Shopping and Food

Katharine had a friend spend the night Friday and Saturday night. Saturday they asked me if I would take them school clothes shopping...I laughed. "I don't shop at noon on a Saturday in the best of times, certainly not the weekend before school starts!" I replied. I did tell them I would take them yesterday (Sunday) when the store opened. I told them they could not stay up til 2AM and that they had to be in bed by 11:00. I was asked, "Does that mean we have to be asleep by 11:00, or just in bed by 11:00?" I told Katharine, "If you are asleep by midnight, I will be happy." I told them I would wake them at 8:15.

I took Zoe, Katharine and her friend to Mervyn's first, only cuz it was open before Kohl's. Nobody had breakfast, but normally they would have still been asleep anyhow, except for Zoe. If you ever want to speed up the shopping experience of girls who love to shop, don't give them breakfast! LOL We were searching for shorts for Zoe, who only wears shorts. We found none at Mervyn's. Katharine found a couple of items, her friend a shirt. While I was paying the most annoying checker in the world, the girls began to laugh uncontrollably. Fortunately, the took it away from the check out counter!

This checker was an older woman who went into a spiel about how to get the best for my buck. What was on clearance and what else was discounted, in case I was not done shopping at Mervyn's. Then she saw my name and said, "Oh, Nancy Epstein. Are you Jewish?" I told her, "No." She proceeded to tell me how she just loved Jewish people and how she didn't see very many around there. She told me how she used to work for a couple of Jewish men and she just loved them. She told me she was from NY and I made the mistake of saying that hub was too. "He is, where is he from?" "Manhattan," I told her. Some weird words sounding rather derogatory about Manhattan came flying out of her mouth. I wasn't paying that much attention, but I got the gist. She told me that she worked and lived near the garment district and how she had been a design student when she got married. Then got pregnant and, her words here, "When the little monster was born, I decided to stay home to raise him." I swear my mouth could have been used as a fly catcher! I couldn't believe that I had to endure this woman's life story, nor the way she referred to her son. I was wondering if the cameras trained on her check out counter had sound and if this was okay with management. I couldn't wait to get the hell away from her. Finally did and the girls were cracking up all the way out of the store...Yeah, real funny.

The odd thing about that was that hub and I were at the store the night before and a teenager was buying a Red Bull drink and a Bic lighter. He was told by the checker that he had to be eighteen to buy a lighter. The girl bagging groceries went off, as did hub. "What, he cannot buy a lighter? But if he asked for matches, you could give them to him?" The checker who obviously needed her shift to end very soon, replied with a droll, "Yes on the matches, no on the lighter, that is the law." How dumb is that? The grocery bagger wouldn't let it go. She kept on ranting, even after the teen had left the store. Finally, she hit a nerve and pissed off the checker. She told the grocery bagger that she was going to have a talk with her. The bagger says, "Just tell me now." Checker says, "No, I will do it later, not in front of the customers." I told the hub that the poor girl was going to get the wrath of the overtired checker. He didn't pick up on this little soon to be cat fight. But, here I have this woman telling me her life story and nobody reprimanded her for being unprofessional. Then a girl who voices her opinion will probably be written up! I told the hub, I would not take it if I were the girl. He told me,"You would never last in a job where you could not give your opinion." And I would never let somebody talk to me the way the checker spoke to the grocery bagger. I don't care how tired she was.

Anyhow, the girls and I went to Kohl's next. We found two pairs of shorts for Zoe. Out of more than I could count. At least she already has some and with a couple more, she will be fine. We got her some shirts and Katharine got a couple of things and a pair of half priced Reeboks for PE. I think we are set for school clothes now.

While we were in Kohl's, Katharine's friend asked me a few times if I was hungry....I told her yes and we would get some lunch after we left Kohl's. We went to a food court and you would think this would be perfect. I should have known that I should have just said, "We are eating here and pick something from the menu!" No, that would have been smart. We ended up with nobody wanting the same type of food. Finally, selections were made and we ate outside, because we had food from different restaurants. It was fine though because it was a beautiful day to dine al fresco.

Last night, Zoe, Katharine and I made a homemade chicken and noodle dinner. A huge mess, flour everywhere, but fun. "Thanks for teaching us how to make noodles again mommy," said Zoe....Oh yeah, I had already taught her that. But doing it together was good. Hub got home just in time for dinner.