happy veterans long weekend! i have monday off. thank you, bank holidays!

i went out this evening to get some stuff at walmart, and it was a lovely 12º outside. you know that first day of the cold season when it’s so cold that it sucks any moisture from the air and you breathe in pure cold? it was that tonight. of course, we are minnesotans, so i saw a guy sprinting into walmart with just his sweatshirt on. i, on the other hand, don’t much care about keeping up hardiness appearances and had my winter jacket, my hat, and my gloves on (no mittens quite yet – have to have some semblance of easing into the season).

on saturday, i bought a new couch as part of a veterans day sale. i’m really happy about the couch, and it should be arriving in 4-5 weeks. here’s to veterans day sales! (slowly but sure, you will see how this post will evolve into a someday sunday post.) i did some research, agreed on a color with nate, and stopped on my way into st. cloud to take advantage of the sale.

there are a lot of little shops that use this weekend as their holiday open house. not only is it a holiday(ish) weekend, but it’s also deer opener, which means the MEN are out hunting and the WOMEN are out gathering… their christmas decor (don’t get me started on this christmas overtaking the stores the minute halloween is over. ugh). stack the events on top of each other, and it’s a nice sale weekend.

which makes me a little melancholy, because for several years when i lived in st. cloud and my mom lived in new london, we would both take monday off and go shopping. she’d do the majority of her christmas shopping, and i would do some this-and-that shopping (because i was usually done christmas shopping by this point). it’d be an all-day affair, with having lunch; perusing several stores like target, best buy, barnes and noble, and macy’s; and then ending with a too-early sunset as she dropped me off at my house on her way home to new london. i’m not sure how many years we did it, but we did try it out once or twice in rochester, and it just wasn’t the same. one lucky year we were up in the st. cloud area for another event and took advantage of the situation.

now, of course, it’s a different story. i’m here where the “good shopping” is and she’s in SE minnesota, and it’s just not gonna work out 🙁 she’s not going to waste her energy down there where it’s not a good experience. but, even though it’s not the same, i will go shopping up here over the veterans day weekend because i feel like i’ve got to keep the spirit alive.

because someday, i think she’ll be back. maybe at that point she won’t be especially excited about doing a ton of shopping, but the season will beckon, and we’ll have to brave the cold.