Shopping

K, now I am a MAJOR bargain hunter, and I LOVE to shop. It's not a once in a while thing here. There's just not much else to do. Well, now that I have the mode of transportation, we have a little... ok, a LOT more freedom to go into Rock Springs and visit the Mall. Elizabeth is watching and learning. boy is she funny!

The "Big" store here (as most of you know) is called Herbergers. It is comparable to Macy's and Hechts. Well, the sales associates know us by name and have even commented on how our Girls are favorites among them. The Manager was in our Ward when we lived in the first apartment complex we lived in here. And the Assistant Manager, Lori, is on a First Name basis with the Girls. They like her because they always get suckers from her.

Now, it sounds a lot worse than it is... We go there primarily because their bathrooms are very condusive to all 4 (5 if Lauren's with us) of us being in there. I can take the double stroller in, and Elizabeth (and Lauren) is able to do her thing by herself because of the height, etc. There have been occasions when we have literally been in there for more than an hour between changing diapers, going "potty", freshening up, etc. Convieniently, Abby seems to pick THERE to have a blowout occasionally (but never anywhere else), and so I get to indulge and have bought some really cute clothes for her (usually @ only $4 an outfit or LESS!!!!). They have AMAZING sales. I can buy a lot of things there WAY below what I would pay at Walmart. And the quality is better... so....

Anyway, I bought an entire $100 bedding set for $9.99 the other day. And $60 flannel sheets for $4.99. New Dockers for David, also $4.99. Shopping with the Girls... Priceless. (Hehehehe)

But seriously, it really is a nice time with the Girls. And the fact that we almost always find a good deal makes it possible to purchase something so that we're not loitering by spending an hour in their "nicer than most" bathroom.

We like to walk down the mall. Three of our other favorite stores are Coach House Gifts, Claire's, and Hallmark. Oh, and we like GNC too. Anyway, I'm getting off track... The Girls are so cute. We go into Claire's enough that the Sales Lady (she's almost ALWAYS the one that's there when we are) knows us. She told me that My Girls are the best behaved she's ever had in the store. (That sure doesn't ruin my day.) They LOVE to look at all the bling, and Elizabeth really has good taste.

They have Hermit Crabs at Coach House, and the Girls really like to watch them.

We went to Hallmark one day, and I saw something I liked. Elizabeth asked me if we should buy it for me. I told her "Yes, but I don't have enough money right now." She matter-of-factly said "So, go get some more!"

There's another store we really like called "Brother's Keeper Bookstore." It's a Christian Bookstore and they have some really nice things. It reminds me of Seagull Book in Salt Lake. The Lady who runs it has really warmed up to us quite a bit. She's kind of quiet, but since we like to come in and peruse often... AND I do a realitively good job of keeping the Girls out of things, she seems to enjoy our visits.

Oh, and then of course, there's B. Dalton. And with my love of books, we spend quite as bit of time in there looking for bargains and books to add to our collection.
It really is about more than buying and spending $. It gets us out, we enjoy ourselves, it's decent exercise, and it really ends up being a quality outing that amazingly enough, more often than not, costs less than a trip to McDonalds.

Food Storage

Well, I did it. I ordered a full year's supply of Grains and Legumes for our food storage. I think it's realitively close to 450 lbs. of food. Plus I've just gotten 25 lbs. of refried beans, and potato flakes. Tomorrow, I'm getting 66 more lbs. of wheat and some rolled oats. There is such a demand right now for food storage items. And as hard as it was to spend so much $ on it at once, I realized that if something happens and we need it, I'd kick myself for NOT doing it now. If the prices went up significantly, or supplies became even more endangered, I would feel like an idiot for not doing something while I could.

Honesty

Let me just say that this is my place to say whatever, whenever. Good or bad, I need to be able to write it down. So, I hope any who read this will bear with me, and love me anyway. Because when I put my thoughts down, I can sort them better. I have a few Blogs. But I feel limited in what I can say. I need ONE to say EVERYTHING!