Shopping Mania

My granddaughter, Allegra, asked me to take her shopping on Friday.  She has a passion for yarn so I agreed to take her to her favorite yarn store.  I seduced her into making a couple of stops along the way.  We visited a craft store and she went nuts with delight.  So did I.  I'm determined once again to get all my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving.  This magical store enabled me to cross a few grandchildren off my list.  Buying meaningful things for 21 grandchildren can be formidable.  I've been working on it for weeks.  But now I'm a woman in control.  I managed several additional stops before Allegra began to wonder if we were ever going to make it to the yarn store.  We did.  She showed me the yarns she has been salivating over.  One was $35 for one skein!  Wow, who knew knitting could cost so much.  We didn't buy that one.

What fun to feel so good about getting so much stuff.  I even found a couple of things for Layne, who repeatedly tells me,  "don't get me anything for Christmas; I don't need anything"  I find that sentiment  simply unacceptable; Christmas is for giving after all.  So I'm going to give some things to him whether he wants me to or not.  I'm hoping that he'll warm to my choices and be glad of a few new items.  I've noticed that he DOES need a few things after all.

Rayne, my oldest granddaughter, works at Norstrom's department store.  Once a year Norstroms has a 30% off sale for employees.  She invited me to go to Norstrom's Rack, their out-of-season discount store, on that special discount day, where we could use her 30% off on already discounted clothes.  That day arrived on Saturday.  Audrey, Rayne, Allegra and I arrived at the store at 7:30 AM and shopped there for a couple of hours.  What fun!  At that early hour there weren't very many employee shoppers so we had a ball going through all those clothes.  We all found a pile of treasures, and bought them all.  It's hard to resist a bargain.  I can't remember buying so many new things at once.  It was quite exciting.  I would say that I felt guilty spending so much money on clothes, but I don't.  That's because I used a little of my inheritance money!  What a blessing it is to have that little stash to use when the need arises.  I'm so grateful.

Later on Saturday we drove to Brentwood to see our grandson Scott perform in his marching band.  They were in a Christmas parade.  There was a great turn-out.  Brentwood is a friendly, supportive town.  It was fun to spend a bit of time with son Reed and Dorothy.  They are a noble-hearted couple.  Plus they took us out to dinner.  Mexican.  That's pretty noble.

Here's Scotty in his marching band.  He's right behind the
guy in the black T-shirt (that doesn't belong there!)

Here's grandson Bruce (Reed and Dorothy's youngest).
He's doing his favorite thing, eating.

I've been thinking of my mom a lot lately.  Every time I wear her clothes I feel a little tinge of guilt; it is as if she would mind me borrowing them.  I keep finding little corners in the house where I have stashed things to use for her.  Sometimes it feels as if she will return and fill her space in my life.  I miss her.  I wonder how she feels about what I have done with her things and how I have spent some of the money I inherited from her.  My rational mind tells me she hasn't a care for any of that anymore.  But I keep running into my feelings that, somehow, she still does.  It's silly.  I just don't want to disappoint her in any way.  I know she is happy and busy now, yet part of me wonders, is she?  Is she with Daddy?  Has she spoken to her little brother, Larry; the one whose death she mourned for so many years?  Has she met all the relatives she spoke so often about?  I feel that she has.  Still, I'd like to know.