Santa bras and radioactive bears
I've had a whirlwind 24 hours, you could say, and I feel like I could sleep for days. I'm exhausted. And yet, compared to my retail days, I've barely done anything. Makes me wonder how I did it. Oh, that's right, I was exhausted then, too.
Anyway, dad asked me to take him shopping last night. Realize that while he waits until Christmas Eve to shop for the family, he also likes to get gifts for his coworkers, so that's what necessitated the trip last night. That, and finishing up shopping for two of the three Giving Tree kids. He'd waited until the rest of the people on his team had done their shopping, then went to fill in the blanks, giving gifts to the ones who were short. The boy came out the big winner, so we went and picked out two tops, one for each of the girls, and the older girl got a 7-in-1 game my mom had picked up earlier in the week. Everything was dropped off today, and while my dad wasn't the one who made the deliveries (his work sponsored eight families), his coworkers said the families were very grateful. Some of them appeared to have very little, so it's nice that they were able to get something.
Kohl's was dad's first stop, but as the picture place is in the same shopping area, I ran over and picked up my prints. I met him back in Kohl's and we walked past the Intimates section on the way to finding tops for the girls, and without thinking I went, you know, I don't have any holiday undergarments. My father went, you know, I didn't need to know that, and I said, it's not the holidays unless someone gets creeped out. Merry Christmas! When we finally checked out, there were two gals at the register, and one of them appeared almost middle-aged...except when I saw her name tag, I realized I went to high school with her. Whoa. The scary thing is, she doesn't look a whole lot different. (She was at least a grade ahead of me, by the way.)
We took a run to American Science and Surplus after that, mainly for kicks; I haven't been there in years. It was hopping, but dad was on a deadline and had been up since 4 (which he kept telling me), so we didn't spend too much time there. We went to World Market (dad noticed that the Cost Plus part, which was what we'd called it, wasn't on the sign anymore) and picked up a few things, then went across to the mall; dad really likes to go to Carson's for ornaments. In the past, they've had this whole big area for Christmas stuff, but last night it was crammed into this little area and they barely had anything. It could be because it's just days before Christmas, but who knows.
Even though we were tired, we still took a walk around the mall; I was curious to see what was left. The answer: Not much. On the way back through I counted about 20 stores that I could see from the lower level, so there's maybe two dozen stores left. Sad. One bright spot was that the mini-golf place had reopened; unfortunately, nobody was in there. There's nothing left in the part where we'd been; even the perfume store next door has closed.
At least I managed to pick up a few more things. I *finally* found something for Laura, and I picked up something for my dad, which I know he wanted (and he excitedly picked it out himself), but I was more than ready to go home. Dad still had to wrap his gifts; I offered to wrap the kids' gifts, and he took me up on it. On the way home, though, he mentioned Silly Bandz and how there's a glut of them in the marketplace now, and somehow that morphed into us creating a teddy bear with plutonium inside. Glows in the dark! Just don't drop it! Yeah, it was late and we were tired.
Then today, I enacted Operation: [Redacted], something I've been planning to do for a few weeks now. It was time-consuming and involved several hours of standing (which is another reason I'm so tired; I've spent hours on my feet for the first time in a long time), but it's done. While I could stand to go out and get something else for my mom, I'm content to wait until tomorrow. My legs can't take much more walking today.
Anyway, dad asked me to take him shopping last night. Realize that while he waits until Christmas Eve to shop for the family, he also likes to get gifts for his coworkers, so that's what necessitated the trip last night. That, and finishing up shopping for two of the three Giving Tree kids. He'd waited until the rest of the people on his team had done their shopping, then went to fill in the blanks, giving gifts to the ones who were short. The boy came out the big winner, so we went and picked out two tops, one for each of the girls, and the older girl got a 7-in-1 game my mom had picked up earlier in the week. Everything was dropped off today, and while my dad wasn't the one who made the deliveries (his work sponsored eight families), his coworkers said the families were very grateful. Some of them appeared to have very little, so it's nice that they were able to get something.
Kohl's was dad's first stop, but as the picture place is in the same shopping area, I ran over and picked up my prints. I met him back in Kohl's and we walked past the Intimates section on the way to finding tops for the girls, and without thinking I went, you know, I don't have any holiday undergarments. My father went, you know, I didn't need to know that, and I said, it's not the holidays unless someone gets creeped out. Merry Christmas! When we finally checked out, there were two gals at the register, and one of them appeared almost middle-aged...except when I saw her name tag, I realized I went to high school with her. Whoa. The scary thing is, she doesn't look a whole lot different. (She was at least a grade ahead of me, by the way.)
We took a run to American Science and Surplus after that, mainly for kicks; I haven't been there in years. It was hopping, but dad was on a deadline and had been up since 4 (which he kept telling me), so we didn't spend too much time there. We went to World Market (dad noticed that the Cost Plus part, which was what we'd called it, wasn't on the sign anymore) and picked up a few things, then went across to the mall; dad really likes to go to Carson's for ornaments. In the past, they've had this whole big area for Christmas stuff, but last night it was crammed into this little area and they barely had anything. It could be because it's just days before Christmas, but who knows.
Even though we were tired, we still took a walk around the mall; I was curious to see what was left. The answer: Not much. On the way back through I counted about 20 stores that I could see from the lower level, so there's maybe two dozen stores left. Sad. One bright spot was that the mini-golf place had reopened; unfortunately, nobody was in there. There's nothing left in the part where we'd been; even the perfume store next door has closed.
At least I managed to pick up a few more things. I *finally* found something for Laura, and I picked up something for my dad, which I know he wanted (and he excitedly picked it out himself), but I was more than ready to go home. Dad still had to wrap his gifts; I offered to wrap the kids' gifts, and he took me up on it. On the way home, though, he mentioned Silly Bandz and how there's a glut of them in the marketplace now, and somehow that morphed into us creating a teddy bear with plutonium inside. Glows in the dark! Just don't drop it! Yeah, it was late and we were tired.
Then today, I enacted Operation: [Redacted], something I've been planning to do for a few weeks now. It was time-consuming and involved several hours of standing (which is another reason I'm so tired; I've spent hours on my feet for the first time in a long time), but it's done. While I could stand to go out and get something else for my mom, I'm content to wait until tomorrow. My legs can't take much more walking today.