Can you believe that I didn’t make my first purchase of the day until 7:46 pm and yet managed to spend a grand total of $239.70 in less than 1-1/2 hours in a total of 6 different transactions?  That’s got to be some kind of record for me — particularly astonding since I usually avoid doing much after 6 pm.

The Son didn’t have a cello lesson tonight because his teacher’s cello fell victim to our geographical location’s notorious fluctuations in humidity.  We’ve personally suffered two separate instances of humidity-caused cello meltdowns.  I felt terrible for the teacher because his cello is his baby, his livelihood, and a very valuable thing of beauty.  The Son was not devasted to have to wait another week before returning to regularly scheduled Wednesday afternoon cross-town marathon of madness.

Because there was no cello lesson, we had the leisure of lounging about the house for an extra hour and a half before heading out for orchestra rehearsal.  After paying our dues at orchestra (The Son with his cello, me in the music library cataloging 27 years of sheet music), we planned quick stops at Costco and Barnes & Noble.  The best laid plans ….

We started off with a $2.74 feast of cheese pizza and a soda for The Son.  How could you not love a place that will leave a teenage boy satiated for a measly $2.74?

While he feasted, I shopped.  The first thing I found was a copy of The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama for $8.69.  I’ve been wanting a copy of this book for a good 9 months now but have been too cheap to pay hard-cover price and too forgetful to add my name to the waiting list at the local library.  The amazing thing was that this single copy of the book caught my eye as I quickly scanned the book aisle.  I couldn’t find the stack from which that copy had come — but then, in all honestly, I didn’t look that hard.  I took it as a sign from above, stuck the book in my cart, and quickly moved on to the items on my shopping list.

That list included Goldfish crackers ($6.49), a box of Nancy’s petit quiche ($12.99), a bag of sugar snap peas ($5.79), a case of 100% juice Capri Sun juice boxes ($8.49), a large package of Frigo string cheese ($8.79), a box of kitchen trash bags ($12.99), a box of trash liners ($8.99), and a box of Swiffer dusters ($11.99).  Actually, only the juice, the goldfish, and the juice were on my list.  The rest of the items were “along the way” purchases — I saw them along my shopping route

My final, and most pondered purchase, was a Belkin iPod Car Kit.  It was the last package of the older style FM transmitters and accessory packages and it was drastically marked down to $44.97.  I still haven’t opened the DLO iPod FM transmitter thingy I picked up last week at Marshalls so I’ll return that one and keep the Belkin.  The Belkin’s $5.00 more but it has two huge advantages.  One, it comes complete with some great accessories like both a wall and a USB charger.  The Daughter and I both have USB chargers but I don’t have a wall charger and that has proven to be a P in the A more than once.  Second, the transmitter itself has a nice long flexible gooseneck that will be much more convenient to use in The Husband’s little Subaru than the more awkward, rigid, extendable DLO transmitter.

The Swiffer dusters aren’t something I’d normally buy but while my mom was here last week, she insisted on picking up a pack of these dusters including the little plastic “wand” because she’s quite enamored with the product.  I don’t go out of my way to dust on a regular basis (though I’m sure I’d be doing us all a favor if I did) and the idea of filling the landfills with disposable dusting rags offends me.  But, after the furnace filter situation, I figured I might as well give them a try.  After all, my mom wouldn’t steer me wrong, would she?

All in all, I managed to spend $138.92 in Costco (not including The Son’s feast).

Before leaving the Costco parking lot, however, we had a little more money to spend.  The Tank’s tank was just below half so it seemed prudent to go ahead and fill up.  I pumped 12.295 gallons at $2.719 per gallon for a total expediture of $33.43.  The odometer read 118,646.

Our next stop was Barnes & Noble but we left empty-handed because they didn’t have single copies of the books The Son wanted.  He was given a copy of His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik for Christmas and he wanted the next book or two in the series.  But apparently B&N, in their ultimate wisdom, only carried in packaged as a set and not as individual books.

