How I Shop

I don't like shopping. Not just clothes shopping, but any kind of shopping. If at all possible I like to order things online instead of visiting a brick and mortar store. This has been to my advantage since I've been ill and thus stuck at home all day.

When I do have to visit a "real" store it is usually for one of 4 reasons:

1. Groceries. It's pretty difficult around here to shop for groceries online. We also lack any kind of ice cream delivery service, depressingly.
2. I need new clothes. Some clothes I'm able to buy online, but often times new work clothes have to be bought at a physical store to make sure they are flattering.
3. We need something that can't be found online, that would cost too much to ship, or is cheaper to buy in person. Usually before this happens we do whatever comparison shopping we can online first.
4. There's a deadline. Sometimes we just can't wait for something to be shipped, and can't afford overnight or second day delivery. In these cases we have no choice but to go searching through brick and mortar stores hoping we can find it that way.

Getting into Swagbucks has actually made my online shopping habit worse. Instead of going to Target and buying my sister's wedding gift off of her registry, I was able to buy the exact same thing on Amazon using the gift cards I've earned. If only I could buy *everything* on Amazon.

Why am I telling you this? Check out [this post] for explanation.

Hoodie-Footies

Someone posted about these on one of the message boards I frequent. For just $99.99 I could get two of the things I've been wanting (but not enough to actually buy)!

You get one set of hoodie-footie pajamas. That's right, footie pjs for grown ups! They even have a set for the whole family. After coming back from Mexico, my feet are really hating this cold. Much more practical for lounging than the Snuggie, if you ask me.

You also get a pair of PajamaJeans! They look like jeans, but feel like pj pants. These would be perfect for wearing to Winn-Dixie since Josh refuses to be seen in public with me while wearing my other pjs haha.

Too bad I just spent a bazillion dollars on a cruise. :( Someone give me $100! XD

Do you know where your towel is?

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

--Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Every year on May 25th we celebrate Towel Day in honor of the late Douglas Adams. Why May 25th? Well, its two weeks after his death (May 11th, 2001) which is how long it took the first one to be organized.

This year I am not going out and about, but my husband will be taking his first pre-calculus test and you can bet he'll have a towel with him for luck.

Think Geek has some various Towel Day merchandise for sale, including two different towels (Don't Panic and 42) and a "Don't Panic and Carry a Towel" t-shirt.

Daryl Hall has started a petition to get Google to recognize Towel Day on their website with a special logo. As of now there are 1602 signatures, but I think we can do a lot better than that.

Now I must say "So long and thanks for all the fish!" and go do some laundry... gotta keep those towels clean, you know.

I've never seen so many buttons in my life!

This post is not sponsored. I don't even know how to get sponsors! But hey JC Penny, if you're out there, you know how to reach me! :D

A couple of times a year I receive the most awesome coupon ever in the mail from JC Penny. $10 off any one item $10+. It even works in conjunction with sales! I have no idea how I got on the mailing list for these, but I'm glad I did. I'm sure you can get on it too, somehow.

Anyway last Sunday I went to use my coupon and got some pretty awesome new cargo capris. They were originally like $40, on sale for $24 and change. With my coupon I only had to pay $16 (after tax). The best thing about them is they are the kind that the bottom scrunches up and ties, so you can make them however long you want. This is great for me because I've got short legs. All the other capris just ended up looking like high-waters on me. Bleh. But these I can scrunch up so they are the right length.

Along with the scrunchtastic pant legs they also come with more buttons than you could ever want. They have not one, but two, buttons where you would expect them to be near the zipper. Both cargo pockets have two buttons. Each back pocket has a button. Each of the 6 belt loops has a button. And there a two more just for fun! That's what, sixteen buttons total? And they are all fully functional! (Unlike the pockets I found on one pair of A.N.A denim leggings.)

They are pretty comfortable and sit just where I want them to. They aren't so high as to encroach upon my bellybutton or natural waist, yet they aren't so low as to fall off or expose unsightly parts of my body when sitting or bending over plumber style. If I had another coupon I just might go back and get a second pair.