Today, The Wife and I spent most of our time shopping in furniture stores and the Home Depot. I tried to keep up with her, and was able to be interested and enthusiastic about the project for a long time. After running an errand, we had breakfast, and hit the Home Depot. There, we wandered the aisles for about four hours looking at lighting fixtures, replacements for the broken tub spout at The Estate At Louisville, ceiling fans, paint, and flooring materials. After that, it was another two hours at furniture stores looking at dining room sets, bed frames, and entertainment centers.
However, unlike the fellow to the right, I am not a shopping robot. My endurance for this sort of thing is just not as good as The Wife’s. Home Depot was a great deal more interesting to me than the furniture store — in part because there was no sales staff wandering around putting pressure on us to buy. But it was more because we did Home Depot earlier in the day, before retail fatigue set in. All that walking around, all that furniture, all that stuff — it all started to look alike after a while. Some of it was uglier than others; but once I had exhausted my shopping endurance, nothing looked good at all and it became an exercise of my patience rather than of my preferences.
While there is some nice furniture out there, and I hated to disappoint The Wife about not getting it, I just couldn’t justify buying this stuff now until we have some things cleared up. We really can’t buy anything like that yet until we know whether we are getting a house here or even whether we are staying here or going back to California.
So tomorrow we will attempt to install a new spout in the upstairs bathroom so that once again, we can use the tub there and not suffer the continued inconveniences resulting from my clumsy attempts to clean.
Dude, I almost can’t stand shopping. I have such a difficult time I had to invent an alter ego Nigel. I haven’t had to tap into him for a while, but he’s a much needed partner for Pamela when they shop. I understand your pain, and agree that buying a bunch of stuff when you don’t really know what’s next is a bad idea. It’s so hard to resist, and make the wife wait.
I don’t like shopping either. After about twenty minutes, I have lost all patience. That is what is so great about the internet. Someday, I hope to have a personal shopper. Boy that would be great!!!Some women (not my wife) actually like to shop. I know this from personal experience. This torture is a form entertainment. While my motto is you take your pleasures where you find them, it is difficult for me to understand.
Having observed women who are good at shopping, it appears to me that it requires a certain expertise that is gained from a regular investment of time. Much like, say, learning a new area of the law (yawn). You have to put in a lot of time at the outset to gain a general familiarity with what’s available/desirable; which stores are good for what; when the sales tend to be; and a general idea of what things should cost. Then, you have to invest regular maintenance time to keep your knowledge, and your stock of items, current. That way, you can afford to be selective, rather than needing to buy a whole bunch of crap immediately. Which is what I usually have to do.Without that knowledge, shopping can be a frustrating ordeal. One may also end up paying more. Because, for example, I don’t know that those sable eyeshadow brushes at Sephora are available in a non-sable version for a third of the price in the beauty supply store at the other end of the mall, or that there’s a $5.99 package of disposable applicators available at Rite-Aid that could accomplish the same task. I just know that the nice hairdresser who gave me makeup tips for the company Xmas party told me to get some eyeshadow brushes, and I’m sick of being in the damn mall and want to get the hell out. Later, I feel like I got taken.The kind of women who have that knowledge, however, would probably think the sable brushes were worth it. Salsola says my scattershot approach is still better than spending every damn weekend in the mall, which is apparently what he had to do in a previous life.
I’m not into malls… too expensive and filled with teens roaming about; but the Home Depot or Lowes – paradise in a parking lot!