Shopfest

My husband had to be out of town for work on his birthday, so we packed up the whole family and made a little vacation out of it.  After all.... we didn't want him to celebrate all by himself on his special day. And I never like to pass up on a good opportunity to go shopping.

The problem is that whenever I go to a big town with a mall, I never have a lot of spending money. Here's the breakdown:
Nell at the Mall - $$$$= NO FUN.
OR
Nell Shopping with no money = finding EVERYTHING she's been looking for, AND stuff that she can't live without but didn't even know it existed until she went shopping and found it....and then had to leave it there on the shelf, all alone and wanting a new home. (I'm aware that was a run-on sentence, but I don't care....it's the way I feel.)

Whenever I go shopping with a wad of cash and a list, they are out of everything, nothing is the right size or color, and I feel uninspired. Life's just not fair.


But I digress...

Yesterday, I was able to find some great gifts for the birthday boy, and a few other things too.  Among the things I'm most excited about are the following items:

I know, I know...you're saying to yourself, "what's so special about a pencil sharpener?"

Well, when you go through three or four inferior pencil sharpeners a year with your three homeschooled kids, you decide to drop a Jackson on a heavy duty metal version that has 8, yes "8",different sized holes for every pencil in your arsenal.  We've broken pencil sharpeners by dropping them, using them too much, shoving crayons in them, getting pieces of colored pencil lead lodged in there, and one attempted marker sharpening by my littlest when she was 3. 

But this thing of beauty is fully metal, heavy duty, and comes with a 2 year manufacturer's warranty.  I fully intend to hang on to that information too.

I saved the best for last.  What you're looking at is the GREATEST iced tea on the planet.  You can get it fresh brewed at any Wildflower Bread Company Restaurant, or at Pita Jungle and pay a hefty price for it.  As an Iced Tea connoisseur, I consider it my personal duty to gorge myself on this tea whenever I'm in the restaurant, which results in less room for the good food.  In fact, I'm a binge tea drinker when I go to either of these two places.  Because I must drive 3-4 hours to get to the tea, I drink it as if it were a life sustaining beverage. 

But now...now I own the stuff!  One of these boxes has enough loose leafed tea to make 18 gallons of tea, or 96 servings.  MWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHA!!!!( That's my sinister evil laugh.)

I shall drink iced tea whenever I want it!  I shall not pay $2.75 for a clear plastic 12 oz glass of it, and I shall not be forced to ask for 7 refills in one meal. It's brilliant, and it's all mine at a fraction of the cost.

All other shopping purchases seem insignificant compared to my two best finds.

  I'm off to take my children on an adventure, so have a fabulous day, everyone!