Shopping Spree

I finally got a chance to do a little splurging! I still had a hard time with it. I have no problem over-spending at the grocery store, garage sales and restaurants, but when it comes to big-ticket items, I suddenly lose the ability to spend money. It's just so hard for me to see all those dollars disappear at once. It makes no sense, really. I mean, how do I justify spending $40 on a meal out when it's digested w/in 24 hours, but I can't bear to spend the same on a dress which I will wear for years?

At any rate, we got a good tax return this year, and Andy got his bonus, so we each got some money to play with. Andy promptly sped over to the music store and bought himself an electronic drum kit. I have my money allotted to several different things. So far I have purchased: A Kitchen Aid mixer, a new kitchen table and six chairs, a new ottoman (to replace the one I have which is so filthy I'm afraid it can never be clean again), a set of curtains, an entertainment center for our family room, five pairs of shoes, a cutting board, paints, and lots of new clothes. And, most likely, I will be going to Arizona with Ashton and Cole in two weeks!

I don't know which purchase I find the most thrilling. I love the idea of a kitchen table which actually seats the whole family and the meal we're eating all at once. I love that I can have an entertainment center and curtains in our family room and feel like a grown-up...right now we have a long row of furniture and a TV stand and I find it to look a little like a dorm room or a first apartment. I am tickled to pieces to soon own a kitchenAid (it's coming in the mail), because you all know of my current cooking kick. Shopping for clothes, while not exactly fun (unless you call "fun" trying on 30 outfits while Cole screams his lights out and two other kids are running around outside, threatening to open your curtain and very possibly someone else's too), was exhilirating because, while I haven't lost any weight in ages and ages, I must be re-distrubuting because I was happily surprised to find that things fit. I can't recall when I was last in style. Now I have pointy-toed shoes, chunky necklaces and those little sweaters that end just below your boob. Totally stylin'. :-)

To be sure, I did 90% of my shopping at second-hand stores. Can't take the cheap out of me that easily. Heck, the stuff I bought at regular stores was all from clearance racks.

So that was my shopping spree. Not bad for 3 days. And I'll end here so I can go vacuum and try to recover from all that sticker shock, and maybe even try to placate my restless baby.