Warning: Not for those Who Hate Bargain-shopping, Digging for Deals, Cheap Junk Stores, or those who are perpetually Glued to their Hand Sanitizer Bottles. If you do not fit into these categories, you may proceed safely without risk of Heart Attack.
Mom and I went down to Etowah today, a spontaneous trip to Ha-Ha’s for smoothies and some mother-daughter time. It’s been a rare commodity lately. At the end of the day, I wonder why we don’t do it more often. We sat under a bright red umbrella on the outdoor eating porch and sipped our fill of huge 20 oz. cappucino and orange-pineapple smoothies, so refreshing in the 87 degree afternoon heat.
Mom and I went down to Etowah today, a spontaneous trip to Ha-Ha’s for smoothies and some mother-daughter time. It’s been a rare commodity lately. At the end of the day, I wonder why we don’t do it more often. We sat under a bright red umbrella on the outdoor eating porch and sipped our fill of huge 20 oz. cappucino and orange-pineapple smoothies, so refreshing in the 87 degree afternoon heat.
Afterward we climbed in the old Rhino (otherwise known as, family van), and went south of our quaint little town to one of it’s many junk shops…where even “junk” looks more like treasures. Expensive, name-brand colognes, shampoos, lotions, soaps, tanning sprays, even diapers line the sticky shelves and dusty floors…some in torn boxes, others without lids, some dented, some taped back shut, some missing caps. Still, for the trained shopper, like mom and I, anything is salvageable and even if it means hunting the store over, we WILL find the lid, the cap, box, or the wrapper to suit the few rare items that are not dented beyond repair and still fully useable. I love stores like that. After several rounds around the leaning towers of precariously balanced pampers and toilet paper, and down long, crowded aisles with even more cluttered shelves closing in claustrophobically on either side, I emerged at the check-out counter with such coveted brands as Charles Worthington London, Colgate, Herbal Essence, Sunsilk, Lady Speed Stick, and Fashion Essential diamond-studded hair clips…a whole cartful for only $10.24!!! Such stupendous savings! And now I am fully outfitted for whatever may come my way on all my meanderings this summer. Ahh. Stores like this make shopping for the boring, bare essentials, actually quite fun.
Next we headed yet farther south to the United Wholesale Department… a wonder of a store. It is a huge warehouse converted into one of MANY local “wholesale stores” as we have so fondly come to call them. Inside is a vast array of anything from khaki shorts, to Target end tables, to sleigh beds, to the boring essentials, to digital camcorders, and everything in between. It’s like a junk version of Target. In fact, most of the merchandise comes from Target or other large department stores…most of these items are faulty in some way… and in varying extremes. Some are merely missing their original box; others are scratched, or chipped, some are simply returned items taped back shut, having lost their original, untouched and spotless aesthetic appeal. We went there to appease my sudden urge for a webcam (so I can skype some V.I.P’s), and lo and behold…Cha-Ching!! Three--including a very cute pink one, though having no box--fell into my hands immediately. For $8.50 I walked away with a brand new MiniCam Pro…the true value of which, I have absolutely no clue about….though I’m pretty sure it was more than what I paid for it. Having secured a thorough knowledge of the store’s return/exchange policy, I exited clutching my new toy exultantly.
On the way to this illustrious wholesale store, we had spied a new thrift shop along Main Street and decided that we simply could not point the Rhino homeward until we had checked it out. My mother is a bargain-hunter like me…I credit my taste for it from both my parents, who have raised 6 children amidst many obstacles and a wise and disciplined understanding of what it means to find good deals and not demand everything to be brand new.
The thrift store was AMAZING!!!!! I approached the racks apprehensively…some thrift stores these days charge practically what things cost new. Imagine my ecstatic delight when beautiful, clean garment after another yielded price tags boasting prices no more than $2!!!! Immediately I began seizing the things that caught my fancy, loading them in a frenzy of shopper’s delight across my left arm. Some time later, as my mom quietly perused the aisles, taking a much calmer and more reserved approach to what she selected, I staggered into the first dressing room and noted with deep chagrin that there was no mirror.
The thrift store was AMAZING!!!!! I approached the racks apprehensively…some thrift stores these days charge practically what things cost new. Imagine my ecstatic delight when beautiful, clean garment after another yielded price tags boasting prices no more than $2!!!! Immediately I began seizing the things that caught my fancy, loading them in a frenzy of shopper’s delight across my left arm. Some time later, as my mom quietly perused the aisles, taking a much calmer and more reserved approach to what she selected, I staggered into the first dressing room and noted with deep chagrin that there was no mirror.
Now, as we all know, a mirror is essential to the careful preening and evaluation of new clothes by females. “This will never do,” I thought to myself and hastily rushed out to examine the other dressing room. No mirror there either. Sauntering by my mother, who has come to embrace the random things that I do, I inconspicuously made another pass around the store until my eyes came to rest upon the most lovely, framed mirror you could ever hope to happen on for just such an occasion as this. Gripping it, I once again entered the dressing room and found--AH!! Perfect! A screw in the wall at just the perfect height for my mirror… I think it had been placed there just for me.
For what seemed like forever I filtered through the pile of acquired clothing. Examining, inspecting, tossing, keeping. I heard my mother moving about outside, and wondered how many times she had been around the store now, as I rushed anxiously to conclude this extended stay in the dressing room. Within its confined spaces, I clattered and bumped, shoving things back on hangers and attempting to keep the mirror from falling off the wall. Eventually, the clamor ceased and I emerged, red in the face, and somewhat wearied, to find my dear mother sitting on the floor in peaceful repose outside the door. She told me later she had carefully made several laps around the store, examining everything they had to offer, and finally ran out of things to look at and so sat down to wait. We made our purchases, and departed, put the Rhino into the wind in and made a remarkable U-turn, into a Drug store. A yard-sale at the business next door was the final destination, but somehow our U-turn wasn’t sharp enough to make it back onto the road so we simply lumbered through the parking lot and across the erratic pavement between, barely scraping by underneath the very low drugstore sign.
Despite the colossal proportions of this yardsale, we found very little. At least, that we could afford. The dear yard-saler lady--bless her heart for sitting in the scorching heat all day!!--didn’t want to take a check, and we were reduced at that point to $2 cash between both of us. So I made off with a few cute shirts, and joined mom to look longingly at a paraffin wax foot and hand spa kit. It was brand new, a little bowl thing with varying heating levels to melt paraffin wax for luxurious hand and foot treatments. It was for sale for than $10, but alas and aleck, we had not the money!! Tonight, as we discussed wishfully how lovely it would be to be able to treat our hands and feet to such royal treatment, we pondered for a while. I said I thought a pan would work just fine, or better yet, a crock-pot. Then we laughed until we had to hold our sides. And mom brought out the Milk Duds she had bought, but that had melted together, and then we laughed some more. What a dud.
It’s good to shop with moms. Even better to laugh with them.
I laugh even now, remembering. What an odd, frugal bent we have. And yet one that has become as much a thing to maintain for the fun of it as for out of necessity. I look at my family and how comfortably we live… perhaps not with the newest and the best… but with Enough. More than Enough. Our access to stores like this has been a saving grace to our large family in the midst of many unpredicted medical bills and economic stresses over the years. I feel incredibly, resolutely, and incandescently proud and blessed to be a part of a family that doesn’t scoff at things that say “Used” instead of “New”… that has learned to be content with what we have… and for parents that have instilled in us kids the value of hard work and the pure enjoyment that can come with the simple life. I feel so rich, so privileged.
Even if it means using a crockpot instead of the real thing to do hand and feet dips in paraffin wax.
