More Mayhem from the Mom’s Market

As Emily mentioned in yesterday’s IKEA Adventure round-up post, she toootallly ditched me for part 2 of our shopping weekend extravaganza – the Mom’s Market Sale. Lucky for her, I was feeling gracious and forgave her. You know, since she is nine months pregnant and had to spend another four hours in IKEA that day and since you have to be at the Mom’s Market at the butt-crack of dawn to get anything good! So, off I went in the fog and the rain to stand in line with hundreds of other bargain-hungry moms. It was really, really, foggy, and the drive there was a bit nerve-wracking, but I didn’t let it stop me from my pursuit of the perfect gently-used Carter’s romper or Children’s Place jeans! The sale started at 9, and Em and I were going to meet there at 8 to stand in line, but without the other half of the Dynamic Duo, I just couldn’t motivate myself to get up that early. So I got there about 8:45, and this is what I encountered:

I took that with my camera phone, so the quality isn’t the best but you can still show how foggy it was and how many darn people there were waiting! In this photo, you can see up to about HALF of the line. The sale was at an elementary school and you can’t even see the school at all! It was crazy! There were also TONS of people with their kids in strollers waiting in line. To all those people I would like to say – WHY?? Why do you do that to your kid, to yourself, and to the other shoppers?? The bargains are good but I will tell you right now it is NOT worth it to me to bring Sophie, try to keep her happy, try to navigate that place with a stroller, shop, and not be in ther people’s way. Nooo way! There was a pregnant woman in line behind me who had never been to the sale before. We watched a woman with a bundled up toddler in a stroller walk by to the end of the line and I turned to the prego and said, “Trust me, Do NOT bring yor baby here next year!” But anyhoo… the sale started at 9:00, and by the time I got up to the door it was about 9:10. It was pretty cold outside, but as soon as I hit the door I was HOT. The temperature rose about 10 degrees as soon as you stepped in the building. I made a beeline to the Sophie-appropriate clothes, which were of course all the way at the back of the building. Since I was so late getting there, there were already tons of people where I wanted to be. As a matter of fact, the Joshua-appropriate clothes were nearer to the entrance of the building, but I couldn’t get anywhere near them due to those who had beat me there, so I continued on to the baby girl’s stuff. Fortunately I was able to get in and look at stuff for Sophie after just a minute or two. I found quite a few things, but not as much as I wanted to, which I blame on my lateness. When I was finally able to get to the boys’ 4T clothes, I did find Joshua three pairs of pajamas, which I was really happy about! Then I headed off to the toys and books. I was hoping to score Joshua some Thomas the Tank Engine stuff on the cheap. They did have some stuff but not exactly what I was looking for (again, I was berating myself for my tardiness!) However, I did find him a Thomas DVD, and he hasn’t gotten a new video of any sort in a very long time, so I was happy with that.

I headed wearily to the checkout after about an hour of careful rack-scouring and waited in line. The checkout line is in a long hallway and there are two lines, one against each wall. I had to wait for about 15 minutes, which wouldn’t have been so bad if not for the extremely over-tired two-year-old (who had obviously given herself a recent hair cut!) throwing a tantrum in line in front of me. Yee-ikes. I felt sorry for her and her mom, but also for all of us who had to endure listening to that. Again, the bargains are great but I would NEVER bring Sophie there and expect us both to live through it! But finally, I got up to the checkout line and my total was $20.25 for all of this (and a cute pair of pink water shoes for Sophie that I somehow managed to leave out of the photo):

I got three pairs of PJs and the Thomas video for Joshua, the water shoes, 2 Carter’s rompers, one Carter’s bodysuit, one Osh Kosh bodysuit, one pair of Carter’s PJs, and two pairs of Children’s Place jeans for Sophie! Not too shabby! And, since I know I could’ve done better if I’d gotten there earlier, I now have a renewed commitment to get my rear out of bed earlier for the OTHER sale I go to – the local Mom of Twins club sale – which is the weekend after next. Stay tuned to find out if Emily might choose THIS location to go into labor instead! Actually, it would be a convenient place, cause if this baby’s a boy, she is gonna need to get that kid some clothes! And since I’ve brushed up on my baby delivery skills, I think it sounds like a plan!