A post in which Victory is Mine!*

I was run down last night. I slept for 9 hours, almost without turning over. To be on the safe side, I decided not to go out to smoke this morning. I just had coffee in the house while I got ready.

I did get my Christmas shopping started today. That really needed doing. I got Russ out of the way, which is always a relief, since he has everything in the world that he wants. I also got Cole out of the way, and had a discussion with Lisa about what she wants. I'm just going to get her a gift card. She says she wants clothes, but doesn't know what size she wears any more. With that, coupled with her very specific tastes, I'm just not getting into that.

I also talked to the bank today, and we are almost a go on re-financing the house. I go to sign the papers on Monday. I'm pretty stoked about that. I can't wait to have my new windows!

After work tonight, I had a mission. I had to find a pair of white sweat pants. I had called a couple of places from work today, but no dice. It did save me some time though. I decided just to go to Haywood Mall and see what I could find. The JC Penney lady had told me last night they had some things that might work, if not exactly what I was looking for. At this point it was any port in a storm.

I went in Dillard’s first, took the downstairs, and systematically worked my way through the mall. I completed the ground floor around 7pm. I was tired and pretty discouraged. But I doggedly started on the top floor. A nice lesbian working at a sporting goods store had told me that they had Michael Jordan white sweats that cost $60 (yikes!), which I was not about to pay. She said there was another sporting goods store I could try, and suggested that I try the hip-hop stores. I had found the pants the lady talked to me about last night on the phone, and they wouldn’t work – they were also $35 each. I had also found a pair of possibles at a hip-hop store, but they were really wind-suit kind of pants; and that wasn’t really what I wanted. Plus they were $30. I was thinking maybe I could turn them inside-out, but really didn't want to spend that much.

As I started out onto the top floor, I found another hip-hop place and ducked in. Seldom have I felt whiter. They had several styles of white pants, including Dickies. In the back of the store I found a pair of hip-hop style sweat pants, but they were $44. I was about to leave when I saw some more of them on a sale table up front – only $20. Now that was more than I had planned on spending, but at this point I was tired and ready for some supper. I tried them on and really liked them. Then I had a flash of inspiration. Instead of dead Snoopy as I had thought, I could get some cheap bling and go as Snoopy Doggy Dog! Cool! I have a visor at work from a trade show, and I can turn it around and all. So I was pretty stoked. I bounced the idea off of the Chinese guy that ran the store, and he thought it was pretty funny.

I left the mall feeling pretty triumphant. I went to the K&W for a veggie plate to celebrate, and finished my first of the Laurell K Hamilton books that Miss Kat loaned me, Guilty Pleasures. It’s a bit cheesy, but I love the Sam Spade style thoughts of the protagonist Anita Blake. Plus I have to say that Hamilton brings things to a heart-stopping conclusion with aplomb. It was a good read. Even though Michael and Joe weren't with me, I sat at the table where we always sit.

I went on home, stripped the tags off the new stuff for my costume, and put in a load of whites so everything would be ready to start sewing. I have everything now. I stayed up long enough to put the load in the dryer and then went on to bed.