I was a shopping fiend this weekend!

I decided I wanted new stuff for my bed: sheets, pillowcases, comforter, etc. So off I went to Wal Mart yesterday and today, I was still going strong.

So let's take inventory, shall we?

Super Wal Mart

• Pop Secret Homestyle Popcorn, 6 ct - for kids
• Kleenex, 144 ct - for home
• Cashews, 21 oz - for me!
• Pillow cases, dark blue, 100% cotton
• Waterbed mattress pad - wrong size!
• Cotton thermal blanket, dark blue
• Kleenex, travel size, 3 pack - for my purse
• Facial tissues - generic - to keep in the car
• Book, "All the Joy You Can Stand"
• Tubular hangers, white, 10 pack
• Skirt hangers, 3 pack
• Waterbed sheets, black
• Color Vive shampoo
• Color Vive conditioner
• Shower pouf, pink
• Zero Frizz Hair Serum (with free gel!)
• Rembrandt toothpaste (50% more free!)
• Q-Tips, 300 ct (antimicrobial!) - for tending to that belly button!
• Cat litter, 21 lbs
• Dr Pepper, 2 12-packs

Ross (Dress for Less!)

• Black pants
• Burgundy suede-like sleeveless shirt
• Forest Green suede-like sleeveless shirt
• Black dressy tank-style blouse
• Grey dressy tank-style blouse

Barnes & Noble

• "Suspicion of Innocence"
• "Suspicion of Guilt"
• "Suspicion of Deceit"
• "Suspicion of Betrayal"
  (after reading "Suspicion of Malice", I decided to get the four previous novels in the series!)

Super Target

• Change purse, black leather
• Necklace, diamond cross (fake, of course)
• Gillette Mach III cartridges (good grief, $10 for six!!)
• Squintz (citrus mints)
• Myntz (wintergreen mints)
• Lila McCann CD, "Complete"
• Jamie O'Neal CD, "Shiver"

Grandy's (spending money makes me hungry!)

• Single chicken-fried steak dinner
• Mashed potatoes with gravy
• Baked beans
• Cinnamon roll

Whew! That was just Saturday! On to Sunday:

Target (just the regular one, no Super)

• Standard pillows, 2 pr
• King Size pillows, 2 pr
• Pillow shams, black plaid, 2 pr
• Comforter, black plaid, king size
• Fly swatter, 2 (one for each hand!)
• Raid Flying Insect Spray (I'm on a mission!)
• Fuzzy bedroom slippers, light blue with stars
• Thong underwear, dark purple, 2 pr
• Light bulbs, soft white, 100 watts, 4 ct

Barnes & Noble (yes, again!)

• "My 1,000 Americans: A Year-Long Journey Through the Personals"
• "What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman"
• "A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue"
• And two other books I'll keep to myself, haha

Mega Tan Arlington

• Prepaid for six visits to the Mega Tanning Bed (like tanning a whole week at once, hooooogaaaa!)

Taco Bell

• Grilled Steak Tacos, 2
• Baja Chicken Taco
• Baja Steak Gordita
• Tostada with no red sauce
• Medium Pepsi
  (Lord no, that wasn't all for me! I got extra in case Scott wanted anything!)

Stop 'N Go

• Marlboro Ultra Lights 100s, one carton

Holy Mother of Mary! My Bank of America Check Card is still smokin'! I'll wait until tomorrow to survey the financial damage - when I can remind myself that I Labored hard for that money!

Once I came home and gobbled down my fast food, I stripped the waterbed and put all the new linens on it. I explained each item to Booey and Neo, who perched on my headboard among all the Beanie Babies, meowing perplexedly as Mama Cat tore up their haven. (Please, no comments about the sad stereotype of a 36 year old single woman conversing with her cats, okay?)

I would have bought a digital camera to preserve the moment, but I guess that will have to wait until the 15th's paycheck, hehe.

I sat back and surveyed the bed, wishing I had found some cozy new pajamas to wear when I crawl in it tonight after a nice, hot shower. Oh well. You can't have everything; where would you put it? (Um, probably on my bed?)

I decided to hunt down the two flies that have been pestering (and evading) me all weekend. Quite a funny sight, I'm sure - me in nothing but my white wife-beater T-shirt and new fuzzy slippers, a fly-swatter in each hand, and vengeance on my mind. Damn, those suckers are speedy. I didn't get 'em, but I shook 'em up I think. Harummph! Take that, you pests!

Then I settled into my computer chair for some journal reading, and promptly found this entry from Footnotes. And started crying big, wet, sloppy tears.

I started thinking that maybe all of the good things I bought myself over these past two days are just poor substitutes for The One Good Thing I really want.

And boy, did that make me mad at myself. I hate it when I get all girlie and needy like that. For twenty freaking years now, I've prided myself on needing no one else. (Of course, most of that time, I had someone, haha.)

So I dried those tears up damn fast. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my hot shower, put a new purple thong on my Mega-Tanned body, douse my belly button in Vitamin E Oil, and crawl half-naked between my nice, crisp black sheets with my cats and my book and my cashews and my Dr. Pepper and my cigarettes - and my pink flyswatter at the ready.

As for The One Good Thing, well - there's always BOB.