I do honestly think it’s a bit too early to be planning for Christmas – I used to be a staunch not-until-after-Halloween person – but last year I got pretty close to bankrupting myself in December, so 2023 seems as good a year as any to get a head start.
Plus, I found a bargain – a bargain! – in a secondhand shop (even if I didn’t see a single bonnet)…
Monday
I have never – not ever (at least not yet) – managed to actually manage my Amazon Subscribe & Save purchases so that they arrive at the time that I need them. With our Pampers order, nappies seem to arrive at minimum 10 days after we run out, no matter what I set the frequency to; we currently have two huge boxes of baby wipes; and as for our garden fertilizer, as I type this I have another en route, despite the fact that one was delivered from Amazon just last week. ($17.09)
I’m not sure how I really feel about plant food or garden fertilizer or orchid food (the notions!) or any of this stuff. Does it actually work, or is it all just marketing, like foundation primer and vitamin D capsules?!
Anyway, today is – sob – Ciara’s and my last day together, so once we’ve dropped Atlas to Robin’s we’re off to Grabill to, as I keep telling her, “look at the Amish!” Brandin assures me that Grabill is not an Amish zoo, that most Amish people who live there have regular 9-to-5 jobs and that I’m very unlikely to see a woman in a bonnet, sitting on her front stoop milking a cow, but I like to remain optimistic.
In Grabill, we park just off the main street in the car park of an accountancy firm that I’m hoping isn’t fussy about who parks where. In my defense, there are six parking spaces and only one is taken; plus, I’ve parked far away from the front door, out of thoughtfulness, so should any accountancy clients come along they’ll still be able to get the prime spot.
According to Google, Grabill is known for its antique shops and Amish farms, and while we see a lot of the latter on the way in and out of the town, we spend our time wandering around the former. The only place I take my wallet out, though, is in The Country Shoppes of Grabill, an indoor vintage and antiques mall that sells, honestly, everything you could ever think of.
There are massive collections of records and old paperbacks; handmade quilts; mid-market brand-label handbags; clothes; toys; shoes; ornaments; a beautiful set of 3 Le Creuset kitchen canisters I sort of regret not buying; Hot Wheels upon Hot Wheels upon Hot Wheels; and some incredible crafts.
I end up buying a Christmas book for the boys, an Elmo book for Atlas and an incredible hanging Sesame Street thing, that looks like an advent calendar but is stuffed with tiny mini beanie baby versions of Sesame Street characters. ($72.21)
The rub? There are seven characters missing. Surely, I think to myself, surely I’ll be able to find those for about 2p each on eBay… [plays foreboding music]
When we’re done in Grabill – after we’ve stocked up on antiques and Ciara’s done a number on the sweets shop next door – we head back home, deciding we’ll stop at a cafe we passed on the way, but it’s closed! At noon on a Monday! Apparently its hours are 7am-11am, so I’ll have to try another day.
Instead, we stop into Conjure Coffee, where we get two coffees and I add a 15% tip ($14.72). As I look at this now though, like… what?! $15 for two coffees?! (I mean, I should perhaps try to pay more attention to these things as they happen…)
As we were badly let down by Chicken Salad Chick yesterday, we order it for our lunch, to be delivered via DoorDash. I think Ciara is… I mean, she eats it? She seems to like it. I’m not sure the perfect balls of mayonnaisey shredded chicken are as mindblowing in person as they are in theory, honestly. But it’s still tasty. ($33.97)
Then I begin the great eBay quest to find my missing Sesame Street beanie babies and, let me tell you, these little bastards add up. I’ve decided I’m only going to get ones that are in unopened packaging, because that’s what’s in the thing already, but more importantly, I don’t want my precious angel baby getting someone else’s germs on him, which means that each beanie baby is at least $7, and there’s shipping of at least $5 on top of that. In all, I spend over $70 on finishing off my $45 Christmas gift. ($73.98)
What’s worse is that the two older boys then see it, because I’m an idiot and put it in the downstairs cupboard for safekeeping until I summoned up the energy to go upstairs, so now it can’t be his Santa present. Sigh. (What is the average age for no longer believing in Santa, by the way? Because maybe they’ll learn the truth before December and I won’t have to worry…)
The last and final item on Ciara’s must-do list is barbecue food from Shigs in Pit, so I get to ordering our dinner for Brandin to pick up when he’s on his way home with the boys. ($86.51)
Shigs in Pit delicious – my one issue is that it seems to produce quite a lot of waste, as it all comes in those non-recyclable styrofoam containers that just need to be pitched in the bin afterwards. I mean, I’m now living in the land of waste, I know, but how much more expensive / complicated can it be to get compostable packaging?!
After dinner, we have a stressful hour or so as Ciara tries to check in to her morning flight from Fort Wayne to Chicago but can’t; her booking does not exist, they tell her. So she calls, only to find out that, because she missed the flight from Chicago to Fort Wayne and didn’t get in touch to let them know, she was considered a “no-show” and her entire journey, both flights, was cancelled, with no refund forthcoming.
Of course, I’m just going to drop her to the airport – her flight isn’t until 4pm so we have plenty of time in the morning – but when I say this is not what anyone needs, the night before a transatlantic journey…
In a cruel turn of events, American Airlines then decides to charge me the first of my four Pay in 4 payments for the flight. Sound. Really sound. ($54.45)
Daily total: $362.93
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