Shopping Blues (with 70s photos!!!)

I don't like to shop. I think this makes me less of a girly girl, but you won't notice it since I'll wince when you toss a ball my way and I throw like a girl and I like to dress up and chick flicks are wonderful and throw pillows are magnificent and I can talk hairdos and lipstick and waxing and offer my opinion on the role of women from 1850 to present (before that I'm less knowledgeable).

I just don't like to shop. In addition to a hired chef, I would most appreciate a personal shopper. With my taste. I have great taste in many things, I just don't have the finances or the time or the desire to go out and LOOK for them in stores.

Today I had the stressful task of outfitting my family for Easter. Burdened by a budget but also by a VERY high ideal for Easter apparel left over from my childhood, I took my oldest child and headed out into retail mania. On a Saturday.

Just a quick note about that Easter-wear idealism. I grew up with a mom who was/is an expert seamstress with an eye for color and style. Most of my childhood Easter Sundays came complete with handmade Easter dresses, and my Easter basket annually contained a new bonnet, purse and sometimes gloves.

Glory! Kevin scanned these for me. Here I am circa 1974 or so. Easter morning, showing off my new purse and hat.


And here we are ready for church later that morning. Posed in our backyard on the hill. Dig my dad's white shoes. Ah, the seventies!


Back to today. You should know that I am a bit of a snob and I HATE discount stores. I will blame this on my mother as well, thank you very much. I am happier in upscale department stores with clean, straight racks of clothing and snooty salespeople (or, in the case of Nordstrom, really expert salespeople) than I am in bargain shops. BUT, thanks to the role that my peers play in my character-building even at my age of 38, and thanks to the fact that I really have been impacted by the gospel, by common-sense stewardship, and by my budget restraints and therefore won't justify paying a hundred dollars for something I really could get for less than half that, - I resist the extreme urge to steer to Macy's and pull in earlier at Burlington Coat Factory. Ugh. That place is assaulting, but I did leave with a complete suit for Joe, underwear and a slip for Cayna, and Easter gloves for both girls without breaking the bank. After stops at Kohl's and Target, everyone in my six-person family is outfitted without going into debt. It helps that Bethanie is wearing a hand-me-down from our neighbors and Cayna is wearing a hand-me-down from ME (yes, one of the handmade dresses from the seventies mentioned earlier) and that Kevin's shirt was forty percent off and... I'm quite pleased with myself. And relieved I matched my childhood ideals minus a sewing machine and a credit card.