This post is mostly for Mrs. Dante and Mrs. Thoen...

The erudite and erstwhile Robinson children in three of my favorite children's books have a name for what I did today-- Big Shopping! They have a valid and understandable horror of the thing seeing that it takes them away from precious home, into a labyrinthine city full of labyrinthine stores, lead by a harried and flustered mother-of-four who can barely hold the complaining rabble together with threats and bribes. It's ever so much bigger than simple shopping.

I do not have four small children to make Big Shopping an obstacle of Herculean proportions, Christmas is in 16 days, and regardless of what my husband thinks of the refrigerator, we needed food in the house. So I made lists and routes and calls all morning. Finally, fortified with coffee and "lunch" I sallied forth to take on one dollar store, two banks, three thrift stores, three grocery stores, and three or four other places which shall remain nameless due to the season. It took me 7.5 hours, it rained nearly the whole time, I caved and got "food" at Starbucks half-way through, coffee three-quarters of the way through, and crashed a charity auction planning committee by mistake, but returned home completely victorious! I even asked Jesus for a break in the rain to unload the car and He cleared off the whole sky for me in two minutes. Complete with sickle moon and glittering stars. Darling Man.

The real reason I'm posting, though, is to show you my treasures. It was a good day at the two Visiting Nurses Thrift Stores I patronized: 50% off everything in the store. I could have bought something for everyone I know. Yes, even you. As it was, I found a lot of things I can't post because they're top secret, but what I can show you is the awesome actually-vintage wrapping paper (don't much like that new-fangled stuff) I found, the milk bottle vases, the silverware box that is now the display case for the rocks my special-needs Angel Tree boy collects, the baby clothes for my other Angel Tree boy (the tag said they needed warm 6-9 month clothes-- 'bout broke my heart), the red Norwegian quail that is my grandmother all over, and (drum roll please) our dishes! Dale and I have been searching high and low for a set of dishes we both like-- Bed, Bath and Beyond, WalMart, Macy's-- everywhere. And then I walked in to Visiting Nurses today and there was this set, one cup and saucer shy of full, and for half-off! I bought 8 dinner plates, 8 salad plates, 8 soup bowls, 7 cups and saucers, one pitcher, cream and sugar, and two serving dishes. For $15.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem. I mean-- Jesus. Rocks.

And then I went grocery shopping and found

A beautiful pomegranate

Perfectly orange oranges

The bread my viking requested that just happened to have vikings on it

Positively enormous apples

Gorgeous portabella mushrooms, and

Plain organic pumpkin for .99 a can.

So, Perry, Ant, Beanie and Sundance Robinson, the moral of the story is that though Big Shopping can be perilous and exhausting, sometimes it pays to ask Jesus to take you out on a spree.

Did I mention our Christmas shopping is nearly done? And there are still 16 days till Christmas!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!