Things Must Really Be Bad When Shopping Actually Does Make Me Feel Better

I love this picture because it is so not what Herman and I look like when we are shopping together.  If we were carrying that many packages I guarantee that Herman would have a grimace on his face while he rolled his neck around and around, begging me to please be good to him and stop shopping.

I've commented before on how much I hate to shop in  A Sad Tale of Purple Corduroy and Leg Warmers.  That is what made yesterday so extraordinary.  We have been so blessed to have so many girls showing up for Activity Days every Wednesday, and I underestimated what our attendance would be.  A few weeks ago I had the girls make some super cute prayer bears that they could put on their pillows to remind them to say their prayers when they go to bed.  We ended up being short five bears, and I promised the girls I would get them to them soon.  Of course I couldn't find any of the things here.  (St. Robert Walmart -- you are sadly lacking in any real quality crafting items!)  I had to go back to Springfield to get the bears at Hobby Lobby.  So Laney and I decided to take a little road trip yesterday to Springfield -- The Land of Opportunity.

We started out at the mall because as Hyrum was getting dressed in the morning I discovered that his little body had the audacity to grow three inches in the last two months.  All of the pants that I bought for him at the beginning of August (refer to the previous linked blog post) were already too short for him.  Thank goodness that JoJo is right behind him in size so that those purchases won't go to waste.  So I headed to JCPenneys to pick Hyrum a new crop of jeans to wear this winter -- just as long as his body doesn't decide that it wants to just skip boyhood and go straight to adolescence.  Picking out jeans for Hyrum was a piece of cake, and we were done in a jiffy.  But the little boys section was right next to the little girls section, so Laney and I decided that we should go through and see if we found anything cute for Minsy.  Find anything cute in the little girls section?  Is the sky blue?  The entire section that was previously occupied by young mothers shopping for the girls they were pushing through in strollers was now invaded by a close to middle aged woman and her teenage daughter, constantly stopping at each rack to let out a loud, squealy "Ohhhhhh!  Look at this!  Look at this!"  We couldn't help ourselves.  Things were so adorable!  I had previously made a guess about Minsy's size and bought a 3T outfit for her.  After seeing some of her newer pictures from China I think that I may have overestimated her size, so I decided to grab a few things in 2T.  Worst case, if things are too small we'll have something cute to pass along to another family.  We bought a super cute set of jammies, a pair of jeans, and a couple of tops.  Then I found this:

 

This is the exact same dress that Katie got for Christmas last year, and it had a matching dress that her American Girl doll could wear.  This one was in Minsy's size.  We had to get it.  Love it!  But I knew it was time to get out of that store before I did something crazy and planned an entire winter wardrobe for a little girl about whose size I was still only guessing.

Next I was at the mall, so I was obligated to stop by the booth that does eyebrow threading.  Have you ever seen this?   The picture at the right gives the impression that this is some sort of relaxing procedure that leads to serene beauty.  Maybe for someone out there, but for me this can be a bit excruciating.  I hate messing with my eyebrows.  They are the bane of my existence.  How is it that I have the thinnest, straightest hair on my head, but I can grow these long, thick, luxurious eyebrows?  I hate them (but not enough to devote the time to really keeping them as trimmed and manageable as I should).  Any time I get the chance I stop by the booth at the mall and have them thread my eyebrows.  It does create a nicer shape than waxing does, and it lasts a fairly long time.  It is worth a few minutes of pain.  I think if I were to do it more regularly it wouldn't hurt so badly.  Oh well!  This time it wasn't horrible, and now I at least don't have to deal with a giant forest of Melissa brow on my forehead for a few weeks.

