Net Stash Reduction Goal for 2008 – 150 yards
Net Used to Date – <60.5 yards>
Net Yards To Go – 210.5 yards
How does your man shop? For Vince, the absolute best way for him to go shopping is without his adorable, loving, impatient, hates-to-shop wife!
Here’s an instance of how I shop. I needed some half gallon wide mouth canning jars. Never knew they existed til my friend, CJ, told me about them. This morning I called the local places that might have them but no one has more than the quart size. I got online, found what I needed and ordered them. Done and forgotten about.
Vince needs a lawn mower! A little lawn mower history here. Six years ago when we bought the house in town in Kentucky, we needed a cheap little push mower. The yard was tiny so we bought a push mower that was either a display model or one that had been returned because it did look like it had been used. I was pretty persistent about cutting my grass at least once a week in Kentucky and that’s the same lawn mower we used here last summer. But, it has finally gone down for the count and all manner of life support has failed.
But . . wait . . there’s more to this story. We have this lawn mower:
Does it look like a brand new mower? Here . . get a better view of the tires.
This lawn mower was purchased in Kentucky in 2005. We had an old riding mower at our house in the country and it began giving serious trouble in about 2001 but every summer Vince would mess with it and mess with it and manage to keep it running. In 2004, he found a used riding mower that wasn’t cheap, looked awful and I was saying to him “don’t buy it!” but he bought it anyway and it never cut the grass once. We finally hauled it off to the dump. But, in 2005, Vince bought this shiney new riding mower. It has a 50″ cut . . just what we needed. He even bought a two year extended warranty. As much use as this lawn mower was going to get . . that extended warranty was one good investment!
This shiney red Toro riding mower has never once touched the grass. The oil and gas were drained out for the move in December, 2006 and it still sits in the basement garage, covered in “stuff”, still with no gas or oil and now we can’t find the key.
So, today I knew Vince wanted to go shopping for a push mower. He was standing around downstairs (which he never does) and wouldn’t come out and say what he wanted to do because he knows how much I hate shopping. I said “I know you want to go shopping for a lawn mower and you want me to go with you!” OK. He admitted it. I figured since I’d been off to Paducah for 4 days, I’d go spend some quality time with my husband while we shopped for a lawn mower.
We drove 35 miles south (right past the Wal-Mart that is 3 miles from our house) to the Wal-Mart in Lamar. Nope, they were out of the model he wanted. Then we went to another hardware store in Lamar. Nope, they didn’t have anything he wanted either. Then we drove about 30 miles west to Home Depot in Pittsburg, KS. They used to have the model he wanted but they were all sold out. We stood around and waited while they called Tulsa stores to see if they had one they would send to Pittsburg. Nope, none to be found.
By now we were getting hungry and ate at Chili’s so that was good but . . here’s where the trouble began. We went to Dillon’s. Vince loves to look for bargains and he misses the larger grocery stores. We needed nothing but managed to find some things to buy. From there we went to Big Lots. I hate that store! Again, we found bargains to buy. From there, we went to Aldi’s (or something like that!). I’d never been there and probably won’t go back again.
Heck, since we’ll be passing through Ft. Scott, KS on our way home, let’s just stop at Wal-Mart there and see if they have the mower he wants. (This was his idea . . not mine!). He was just at the Wal-Mart in Ft. Scott, KS yesterday looking at mowers! I waited in the truck while he went in. The computer shows they have nine of this particular model but not a single one could be found. Oh, I do love Wal-Mart! 🙁
We’re home again . . with lots of bargains from Dillon’s, Big Lots and Aldi’s but still, we have no lawn mower. Vince just called the Wal-Mart three miles from our house and they say they have the model he wants . . which means they might have it and they might not have it but had I been in charge of this shopping expedition, the local Wal-Mart is the first place I would have stopped.
One day Vince may learn how much I hate wandering around stores aimlessly looking for things I have no intention of bringing home. Maybe one day he will learn to walk in, get what he needs and only what he needs, and walk out . . kinda like I did in Paducah! 🙂