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Do I Like to Shop?

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t know that I detest shopping?  Yes!  There is one person who doesn’t know – the man whose laundry I do, the man whose favorite meals I cook, the man whose neck I massage . . ok . . we’ll stop right there but I think you get the message.  Is it that he forgets how much I dislike shopping or is it that he loves to shop so much that he thinks somehow . . some day . . he’ll convince me that shopping is fun.

Yesterday I spent several hours working in the yard.  I started bright and early while it was still cool.  I came in the house about 9 a.m. and Vince had called and wanted to go to San Angelo to eat lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  It’s right at 2 hours to San Angelo so I knew there was more he wanted to do than eat lunch but, because I really needed a new pair of shoes . . really I did . . I agreed to go.  Big mistake!  And I knew better than to agree to go shopping with him.

I do alright stopping at three or four places, not counting lunch, but much more than three places and it’s really difficult for me.  I just don’t like shopping.  And, going somewhere without a list . . cannot do it!  Did we have lists yesterday?  No!  Did we even know where we were going?  Did not!

First stop – lunch at Armenta’s Café.  Fantastic!  I was ready to go home after lunch but knew that wasn’t going to happen.

IMG_1121Second stop – HEB.  Love that store.  So wish we had one.  We had one cooler in the car and filled it at HEB so at least we couldn’t shop any more for cold stuff.  We bought two packs of sushi to bring home for dinner last night, we bought fresh tuna to grill for dinner tonight.  We bought salmon to smoke.  We bought fruits and kale and beets and flour tortillas . . things I can’t get here.

Third stop – Sam’s Club.  Not sure what we were looking for there but we ended up getting a new grill.  We have this love/hate relationship with every grill we have.  The one we bought hooks up to propane for lighting the charcoal and has an easy way to raise and lower the coals closer or farther from the cooking surface.  Our grill sits out here . . which I guess doesn’t matter since it never rains!

Fourth stop – Lowe’s.  OMG!  Why did we have to stop at Lowe’s.  We bought more of the plastic fencing.  Did we need it?  Do we have more garden area to fence?  No!  But, when I need it, I want to have it!  I think we have about 20 rolls now.  Then he wanted to go look at tools.  Do you know that men consider everything in Lowe’s to be tools?  That’s where the meltdown almost occurred.  We had a few angry words but that surely didn’t encourage him to hurry up!  Men!

Fifth stop – Shoe Something – can’t even remember the name of it.  Maybe you can find shoes in here!  All I wanted to go was go home! Did not find shoes.

Sixth stop – Petsmart.  Yes!  I wanted to stop here.  That’s where I have to get the treats Speck likes.

Seventh stop – Bed, Bath & Beyond.  I was looking for a can opener.  They no longer carry it.  They said HEB carries them.  Hmmm . . that was Stop #2.  Not backtracking!

Eighth stop – Target.  By now, I was downright grumpy.  We each got a Dr. Pepper at the snack bar.  That’s it!

Ninth stop – Academy.  We seem to have to stop at every Academy we see.  I don’t get it.

IMG_1114Tenth stop – Marshall’s.  Vince promised me this would be our last stop.  I did find shoes.  I found Fig Balsamic which I love for salad dressing.  I found olive oil in a nice little bottle that pours and doesn’t drip.  I had one in MO but left it with Chad.  Vince found a few things and we were on our way . . heading home . . I thought.

Eleventh stop – Tractor Supply in Ballinger.  Our Tractor Supply is out of watering cans for the chickens and we need more for their run area but ours is supposed to have more coming in this week and the runs aren’t made yet so  . . really . . why did we have to stop at Tractor Supply in Ballinger?

Thank goodness for Speck!  He was in the crate and we don’t like to leave him longer than 6 hours in the crate.  Otherwise, I’d probably still be in San Angelo shopping!

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Comments

  1. Judy… You make me Laugh Out Loud… Literally.

    Being a man, I can relate to your husband, especially at Lowe’s, I go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and my wife stays home.

    However, in my house I am the one who HATES to shop and I get dragged, as you were, by my wife, all over town to visit eight or twenty stores (just not a Home Improvement type store) when all I wanted to do was go to lunch.

    Thanks for the chuckles…
    Paul
    http://www.OutnumberedQuilter.com

  2. not being a pet owner I need to ask a question – why do you take Speck with you on a shopping trip – would he not be more comfortable at home in the A/C playing or in his crate at home if you don’t trust him to wander about without you there? It is so hot in the summertime to leave a pet in the car even with windows cracked a little bit to let in air –

    On the shopping side – I hate Lowe’s and all those stores that men like, my husband wanders aimlessly around (or so it seems to me) trying to find what he wants refusing to ask where things are, finally I have to ask him “what are you looking for” he tells me and I go ask someone where the heck is it so I can get out of there!
    Karen

    • Karen… I think you misunderstood- Speck was crated at home, and needed to be let out 🙂 not a chance He was with Vince and Judy on a lunch/shopping expedition. Too dangerous to leave him in a car in the heat.

