Anyway, the craft store is (essentially) across the street from the mall. A couple days before this, we were at said craft store and we were going to jet across to the mall to ride the carousel, but we ran out of time. So I decided since we basically had all afternoon, we could take a quick spin today. We walk into the mall--
We walk into the mall, and right there is a store that I didn't think existed. I mean, I know the brand of it exists, and I know they sell their stuff in big stores (like Walmart), but I didn't know they had their own store. This was great! I needed a present from there for my husband, which is why I'm not going to tell you what store it was (because according to him, there are these stores that only sell ONE thing and if I know the store name where that box in our closet came from, I'll know what's inside).
Look at that--Christmas shopping!
We make our way to the carousel, and the lady is just putting up the rope. Ten minutes, she tells us, and then they will turn it on again. So we start wandering around, not too far because it would be just like me to get caught up in something and miss our opportunity. I spot another store close by that I've been thinking about getting something for my husband, I've just never had the chance. I have eight and a half minutes still, so I buy him something.
Look at that--more Christmas shopping! This is so much fun!
We wander back to the line, and I put my hand on my son's head. It's sweatier than my hand, so we dash to the bathroom so he can take his sweatshirt off. (On the way, I had to explain why it's rude to undress in public. Seriously? Hadn't we already covered this? I guess he needed a refresher.) By my count, we have three minutes until carousel time. Another lady with two kids walks up to the counter, and the carousel lady tells her "About fifteen minutes, then we'll do another carousel ride." WHAT?! Rrrg. We notice Santa next to the carousel, so the next four minutes we talk about how Santa isn't real. Then the lady undoes the rope and starts taking tickets. Man, this lady needs to go back to addition and subtraction class!
After the ride--oh wait, the ride. Wow, my eyes have been opened about carousel rides. Remember a couple weeks ago, or a couple months ago (maybe it was last year), when we went on the carousel before? I rode a dog, or something, and I noticed how slowly the animals bobbed around. I thought surely the carousels on TV go much faster. Well, today (they had changed out all the animals to reindeer) the ones we chose were Fuzzy and Snowflake. Snowflake was white, that's why my little hunter chose it--he wanted to ride a white-tailed deer. He climbed right on, but Fuzzy had stopped from the last ride about 100 feet in the air. No way was I climbing on that thing and staying modest! I decided I would just hop on after the ride started and it came down within reaching distance. About ten seconds before the bell rang and the fun started, this family climbs on the deer just behind us. Now I'm self-conscious. I know you wouldn't be, but when I think people might be watching me, I am. So I just stood there as we spun. And boy did we spin! No more do I think they go fast on TV and slow in real life! Never again will I wonder how my mom gets dizzy on those things! It was like my body was standing still and my head was in a waterless washing machine. Or a dryer. Probably a not-hot dryer. Also, those rides are long! Next time, I'm just gonna hop, no matter who's watching, even if it's somebody famous like Matt Damon. Wouldn't that be something if Matt Damon rode our carousel? Ooh, I digress...
We get back to the car, and I'm preparing to go to the craft store, but as I'm about to pull out onto the little road, I notice Home Depot literally across the street. I need more dowel rods, so I make a split decision and turn right instead of left. Nothing special happens in Home Depot, so I'll skip that part.
I turn onto the main road, heading back toward the craft store. I turned right into the mall, so I turned left out of the mall. I drive and drive, and nothing looks familiar. Tiny fingers of panic try to claw their way into my heart. I come to a red light. I am in the far right lane, because the craft store is on the right side of the road. I notice signs, depicting which highway this red light intersects. Those tiny phalanges of panic blossom to adult size. (Can panic blossom?) I recognized the highway numbers, and I felt like I should be on that road instead of the one I was on. The horror of being so lost in Charlotte when I was in college looked like it was going to repeat itself here. But then, I remembered something. Two years ago, I was in this exact same predicament. I remembered my husband drawing on paper how the mall is really big and surrounded on all sides with main roads. You can be on main road A and drive into the mall, and drive back out onto main road B. So then what I have to do is drive around the block to be back where I started. Yay! No need to hysterically call my husband in tears to say I'm lost! Those phalanges of fear can go back to the morgue where they belong! (I realize now that my little detour to HD confused me when I attempted to get onto the correct main road.)
We make it to the craft store with nary a tear. I need velcro, and I have a 40% off coupon and a $5 off $25 purchase coupon. I've been thinking I want to make an apron for my son; he's asked me to several times. So after finding the velcro and seeing that I'll need more items to make it to $25, we head over to the fabric section. We see hunting material and I comment that I need "manly" fabric. I find a monster print and ask my kid what he thinks of it. His reply, "Oh yeah, Daddy will like that!" So I got two pieces of material I know he will like, and he has no idea!
Now, I think something else happened on this day, maybe on our way home, or after we got home, or sometime in there, but I am (finally) writing this 15 days after this all happened, so I don't remember what happened next. Oh well. What I do remember was really fun--going shopping for one item, and coming home with six!