I wasn't kidding when I called it a Shopping Marathon

We left the house about 1 p.m. yesterday and returned about 1 a.m. today.

Fan. Check
Bathroom mirror. No
Ironing board. Check
Kitchen cannisters. No
Cocoa powder. No
Clock. No
Labels for file folders. No
Plates. No
Christmas swag. No

Waiting in line: well over three hours total

Wanna do that again. No thanks

No idea why all the stores were so busy on a Tuesday! The longest wait was at a Sam's Club style warehouse store that specializes in cleaning and paper products. An hour and twenty minutes in that line. Ugh. It was hot and smelly and I gave up after the first 20 minutes and went out to the car while the hubby waited patiently in line.

Another hour in line at a different warehouse-style store specializing in food and appliances (but they have just about everything else too). And half an hour at Walmart's and maybe 20 minutes at Easy (like Home Depot).

Backtracking a little...first thing the hubby did was drop me at NuevoCentro Shopping while he went to a nearby Apple store regarding repairs for our Macbook. It was a little weird to see how minimally the stores decorate and how little seasonal merchandise is available. I'd hoped to find some needed kitchen items at Falabella, the anchor store for the mall, but I was outta luck. I remembered it being much bigger when we were here in '07 and sure enough, Marcela told me they'd had a bigger store at the other end of the mall. Guess the slow economy forced 'em to downsize.

Anyway, the only thing I ended up buying there was moisturizer. And I sure wish I'd asked the price first! Yikes! It was more than twice what I paid in the U.S. Definitely going to have to figure out a different way of getting this particular item.

I have only been able to find two moisturizers I can use on my very sensitive and dry skin. I may be low maintenance on the appearance aspect of grooming, but necessity requires I be picky about the products I use. I've wasted a lot of money over the years trying different ones, but in the end always come back to the Shaklee Enfuselle® Hydrating Moisturizer or Clinique Drastically Different Moisturizer. With anything else I break out in hives. Even the lowest maintenance of us draw the line at hives.

There are no Shaklee distributors in the country that I can find. And with these prices, I won't be buying more Clinique here either.

This evening, weather permitting (it's been storming off and on all day) we're going downtown in our quest for a bathroom mirror. At this point we're thinking just a plain mirror which the hubby can frame in due time.

All the kitchen cannisters we've seen are either glass or stainless steel. Since I'm a messy cook and don't want to constantly be wiping down my cannisters, those are not viable options. I guess we'll be sticking with the classy ziplock bags meanwhile.

We brought what was left of our old Corelle dish set. I think there were six big plates, 7 small plates and 11 bowls. So we knew we'd have to buy more anyway. And recently we've broken three more pieces. Ceramic tile is death to glassware, even Corelle. But good grief, dishes are expensive here! So for now, if we have company we'll be using paper plates. While I keep my eye out for reasonably priced sets.

And so it goes...finding what I need for a price I'm willing to pay is proving more challenging than I expected.

But all was not lost! I did score a decent supply of Kleenex brand SOFT toilet paper :-)

And we agreed trying to do that much shopping in one day is just not realistic. Not with lines like that. So we'll temper our expectations and eliminate the "marathon" from our shopping.

To say we were tired is an understatement. And by the time we unloaded the car and put things away, it was around 2 a.m. as we hit the bed. Around 6:30 this morning I woke up to use the restroom. On my way I stepped on what I initially thought was one of those twisty-ties that come on bread bags. Only we don't buy bread that way here. In my sleepy haze (and not wearing my glasses so I was blind as a bat) I looked down in time to see something furry scurry away. Yikes! That was no twisty-tie, that was a mouse tail!

But people, I was so tired I didn't even scream. I just went to the bathroom, went back to bed and WENT BACK TO SLEEP without even telling the hubby what had happened. You know you're tired when you step on a mouse and can go right back to sleep.

The strange thing is, we have seen absolutely no evidence of a mouse before now. So we're sorta wondering if we didn't bring it home from our shopping expedition. We shopped at several warehouse type places that pack your things in boxes...However it arrived, we'll definitely be putting out some traps. I have no desire to repeat this morning's episode again!