What was 'there' before BEST BUY?

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE 'BEST BUY?'

I like to blog at Advent.  

It's Advent.

 

Our real estate agent's open house was cancelled at
10:30a.m. Which made sense........roads were very slippery and it
happened quite quickly.
Mariano and I had to go pick up one of my prescriptions and then to
best buy to get me a new phone.

 I have been using his android since
April when he started with his new firm......they gave him an iPhone.
I have become quite accustomed to the android, but it has been dropped
on the kitchen/tile floor a few times, hit with a football that Michael
threw, and on Friday I was at the target pharmacy counter (good
Lord........I think my official title should be drug mule) and I
dropped it, it landed face down on the floor, and there were shards of
black glass/plastic everywhere. It was very sad.......were the android
an equine, someone would have shot it to put it out of its misery. You
could hear voices from games, it was flashing different colors, Mariano
was trying to call me (my ringtone is the song 'carry on'), I cannot
get the screen to stop strobing long enough to press the button to take
the call, I am getting text dings and I cannot access them, my phone is
flashing different colors all the while dinging and playing CARRY ON.
I really liked my phone.....it was so user friendly, it held a charge
forever, I had figured out how to use it............we had many things
to do Friday night, twins' choir concert, Madison had to be picked up
at 8pm at her school. So after choir concert, I tool Mariano's iPhone
and headed to get Madison and her girlfriend, took them to wegman's for
something to eat as they had not had dinner, and then We went home.
We planned to go to best buy on Saturday for my new phone, but were
totally consumed with getting the garages emptied.
So yesterday, when the open house was cancelled, and Mariano and the
kids got home from church, he and I headed out to best buy.
Okay.......I am not a technophobe by any stretch of the
imagination......if something can make the places where I have to be,
kids I have to drive, blah, blah, blah, a bit easier to understand,
then great.....if there is a feature that keeps me from getting dinged
with a $155. missed appointment fee from the child psychologist's
office, I need it.
We walk into best buy and I start looking at phones. And then I think,
maybe I will saunter over to washers and dryers because I at least know
something about those, and clearly, I know NOTHING about phones.
I force myself to remain in the phone department. And it begs the
question, "what was there prior to best buy needing an actual phone
department?"
I am clueless. And I look at one of the prices on the stickers next to
the phones.
Are they kidding me? Does a phone really cost $799.99? Why?
And these are the samsung phones. I don't dare even glance at the
sleek, pristine, glistening Apples.
Fast forward.........I find a phone that will do what I need it to do.
Mariano approaches. The phone I have selected is $700.00.
I have a real issue with plunking down that kind of cash for anything
short of Botox, Louis Vuitton, or my cash only Endocrinologist.
I could not under oath even begin to explain what transpired next.
Suffice to say, a samsung phone was selected ($200.00), an Otter Case
(and who is the genius who is laughing all the way to the bank who
thought of these...$50.00), and heaven only knows what else. I was
longing for the washer and dryer departments.........I was certain I
could master the STEAM cycle with less difficulty than I would be able
to phone someone or post a status on Facebook.
It continues as the BB employee rings up the sale....... (We were
actually buying two phones and two sets of accoutrements)...... It all
comes to $800. Or thereabouts.........actually closer to $900.
"It's okay," Mariano says.
"On what planet?" I respond.
Then, the total begins to shrink, and shrink and shrink. It is a mere
$142. when the clerk has completed has completed his Best Buy Magic.
Don't ask me. I have no idea. Really.
We are told it will take a little bit of time to get my phone up and
running. I hand over my inop android so information can be loaded onto
the new phone (what you do on your phone, stays on your phone......just
saying!), and Mariano and I begin to wander.
Cameras. Why do I need a camera? I have a phone.
iPad Air. I love the iPad that I have and am typing on right now.
MacBook. MacBook Pro.
Good freaking grief.
If there is a product that can separate you from your hard-earned cash,
Best Buy has it, and it is electronic.
Johnny can't read? Throw the freaking electronic games onto your
driveway and back over them with your minivan! Aisles and aisles of
electronic games..........more aisles of games than Barnes and Noble
has books.
Mariano and I search for a Wii. That's right........we don't have one
and Eden has asked for one.
Finally, we ask where we might fine a Wii at the Information Desk. The
two clerks look at each other.
I am waiting to hear the word "craigslist" but we are actually directed
four aisles over and on the right there is a Wii.
We are not impressed, and we walk away.....Wii-less.
I wander over to washers and dryers, I buy a bag of Combos and a bottle
of water. Mariano and I wander to the televisions and watch the
Redskins game.
It's a tv. I understand it. I can handle it.

WORST END OF SCHOOL YEAR MOM? ME! 2008

I wish I had a photo of Madison at the end of year Roman Feast in third grade....wearing a loose fitting black dress of mine (the other Roman females were in white)....No, I did not have a plain white sheet so I could fashion a toga and no, WalMart was already closed or not open yet or something. 

And, yes, she did inform me at 9:30 pm the night before that she needed this the next morning.  Did I mention that I was a full time fourth grade teacher at another school on the other side of town that year? 

 At least she was barefoot. 

And I was assigned weenies in the blanket as the 'finger food' I had to prepare. I was waiting for a new ATM CARD, dh had left for the office without leaving me cash (as if he had any), the kids were too young to have $$$ stashed in their rooms. I scrounged under the seats in the car and everywhere else for change. I came up with enough to buy two packs of Shopper's Food Warehouse crescent rolls and 'heaven only knows what they are made from' all-meat links. I showed up to find all of the moms wearing Roman garb as well.......wth? You not only were able to get your kids dressed as ancient Romans but you were able to fashion a costume for yourself as well? REALLY? 

Fast forward to fourth grade.........I spent the summer compiling a spread sheet of every freaking costume the three kids would need for the upcoming school year. I poured over EBay listings for days until I had contracted with the best seamstress for the costumes that had to be custom made. I spent no less than $750. that year on costumes for classroom events, plays, blah, blah, blah. The Dolly Madison "re-enactment outfit" alone cost $250. plus shipping. BUT, not once that entire year were my kids NOT the best costumed kids in the school. 

We homeschooled the following year.