While The Son shopped at B&N, I went next door to Wild Oats in hope of finding a 1/2 gallon carton of Horizon chocolate milk.  My search was a fruitless as The Son’s.  This particular Wild Oats seems to only carry that product in quarts and I’m not willing to buy half of the amount I need at 2/3’s the price.  I didn’t leave the store empty-handed though.  I was starved and I lucked out at the sushi counter and found a veggi combo tray ($5.95).  I really wanted an Odwalla too but they weren’t on sale so I toughed it out and went drinkless.  I bought a nearly 3# package of lean ground beef ($12.92) for tomorrow night’s dinner and a package of Applegate organic sliced turkey ($5.99).

After that we struck out across the street to Borders.  They had what The Son was looking for and he bought Black Powder War and Empire of Ivory ($16.75).  Well, okay, I bought them but this purchase represents the completion of our exchange for his Gap gift card (a Christmas gift that I agreed to buy from him because he has no interest in clothes).

Our final stop in this marathon flurry of shopping experiences was Target.  Target, bless it’s giant corporate heart, carried our coveted Horizon organic chocolate milk in 1/2 gallon cartons.  I purchased two ($3.99/ea).  I also picked up a box of Tide Free while I was there since I’m about halfway through my last stockpiled box.

Whew.  What a frenzy that was.  Looking back, I think that tonight definitely qualified as a SWI (Shopping While Impaired) experience.  Not only am I feeling particularly hypo-thyroid and mildly Fibro tonight, but I was absolutely starved during all of it. 

Let’s be honest here. I don’t know about you but I can go only so long being frugal and keeping to bare-bones purchases. But eventually, the dam breaks and I finally break down and make purchases that I’ve been pondering or putting off as non-essential. And when the dam breaks, it’s usually not a single, simple non-essential purchase. No, it’s usually a string of non-essential purchases. Well, today was the day my dam broke Let’s hope I got that out of my system for a while and I can go back to a few weeks of regularly scheduled frugal living.

Costco — $38.66
The Tank’s tank was again just below the half-way mark but since I was going right by there this morning I thought it would be a good time to fill up. I noticed that the price of gas is creeping up; it is going up everywhere?

I pumped 14.270 gallons at $2.709/gallon. The odometer reads 115,829.

T.J. Maxx — $22.61
Here’s where I went “nuts.” I really need to stay out of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. Anyway, I went in looking for picture frames and ended up finding an armband for my iPod Nano and this really cool pair of Merkury Docking headphones that you plug your Nano into.

I stood there forever trying to decide whether or not to get the headphones. I simply cannot use the NordicTrack without music — my ADD-tortured brain goes absolutely nuts about 5 minutes into exercising if I don’t have music to listen to and even then sometimes I just cannot do it. I wanted the armband because I often don’t have a place to put my Nano when I’m exercising so I was thrilled to find one for $5.99.

But then I saw the headphones and suddenly life was complicated. I’d found the armband I wanted but the headphones looked really cool. And potentially very practical. See, we only have two pair of earbuds between The Son, The Daughter, and I and no one likes to share with The Son because, well, ear wax issues. Yuck. Plus a few weeks ago The Daughter shared the fact that earbuds increase ear bacteria by some phenomenal amount and I haven’t felt the same about using my Nano while I exercise since then. The earphones would avoid the whole earbuds dilemma.

I finally decided to buy them. They were on sale for $15.00 and I confirmed with the store manager that they could returned within 30 days even if the package were opened. Normally my gear-head self would be thrilled with the purchase. But my newly rediscovered financial conservatism is just not letting me feel good about the purchase. I’ll probably get over it

Oh, and I discovered I’d paid a Stupid Tax. I’m a regular at T.J. Maxx but not in the men’s department. I discovered today that I could have saved myself a lot of money if I’d gone here instead of Sports Authority when shopping for basketball-related clothing last week. C’est la vie.

REI — $36.73
This was my original errand this morning and was my second unbridled, the-dam-has-broken-and-money’s-spilling-out-everywhere purchase of the day. And it wasn’t even noon yet! I bought four 32-oz Nalgene water bottles. Two pink ones for The Daughter and two green ones for The Son. I don’t feel bad about paying $8.50 per bottle (I couldn’t find a better price after factoring in shipping anywhere on-line) for Nalgene because 1) I have very strong opinions about the kids drinking enough water when they exercise or participate in sports and 2) the non-leeching qualities of the nalgene plastic.

