Mo' Money, Mo' Problems. . .

I have a book of nursery rhymes called the Rock-a-bye Bible. In it, there is a verse about children born different days. I was born on a Thursday. According to the book, "Thursday's child has far to go". If 'going far' means hitting the local mall, I'm so there.

On Monday, my baby cousins had to go to the doctor for their four-month check-up. My aunt asked me if I would rather stay at the house alone, go to the clinic with everyone or wander the mall. It really wasn't that difficult of a decision.

Okay, you need to understand something about me: I come from an area where the nearest Wal-Mart is an hour and a half away. The closest decent mall? Three hours. So the thought of spending two hours in a nice mall with the stores I love (Hot Topic, Victoria's Secret, Barnes & Noble, and, of course, Target, to name a few) all alone was irresistible. Besides, I actually have money in my checkbook now -- I'd become so used to my minimum-wage job that I always cashed my paychecks, never deposited them.

Upon entering the building, I decided I would only buy things I really needed; namely, a decent purse and a card for my boyfriend, who is stuck at camp without me *pout*. Simple enough, right? It was. . . Until I saw Hot Topic. I stepped in -- just to look -- and came out with a shirt, underwear and lipstick. This is how it worked: the shirt was on sale and super-cute, so I had to buy it. Then I saw its matching underwear; how could I pass them up? And the lipstick was on sale, too! Only a couple of problems with that: 1) I have about 20 other tubes of lipstick and 2) I never wear it.

Satisfied with my purchases, I headed off to Barnes and Noble, where I discovered two books I had never heard of on a "Sale" rack. Of course, I had to buy them. From there I trekked to the Hallmark Store, where I bought three (3!) cards for my boyfriend, using my "frequent buyer" card. Finally, I went to Target.

I had been browsing random stores throughout the afternoon, but none had the purse I wanted. There were a couple of close calls, but nothing was black -- my one unalterable rule. In Target, I was beseiged by hundreds of purses of every shape, size, style and color. None of them were what I wanted, but one was close enough to buy. Besides, it was on sale. From there, it was on to the music and movie section. I found "Anchorman" on sale for $10; how could I resist that?

By now I was ready to go home and transfer everything from one purse to the other, hang up my shirt, model my lipstick and read a book. However, my aunt was not at the mall yet so I ended up buying a $4 coffee before setting off to Sam Goody's -- just to look, of course. Once I got in, however, I found the old Jewel CD, "Pieces of You" and. . . you know the rest. Suffice it to say that when my aunt finally pulled up front, I had plenty of shopping bags.

When we got home, I unpacked my things and realized just what, exactly, I had purchased: clothing I will wear once; lipstick I will never wear; 3 cards, 2 of which will invariably be forgotten about within 3 days; 2 books I may or may not love; a DVD I previously bought for aforementioned boyfriend; a CD I will listen to only when I am depressed about my lack of money, etc.; and a purse I don't even like all that much. Which is a small price to pay for buying it all on sale. . . I think.