And so the day went on like this.  I discovered the world's most wonderfully comfortable bra.  The sales lady actually told me that I needed a bigger bra size because I have cleavage.  Really?  I told her that she may be the only person on the planet to ever say those words to me and my flat chest.  Then I told Laney that she was also probably one of the world's best sales people because I bought the bra.  We sampled fall smells at Bath & Body Works.  We bit our cheeks to remind us not to go nuts and overspend at Hobby Lobby.  We stopped and purchased our last minute travel items so that we could be ready to pack for China.  We finished our shopping in Springfield with the obligatory trip to Sam's Club where I purchased loads of bulk toilet paper.  I am planning on hoarding toilet paper and using it to barter for fancy things when the world comes to an end.  People will be happy to trade for soft toilet paper, I'm sure.  Then we headed home.  On the way we stopped by Redmon's gift shop which is on I-44 about halfway between Springfield and Waynesville.  It is the store that advertises with those super giant signs for miles about being the world's largest gift shop and chocolate factory.  I needed to get some Missouri postcards to give to the orphanage workers in China.  Apparently postcards are a hot commodity.  I couldn't find some around here, but I knew I'd find something at this gift shop.  We picked out eight cards that were fairly representative of things you would see in Missouri that you wouldn't see in China.  I decided not to get anything showing hillbilly humor because I wasn't exactly sure how that would translate in China.  There were lots of "hillbilly" gifts, and I knew that they wouldn't make any sense to someone in China.  They barely make sense in America.  I told Laney about how I remembered that my Grandpa Landis once had a corncob hanging in his bathroom with a sign that said "Hillbilly Toilet Paper."  I was little, so I didn't understand that that was supposed to be funny.  I thought that I really had to use the thing, and wouldn't that hurt? (Don't worry world -- I didn't use it.)  (And just think about how much people would trade for toilet paper if they had to use scratchy corncobs.  See?  I'm planning ahead!)  This little shop was full of items like that, but I avoided purchasing them.  I did find a super cute set of threading boards from Melissa and Doug that I thought would be great to have on the plane.

Isn't this cute?

So the retail therapy ended, and we weren't too worse for the wear.  I got a few things that I needed to get before we head to China -- which we should do soon.  We should.  Right?  Last Friday after my meltdown I sent an email to our China liaison to figure out where our blasted travel approval was.  I was tired of waiting.  She sent me a message soon after to say that she believed that it had been sent from China last Thursday.  She told me that Wasatch should be receiving it on Monday or Tuesday.  I never fully trust that she is giving me solid information.  I sometimes think that she might be placating me a bit.  I don't have any real reason to believe this; it's just a feeling I have.  So I took this info with a grain of salt.  I would believe that my travel approval was on its way when it showed up on my front porch.  So today is Wednesday, and still no travel approval notice from my agency or on my porch.  Oh well!  I'm just going to pretend that it is on its way while I pack some bags today and clean, clean, clean a bit.  If it isn't here by Friday, then I'll decide that it's time to start making a lot more noise about these delays.  In the meantime I sent Minsy one last package from us to let her know we would be on our way to meet her soon.  It's super cute.  I'll post a picture when Ann sends it to me.

Until then, here's a cute Hyrumism that he shared with us on Sunday as we were driving home from church.  We have been lately talking with Laney about whether or not it is important to kiss other people before you find the guy you're going to marry.  Laney believes that she needs to wait to kiss anyone until she finds her future Mr. Wonderful.  (And we love her for this!)  Herman (and me also, to be honest) believe that you can't say that you won't kiss anyone until you are ready to be engaged because then you'll feel this pressure that you put on yourself, feeling as if now you are somehow obligated to marry this guy simply because he was the first one to inspire you to kiss him.  It's actually too complicated of a discussion to adequately explain on this blog without going into all kinds of psychoanalysis involving Herman, me, our families, our friends, and every other situation (both good and bad) that has led us to feel the way that we feel about this.  Suffice it to say, we are just talking about these sorts of things as Laney is in the beginning phases of her dating life.  So on Sunday as we were coming home Laney was sharing how another lady from church disagreed with Herman's philosophy about this and the reasons for this.  In the middle of this discussion Hyrum (who is almost eight) says:  I kissed a girl once.  The whole van got silent, and we turned around to look at him (except me -- I was driving).  Hyrum just looked at us and explained in his Hyrum sort of way:  I did, but I wasn't in my right head at the time.  I love that boy.  He is so good and sweet in every way.

So for now I'm off to clean, hoping to find some sort of email today with notice of this travel approval.  I'll post when it happens.  Fingers crossed!