It was about 12pm Saturday that I was discussing shopping with Caroline and how we really needed to get down to Edmonton in the near future so that I could get some clothes for winter as I brought one windcheater and my ski jacket with me and bought a rugby top the last time we were in Edmonton. That was it for me in terms of jumpers and things to keep my torso warm as the temperature plunges. It simply wasn’t going to be enough.
We quickly assessed our commitments for the rest of the afternoon and Sunday and I half jokingly suggested that we just get in the car and go. 15 minutes later we’d made the decision and set about getting ready to drive for 4.5 hours down to Edmonton.
We stopped at our new house (the one we get to move into this weekend!) and grabbed the cargo carrier for the roof of the Explorer (yes, Caroline does get some useful things from garage sales) then came back to the town house to grab the last of our stuff and go.
I seem to remember telling the kids that all that they would need was a change of underwear and something warm because we’d be staying overnight and coming home the next day.
But of course, then someone mentioned a swimming pool at the hotel and the possibility of ice skating at the mall and suddenly the car had way more stuff than I had anticipated. But then, I should have learnt to accept that by now. I think we finally managed to get away at about 4pm.
We drove down to Edmonton and the kids watched some stuff on Michael’s portable DVD player (the one that we bought for the car needs a new fuse apparently) and on the laptop and were really good the whole way there.
We got in late of course, at about 9pm or so having only stopped once for a quick pit stop. We packed the kids into bed without dinner (though Thomas and Emily were in our room and complained bitterly. Especially poor tom who’d missed out on Dinner the previous night when he was stitched up in the hospital).
Caroline and I lashed out and ordered room service with a bowl of chips in case either Thomas or Emily was awake when the food arrived. Emily was, so she had some chips to eat before she finally crashed out.
Two late nights in a row meant that we all slept in (except for me. I managed to wake up at 5am and toss and turn until I gave up at 6:30 and got out of bed). So we managed to get to breakfast at 9am and again lashed out and all had the buffet.
With stomach’s full we managed to load ourselves back into the car to head off to the West Edmonton Mall.
Someone persuaded me that we should stop at Toys ‘R’ Us on the way and so the first hour of the available shopping time passed in the way that all time in Toys R Us passes. “Can I have … I want … look at this …”
I left a bit frazzled at the end of it and so it wasn’t the best start to trying to find clothes at the Mall. Especially because we hadn’t been able to find a special treat for Thomas for being so brave at the hospital. This meant that we were going to be haunted by that failure right up until the time when we finally would find something. Not good when you’re trying to park 4 bored kids in a store whilst you try on clothes.
Rather than expound on the pain and frustration, let’s just summarise with the facts:
Sears is shit.
Emily was happy to try on clothes, be they too small or too big (there was at least one top meant for an 18 month old that she walked out of a change room wearing, and one ladies’ small).
The boys wanted no part in trying on clothes and were right miserable about it.
We shopped for an hour longer than I’d planned and didn’t get away from Edmonton until 5:30.
But we did get away and managed to get home safely, if late and slightly terrorized from driving in the rain.
And of course, the one fundamental thing that I noted during the trip (which I of course really already knew, but had reinforced) was that men shop differently from women.
I’ve heard it expressed as Men will buy a $1 item that they need for $2 whilst women will buy a $2 item that they don’t need for $1. In our case it amounted to this:
Dave walks in with three boys who need clothes but are less than happy to try them on. Dave picks clothes out in the right sizes and says “Do you like this.” When the moons align and they say yes, he forces them to try them on. Now having the size, it is a simple process of continuing the ‘Do you like this,’ line of questioning.
With three boys 90% sorted, Caroline came past and got involved. The end result was that 95% of what I had went back, the boys suffered through a lot more trying on, they all ended up with clothes and it probably saved us 20-30% of what it would have cost if I’d gone to the till.
Clearly this is the way that we manage to stay afloat financially. Caroline is a better economic shopper than I am.
But it was more stressful. (At least we were all friends by the time we got into Fort Mac at 11pm or what ever the time was).
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