I Shop Therefore, I Am?

Well, it's been said before...I shop therefore I am. I guess according to all of the reports out there I'm one of the many people boosting the economy. I was boosting the economy even when no one was boosting the economy. It's not hard to do when you have three growing kids and you naturally like to shop.

And that all seems o-k when it comes to buying underwear, socks, toiletpaper or bread. Even if your kids sprout a size and they need new pants there are no real pangs of guilt, but somehow I am sometimes lured into that other kind of shopping. I don't often go to that dark place, but...

Yesterday, I did the kind of shopping where you buy three pairs of jeans that cost over $250.00 each. A beautiful, young, hip sales associate brings you pair after pair of jeans that are too tight, too loose, too saggy, too baggy. Jeans that make your rear look sucked in sucked up and poofed out.

I felt like I was on a quest. Could I find a pair of jeans? And as I watched the price tags grow from the ridiculously expensive to the 'I could never dream of spending that on one pair of pants expensive' I became sweaty, panicky and crazy.

Next thing I knew I was handing over the magic plastic and buying close to $800.00 of denim.

Later, back at home, I was trying on my jeans. This sickening thud came over me--even though I didn't love any of the pairs, I knew I couldn't return them. It was like we had formed a bond, and now that I had these groovy, expensive jeans, I wanted to keep them.

The sales associate had said to wash them, dry them and wear them around to see if I really liked them. That's my plan...even though my husband said I needed to take one pair back and that no one buys jeans that cost that much money.

This is more than the rent on my first house!