The strange thing was, they were the same size as the camo skort from the Justice store that Lilly wore at the last pageant (which fit perfectly and was a size 10...or so we thought). Upon closer inspection with an electron microscope the next day, we discovered that these peach-colored shorts were labeled size
10 1/2
So upon realizing that these shorts must be some kind of sizing disaster, we quickly determined that we had no choice but to travel back to the mall the very next day to exchange them for a smaller size before they ran out, since they were on sale at 40% off! Not to mention that we needed to procure a couple pairs of shoes for Lilly to wear in the pageant too. So......
ROAD TRIP!!!
Later that evening, it dawned on me that this would be my 8-year-old daughter's VERY FIRST TRIP TO A MALL, and that I myself actually hadn't been to a mall in many, many years. (I know, we lead very sheltered lives here in the mountains).
So the next day, we all piled up in Jenna's van (Jenna, Claire, me, Jamie, and Lilly), and away we went! First we stopped off at a shoe store in Ellijay, and found Lilly a great pair of sandals to go with her casual wear in the pageant. We weren't too happy with their formal shoe offerings, so onward we traveled down to the mall.
When we first walked in to the mall, Lilly was FREAKED OUT by all the mannequins. Come to think of it, I don't suppose she had ever actually seen any mannequins in real life.
Me, I was kind of overwhelmed because everything was so bright and shiny and clean and nice and fancy and new-smelling, and there was so much random STUFF available for purchase EVERYWHERE! It kind of freaked me out to be honest with you. I mean, not in a bad way; I guess it was just kind of sensory overload of fancy stuff I'm not used to.
Anyway, our first stop was the Justice store to see if they had those peach-colored shorts in a smaller size that we could exchange them for. Crap, they didn't! They didn't even have any more of them in their back storeroom! Since everything in the store was 40% off, everything really was flying off the shelves. So we studied the offerings, and decided that the blue jean shorts would go with anything. So we took a pair of 8's and 10 Slims into the dressing room to see how they would work. Lilly tried the 8's first. They fit all right, but they did seem to be pretty snug. And I knew that since they were 99% cotton, they would be sure to shrink up in the wash, and become too small. So Lilly peeled off the 8's, and then she tried on the 10 Slims. Perfection.
So we whisked them up to the register, where I explained to the cashier that we needed to exchange the 'too-big Size 10 1/2 peached-colored shorts' for the 'just right Size 10 Slim blue jean shorts'. And that's when the cashier explained to us that their Size 10 1/2 was the equivalent of a SIZE 14.
WHAT?!?!?!?
NO FREAKING WONDER THEY SWALLOWED LILLY WHOLE!!!
How stupid!!! And the cashier went on to explain that the half-sizes were really basically to fit girls that have the bigger hips. MEH!!! Sizes mean NOTHING in clothing!!! You have to try EVERYTHING on!!! It was so ridiculous!
Anyway, we finally got all that cleared up. And lesson learned. 10 1/2 = 14. Now we know.
Across the mall from the Justice store was the Claire's store, and we decided to get Lilly's ears pierced there. She'd been asking to do it for a long time now, and I had promised her we'd do it sometime this summer, so I figured there was no time like the present:
I was quite shocked, however, when the lady told me "That'll be $54.50"!!!
FIFTY-FOUR DOLLARS AND 50 CENTS FOR EAR PIERCING?!?!
That's another thing about the mall that astonished me...how UTTERLY EXPENSIVE EVERYTHING was! I was floored! This, coming from the girl that sometimes uses a purse that her husband yanked out of the dump...talk about culture shock!
But we had a great time. We got a pair of shoes for Lilly to wear with her formal dress in the pageant, but I stupidly didn't think to check to see how much they cost before I bought them, so I probably could have found some that were cheaper, but whatever. They ended up being $26. Maybe I can get Lilly to wear them more than just once. :P Or maybe I can squeeze my dumpy ol' Flinstone Feet into them...sometimes I do wear Lilly's flip-flops... :/
Then we all got hungry and went to the food court. Lilly was still too excited to eat, but she was really thirsty and wanted something cold, so we got her a smoothie. We couldn't get her to order any food, so I persuaded her to partake of some of mine and Jamie's french fries to tide her over.
Claire usually has a serious look on her face, so Lilly followed suit:
After the food court, we checked out the Disney store, Hot Topic, and then me and Jamie waltzed into the Sleep Number Bed store to waller around in their comfy beds. Me and Jamie have actually been considering getting one of those beds since both of our backs give us a lot of trouble, and I've always wondered what those beds felt like. They were great! We did that thing where they use the computer to determine your ideal sleep number setting, and mine turned out to be 25, while Jamie's turned out to be 20. We both obviously need fairly smushy beds for our rotten backs. Before we left, the saleslady offered us to fill out a slip for a drawing for a free Sleep Number bed, so of course I jumped all over that. I would crap if we won one -- it would be a dream come true! But since the chances of that happening (especially with our rotten luck) is slim to none, maybe if we get a decent tax refund next year, we can get us one of those Sleep Number beds. Heavenly! And they last for 25 years! What's not to like?!
So we finished all our shopping and browsing, but before we left the mall, we let the kiddos (and Jenna LOL) ride the little mall train:
(Claire, skeptical as usual)
And after the train ride, we took a load off and let the kiddos mess around in the little play area in the mall:
So all in all it was a good day until the ride home, during which Lilly's apparent ADHD went into overdrive, and she made us want to drive off a cliff all the way home.
But other than that, we had a GREAT time! But it will probably be a while before we go back again...! ;) LOL!
No comments:
Post a Comment