Yet Another Reason Why I Love Naughty Pixie...

After posting yesterday's blog about shopping with Naughty Pixie, she came bouncing into my office to tell me she wanted to run a few errands.  Apparently, the agony of shopping with her the other day was simply not enough pain and torture for this pixie.  She felt it necessary to inflict more of the agony only a mum can inflict on her oldest child.  Yes... She wanted to do "a little shopping."

Now keep in mind, we don't shop often.  We actually only go grocery shopping once every 2-3 weeks.  We take an entire day and get it all done.  We purchase things like toiletries, vitamins, etc. only once a month - often times buy enough to last us several months, so we don't have to go even once a month.  We only shop for clothes, shoes, and other bits when needed, and that isn't often.  When looking at it all, we had already done all our shopping and wouldn't need to head out again until well into February (unless we ran out of fresh milk or eggs), so I couldn't understand why she felt it necessary to do more.  But she did, and she wouldn't say why.

Grumbling under my breath, I grabbed my bag and Wicked Pixie, then drove Naughty Pixie to three different stores.  She bought little things here and there, but nothing that lead to an explanation as to why it was necessary to do these extra shopping trips and drive me completely insane for the second time this week.  Finally, at the end of shopping at the third store I couldn't stand it any longer (after she spent 20 minutes talking to the fourth person she ran into that she used to work with), and I demanded to know why we were shopping for more stuff.

I could actually feel my heart pounding, my head pounding, my blood pounding through my veins.  I felt certain that if someone took my blood pressure, the machine would explode because my blood pressure was off the charts.  I am also equally certain that I had a crazed look in my eyes when I spoke to her, and I pretty sure there was a weird little facial tick starting to surface.  But she remained calm through it all.  In fact, she acted as if she didn't realize that I had gone all Incredible Hulk on her in the middle of the store.

Her response?

"Well, you've been working so hard lately that I thought you could take tomorrow off and we could head up to the mountain.  That way you can play in the snow and take photographs.  I wanted to get some stuff, so I could put together a little picnic for us."

Yep.  That's right.  That's what she said.  And that is yet another reason why I love Naughty Pixie.

Why I Hate Shopping With Naughty Pixie

I love my mum.  She is a wonderful person - capped off by being an amazing individual.  However, there are some things about her that drives me crazy.  I'm talking absolutely bonkers.  She knows these things but still does them anyway.  It's a button she seems happy to push, which is probably why her name is Naughty Pixie.

One of those things that drives me absolutely barking mad is shopping with her.  And these are the Top 5 reasons why...

1. Each and every time we go shopping - whether it be for groceries, clothes, or gardening stuff - she runs into at least four people she knows.  And, each and every time, she has to stop and have a 15-20 minute conversation with each of them.  And almost always, we're pressed for time.
2. Even though she always goes shopping with a carefully constructed list, she has to go up and down each and every aisle.  I'm not talking the kind of up and down where you basically walk down the middle and look from side to side.  Oh, no.  That would be too easy.  She goes down one side, then turns the cart around, and goes up the next side.
3. Even with a carefully constructed list AND going up and down every aisle - she still manages to forget something (usually several things) from her list.  And this is after I've asked her several times, "Now did you get everything? Did you check your list?"
4. Coupons! Mum has a gazillion of them.  She even has them carefully organized in a zip-up binder.  I'm good with that.  I get the benefits of using coupons.  Believe me, I strongly encourage it.  However, what I don't like is that she waits until just before we get to the check-out line before opening her binder and flipping through the 30+ pages of carefully organized coupons to pull the ones she needs.  This usually adds another 30 minutes to our shopping.  While I've strongly encouraged her (a couple of times I actually insisted) she use her list and pulled those coupons she knows she is going to use ahead of time and simply put them in an envelop - that would be too proactive.
5. She waits until we have pulled into the driveway to tell me she thought we were going to a certain store.  Case in point... Today, after we have returned from running several errands, I park the Trusty Steed in the drive way, turn off the engine, and I am about to unbuckle my seat belt when she says, "I thought we were going to go to Wal-greens."

Oh, the joys of being Naughty Pixie's daughter...

Welcome to February, Pixie Pals!

Second Blog... Nearly Here!

Since I decided to start a second blog, I've been feverishly working.  There is a lot more involved in creating a blog than I remember.  Granted, I'm getting old, but my memory of starting this blog was to make a few selections, type my first post, and then I was set.  Nowadays? Not-so-much.

But I'm super excited that my second blog will be ready for the February 1st launch.  You can't see it, but I've got a big grin on my face as I write this and I'm *squeeing* with delight.  The only things I have left to do is a bit of photography work since I'm customizing just about everything on the blog.  Don't get me wrong.  I appreciate Blogger's templates, but I really want to set this blog apart from the rest.

So, as I write this blog post, I'm simultaneously working out in my head how I'm going to cram in some photography time for today.  My schedule is packed, but as all you Pixie Pals know - I always make time for my cameras.

For those of you who may be curious, I'm only releasing the location of my blog to those Pixie Pals who know me outside of this Pixie alter ego.  I have my reasons, and I'm sorry if this is a disappointment.  But for those of you who know me, you know why.  And for those you who know why, you can drop me off an email and I'll send you the address of my newest blog.

Ciao for now!