All Shopped Out!

I took the boys shopping with me during Nadia's theatre camp on Tuesday and Wednesday. Over the course of those two days we shopped at two consignment shops (both were having a 50% off sale of almost everything in the store), Staples, Target, Michael's, Kohl's, Payless, JCP, and Aldi's. Those are just the stores where I bought at least one thing. We were in several other stores in the mall trying to find a swim shirt for Paul. I was able to cross quite a few things off of a list that had been growing for many months that included a variety of random things such as new pillows (a few of ours were in awful shape), frames for Paul's degrees so he can display them in his office at BU, a new briefcase type bag for Paul as the backpack he's used for more than 10 years was falling apart, a few new frames for displaying pics of the kids in our bedroom, and a new bath towel. Today I bought myself a top and a necklace at JCP for $25.58 total. I am going to wear those with a skirt I've had a very long time for our family photo in 9 days. I am definitely taking the boys to the playland today and tomorrow because I have zero desire to do any more shopping with them aside from the grocery store. I wish Aldi's was closer to our home. On Tuesday I got a gallon of skim milk for 99 cents and two pints of blueberries for $1.70 each at that store. Wow! I also stocked up on their 99 cent boxes of animal crackers as all three kids have been wanting to eat a lot of those lately.

I also did a little online shopping on Tuesday night because our Amazon Prime subscription was ending that day. I bought a new swing for Oliver for our swingset in the backyard because the one I got Nadia almost 5 years ago is falling apart. I also bought myself a Kindle. I received a $100 gift card from Snapfish a few weeks ago for giving them feedback on their photo books, and I kept going back and forth in my mind how to spend it. First, I put two dresses in my shopping cart at Chadwicks.com, but then I decided I'd rather have a Kindle. I have been dragging my heels regarding getting an e-reader because I prefer to read books and magazines on paper rather than electronically, but sometimes I've really wanted to read a book that I can get for free electronically (through Amazon or the local library) that I can't get a print copy of for free. I've used the Kindle app on my laptop several times, but my laptop is not exactly easy to lug around just to read a book. My brother-in-law Drayton's job involves working with tablets and e-readers so I took his advice and got a Kindle Paperwhite.

I'm hoping the UPS man delivers it before we leave for theatre camp today so I can use it while we spend almost 3 hours at the playland this afternoon. I am also sensing my resistance toward smart phones going down as well. I think that when we renew our cell phone plan in two years, I will probably go that route even though it will mean a significant increase in our monthly bill. I guess at some point I'll have to join the modern culture of texting and apps and going on the internet on one's phone. At some point I do want to get a tablet, as I know there are many very wonderful educational apps that the kids would enjoy and benefit from using, but I'm holding off on that now as I am trying to limit their screen time while they are so young. Since our television won't work some days, it has been very easy to eliminate all screen time for the kids some days!