows me knows that I barely have time to shop, and I am a big, big fan of the online route.  But even then, I really hate to pay full price.  I mean, you know there’s a deal out there somewhere.  Why, I ask, should you pay more than your neighbor for the same boots?

Case in point:  Today, thanks to this heads up by the lovely Mir, I scored these cute Bogs at 40% off, which I nearly bought at full price a week ago.  Horrors!

Aren’t they nice?

I’ve been coveting my friend’s pair for a couple of years now and finally decided to take the plunge.  Thankfully I waited, and when I saw Mir’s post, I jumped.

Happy day, happy feet, happy wallet.  Thanks, Mir!

Never Ask for a Rain Check at Wal-Mart

You know I don’t like to shop at Wal-Mart, right?  But I found myself there last week, against my better judgment.  I was on my way to my son’s elementary school with my Couscous-Artichoke Salad for the Teacher Conference Dinners when I realized I’d forgotten to bring a serving spoon.  There, to my left, loomed the Big Store.  I made the executive decision that a trip inside was warranted, on this occasion, so that I could quickly score a plastic serving utensil.  I figured I could surely find something for around $2- $3 and be out of there in 5 minutes flat.

Ahem.  Not so much.

I did find lots of plastic black utensils – among them, a perfectly fine serving spoon for—wait for it—a whole 97 cents!  I grabbed said utensil and headed for the checkout, Amex in hand.  On the way I passed the Diet Coke display.  Now let’s be clear about this:  that stuff does not pass my lips except in dire circumstances.  Like, really, never.  I am a Pepsi girl through and through.  However, I am married to someone who, for reasons I cannot comprehend, prefers that Other Stuff.  As my loyal Pepsi-drinking friend, Janet, will attest, it pains people like us to pay full price for Diet Coke.  It’s like throwing money in the trash.  And so, when I saw the big SALE sign, I decided to pick up some poison for my dearest.  ‘Cause it was cheap, see?

Except, wait, no.  Coke, they have.  Cherry Coke, yes.  The Diet Coke area is entirely cleared out, which I find amusing as I look around, wondering which of these shoppers actually drinks a diet beverage.

Um, that was probably inappropriate.  Sorry about that.  I digress.

So I took my fancy serving spoon to the checkout and it was then that I made My Very Big Mistake.

Clerk:  “Did you find everything okay?”


Me:  “Uh, just about.  You’re all out of the Diet Coke that’s on sale.”


Clerk: “Oh. Well, if you can wait just one minute I can run in the back and check that for you.


Me, foolishly, “Um, okay.”

I wait 5 or 6 minutes, which feel like an eternity.  I spend it staring at other shoppers and the seriously non-food yet food-like items in their baskets, and wondering what they do with all of that other fabric and glue and craft-type stuff they buy.  Also, I notice that Wal-Mart seems to sell a lot of antacid.  (Probably to those non-food eaters.)  I also start to feel pretty good about the few times a week I hit the gym. 

I am about the ditch the whole thing and get the heck out of there when I finally see the Clerk sauntering my way.  Without aforementioned Other Stuff.

Clerk:  Yeah, uh, we’re all out of that.  But, um, I can give you a rain check or, you know, the Coke guy comes tomorrow to re-stock everything, so you can just come back tomorrow.


Me, still foolish:  I think I’d prefer the rain check.  I’m not sure I’ll be back tomorrow.


Clerk looks confused.  Apparently everyone comes back tomorrow and she has never encountered this response.  Seriously.  Perplexed.


Clerk:  Huh.  Okay.  Well, if you’ll just wait here for a minute, I’ll go get the paperwork.

She returns a few minutes later, more quickly this time, with a photocopied piece of paper.  I feel like I am back in grade school looking at a blurry mimeograph.

Slowly, painfully, she fills out the Store Number, the Store Location, the Item Requested.

“How many do you want, ma’am.”


Thinking, “None, really,” I say instead, “Um, two, I guess.  Two will be fine.”


“Okay, if you can just fill out this half…”

I complete the other half of the form with my name, phone number, address (really, am I on a Rain Check List now?), and Item Requested. 

“Now, if you’ll just wait here, I will go cut this in half for you.”

And really, this is what she does.  Slowly, painstakingly, she cuts out the box on the left and hands it to me.  Then she cuts out the box on the right and places it in the Crazy People Who Do Not Come Here Every Day And Actually Want a Rain Check file.

All of that for a rain check I’ll never use.  ‘Cause you know I’m not going back, don’t you?

Best Winter Gear for Kids?

It’s cold here.  Really cold.

When I grew up, in North Carolina & Virginia, we didn’t know cold like this.  Sure, winter was colder than summer, but all that meant was we didn’t go to the beach every day.  I’m not sure I even wore gloves.

But here, way up in the cold north–almost Canada for goodness sakes!–it’s different.  I realized just this weekend that I’m still reacting to the cold like a girl from North Carolina.  It makes me run into my kids’ closets, giving them layer after layer, afraid that without three pair of socks, their toes will freeze and fall off during sledding.

But my kids don’t fear the cold at all.  They don’t know anything else.  Winter, to them, means cold and snow days and sledding and skiing and hot chocolate with marshmallows.  And kids who grow up here shouldn’t walk around looking like the Michelin man just because their mom is dreaming of warmer climates.

So I need cold-weather clothing advice.

Warmest boots?
Best socks?
Gloves?
Least bulky, warmest snowpants?
Coats?
Toasty socks?

Should I just go for LLBean, because after all, they’re located in Maine, their stuff must be warm?  I don’t know…it seems like I bought their boots for my kids years ago and they all came home with cold, red toes.  But maybe I didn’t buy the right kind.  I need to embrace some new gear myself, so please, any and all comments are welcome.  If you never commented before, but know what I need, please!  Tell me!

We need your help so we can live like northerners, not southerners who somehow got stuck way up here.