The big issue I faced was having to buy four bottles all at once. We used to have one 32-oz nalgene but it has disappeared as things will when you have kids — of course, they’d say that I lose things too but don’t listen to them, they don’t know what they’re talking about. We have smaller nalgene bottles that are great for school because they fit into the little mesh pockets on the sides of the backpacks/messenger bags but the 32-oz size is ideal for sports activities. I’m not sure about The Daughter but I know The Son needs two bottles for each practice. So I bought two each and made it clear that The Daughter will never, under any circumstances, even with the permission of her brother, use the green bottles. And, likewise, The Son, will not, under penalty of major mommy wrath, use his sister’s pink bottles.

Target — $49.00
Not only was this trip made on a frugal-dam-breakdown day, but it was also taken late in the evening with The Daughter. I was hungry, tired, in pain, and just a wee bit grumpy. It could have been a SWI disaster. It actually wasn’t too bad though.

My one completely un-frugal purchase was a picture frame that, as it turns out, will have to be returned. I’ve really been itching to buy some frames so I can hang some of the terrific photos from the kids’ recent studio photo shoot and have done some comparison shopping at Costco, T.J. Maxx, Hobby Lobby, and Target. I like Target’s selection best and I’m trying to wait for a sale but I don’t know that I can hold off completely until then. I’ve been thinking maybe I’d frame just one or two photos now and a few more if and when I find some frames on sale. So I found one tonight that will hold two 5×7’s and was excited to get it home and put it to use. But it turns out that I don’t have any two shots that will work together in the same frame. The photo of The Son is against a black background but it’s on a landscape orientation whereas The Daughter’s solo shot, also on a black background, is on a portrait orientation. Also, some photos are on a white background which wouldn’t look good against the frame’s off-white matting. Oh well, I’ll return the frame and pick up one for a single 8×10 photo and get the cutest photo up on a wall. Then I’ll patiently wait for a sale — or not.

• picture frame — $19.99
• Tide — $12.89
• Glad wrap — $2.99
• Sunsilk shampoo (for The Daughter) — $2.99
• box of safety pins (also for the Daughter) - $1.49
• pair of Hallowe’en socks (yes, for The Daughter) — $4.99

Costco Gas — $56.72
The Tank’s tank was empty so we left the house early on the way to The Son’s Tuesday classes so we could stop by Costco for a fill-up. I pumped 21.251 gallons @ $2.669/gal. My odometer reads 115,440.

Target — $35.09
Today almost turned into a Shopping-While-Impared day (my pain level is depressingly high) but I ended up putting back several items I knew I didn’t need. I also managed to leave without buying any photo frames — I need some but they weren’t on sale so I’m going to hold off until they are. I’d hoped to end up with another large box of Tide Free but they were out of stock I ended up with:

• one pair of opaque black tights (this is what I went in for, The Daughter needs these as part of her costume for the upcoming school play) — $4.99
• 10-pack of Daisy 3 razors (for The Daughter and I) — $9.29
• 2 huge bags (total of 210 pieces) of Hallowe’en candy — $9.99/ea.

Cash — $1.50
Slice of pizza for The Son who helped me staff the concessions table at The Daughter’s playoff game.

edit: added the following expense paid by The Husband today

Qwest — $128.64
A lower phone bill — now that’s a welcome sight. Last month I cancelled The Daughter’s “Pic Mail” service. We had intended to keep that service for only 3 months after her 15th birthday when she was given her new flip camera cell phone. That was in late February. Guess we went a little beyond the 3 months

No purchases today! And I even left the house. Finally a SWI-free day, my first since this particular flare began.

Kroger — $21.92

• three DiGiorno pizzas
• gallon of milk

Today was another SWI shopping day. Luckily, I didn’t have to go anywhere but to the grocery store. Today’s pizza purchases look like a splurge but actually it was the more financially frugal dinner option open to me.

