(Now you know Emily and I would never really fight each other. This was just a training session for the BIG EVENT)
Saturday was a day Emily and I had been looking forward to for…oh, about six months – the semi-annual mom’s market sale we go to religiously. Sometimes it’s crazy, sometimes it’s not so bad, but it is always not to be missed! To get ready for the sale, Em and I had to have everything on our checklist:
1) Fat wad of sweaty money and/or credit card
2) COFFEE (because we get in line at the butt crack of dawn, an hour before the doors open)
3) A firm idea of what we want to buy in order of importance
4) The will to take down and scratch the eyes out of any hag who tries to get to the exersaucer (Em) or 2T girl’s coat (Jenny) we’ve been coveting (in the most loving,Christian way possible of course!)
So…let’s see…check, check, check, check. Em and I arrived bright and early and we weren’t the craziest senoras in the casa because there were approximately 70 or so people in line in front of us. Nevertheless, we were VERY pleased with our place in line. Here are the poor suckers that were behind us, just a few minutes before the doors opened.
The line went all the way past that telephone pole you can see in the distance. It was insane.
But it got a whole lot crazier once those doors opened. Em and I had to “divide and conquer” as she hit the baby gear/toy room looking for that exersaucer and I booked it back to the infant room to get Sophie some 24 month fall clothes and the perfect 2T winter coat. The infant room is in the back of the building so I had to go through several hallways filled with older kids’ clothes on my way. I did a grab and run of a nice pair of 5T khaki pants for Joshua and shoved them in my bag without missing a beat as I sprinted to the infant room. Within about 5 minutes, I had DECIMATED the 24 month girl section. I loved seeing the crestfallen faces of the other moms as I left the section with my bag bulging with all the best Carter’s, Children’s Place, and Old Navy outfits. (Insert evil laugh here.) Nothing was over $2.50, except for this, the perfect Carter’s 2T winter coat. It was a steal at $8.
Can I get a “what what!?”
I then went back to the boys 5T section, where I scored Joshua a couple of pairs of PJs and a really nice fleece outfit. (He has a ton of hand-me-downs from his boy cousins so he didn’t need too much.)
Next I headed to the toy room, intent on finding some new toys for Sophie and maybe a Thomas the Tank Engine item to thrill Joshua with. THIS is where my plan broke down. You see, I am a raging tad claustrophobic, and the toy room was almost my undoing! There were so many other rabid moms in there, I couldn’t even get near any of the tables with the toys on them. I started to get a little hot and panicky, so I backed into a corner near the door and snapped this picture of the mayhem:
(shaky hands from near panic attack = blurry picture! sorry!)
Then I tried to exit, but I COULDN’T GET OUT! There was a traffic jam!
Had I not trained rigorously for this event, I would have seriously probably had a panic attack. But I took some deep breaths and just waited patiently for the line to start moving. Then, I went back to the infant room in search of Emily, but didn’t find her. (I did find all these people though!)
(ooh that girl in front scored a BUMBO SEAT! way to go!)
I decided to head toward the checkout, and there was, like, no one in line. Sweet! My panic started subsiding. Then, I spotted my awesome cousin going through the spoils of her victory. Together we geekily and giddily shared our purchases with each other and then headed up to the checkout. We got separated at different checkout tables. I almost died with excitement when I saw this lovely lady checking people out at the table one over from mine:
“Why,” you ask? “Who could this lovely lady be?” It’s none other than Emily’s and my OB-GYN, the wonderful Dr. who delivered all four of our kids, Dr. Trisha Pachiano! We *heart* her! I excitedly waved Emily over so we could say hello. She is a mom of four girls but we didn’t know she was involved with the moms group who puts on the sale! One more thing that makes her so awesome. I made a real nerd of myself and asked if I could take her picture for the blog, and she graciously agreed.
{Ok, sickening gushing about OB-GYN (that I may or may not have a platonic girl crush on) over.}
Anyhoo- when we left the sale we felt like we had run a marathon! Or at least a 5k. But it was SO WORTH IT!! Look at what I got, for $48.50 total!
That’s a crap lot of kids clothes!
And I didn’t even have to scratch anyone’s eyes out. Sadly, that was kind of disappointing. (Maybe I need to lay off the Red Bull.) Well, there’s always the next sale…5 months and 28 days and counting!! I think I’ll sign up for kickboxing lessons and get some hypnosis for my claustrophobia so I can take no prisoners next time!