      • Thank you Sandie. Yes, Speck was NOT in the car in the 100+ degree temps. He was home, in the crate, with the air conditioner on in the house but there’s a limit to how long he can be left in the crate before he needs to eat and go to the bathroom.

  3. LOL sounds like you two had an ‘even steven’ couple of days…
    water trough cleaning for Vince and shopping for Judy.

  5. Call me next time and we can go fabric and yarn shopping, and let Vince do the boring stuff. I love Armentas, used to be San Angelo’s best kept secret. I am no longer working so I now have time to play.

    • I didn’t know you weren’t working any more! Better yet, I’ll come shopping, I’ll leave Vince at home and that way I can stay longer!

  6. Men just need company on the “car trip”. I always have a beach chair and my knitting in the trunk-I find a shady spot and knit!

  7. I bet you were so glad to get home and get your jammies on! So much for a day of sewing/knitting. Perhaps Vince has had his “shopping fix” that will last a few days. Love hearing of your adventures, Judy.

  8. That sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me too. I really have to be in the right mood to shop. What usually gets me is I wish I was somewhere else getting something done!

  9. My husband is the shopper, too. I always carry a book or hand work in the vehicle so I can either stay or come back to the vehicle when I’ve had enough. I get really irked when we look for an item at 5 stores and end up buying it back at the first one we visited. But, since he’s always willing to stop at any LQS along the way, and rarely asks what I spent, it’s OK…I go along…you never can tell when we might find another LQS.

  10. Days like this I call Just Shoot Me Now days! If I have a list and have to go to that many places fine, but to just go………hope you got some knitting done or were you too busy looking out the window? 🙂

  11. I kept thinking that the list would end as I scrolled down… You poor thing!!! I think that you should be done shopping for at least the rest of the month!

  12. We are something of kindred spirits. I hate shopping too. Only once in awhile wandering through an antique store or a flea market and that’s IT! If you see me in a store buying…there’s holes in my clothes or tomorrow is someone’s birthday. I have relatives who shop ALL DAY LONG on Sat. plus other times. Then they meet for a big meal at the end of the day. They never could understand why I always declined when asked to go along. I did not get the shopping gene. Thank goodness for the internet to get that taken care of. I feel your pain.

  13. So weird to hear you were in Ballinger (my last name). Apparently my family had something to do with the railroad and founding of that town and part of my distant family is buried there. I knew the town existed but had forgotten about until reading your post today.

  14. OMG, Judy, that is hilarious! I used to love to shop, but anymore it is a chore. My husband, on the other hand, goes with a list, plans his itinerary, down almost to where he wants to park. Goes in, gets what’s on the list, doesn’t look around at anything. In fact, he’s going to Sam’s his a.m. by himself and will only get what we need.

    • Does he give lessons? 🙂 We have to drive so far to shop, that we need to get in and get what we need at each stop and head to the next place . . not walk up and down every aisle, picking up every interesting thing we see.

  15. ok, judy…you have to learn to shop online…at least for olive oil…try lucero’s in corning ca….love their olive oil and i believe they have fig, along with i do not know how many more…

    • We do shop online but I liked the bottle at Marshall’s and the whole thing — bottle and imported EVOO was $3 so I couldn’t pass it up.

  16. I thought I liked to shop until I started reading about Vince’s marathon shopping expeditions! Plus, as I get older the shopping gene is becoming more recessive. When I go anywhere now I stick my nook in my purse – while Bob’s browsing in Home Depot I’m either sitting in the car or in the store reading.

  17. Oh Judy! I would have had a meltdown too. I don’t mind shopping too much — if I have a list, have my route planned, and I stick to it. No meandering, no browsing up and down the aisles, no wandering! I’d rather surf the net for what I want and spend my wandering time outside! I forget what store has in their ads, but I like the ‘get in, get out, get on with it!’ ;P

  18. I can not believe you made that many stops in such a short time. Hubs would still be in Lowe’s!!!

  19. I would love to have shopping trips like that… I love shopping.

  20. Oh my! I think I would have died! I am good for 3 , maybe 4 stops at the most. I think my husband has me figured out though. We stop at my least favorite place first while I am still refreshed and have some patience. As the day goes on we go to the places I like better and usually the last place is one I love. A bead store, quilt store or Yogurtology (if you don’t have one start now praying, they are wonderful!).
    As I sit here I am thinking about when I left the house last…I think 5 days. I don’t know when this stay at home gene kicked in, but it did and so far I don’t mind.

