When lost in Plano, shop! ...or something like that, anyway.
We headed into Plano today so Vogon could pick up a hard drive he'd spotted in a Fry's advertisement. It took us awhile to find it (southeast of Hwy 75/Central Expressway and Plano Parkway), so we did some shopping along the way.
Our first stop was a Michael's arts and crafts, where we picked up a few notions for Laurel's Halloween costume, an Xacto woodcarving set (they didn't have the inexpensive carving set I'd bought at one of their stores a few years before, but this one will last me a *long* time), and some miscellaneous stuff. We left the house later than I thought, so we didn't make the full round of the store like I'd hoped. If he was into it, I'd suggest we go to Michael's on a future Date Night.
Vogon was in the mood for Italian, so we ate at Spaghetti Warehouse. Great God on a waffle, that was good -- we had the most attentive server I've ever experienced, everything we had was good, and Laurel was thrilled to find the kids' meal comes with a cup of ice cream for dessert, though she was happy to help me eat tiramisu.
After lunch, we stopped in at Cavender's Boot City in search of a red cowboy hat for Laurel's Halloween costume. We left with a hat, a pair of boots and a belt, and Laurel walked around the rest of the day in the hat and boots. Vogon called her outfit "Plano for days", but I'd simply never seen anyone wear capris and cowboy boots together before. Heh.
While continuing our search for Fry's, we passed Queen of Hearts, a costume and magic shop -- and of course, I had to go in. Their store space is even smaller than Disguises' old location at 6th and Garrison, but the staff was reasonably knowledgeable. They're very much more of a magic store to me -- they only had one-size of bald cap and far more Mehron and Ben Nye makeup than Snazaroo face paints (only the basic palette!) -- but I gave my card to one of the employees and picked up an Ickle Pickle coin magic trick for the clowns.
The midget and I spent the Fry's visit in the "family" movie aisle, where the midget picked out DVDs of Potty Time With Bear (we already have the VHS tape, but we haven't replaced the living room VCR yet) and Arthur's Famous Friends, which has the Mister Rogers, Jack Prelutsky and Yo-Yo Ma/Joshua Redman episodes of Arthur. Depending on how much replay value it has for her, I might start picking up more Arthur DVDs since it's one of the PBS kids' shows I really like too. (Compare to Dragon Tales, which I usually find annoying.)
The find of the day for me was a copy of Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond from the Walt Disney Treasures series. (The series are limited edition box sets of Disney rarities, like the entire Davy Crockett TV series, the Silly Symphonies, or the 1941 feature The Reluctant Dragon, which is on the Behind the Scenes at the Walt Disney Studio set. If anyone has a copy of On the Front Lines they're willing to part with for under $50, I'm all ears.) I'm especially pleased that it was only $25 at Fry's -- it starts at $37 from Amazon.com Marketplace sellers.
Our first stop was a Michael's arts and crafts, where we picked up a few notions for Laurel's Halloween costume, an Xacto woodcarving set (they didn't have the inexpensive carving set I'd bought at one of their stores a few years before, but this one will last me a *long* time), and some miscellaneous stuff. We left the house later than I thought, so we didn't make the full round of the store like I'd hoped. If he was into it, I'd suggest we go to Michael's on a future Date Night.
Vogon was in the mood for Italian, so we ate at Spaghetti Warehouse. Great God on a waffle, that was good -- we had the most attentive server I've ever experienced, everything we had was good, and Laurel was thrilled to find the kids' meal comes with a cup of ice cream for dessert, though she was happy to help me eat tiramisu.
After lunch, we stopped in at Cavender's Boot City in search of a red cowboy hat for Laurel's Halloween costume. We left with a hat, a pair of boots and a belt, and Laurel walked around the rest of the day in the hat and boots. Vogon called her outfit "Plano for days", but I'd simply never seen anyone wear capris and cowboy boots together before. Heh.
While continuing our search for Fry's, we passed Queen of Hearts, a costume and magic shop -- and of course, I had to go in. Their store space is even smaller than Disguises' old location at 6th and Garrison, but the staff was reasonably knowledgeable. They're very much more of a magic store to me -- they only had one-size of bald cap and far more Mehron and Ben Nye makeup than Snazaroo face paints (only the basic palette!) -- but I gave my card to one of the employees and picked up an Ickle Pickle coin magic trick for the clowns.
The midget and I spent the Fry's visit in the "family" movie aisle, where the midget picked out DVDs of Potty Time With Bear (we already have the VHS tape, but we haven't replaced the living room VCR yet) and Arthur's Famous Friends, which has the Mister Rogers, Jack Prelutsky and Yo-Yo Ma/Joshua Redman episodes of Arthur. Depending on how much replay value it has for her, I might start picking up more Arthur DVDs since it's one of the PBS kids' shows I really like too. (Compare to Dragon Tales, which I usually find annoying.)
The find of the day for me was a copy of Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond from the Walt Disney Treasures series. (The series are limited edition box sets of Disney rarities, like the entire Davy Crockett TV series, the Silly Symphonies, or the 1941 feature The Reluctant Dragon, which is on the Behind the Scenes at the Walt Disney Studio set. If anyone has a copy of On the Front Lines they're willing to part with for under $50, I'm all ears.) I'm especially pleased that it was only $25 at Fry's -- it starts at $37 from Amazon.com Marketplace sellers.