The Daughter attended an all-day volleyball tournament. I felt like warmed up dog do-do. The Husband had to get up at 6 am to make the 2-hour round trip to get The Daughter to her tournament then had to do his Saturday Dad Duty and get the step-son to Saturday swimming after which he worked at the office all day before heading back out at 4pm to make the 2-hour round trip again to pick up The Daughter, then pick-up the step-son before coming home for dinner. If I hadn’t purchased the pizzas, he would have come home for The Son and taken the whole crew out for a fast-food fest. Instead, The Son popped two of the three pies into the oven. So all four of them dined on $11.00 worth of pizza and we have a spare pie in the freezer. Everyone was fed. We ate together while watching the Rockies sweep the Phillies. Just about the best end to a bad fibro day that I could have imagined.

Target — $10.50
Picked up the photos of The Kids today and got suckered into adding an extra sheet to my package. It was a full-sheet with multiple sized photos in the pose of them standing back to back — my favorite shot. I really shouldn’t be allowed to do any shopping when I’m feeling this bad (see yesterday’s post).

Costco — $2.75
The Son snacked on a slice of pizza and a soda while I shopped. Boy, now that I’m tracking this stuff on my blog I’m noticing how much pizza and soda that boy consumes

Costco — $90.90

• three cases of Horizon chocolate milk, individual servings
• one case Capri 100% juice boxes
• pair of adorable rainboots for The Daughter — navy blue with white polkadots (shopping while impared impulse purchase)
• The Jungle Book special edition DVD for my nephew who turned 6 in July but couldn’t think of anything special to give him; I’d been planning to get this for my sister’s family as their Family Christmas present but decided to get it for Nephew #3 instead

Kroger — $30.91

• Vitamin Water — for The Daughter, is this a change for the better away from the Gatorade that I hate?
• Dove antiperspirant
• Burt’s Bees lip balm
• 4-pack of AAA batteries (sure wish she’d let me know she needed these before I went to Costco; but she didn’t and she’s stressing about needing back-up batteries for her calculator during her PLAN test soon)
• cereal
• honey
• Oral-B toothbrush
• a Hershey’s candy bar

After posting last night’s dollar diary entry and working on today’s, I decided that not only did I need to make Shopping While Impaired an official entry tag but I also needed to write a post explaining this particular term.

About three years ago I went through a really rough patch with my health. About two years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, and a screwed up thyroid gland.

The sleep apnea was a real shocker especially since I don’t fit the profile, ie. I’m not overweight. And a real pain because I sleep hooked up to a CPAP machine every night.

The screwed up thyroid gland resulted in half of my thyroid being removed. The stupid thing is still acting wonky and I will have to have the rest of it removed soon. This means a second ugly gash of a scar across my neck and no question about whether I’ll have to continue taking a synthetic thyroid for the rest of my life.

The fibro, though, that’s the icing on the “life sucks” cake. Sometimes, when I’m really, really lucky, the fibro takes a vacation and I feel like a normal middle-aged woman with two teenagers and too much to do. When life is going too well, however, and life decides to take me down a peg or too, the fibro kicks in. On good days, I feel like I have the flu. Generalized body aches and feeling like I’m running a low-grade fever (even though I’m not). Those are the good fibro days. The bad fibro days…. Those are harder to describe. Take the flu-feeling body aches and low-grade fever, add all-over weakness and fatigue and brain-fog, then top it all off with shooting and sometimes searing pain in various parts of my body. One minute I’ll have a sharp stabbing pain in my wrist or elbows, next it’ll feel like someone is drilling into my femur. Or I’ll have sharp, infection-like pain in my ear or feel like someone has stabbed me in the face right under the cheekbone. The pains are sharp, sometimes incessant, sometimes intermittant, often wandering. And the very worst part is that it’s chronic. Chronic pain will really mess with your mind. Oh and of course there’s nothing that I’ve found that will relieve the pain. No painkiller touches it.

Days like today, the pain level is high enough that I feel continually nauseous. It’s days like this that any shopping done is likely to be a little nutty and impulsive.

Watch out, she’s Shopping While Impaired.