  21. What a true story! My husband says I’m a hunter not a shopper. I know what I need, get in, get out. My mother is the opposite – every aisle in whatever store. I used to hate shopping with her. Probably why I don’t shop now…

  23. Well Judy …I see you do like to shop for fabric, yarn and the good stuff 🙂 had me worried for a minute there LOL. We got a fenced yard, not the whole property, but enough for the doggies to run in and out of the house. Actually it doesn’t get so hot they can’t go very often here but it is very hard to take them on the Motorcycle !! Can’t shop for toooo much on that and it is easier (cheaper) to take 100 or so miles and soooo much more fun!! I find those bags do hold quite a bit of fabric 🙂 I used to like shopping but now my feet really hurt if I do to much. 3 or 4 stores are my limit now and I use lists. Of course one LQS is enough because they have comfy chairs to rest in…while you are looking at books. I am glad you get to stay home for awhile 🙂

  24. Judy, I am right there with you. Thankfully, Skip likes to shop even less than I do so in that respect we are in 7th heaven. Skip sits in the car when I go into the store, which makes me hurry because I don’t like to leave him waiting.

  25. About 20 years ago…Vince could have called me….and i would be all over the shopping with him….we wouldn’t be home till they closed the stores. Today….i would stay home with you and sew. LOL

  26. My DH has always been one to get in, get what he needs & get out. That has been changing a little bit…now he’ll drive 25 mi. for one thing and come home with a bunch of other stuff. I just don’t like shopping and hate going to store after store so even though I’m not overly fond of Wal*Mart that’s where I usually end up because I can get almost everything on my list there. I used to like driving, but don’t really care for it any more either, which makes shopping difficult since I live in a very small town (village) with only the most basic shopping.

  27. I too hate to shop and we are going to go shopping this morning. I’ve been saving up ‘town’ stuff to do and because I didn’t want to go the list got very long. Three stops is my limit too; then I get cranky.

  28. Just think if you had a bigger pick up-all the stops you could make then! Galen and I often have that sushi for lunch and or dinner. And I prefer HEB tortillas to the others. Bought some this morning so we can have our own breakfast burritos at home.

  29. Like you, I do not like shopping. I have never liked shopping, and I always go with a list and leave when I have what I need. Luckily, my husband and daughter are the same. I think you deserve a gold medal for having survived this escapade — or, at the very least, a very special birthday present. Happy birthday, Judy!!!

  30. Hmmm, a husband who likes to shop must be a rate species! I don’t think I’ve ever met one. That many stops would tire anyone out.

  31. Me too Sister! Shopping ain’t my thing, unless it’s shopping on the internet. That gets me and my credit card in trouble ever once in a while.

  32. My husband says he is the “hunter” type – go in, see it, buy it, get out. I, on the other hand, am the “gatherer” type – go in, wander around, put something in basket, keep wandering, and finally, put half of what’s in the basket back! I love to look! I’m trying to do better; at least I put stuff back!

    Wish we had an HEB also – I’m in Carrollton, near Dallas, and no HEB! My mother lives in Georgetown, so every time I go to see her, I get an HEB fix! They carry a red-rind Rat Trap Cheese I can’t find anywhere else.

  33. wow you’re lucky that he forgot about needing to shop for “waterproof boots!”

    I feel your pain Judy as I do not like to go shopping either. I can’t imagine going to Target without needing to buy anything? I avoid going mainly b/c the kids are with me and the twins are so bad inside stores. 🙁 They were not exposed enough as babies…. easier to leave them home with David and go alone. I’m now paying for it.

    Love from Indiana,
    Bonnie

  34. As soon as I saw the topic I wanted to jump up and down in my chair, wave my arm frantically, and say “NO, you most definitely do not!” I knew I’d get the answer right.

    And eleven stops? Isn’t there some sort of twelve-step program for Vince? You are one strong woman ’cause I’d be whimpering and whining by about stop #4.

  35. He should take Gregg with him. He loves to shop as long as there is a purpose at each store, doesn’t like to just “wander” though. I don’t usually mind for a couple of stores and then I’m done too. However, I don’t complain either since I usually manage to get a stop at the LQS and he ususally doesn’t ask anymore how much I spend.

  36. I don’t know why it is that I can go out by myself and shop without any difficulty but when my husband drags me out using some flimsy excuse about just going along for the ride, I am always suspicious, because it usually means me helping him move something he has bought that he really didn’t need. 🙁 like a thousand pound generator that he just had to have because it was a great deal.

  37. I’m not a shopper either. Neither is DH. So now that the kids have left home we have no one to give our lists to. That puts us in a quandry. SOMEONE has to go to town and more often than not, that someone is me and I end up spending way too much time in there and I come home grumpy. DH always tells me to ‘have fun’ when I got to town. That’s when I get to glare at him.

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